Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Don Y Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design Subject: Re: energy in UK Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2025 09:53:42 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 92 Message-ID: References: <6cblvjtuqq506j5l5uvvrkvcvj549klff8@4ax.com> <1raxpc1.wxxc7n63qcuuN%liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> <2r58dlxrps.ln2@Telcontar.valinor> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2025 18:53:47 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="224c3913be92c9ababca699591f4de3e"; logging-data="2763778"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+g64c7h/tCOBIfinWP74u3" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/102.2.2 Cancel-Lock: sha1:YyTjH92vIt4ESSQzJV980jdDywE= Content-Language: en-US In-Reply-To: On 4/21/2025 5:29 AM, Martin Brown wrote: >> The *system* is earthed but the outlets don't present a separate >> earth conductor.  House was built in ~1956. > > In the UK the only outlet that isn't earthed (and today is double isolated) is > the 2pin mains shaver socket in the bathroom. Bathroom outlets are also earthed and require GFCI protection (proximity to water) >> I recall adding branch circuits in the basement "work room" that >> added the third conductor (load center was located in the basement >> work room so little cost to use new cable, there) > > Your house hasn't been rewired since the 1950's? Hasn't the rubber insulation > deteriorated almost to the point of no return by now? No idea. Have not lived there in 40 years! :> > Ozone seems to make it quite tacky or cracked when it becomes antique. > >>>>>> What happens if a drunk takes down a "power pole" feeding said village? >>>>> >>>>> Last time it happened was the coldest day of the year and it was the milk >>>>> tanker hit black ice and took down 2 poles and 30' of hedge. There is no >>>>> way he was doing 30mph! Engineers had us back on by nightfall. >>>> >>>> Would he have been financially responsible for the repair (though >>>> likely not the secondary losses)? >>> >>> His insurers would be. Having insurance to drive on public roads is a strict >>> requirement in the UK and relatively well policed by ANPR. >> >> Well, *he* would be named in the lawsuit and his insurer would step in >> for his "defense". > > Not how it works in the UK. Advice is don't admit liability at the scene and > call your insurers claims number immediately. They take care of pretty much > everything after that unless there is evidence of criminality or serious > injuries resulted and a police investigation. Never admit liability -- even silly comments like "I didn't see you...". But, legally, YOU are the party that is "at fault". Your insurer steps in to settle (or litigate) on your behalf. E.g., folks who fail to carry insurance can still (illegally) be on the road. As such, we carry insurance to cover altercations with uninsured and UNDERinsured drivers. > Recent juicy one with a BMW chase in Newcastle that totalled 5 police cars in a > Keystone cops style hard stop incident. They initially only wanted to tell him > that his rear brake light was defective too. > > https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g9mezn9ero > > Major arterial road was closed for a couple of days while they did the > measurements and scraped up all the bits. He wasn't insured and several police > were injured so they will doubtless throw the book at him. > >> But, that's just to "buy the light pole" (a euphemism here for the act of >> crashing into a utility pole, usually while intoxicated).  Would he >> also be liable for losses incurred by customers of the utility? >> E.g., the local restaurateur suing because he lost a freezer full of food? >> Or, would it be seen as an expected risk (power outage) that the >> restaurateur should have protected against? > > Dunno. The power where I live is flaky enough that farms and cafes have their > own emergency generators so that power outages don't catch them out. Cows still > need milking mains electricity or no. No dairy farms, here. Most places (other than hospitals) expect power to be available. Residences don't expect more than a few hours of outage annually. We didn't have any outages until our buried cables started failing -- after 40 years (service life was *20*). Then, the outages became pretty predictable as one segment failed after another (of course, they wait for a segment to fail before replacing it -- despite the history of all the OTHER segments failing!) > A lot of the crashes round here never officially happened since they typically > take out a chunk of hedge on the exit of a tight bend. Single vehicle incidents > late at night probably drunks. In the subdivision, the speed limit is low enough (doesn't mean it is OBSERVED!) that there should be no accidents. However, neighborhood clown drove down the road at high rate of speed, ran the stop sign at the end of the street (in front of HIS house), took the corner and plowed into a neighbor's PARKED vehicle. Ooops! Grandmother wasn't too happy with him!