Has anyone noticed how little that "safety ground" is used by commercial products these days?
Few, if any, household appliances such as vacuum cleaners or even kitchen appliances use it now. They all have two-wire plugs. For outdoor use I have a electric chain saw, and electric circular saw, an electric weed-whacker, an electric lawn mower and an electric hedge trimmer NONE of which use a 3-wire cord. They were all purchased in the last five years. All of these devices revert to the standards of the 1940's and 50's, relying on insulation without a "safety ground" tied to a metal enclosure. The insulation is probably better than was used in the old gear, but it's the same old design. Most of these devices have a polarized plug. The wide spade on the US plug is the neutral or grounded side of the mains circuit. Presumably (I haven't opened any of them up) they are wired so that a likely short to the metal parts would be on that side of the mains. That's also how it was done in the 1940's and 50's. Sure, I check to make sure the safety ground is attached to my household outlets. It's astonishing how many outlets I've encountered over the years, even in new homes, have no ground connection to the third pin. And many more are wired backwards so if one puts a polarized plug in the outlet the wrong (hot) side of the mains goes to the normally grounded side. Frankly, I pay at least as much attention to the correct wiring of the mains plug to put neutral on the wide spade as I do about the ground lead being connected. A little three-light tester available at most hardware stores for a few dollars is well worth the investment. Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
