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ESF petition: 'dangerous electricals on online marketplaces'

Nathaniel
https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/stop-the-sale-of-dangerous-electrical-goods-on-online-marketplaces 

"Stop the sale of dangerous electricals on online marketplaces:  In the UK, online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Wish are not bound to the same laws as traditional retailers. ..."


I don't usually sign petitions, but this is a subject I've thought of many times when seeing equipment that's imported from far-off sellers with the help and profit of online marketplaces that claim to be UK ones. It may look good and do its main task adequately, but a little time or closer inspection often shows big problems for safety: lack of isolation clearance between the mains and output of chargers, solder joints that break and arc at the input socket, wires that split in weeks, hideous RF emissions, wires with a small proportion of the actual copper area that they state on the sheath, etc, etc.  I feel doubtful whether ESF will reach its 100 000 target anyway, but perhaps some others here can be interested to support them in this attempt. 

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    Actually the fact I HAVE sold on fleabay is one reason i WOULD support a ban. Totally hostile to sellers (unless you're chinese, apparently). 


    Otherwise I go with Broadgage's opinion... do your research, use logic, and buy carefully
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    And when purchasing goods from fleabay or other doubtful sources for my own use, I adopt a cautious approach to use.

    Items with a plug top power supply, I avoid plugging in directly to fixed sockets. An extension lead with a 3 amp fuse in the plug is safer than a 30/32 amp OCPD.

    Items claimed to be double insulated are always used via DUPLICATED RCDs

    And I tend to assume that electrical ratings are in chinese watts or amps.

    "13 amp" extension leads, never load to more than 10 amps short term, or 6 amps long term.

    "100 watt" switch mode power supply, avoid exceeding 60 watts.

    If I need an extension lead for a full 13 amps, I would make one with 1.5mm flex, (not 1.25) and an MK safety plug, and a good quality 13 amp socket mounted on a piece of wood.

    And I would test the flex with a 15 amp load to make certain that it gets only very slightly warm.
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    Yes Caveat Emptor or some such italian proverb.,

    Double, triple, quadruple and a thousand times with Ebay and the like
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    MHRestorations:

    Actually the fact I HAVE sold on fleabay is one reason i WOULD support a ban. Totally hostile to sellers (unless you're chinese, apparently). 


    I had a very unpleasant experience when I sold a car on fleabay.


    First of all my reserve price was treated as a buy-it-now and somebody wanted to collect straightaway. Second, somebody rang and wanted to come and look at it. He claimed to be in the area, but clearly wasn't.


    I got more or less what I was asking for, but I hadn't given anybody my telephone number and I sensed that had the car gone the distance, I might have got more than I had expected. Bottom line, I suppose, was that my valuation took account of the bits which needed to be fixed.


    On a brighter note, my 60 year old toaster went phut this morning. I have put in my last and rather delicate spare element from an even older model, but I have also placed an order for one of each (left and right-sided) new old stock through fleabay. ?


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    Chris Pearson:
    On a brighter note, my 60 year old toaster went phut this morning. I have put in my last and rather delicate spare element from an even older model, but I have also placed an order for one of each (left and right-sided) new old stock through fleabay. ?



    Ancient toasters remind me of this one of several graphic examples of dangerous situations, from the 1929 book "Rural Electrification" (A. Ekstroem and V. Ekstroem).  Weren't illustrations better in those days?  This one is supposed to indicate the danger of earthing a chassis, when in an otherwise fairly insulating environment.  It seems toasters then were like small electric fires, toasting one side at a time.  I hope yours recovers itself with the new parts.  My 65 year-old Belling fire still runs well.  



    5071a9756dacccf17c32d6b4d597618b-original-toast_1929.jpg


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