wiring a plug!

333rocky333 · 30 Apr 2008

My friends son fused the power to the science class today.
Apparently the room has various benches with sockets on.

The teacher gave out 13 a plugs and a short bit of flex.
Told them to fit the plug, but NOT to plug it.
Obviously he and his mates plugged it in, tripping the mcb or whatever.
He said the end was smoking first, maybe L to N as I would have hoped it was on an RCD.

He then got a rollicking for not listening to the teacher.

I personally think the teacher was wrong to let them risk it with the other end bare in the first place or at least took the fuses out of the plugtops or fitted already blown fuses.

Steve · 30 Apr 2008

All the science labs at my old school were RCD protected. Even those built back in the 60's.

ban-all-sheds · 1 May 2008

333rocky333 said:
He then got a rollicking for not listening to the teacher.

IMO the teacher should get an even bigger one...

Bendo · 1 May 2008

ban-all-sheds said:
333rocky333 said:

He then got a rollicking for not listening to the teacher.

Click to expand...

IMO the teacher should get an even bigger one...

Agree, did this at school as well, sockets turned off as common sense dictates.

DESL · 1 May 2008

WTF are they wiring 13A plugs for in a Science class, much better to be making Tesla coils, using a vander graaf generator and the wimshurst machine.

And I suppose it's too dangerous to use a magnet, a 9V battery and a dish of mercury to make an electric motor!

vsynth · 1 May 2008

333rocky333 said:
My friends son fused the power to the science class today.
Apparently the room has various benches with sockets on.

The teacher gave out 13 a plugs and a short bit of flex.
Told them to fit the plug, but NOT to plug it.
Obviously he and his mates plugged it in, tripping the mcb or whatever.
He said the end was smoking first, maybe L to N as I would have hoped it was on an RCD.

He then got a rollicking for not listening to the teacher.

I personally think the teacher was wrong to let them risk it with the other end bare in the first place or at least took the fuses out of the plugtops or fitted already blown fuses.

This would have me writing a letter of complaint to the headmaster, talk about an accident waiting to happen, it is so obvious that given a class of schoolkids at least one of them is going to plug it in!

What next? handing out loaded guns and telling them not to point them at each other?

Adam_151 · 1 May 2008

I remember doing the same in science class bvack in school a few years back, crap tools and 4" of flex means if you are not carful you end up just dragging the conductors out the end when you go to strip them...

Anyhow, ours was in a theory only room that had normal desks, not a lab with sockets on the benches, however I think this was more coincidence than anything else

I think at somepoint in time someone else in another class manage to create a short on the workbench by opening the shutters on the sockets and pushing some leads with banana plugs into them...

Bench outlets were through an isolating transformer, perhaps its just as well, less risk of shock, and PFC lowered!

MonkeyHunter · 1 May 2008

At college we used to take the fuses out of silly scopes and power supply's and fill them with the 'lead' from pencils. Then wait for the next class to turn all the kit on.

streetlighter · 1 May 2008

Did a job in a school a while back and all the Lab bench sockets where protected by a 10mA RCD

SeanT · 1 May 2008

Bet there wasn't anything to stop you turning the gas taps on and lighting what comes out though

Fred_Fanackapan · 1 May 2008

My chemistry teacher used to do that when warming up a test tube and couldn't be bothered to connect up a bunsen burner.

Click-Sure · 3 May 2008

Recently quoted for a rewire of 10 science labs where an 'incident' had occoured, what kind, I did not ask.

Quoted to replace existing DB in the prep room (what wonderfull, mystical places they are) and run new submains to a new DB in each lab.

10mA RCD looks like the new spec for schools, I can imagine that being a right PITA when leaky equipment gets plugged in!

As for the plug wiring incident, why not give the kids a plug with a non-standard earth pin to wire up, that'll slow them down!

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wiring a plug!

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