Hi guys, just curious. I have a plastic electric kettle that has an earth lead in the flex. I can't see much point in it. It will trip the RCD in the event of an element insulation breakdown so there's some use there. Any thoughts?
If a metal sheathed kettle element was not earthed it could become live if defective.
Whilst not easily touched, consider the risk of the “live” water being poured into a metal tea pot whilst the user is holding the metal handle of the teapot.
Tap water has a fairly high resistance, but I suspect that stream of water from the live element into the metal teapot could still conduct current to give a dangerous shock.
As for reversing the polarity when connecting an appliance flex to a 13 amp plug, it can not matter that much as much of the rest of the world uses non polarised plugs.
If a metal sheathed kettle element was not earthed it could become live if defective.
Whilst not easily touched, consider the risk of the “live” water being poured into a metal tea pot whilst the user is holding the metal handle of the teapot.
Tap water has a fairly high resistance, but I suspect that stream of water from the live element into the metal teapot could still conduct current to give a dangerous shock.
As for reversing the polarity when connecting an appliance flex to a 13 amp plug, it can not matter that much as much of the rest of the world uses non polarised plugs.
