10a MCB lighting circuit and 2a sockets
- Thread starter tew1
- Start date
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The point is, the UK has nearly as many electrical fires as the whole of the US each year. There is a much higher ratio of fires caused by products and misuse compared with faults or installations, indicating that people are using products and installations in an incorrect way, meaning installations need to be better designed to account for the way people use them, and help prevent electrical fires. In comparison, in the US, actual installations account for almost 50% of electrical fires, rather than user-related misuse. Ancient Knob and tube wiring is a common cause of faults in the US, due to the American complacency toward electricity and lack of rewires.
So, by your own figures, there are roughly 6 times (280/46) more deaths due to electrical fires in the US than in the UK, even though the population is only about 5 times larger - in other words, there are, pro-rata, about 20% more such deaths in the US. What was the point you were trying to make?
Kind Regards, John
read my post just before. There is a phenomenon whereby larger populations experience larger rates of death, decline and disease than smaller populations, which is negated by a larger rate of population increase, so it does not work on a direct ratio (number of people:number of deaths). Taking number of deaths out of the equation, it is staggering that the UK has nearly the same number of electrical fires as the US annually. Fatal or not.
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If that is 'the point', why on earth did you post (with errors) the figures for deaths, which show a very different pattern of UK/US differences?
Kind Regards, John
Now Now John, it was you who said we should stop feeding the troll!
I'll make one last 'rubbish statement' to say that, in the UK, I believe it is fair to comment that wiring regulations have had little to no effect in reducing the risk of electrical fires in the UK as time has gone by, because they simply differ very little over the decades in addressing fundamental flaws in the way British citizens believe they can use electrical installations and products, and the way houses are designed. In the US, these issues are addressed wholeheartedly, and electrical installations are designed around the way people construct modern homes and the products they use. At the same time, electrical codes have made radical changes in increasing the safety of physical electrical installations since the mid 70's when Knob and Tube and aluminum cable was a flawed and dangerous method of wiring, with existing knob and tube and aluminum installations being a main cause of installation fires today, with many insurance companies refusing to insure homes with such installations
Of the 20,000 electrical fires in the uk, 12,000 are caused by cooking appliances.
An appliance which can not be easily moved by the home owner, so will always be in the apropriate location. It is fed from it's own dedicated circuit, and without an extention cable, which you seem to think will prevent electrical fires in the UK.
An appliance which can not be easily moved by the home owner, so will always be in the apropriate location. It is fed from it's own dedicated circuit, and without an extention cable, which you seem to think will prevent electrical fires in the UK.
I did, indeed - but I'm afraid I could not stand back and watch someone grossly misquote statistics and then, when the error was pointed out, claim that the figures he had (mis)quoted had nothing to do with 'his point', anyway! Whatever, as you've seen, having got that issue 'off my chest', I've now handed him back to BAS
Kind Regards, John
1425 fires caused by tumble dryers, washing machines, dishwashers and lighting. They lump Wiring, cabling, plugs together as 2,899. 17,932 fires caused by 'products', 2,471 fires caused by installations, so it's not out of 20,000 its out of 17,932 if we're being pedantic. Are toasters, microwaves, sandwich toasters, kettles e.t.c. classed as 'cooking appliances'?
Interestingly, on average 90-98% of UK homes have all PVC copper wiring and modern earthing, around 60% have modern consumer units, but only 50-60 have RCD's. It says 20% of fires could be prevented by the presence of an RCD (somehow??). So, even though our wiring is mostly modern, we have almost as many electrical fires as the US, which has around 50% of homes still using wiring that predates 1970. It would be interesting to look into the number of electrocutions in the UK vs US, considering only 50-60% British homes have RCD's, whilst CGFI's have been required by code in wet locations in the US since 1968, and you'd be hard pressed to find a bathroom, kitchen counter, garage or garden outlet that is not CGFI protected because home inspectors make a big deal to buyers if they find they aren't installed.
the statistics are in. US: 30,000 non-fatal electric shocks each year, 60 electrocutions. UK: 2.5million!!! electric shocks, 350,000 of whom received a serious injury, 28 electrocutions. Hmmmm.
http://www.esfi.org/index.cfm/page/Injury-and-Fatality-Statistics/pid/12015
time to get on with my life I think.
http://www.esfi.org/index.cfm/page/Injury-and-Fatality-Statistics/pid/12015
time to get on with my life I think.
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