In my formative years electrical, I was brung up that an isolator for a cooker etc must be nearby, say within 2m and obvious as for useage (or clearly marked) as a readily available "rapid use switch" in case of say chip pan fires etc.
. . .
Modern folk and their kitchens, it seems some folk have an aversion to them.
Call me old fashioned but my order of preference is 1/ Safety, 2/ Functionalability and 3/ Asthetics.
Any views on this Folks?
. . .
Modern folk and their kitchens, it seems some folk have an aversion to them.
Call me old fashioned but my order of preference is 1/ Safety, 2/ Functionalability and 3/ Asthetics.
Any views on this Folks?
Ebee's original post under the heading, "Cookers, Isolators and the Like" inspired me with an idea about aesthetics. Rather than extend this long but interesting topic, I decided to continue the idea as a new topic.
During a period when I was working for a consulting firm, I had an argument with an architect. In some dressing rooms adjacent to a theatre-style set-up, I had specified some power points over the dressing tables, to serve hair-dryers, etc. He objected to this position on the grounds that they were unsightly, and wanted them low down, out of sight, below the tables. I argued that this was inconvenient for access.
The architect won, of course; he that pays the piper calls the tune. This incident and similar ones have led to ongoing discussions.
"Wiring accessory manufacturers go to great lengths to make their products aesthetically attractive, and sometimes win Design Centre awards. Why are they commonly regarded as unsightly? In any case, we are happy for light switches to be placed at convenient height, so why should power sockets be placed low down where they can become obstructed by furniture?"
"It is not a case of the sockets themselves being unsightly. It is the flexes that trail down from them."
"We do place sockets a metre above the floor in old people's homes. We don't like to think of elderly people falling because they need to stoop low."
"Yes but in any dwelling there are likely to be elderly people in residence from time to time. And in care homes, plugging and unplugging is usually done by staff; residents are not encouraged to do this."
So it is down to a trailing flexible lead being not aesthetically attractive, and I do agree that this is a point. Consider now the colour of the lead and compare black with white.
Walls tend to be light in colour so a black lead stands out more conspicuously than a white one, and we can make a case that a trailing black lead is more unattractive. So white is better than black.
A lead may also need to be laid on a floor for a certain distance. It makes sense to keep it tucked against the wall, but this is not always possible. Flooring materials, (carpets, floorboards, etc.) tend to be dark in colour. So a white lead is more conspicuous than a black one. There is a safety issue here; a lead on the floor can be a trip hazard so should be conspicuous. So again, white is better than black.
DIY stores stock flexible leads usually in white. Bronze may be available for certain appliances with which it tones in well, but I rarely see it for sale in black. That's fine for me.
So why, oh why, are most electrical appliances sold with black leads? It seems to be the universal standard for audio-visual equipment. Even our vacuum cleaner, which trails a long lead as an occupational hazard, has a black lead. Only a very few appliances have a white lead - like our fridge, which has its white lead tucked innocuously between the wall and the appliance and rarely moved.
It seems therefore that the wide usage of black leads has influenced the placing of power sockets low down, with the attendant safety concerns. Has there been lack of joined-up thinking here?
Any view or further discussions on this?
