Japan’s (Surprisingly Safe) Outlet, Explained

[@Lam]

🔒Remove your personal information from the web at joindeleteme.com/LAM and use code LAM for 20% off 🙌 DeleteMe international Plans: international.joindeleteme.com CLARIFICATIONS: Jan 21st Ohhh the comments are spicy on this one. I'll be adding more details tomorrow, here's some important ones: Grounding: Yes, ground acts as a low-impedance path (in TN countries) to trip the circuit breaker and turn off the circuit. One of the best video on grounding and bonding covers this point in incredible detail: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6HKcol7abqqfNk This is someone who has built an incredible system teaching NEC and how it actually works. Japan ≠ Best. This is not a video about who has the best system and especially not Japan having the best system. This is about how Japan solved a problem that runs opposite to America (and most countries). They required GFCI first and grounding second which no other country has done. That's the unique part, not the GFCIs in the wall. If you have a favourite electrical system and you got offended, sorry. 7W Light Bulb: I didn't do a good job with this visual / explanation. I was referring to the filament, not the wire, the filament provides the resistance and therefore due to Ohms law restricts it to 7Ws.

[@maxmisterman785]

@@Splarkszter nice thats also my first thought about them, now if that is true is another pair of shoes. Regardless, they will only be able to request deletion of your data from organizations that want to operate a lawful buissness. So they dont protect against hackers, blackmail etc. At most they make it slightly harder to find your data in the first place for the criminals. But everything on the internet can be found by people who want it bad enough, so if your credid card number is somewhere on the internet it can be found. @Lam your comment is not pinned, if you want people to see it you might want to do that.

[@maxmisterman785]

@@Splarkszter New comment cause i think i managed to delete the old one: The companys only ask others to delete your data, so if they don't want to or think the law is on their side or the law is not an issue at all like for criminals, then they can't do anything. BTW the comment is not pinned so if you want it to be seen, maybe you should change that @ andrew lam

[@maxmisterman785]

It seems i can't comment under your comment? Sorry if these all land in your approval folder. Just wanted to say that this comment is not pinned, as you migh/ want to do for visibillity. Also that incogni and co don't protect you against criminals, cause they only request deletion, so if your data is with criminals or organizitions that don't care about the law, it will remain there. Cheers

[@orodlram]

All the new construction in the state I live in requires ground fault interrupt breakers so if we're adding them to our breakers and you guys are adding grounds to your sockets you might as well just use the sockets that America uses cuz it's already got three prong ground on it

[@chloekaftan]

for the record, this isnt only japan's outlet, the philippines and a number of southeast asian countries also employ the same outlet. edit: though we dont have a "GFCI", but now im interested and i want it.

[@repatch43]

Sorry but this video really misleads IMHO. MANY countries require whole house GFCI/RCD, the difference is practically all those countries ALSO require outlets to be grounded. You get the best of both worlds. Really the problem with the GFCI/RCD approach is it REQUIRES someone(or something) to touch the fault and trip the RCD/GFCI. That toaster could be sitting there, live, for hours before someone touches it. And like you mention, if that someone is a small child, a person with a heart problem, or a pet? It could easily kill them. A grounded system will trip once the fault develops. That's the point. You don't have a live surface to touch available to you. GFCI/RCD alone is safer IN SOME CASES than the grounded system, but it's nowhere near universal. I really wish they'd mandate whole house RCD/GFCI here in North America, it would drop the price of that protection allowing cheap retrofits.

[@TMS5100]

it's clickbait video

[@Lam]

I'm curious about this comment because I never said Japan was the only country to require whole home RCD/GFCIs or which country has the best power system This video is how Japan approached their electrical system at the beginning in a unique way which has lead to ungrounded outlets still being allowed today. I mention that "GFCI + Grounding" is the right solution but that that Japan is "taking their sweet" time because it was working well enough. The people coming in reading into this video as some sort of attack on their favorite electrical system and that I didn't dive into the gritty nuances, sorry, that's not what this video is about. I do regret that I removed my normal frameworks and sometimes overexplaining to avoid these types of fights in the first place. I'll be more mindful next time. I've removed the title "Japan's Safer Outlets, Explained" because I understand why it could be misleading, not what I was going for.

[@RetroJack]

@@Lam Not an "update" - a correction.

[@Nemo222]

Whole home RCD breakers take rather a lot of power to activate, especially on 220/240 v circuits, if you get a shock that the RCD is protecting you from, boy howdy will you know it! A North American GFCI protected outlet is much more sensitive since they trip at

[@kirstinmorrell]

Who home GFCI, like whole home AFCI, makes diagnosing and solving faults significantly more difficult. And as others have said, it requires a lot more power to trip.

[@dono42]

The lack of ground on outlets here (hi from Japan) has been a known problem for decades. Slowly more modern buildings and housing are including grounding.

[@IIARROWS]

Oh right, look at that... a comment disproving the premise of the video. To which I knew was false. Hello from Italy, where outlets are basically that plus ground.

[@James_Knott]

This is the situation we had in Canada when I was a kid. We only had grounded outlets near the kitchen sink and laundry tubs. Now grounded outlets are mandatory and GFI are required in areas such as near the bathroom sinks.

[@Willbme4EVA]

I live in Japan also, both sides of the connectors are live/positive wires. No neutral, or negative hence all the wholes are the same size.

[@borincod]

@@Willbme4EVA no neutral?? It's hard to believe you. I doubt you have IT grounding system in the place you live in, or you have somehow 200v three-phase supply into your house, while sourcing 2 phases into each socket. Would be quite weird. Did u check your sockets with a pen tester? Do both contacts light it up?

[@James_Knott]

@@Willbme4EVA Ummm... There's no positive wire with AC.

[@TMS5100]

Now cover japan's insane power grid, half 50hz and half 60hz, which prevents load shifting and causes bottlenecks in the grid.

[@LoveClassicMusic0205]

Is there any reason they couldn't switch to one or the other? Are there certain devices (besides clocks) that require a specific frequency?

[@samiraperi467]

@@LoveClassicMusic0205 Clocks rarely use the network frequency for reference these days.

[@cabobs2000]

They could do it with HVDC if the really had to. For a few billion only too. probably cheaper than changing all the grid over. just have two asynchronous systems connected by a DC link

[@SMGJohn]

@@LoveClassicMusic0205 Costs, stubbornness because there two massive competing electrical grid Corporations in Japan that want to keep the dual system alive. So Capitalism, essentially. Even North Korea uses the European schuko adapter, same with South Korea, the schuko adapter is much better even if its a monstrous pain in the REAR to plug in at times.

[@ItchyKneeSon]

​@@LoveClassicMusic0205There was some kind of disagreement as to which system was better back in the day, so they just split the country. lol And all appliances are made to handle either.

[@hudsonball4702]

A few years ago, when My family moved into our latest home, I tried many times to convince them to replace all the outlets in the house because some had shown a darkening around the plugs. After hounding them they finally did it just as we were moving in. They didn't want to becasue it was already adding in more costs to a small renovation we were having done too. When the electrician came and started to replace the plugs, he flat out told my parents and sister (who were buying the house) that i potentially just saved all our lives. Out of the 50 or so plugs he replaced only 2 of them were grounded and many of them were so worn nothing would stay plugged in. Several plugs showed signs of overloading and had discolored. The guy said it was a miracle that the house hadn't burned down that entire time. He also discovered a faulty breaker that was not tripping even though it was showing signs of overloading too. needless to say all of that has been fixed and replaced. Remember if you're moving into a house over 25 years old (which we were_ ALWAYS have an electrician check over the outlets. You'll never know what you might find.

[@JamesStripling]

Running a ground wire is a passive system. Properly installed, it doesn't fail. RCD/GFCI are active systems. They eventually fail. Where I live, they're required on outside outlets and any outlets in kitchens and bathrooms within 6" (2M) of the sink/ tub, basically anywhere it's going to get wet. They're ADDED protection.

[@jovetj]

Of course, those are minimum requirements. There's nothing stopping anyone from installing GFCI protection on every single receptacle in the entire home.

[@adriankoch964]

Japan can't guarantee that grounding wiring won't fail during earthquakes, so GFCI makes sense. Both would probably be better (redundancy) but they commonly replace entire buildings before the lifespan of a GFCI breaker. Houses in JP devaluate extremely quickly & most of the value is in the lot.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@adriankoch964 It's a stupid design decision. In the US, anything that has only 2 prongs is supposed to be double insulated to protect against shocks. Things with a 3rd prong don't require the extra insulation as the ground should intercept any of that current and direct it out of the building via the ground wire. Having GFCI is nice, but it doesn't protect against shocks as the video indicates, so you still need the extra insulation if you don't have the ground. In the US, GFCI is typically required in the locations that are most likely to benefit from them, mostly kitchens, bathrooms, garages and other areas likely to have moisture. You can install GFCI berakers if you like, but then you have issues related to figuring out where the fault was that triggered it, when the more typical US practice is to just include the GFCI at the outlet which helps greatly in terms of figuring out which one did it. The one that makes a bigger difference is AFCI, and that is still coming, but that protects against far bigger concerns related to arc faults that can lead to fires. As far as earthquakes go, that's BS, the west coast of the US regularly gets earthquakes and the likelihood of having any power coming in when none can get out is a rarity, to say the least, assuming it's even possible.

[@electricpaisy6045]

I don't realy get what you mean by passive and active in this context but RCDs rarely fail. They are extremely safe even to the point that they age in a way that makes them even more sensitive. So if they get older, they break the circuit at even lower currents and after even faster times. There has to be some serious and unusual damage for one to fail that might happen just as often to the classic circuit breaker. In europe they arent added protection, they are required protection. The circuit breakers are less trusted than the RCDs so we have to have both in every place where basic people who aren't electricians hang around.

[@JamesStripling]

@@electricpaisy6045 Active components have moving parts. Passive components don't. Moving things wear out. I don't suppose it gets any simpler than that. GFCI's are required by code, in addition to a ground wire and a ground rod (or rods). A breaker tripping at a current lower than it's rated value is a failure, BTW. You are proving my point about wear. Also, aluminum (or aluminium) wire is no longer accepted at least around here, because of the seasonal heat differential (-20F or -28C to 110F or 43 C) It moved far too much due to expansion/contraction. Can't have your ground wire acting like an active component, especially when it pulls itself out of its own connections. Cheers!

[@omp0815]

Arguably the Japan outlet is just safer than an US one. But US outlets are some of the worst in the world. Puting EU outlets in the beginning of the video is kind of misleading. Most countries in the EU have both, a ground and a GFCI.

[@maxmisterman785]

Yeah i was reall confused when he said that only japan has these GFCIs.

[@danr1920]

You can't get it 100% right when you're (U.S.) first. Hard to go back and change everything.

[@rhysrail]

Yeah and the uks also has flaps covering it so you can’t stick things other than plugs into it

[@alouisschafer7212]

In most central European countries and the UK and Ireland GFCI protection is mandatory for almost everything. Ofc there are many exceptions but generally every new install has GFCI.

[@Gragagrogog]

@alouisschafer7212 As of like a 10+ years ago, every new building in EU requires GFCI/RCD protection on every outlet. In old buildings it's allowed to have it only in the bathroom.

[@dazone]

Iinformative but kinda misleading since most countries in Europe and even countires close to europe (and possibly Australia) have the best of both worlds. All their circuits are protected by GFCI just like in Japan but also have outlets that accept grounded plugs like in the US/Canada.

[@Cazzar09]

I'm from Australia, and recently had some electrical work done on my house. Chatting with the electricians, and they did confirm that all new installs, and any new works is required to at least a RCD (What we call a GFCI Typically) but or, they could use a RCBO (Residual Current Circuit Breakers with Overcurrent Protection)

[@Montgomerygolfgator]

More recent code in the US also puts GFCI on specific circuits in the panel as well. Specifically, bedrooms and appliances like hot tubs. There's nothing stopping you from going full GFCI everywhere except where GFCI outlets are required (code prevents you from doubling-up GFCI)

[@KaiserTom]

​@@Montgomerygolfgator Either the circuit needs protected, or any outlet in those areas and further on the branch need protected. There is nothing in code that says you can't have a GFCI outlet on a GFCI circuit. It's just a bad idea because they can and do tend to interact with each other poorly.

[@moonasha]

@@Montgomerygolfgator bathrooms, outdoor outlets, and anything near a sink

[@Lam]

Thanks for comment dazone, I'm actually curious how people are coming to the conclusion that this video says that Japan is the only country to do this. My only point was that Japan was first to require a panel level RCD (at least from all the research I've done) but was really late to grounding because safety was mostly fine for so long.

[@RK-kn1ud]

There should be an asterisk in your video around the @<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="710">11:50</a> when you say "not only does this detect wiring faults". The truth is that it only detects MOST wiring faults. It will not detect, for example, a swapped neutral/ground. It will also not detect a high resistance neutral. Klein explicitly list the swapped neutral/ground situation in relatively fine print in their instructions for the RT210 under "Conditions NOT indicated"...among other places.

[@Lam]

Yup, I should have put that in regarding bootleg grounds, etc

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@Lam Also, keep in mind that GFCI doesn't provide any protection against arc faults, hence the more recent AFCI breakers that will probably be standard in the US in the future. From what I understand, they're still not super reliable about false positives, but they should create safety that GFCI just doesn't in areas that don't have water.

[@thedavesofourlives1]

The newer system to protect against such faults is ARC FAULT (AFCI) protection aka DAA/DDFT in europe. GFCI/RCBO is old news in global electricity safety systems.

[@Shaker626]

@@SmallSpoonBrigade AFCI is a strange band-aid solution for non-metallic sheathed cable. The laws should mandate EMT or armoured before AFCI implementation.

[@wesleyhurd3574]

⁠​⁠@@Shaker626Can you explain your assertion? My understanding is that AFCIs detect arcing that is the result of a loose connection. All electrical systems have some sort of connection points, whether they are screw terminals, twisted wires with a wire nut, or wago connectors. I don’t see how the sheathing of the cable is going to make much difference in the case of a loose connection. I’m fairly certain that loose connections on metal sheathed cables have caused fires. Although, conduit or metal sheathed cable does have more protection from physical damage, such as someone driving a nail into a wall.

[@johncarter1137]

Ex OSHA Compliance Officer here. The United States uses a 3 wire system for AC (altering current) power in houses. The three wires are identified as the grounded conductor (neutral), the grounding conductor (ground wire), and the ungrounded conductor (positive). None of these actually prevents a person from being shocked, they allow power to flow back to the power source, which allows the breaker to trip in an overcurrent condition. The breaker works by heating up and opening the circuit. The ground wire can help to lessen a shock to someone that touches an energized part that isn't supposed to be energized. It will prevent a shock to a person as long as the grounding path back to the power source is better than the path through the person, which is the most likely scenario. I've investigated fatalities where the ground wire actually contributed to the person dying. A Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter is the device that will prevent a person from being shocked and possibly electrocuted on an AC electrical system. It works by sensing an imbalance between the grounded wire (positive) and the ungrounded wire (neutral) and tripping. Two wire systems still exist in older houses in the United States and can still be safe by being equipped with a GFCI breaker in the power panel box.

[@James_Knott]

I used to work for a telecom. They have a lot of grounds. There's AC power ground, DC power ground, frame ground, cable rack ground and signal ground. They are all separate except at the common point where they connect to the building ground.

[@HDRW]

"The breaker works by heating up and opening the circuit." - in the USA, perhaps. In the UK (and probably Europe) the CB has two trip mechanisms - the thermal one you mention for slight/long-term overloads, and a magnetic one for short-circuits (ie Heavy Overloads!) which trips it incredibly fast. If you were daft enough to hold the two wires by the insulation and "strike" the conductors briefly together, it *would* trip the CB! (Don't try this at home...)

[@xfloodcasual8124]

Devices which detect current imbalances seem to be a good idea. But there is also the issue of shunting different potentials or capacitative coupling in poorly designed circuits that the earth wire can do.

[@ChimeraActual]

I have an older house with a 2 wire system. But all the wires are 10 gauge, and I didn't want to replace them. I think I've solved the problem by using breakers with GFCI and AFCI on all circuits. Have I?

[@wh0_am_152]

@@HDRW The magnetic one is also standard in all modern breakers used in modern US households, for basement, bathroom, kitchen, and etc. arc fault and/or GFCI are required by code (in new or upgraded installations).

[@chriscollamore5471]

Yikes a very large amount of this information is wildly incorrect. <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="233">3:53</a> This is not what ground is for. The whole “this is what keeps your 7w lightbulb 7w is not correct. It is 7 watts because that is the current it draws at a certain voltage. Study ohms law. It is very important to have a functioning understanding of this. Additionally, circuit breakers ARE NOT designed to stop people from getting shocked, they are to protect the wiring in the walls which could cause a fire if overloaded. As long as you don’t exceed it’s rating, it really doesn’t care what is happening. This video needs to be almost completely redone. This is extremely misleading

[@yaltschuler]

I've heard that before, yeah. Looking at the rest of the comments it seems like this is just one more thing that he got wrong in this video. It appears that he unfortunately did just enough research to find himself at the starting section of the Dunning-Kreuger effect, which is a rough place to be when you're trying to make an educational video. 😕

[@Lam]

Sorry, but you're incorrect about ground. Ground acts as a low-impedance path (in TN countries) to trip the circuit breaker and turn off the circuit. One of the best video on grounding and bonding covers this point in incredible detail: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6HKcol7abqqfNk This is someone who has built an incredible system teaching NEC and how it actually works. The 7W light bulb analogy I was referring to the filament inside, that's not the wire outside. I could have done a better visual. @yaltschuler, is this a reverse Dunning-Kreuger?

[@StefanNuxoll]

⁠@@LamLook, I’m just a homeowner with enough knowledge of electricity and the NEC to do his own work and pass inspection, but you’re conflating system grounding with equipment grounding. We still have ground rods in the US, and just like Japan they are to provide a fault path for current that doesn’t originate from the grid like lighting and static electricity. Impedance of the soil is FAR to high for it to be a usable return path for power from your utility, and even in your Japanese builds it’s not used for that purpose. Equipment grounding conductors are protection for people using devices connected to a receptacle, and they do not require changes to anything but the wiring inside a building and using receptacles and plugs with a ground connector. Your circuit breakers / OCPD will still stop a short to ground like they would a short to neutral, because in an AC system the direction of current changes at 50/60hz so half the time it will be coming from the protected leg of the circuit and will trip. RCDs are incredible devices that bring that protection further by focusing on ground faults where current goes through a return path other than the hot or neutral conductor to further protect personnel even if the OCDP wouldn’t trip, but they work best in tandem with EGC to prevent such a fault from even having a chance to harm somebody in the event of a frayed conductor, which is why the NEC now requires combo GFCI+AFCI almost everywhere in residential buildings. Japan using TT for system earthing doesn’t really mean anything, you can just bond at the consumer unit, keep the existing grounding electrodes in place, and you have a TN-C-S system with a multiple grounded neutral at both the premises and transformer to provide a the same fault path in the event of damage to the service entry wire (just like we do in the US! Japan even uses split phase power like the US does, so they’re got the same two hots and a neutral coming in for the service entry).

[@_Msn_]

@@Lam Lol in the video you never mentioned that the resistance was due to the filament, you were comparing mains wires with the ground. Maybe have a rewatch?

[@Lam]

There's no way I would ever make a claim that we have a special 7W mains wire that makes lightbulbs work. That would be ridiculous. It was simply a visual issue. I would have connected the "twisting" wire with the light bulb filament better.

[@matthewjenkins1161]

In the UK, every socket is grounded, Neutral is connected to Earth and virtually all houses built since the 70s have RCD protection. Most older properties have been rewired and so equipped also. And in the last few years each individual circuit from the consumer unit has it's own RCD, meaning the whole house doesn't lose power, over a toaster that would trip, BEFORE anyone touched it.

[@Elesario]

Yeah, it's nice not having the lights turn off because the toaster blew out. Plus helps make the identification of the problem item much easier; find which breaker tripped, and then find what's on that circuit, turn it all off and then enable them one by one until you get a trip (assuming it's not a slow or intermittent fault).

[@cjsrescues]

Both neutral and ground go to the same place. Open the box and see.

[@zapy-85]

@@cjsrescues this depends on what cables comes from the local distrubution system, either you can have a true ground as in the video , metall bar hamered to the ground or go back to junctionbox or distrubution place, older systems piggy back on the neutral. with a true ground it should never be connected to the neutral. 4 wire system vs modern 5 wire system, at least in sweden.

[@YO-BIZZY]

Ours uses multiple circular circuits so some turn off and others don’t

[@cjsrescues]

@zapy-85 USA here, we screw everything up. LOL.

[@UriahStuff]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="720">12:00</a> Actually, the test button is just as effective as an outlet tester because the way that the best button works is by shorting a resistor between the neutral and live, simulating a real ground fault.

[@Lam]

̶N̶o̶t̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶G̶F̶C̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶r̶e̶l̶e̶a̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶c̶h̶a̶n̶i̶s̶m̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶ Edit: I was wrong. All GFCI test buttons create an inbalance between hot and neutral which should trip the breaker. I think I was going through some engineering discussions and it was likely a discussion on whether the testing mechanism can fail and whether an external device should be used.

[@UriahStuff]

@Lam Good to know, but basically all modern GFCIs do that.

[@synonys]

@@Lamthen it’s not testing anything

[@sirtra]

Live and ground, not live and neutral as that would be equivalent to plugging in a light bulb or any other small load. I've never seen a GFCI without a test button, for places where it's mandatory that typically includes testing every X years. But hey i'm sure Japan make flawless GFCI's which never ever malfunction or fail. I guess Japan also doesn't have lightning strikes either, or they are okay with humans becoming lightning rods. Not my definition of "safer" but each to their own.

[@jonc4403]

@@Lam When and where? Only releasing the mechanism wouldn't be an actual test, there would be no point. I'm gonna have to see some documentation that a nonfunctional test was ever allowed in a US residential GFCI. Having disassembled a GFCI from the 1970s, it was definitely a real test back then.

[@nikaiwolf]

Some jurisdictions in the US require GFCI and/or AFCI breakers, there are combo breakers as well, in NEW construction only. Check the NEC, or for California, the CEC.

[@WJCTechyman]

CEC is Canadian Electrical Code, I think you mean NEC for the jurisdiction of California. Also, I think it would be more appropriate to call the NEC USNEC due to another corporation operating internationally known as Nippon Electric Company.

[@nikaiwolf]

@@WJCTechyman In California, we call it the CEC, but I totally agree it is a bad acronym in either case.

[@cTwelve]

At this point, essentially all jurisdictions in the US require these protections. The video is...yeah.

[@mitchk7655]

Not only new construction, but also in almost all instances of rework to the circuit in older panels as well.

[@prjndigo]

afair if you replace a breaker in a bedroom it MUST be an arc fault or combo AGF now - which causes a lot of hassle

[@aaron74]

Super interesting! I've wondered for YEARS why Japan has non-grounded receptacles, and the few that do exist have the screw terminal. This video answered this nagging question. The Japanese panels are interesting--they're sort of like the Euro DIN panels, but not.

[@lukewakeling]

GFCI/RCD protection has been mandatory in the UK since 1975 for new buildings. First it was whole-house protection as you show, and since 2008, individual circuit RCD protection. This means if you have a fault with your toaster, the lights stay on, so you don't trip over going to reset the breaker! The latest regulations (2019) recommend Arc-Fault detection, but this is not yet mandatory.

[@adrianio1000]

GFCI is supplemental protection. Grounding is basic protection. You absolutely cannot replace basic with supplemental protection. Also gfcis are proven to be less effective in 2 wire systems. 2 wire systems don't provide adequate protection when operating properly and absolutely zero protection in case of failure. All it takes is a loose or burnt neutral wire at the breaker panel and all metal parts of electrical devices become live. I would honestly expect a second video correcting this one, as the level of electrical safety knowledge you demonstrated is abysmal.

[@Roi-su8mo]

NEC and CSA don't think so. They approve GFCI receptacles as a safe 3 prong retrofit for 2 prong ground-less K&T or old Romex wiring.

[@adrianio1000]

@Roi-su8mo well the IEC does not.

[@KB99KraYziE]

GFCI in Europe is ALSO BASIC.. NOT SUPPLEMENTARY... in an exposed wire or damaged device that discharge in your table's legs or in a ... plasterboard frame of ...american papier-mâché houses ...with the cables around and not inside the corrugated... probably the ground cable are your little son... and your 20.. 32 or 64 Amps circuit breaker isn't adequate for save your unaware ground cable called probably YOUR SON.... 🎉🤗🥳😅 Or not?

[@zeddpilsner4]

@@Roi-su8mo I can vouch this is true in Canada. From the Canadian electrical code book 2018(I dont have the latest): 26-702 2) - At existing outlets where bonding means does not exist in the outlet box, grounding type receptacles shall be permitted to be installed, provided that each receptacle is protected by a ground fault circuit interrupter of the class A type. Appendix B for that rule goes on to describe that the GFCI can be of the type that is intergrated into the receptacle, incorpirated into an upstream receptacle, dead end front type or by GFCI circuit breaker.

[@jovetj]

That's BS. GFCIs don't need or care about a ground connection and are not "less effective" without one. That's like saying your speedometer in your car is "less effective" without a passenger.

[@Tensquaremetreworkshop]

In the UK we have had RCDs for years. We are now fitting them to every circuit (not just one per box). In addition we now require, in larger buildings, arc detection breakers- these prevent most electrical fires. We also have ground, for class one appliances. Class 2 are double insulated, so do not use the ground. In addition to the breaker, every appliance is fused to match its current draw. Outlets in bathrooms are not allowed, except 'shaver sockets' which are transformer isolated.- so there is no ground path. Construction sites use 110v (instead of 220) isolated and centre earthed, so potential is max 55v.

[@Patrick-vh7sw]

Your explanation of how breakers work in the US is wildly incorrect to the point of misinformation. In the 4th minute you haven't gotten to GFCI (or AFCI) breakers yet and you're talking about thermal trip breakers. Those DO NOT require grounding to function. It's typically a bimetallic strip that heats up if you're over-current (either a very high transient load, or long term being above 80% of the nameplate amperage). GFCI breakers (and outlets) don't directly protect you from touching the hot wire, they trip when current passes through the ground wire, or when an imbalance happens. So if a hot wire touches the metal case of an appliance that is grounded, it trips. If you drop a hair dryer in the tub, that's an imbalance and it can trip. If you touch a wire and the imbalance is low enough it may not trip. Japan's GFCI system is LESS safe than the modern systems in use elsewhere with a ground wire - the Japanese system works solely on the disparity of current in vs out - they cannot protect you from the metal case of an appliance becoming energized UNTIL something touches that case and is shocked causing an imbalance. It should also be noted that in most countries you now are required to use combination breakers that are both arc fault AND ground fault, which is remarkably safer. Japan could easily fix this by simply running ground wires in buildings even if they don't bond neutral to ground. Additional fun fact: in a home that has no ground run to the outlets you CAN install a GFCI outlet and be protected. The appliance ground is connected to the GFCI's ground so it can detect ground faults and the GFCI's imbalance protection also functions.

[@GregJoughin]

"Business Expense Dessert (Hello CRA)" is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a KZbin video.

[@sukhoy]

The best thing is having both configurations in place. In Europe they have GFCI but also ground pin in every outlet. Grounding also helps reducing electric noise and static.

[@WraithlingRavenchild]

You confused ground with grounded. The ground is a low impedance path back to the overcurrent protection device. That enable high voltage spikes that actuates the magnetic coil in the breaker to break the circuit. Grounded is completely different. Look up corner grounded delta transformers. The first means of disconnect is also the only point where the neutral and ground are bonded. No overcurrent flows past that bond point.

[@jsurace]

And I have seen many a novice trip over that "grounding" vs "grounded" when reading the NEC for the first time!

[@thedavesofourlives1]

Earth and ground are different things.

[@cidercreekranch]

Ground and neutral should only be bonded in the main panel. Sub-panels between different building that are linked with metal piped should isolate the neutral and the ground bus bars and a separate grounding rod must be installed at the sub-panel location.

[@jonyemm]

Sounds right. I put a sub panel in my house and even for that the ground and neutral had to be isolated

[@okaro6595]

Grounding systems vary country to country. As far as I know Japan has TT where the ground and neutral are not connected.

[@robinhammond4446]

The diagram at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="213">3:33</a> shows us a [US?] breaker that is somehow connected to a transformer twice, also a neutral bar, and finally a load. I'm not aware of any breaker that does this, and seeming creates a neutral out of thin air.

[@jonc4403]

Not sure what you mean by "neutral out of thin air". US neutral and ground are bonded at the main breaker box. And yes, the two hots and neutral are connected to the transformer - that diagram doesn't show the 2nd hot phase.

[@xugro]

normally there is a second hot in the US, but the diagram showed would work as that's how AC works...

[@stickyfox]

I believe the diagram is in error, which would certainly make it confusing. Most US breakers are single-pole and connect only to the "hot" side (either one). Current returns through the neutral and not the breaker. High-power circuits like HVAC/induction cookers use two-pole breakers and do not connect at all to the neutral. The diagram shows kind of a mix-up of single and two-pole breaker wiring practices.

[@foogod4237]

@@stickyfox Actually, noawadays there are a lot of breakers that connect to both hot and neutral (in particular, this is required for any combination GFCI or AFCI breakers to function properly, which are increasingly being required by newer electrical codes). This is typically done with an extra "pigtail" wire that comes out of the breaker and attaches to the circuit neutral. Though this is generally done _after_ the neutral bar, not before it, but this all seems pretty nitpicky since the point he was actually explaining still applies in any case...

[@Cotronixco]

@@jonc4403 Leg, not phase. There is only one phase in play here.

[@Nerd3927]

I was thinking "What, do they use floating grids?! Cool!" but allowing not to use ground when a RCD is installed is just lame. Get your act together, Japan.

[@borincod]

Why so misleading? <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="430">7:10</a> 1) it is easy to convert TT to smth like TNC-S, and you don't need to upgrade "substation infrastructure" for this. In opposite, converting TN to TT is more troublesome as this requires independent extra grounding system of the house. 2) while many countries in Europe practice TT grounding (not just France), their sockets have 3 contacts now. Having or not having the ground contact is not really depends on TT or TN - both grounding systems allow having extra grounding contact. At least, GFCI can do its work better in this case 3) as you have shown yourself, some Japanese sockets have a cumbersome inconvenient ground contact, so it seems Japanese engineers see that their plug-socket design is inferior, but instead of really solving the problem, they decided to use a weird crutch solution

[@JerseyTom]

yeah, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about

[@okaro6595]

No, it is not easy. It is not just that you connect the ground to the neutral. In TT and TN the second letter tells where the grounding conductor is connected so the connects would make no sense without grounding conductor. Teh Japanese separate grounding system is so that you can plug for example a PC to the outlets without the hole. Yes, from European perspective the idea of optional grounding whether you remember to hook it is horrible. The system requires more from the user.

[@borincod]

@@okaro6595 your point is not clear. Are u sure you have accounted grounding rods location for TT and TN ?

[@okaro6595]

@borincod what do grounding rods have to do with anything?

[@borincod]

@@okaro6595 they have smth to do with difference between TN and TT... It is not so nice to tell anybody to search themselves, but I have actually already mentioned this earlier

[@Alexis-lt3zy]

Important note: outlet testers in the US usually can't check if your ground circuit is actually wired correctly! They usually just look for a connection between neutral and ground, because, as mentioned here, the two are actually connected (usually). So, if skimping builders just wired the ground of an outlet to neutral instead of doing things properly, everything will appear good... but you won't have the same protection as with real grounding.

[@Lam]

Yeah bootleg grounds can't be detected! I'll probably write up a longer article on it!

[@Dee_Just_Dee]

Can confirm. When my brother and I were still living with our parents, my brother was wise enough to invest in a surge protector to keep his PC safe. But, our parents had been cheap getting the family home "updated" to have "three prong outlets" without properly earth-grounding them - they had a retired electrician who didn't give any shits do the bare minimum work replacing the receptacles. A close lightning strike somehow spared my PC but fried the motherboard in my brother's PC despite the surge protector. Years later, it turned out that the guy had failed at more than properly earth-grounding my brother's outlet: Just this year my parents had most of that circuit go dead, and the electrician they called in to troubleshoot it determined that the outlet in my brother's bedroom was wired in reverse, and very poorly at that. Anything you would plug into that outlet would have a live chassis and risk losing power altogether if a heavy truck drove by. And it sat that way for twenty years. Blows my mind that it never started a housefire.

[@WraithlingRavenchild]

The fuck they can't the 3 LED are easier to use than the 3 seashells.

[@longnamedude3947]

​@@Dee_Just_DeeBuy Cheap, Buy Twice. Honestly, if you're so limited on funds that you need to call in somebody that inexperienced and dangerous to do the job then you might as well just buy a book and learn how to do the job properly yourself. Buying a book and learning how to do a task properly as a professional is how my parents saved thousands in the 1980's & 1990's by doing the work themselves using the correct standard of hardware and then have a accredited professional come in, check their work, then sign it off if it was up to standard, which it always was because if they were ever unsure then they'd call up family friends who worked as tradesmen and query if they were doing something correctly or not. It pays to have friends who are tradesmen, and it pays to do a job properly the first time. I'm glad nobody got killed by that idiots dangerous wiring job, it sounds like your brother was very lucky not to have been harmed or even killed by the socket in his room.

[@James_Knott]

@@Dee_Just_Dee Maybe he wasn't really an electrician. When I was a kid, I had a friend whose father thought he was one. It's a wonder his house hadn't burned down.

[@Kosh-g7l]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="153">2:33</a> what you are demonstrating here is a type of grounding system called TT system and a RCD (RCBO or RCCB) are mandatory to be installed for the whole circuit (it can be 100mA or 300mA (selective or non-selective) on the input to protect from fire. The rest are normal 30mA or 10mA), because this type of grounding will not pass enough current during short circuit to trigger the coil in magneto-thermal switch (it will not trip from currecnt spike) on the ground which will cause fire. The TN-S is the mostly used in Europe (but the real TN-S requires a ground wire from distribution box and a wire from the rod in apartments distribution box on same bar in every apartment). In TN-S system the ground wire comes from step down transformer box which is on the same bar as neutral wire and during a short circuit, it will handle short circuit current. Furthermore, the ground wire is also used for lightning arrestors, surge protection, noise filtering, reference, screening the source of noise and other usefull things. So, by removing the grounding from the sockets, during the sudden leakage of the current to the case of the device, in Europe it would trip the RCD or magnetotehrmal switch, in Japan it will either shock you (slightly) or shock you massivly in case if RCD got broken (sometimes it happens) or case a short circuit if you move your i.e toaster to the water tap.

[@charmio]

Good explaination! I've always hated the names TT, TN, IT, etc... So unintuitive (Perhaps it would make more sense if I read into the history of the names but a good name is self explanatory). And yeah, I prefer to still have a ground with an RCD for anything that isn't explicitly double insulated. I've had tingles from a wet coffee maker on a steel bench before. Rather than chuck away the coffee maker or rely on the RCD, it was easy to just add a ground from behind the nearest power socket to the bench. I've also seen faulty RCD's before when anual RCD testing. Granted, only 1 out of 300, but still it happens, as you said.

[@emily36130]

@@charmio It's intuitive if you're french

[@Eli-s7d]

US requires arc fault interrupters (AFCI) on pretty much on every circuit now, that's not protecting against electrocution but it helps prevent fires.

[@MobileTaz]

No they don't, they're legislated profits for manufacturers. GFCIs save lives. AFCIs are nothing but a nuisance.

[@prjndigo]

the funny thing about AFCI alone is it isn't actually going to stop even 2/3 of electrical circuit fires in a home but it WILL detect faults in the circuit as installed... it can't actually detect smooth-load grounding like a GFCI and in my experience most good GFCI breakers have already been quite effectively protecting us against arc-faults since the GFCI was invented GFCI saves lives, now that we have AGFCI breakers the world is a better place because you don't have to worry about code enforcement _forcing_ you to use breakers in your bedroom that will definitely kill you.

[@enexsix]

Isn't that only on new construction? Most people are living in homes that are 10+ years old and predate those changes.

[@MobileTaz]

@enexsix New construction or any circuit that is extended or modified beyond changing devices (switches/receptacles/luminaires) must be brought to current code.

[@mmcfly1025]

Electrician from Melbourne, Australia here. We used to have similar house wide RCD's fitted (mandatory since late 90's / early 2000's on new installations). They were eventually banned due to small faults such as a filament (incandescent) light globe blowing and taking out the whole house supply. Eventually power and light circuits had to have separate RCD/MBO's combo (Residual Current Device - Miniature Breaker Overload) to break them up. These can be separate devices. There are also 4 different types of RCD's, but that's getting technical and has to do with an obsolete type with 3 new replacements, that operate on different currents and frequencies, depending on what's required. Now every separate circuit has it's own RCD-BO installed with a recommended 2 lighting circuits through the house (though not mandatory). That way, faults are isolated to individual circuits, not the whole house, especially lighting. The next evolution in electrical protection will be AFD devices or Arc Fault Detection that will start being implemented soon. These detect arching between active conductors and disconnect before the circuit, hopefully before a fire takes hold. As mentioned in another comment, I'm coming up to 30 years in the biz, so have seen a few changers in my time. I find other countries electrical systems interesting though, so thanks for making the vid - Cheers!!

[@TheSeanUhTron]

As others have pointed out, this video is a little misleading. I won't repeat their comments, but I will add this. GFCI/RCD are not perfect, they will only trip if the current doesn't return to neutral. This means if the person bridges the gap between live and neutral, the GFCI will not trip and they will be electrocuted. Having a safety ground is still preferred because it increases the chances of a fault current NOT returning to neutral and thus ensuring it can trip the GFCI.

[@DeepOceanDiver]

Some current will still go to the ground and it will trip before fuse/mcb

[@quarterswede]

Hence the requirement of Tamper Resistant outlets in new builds.

[@3beltwesty]

Japan use to not have gfci protection. Ie it just was a 2 prong socket with no ground.. Lots of mid 1980s stuff was that..just like usa 1940s and 1950s homes..

[@nick78698]

Only need to take a look at Japanese vintage 2 prong audio equipment from the 70's/80's. Definitely not double isolated.

[@SLeeSG]

Dude, by looking at the way you write, I don't think you actually understand what a cable is.

[@3beltwesty]

@@SLeeSG This video is about the Receptacle; not a cable. ie lay terms the Receptacle is the outlet

[@no-trick-pony]

... yeah everything in central Europe is grounded. All sockets, ceiling lamps, even bathtubs and shower trays have to be grounded. Japanese is just years behind, there is no "debate" on which is better.

[@JoaoSilva-t5i]

I wonder how much safer does that makes the whole system. Not theoretically but practically. Being living in Japan for a long time, but have never heard anyone dying of a electric shock...does that extra grounding REALLY make a difference in real life?!

[@flutterwind7686]

​@JoaoSilva-t5i It happens, they just hush it up

[@JoaoSilva-t5i]

@@flutterwind7686 source my a$$ 😂🤣

[@TheDplo]

Yes, having both grounding and RCD is a much better combo, as the RCD doesn't only trips when someone touches a live surface (and takes a quick shock), but "detects" as soon as said surface becomes live and trips instantly before someone touches it.

[@JoaoSilva-t5i]

@@flutterwind7686 what is your source?

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Thanks! I have always enjoyed looking at the different electrical systems and standards in the places I travel. Everyone has good ideas, and it is great to stay with what is familiar to the people using it.

[@cat22_a1]

Doesn't the central GFCI kill power to the whole panel (in effect the whole house) Which means if you have one bad/leaky circuit in the middle of the night, your left in the dark

[@MrSummitville]

Yes. That is problem with Central GFCI. And fridge is off while at work.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

It kills power to the entire circuit, that won't usually cut power to the whole house, but it's enough to be really annoying as now you've got not just one outlet to check, but possibly all of the outlets on that circuit and you can't just walk up and look to see if there's a light and some incriminating object next to it like you would if they were putting GFCI into the outlets.

[@roberthale8407]

I can vouch for this, we had a typhoon and water leaked into my house (new build in Okinawa) and soaked a power strip and the main GFCI tripped. Had to figure it out and had no issues after that, BUT, there are appliances that will mess with the main GFCI in the house. We had a drier that used a 50 amp 3 prong outlet, but we had to disconnect the chassis ground and tape it off and add a ground wire to the outlet to keep the main GFCI breaker from tripping.

[@mmotsenbocker]

I live in Japan. Periodically the power company comes out and checks for leaks to ground in the whole house circuit. They also replace the electric wires from street into house every 8 years. On a related note, none of this stuff is needed if the power company does not ground one side of its power circuit. An ungrounded power source will not shock you if you touch one bare wire. We are discovering this basic fact in off grid solar installations, which only need to ground solar panel aluminum frames for lightning..............

[@weeardguy]

And that's what is called a floating power supply ;) . Is the 8-year replacement a thing required due to earthquake damage or so? Here in The Netherlands the cable to many homes easily surpass the 40-year mark without any problems, but we don't have earthquakes (or at least, not as serious as in Japan, the last very serious one happened in 1992 at Roermond, but was felt all across the country and even in the UK)

[@magnifikus3]

It's a common misconception that a GFCI limits the current to 30mA, it trips at 30mA but needs some time, until when the failure current is not limit. To be honest GFCI + protective earth (ground) connection is the best solution practiced in many countries, common is to mandate ground connection if you have a metal enclosure to prevent touch shock, the GFCI detects that + any other leakage/touching. Also this is independent from TN/TT nets :)

[@benharris4436]

Cutoff is normally up to 40ms trip time, for a 50Hz power that is within 2 cycles. Class I appliances are protected with 1 level of safety (basic insulation), but all exposed conductive parts are attached to earth. Class II appliances have 2 layers of protection (reinforced insulation) and do not have an earth. Some things like toasters would be too expensive to design for Class II, and things like laptop chargers don't want to be linked to ground so can't do Class I.

[@randacnam7321]

GFCI/RCD trip currents depend on the country and application. American residential and commercial GFCIs are always rated at 5mA. Equipment protection GFCIs can have trip currents in the hundreds of mA.

[@almosthuman4457]

not quite. lots of areas in the US require Ground fault/Arc fault breakers in new homes and remodels for all living areas

[@jonc4403]

Which most Americans will promptly replace with normal breakers as soon as the inspection is done, because nobody wants those nuisance trips.

[@miket2120]

We finished refurbishing a late 1940's home and had the electrical totally redone. The original was all knob and tube wiring (the attic looked like electrical cobwebs!) with no ground so it had to be upgraded. After a week the team of electricians got the job done. I noticed that there were no GFCIs in the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room or outdoor outlets! Could they have cheaped out on us? I looked in the breaker box: EVERY breaker was a GFCI so every outlet or light or appliance was protected.

[@waralo191]

In Switzerland EVERYTHING has GFCI, every outlet, lights, and usually there are multible ones in the wiring closet. Bathrooms get their own brakers, other rooms are mostly grouped together. We also have ground in our outlets, but it's seperate from neutral. (TN-S)

[@fatguy9]

I could see the benefit of saving copper wire by not having a ground wire but the safest thing is to have both which is not too hard to do in the US since most modern buildings have grounding wires already and you could install a gfci outlet or gfci breaker a lot easier than running ground wires in already built buildings

[@mediocreman2]

Yeah, unfortunately there's some pretty bad information in this video. US outlets with GFCI are incredibly safe. If you combine them with AFCI, they are one of the safest in the world.

[@akassasin5768]

I could be wrong but with the ground wire being the same size as the neutral actually wouldn't allow more current. The ground is usually connected to metal cases of components. This means that if any hot wires (neutral can carry current aswell) touch a metal component you don't get shocked. Instead it shorts to the breaker. This actually usually creates an electromagnetic collapse in the breaker which tripps it. That's why pulling 17 amps from a 15 amp breaker might take 30 seconds to trip but a short will trip right away. Also you may have mistaken earthing rods for grounding rods. The rods that go into earth take and energy from lightning hopefully back into the earth (where the lightning is trying to go) that's an earthing rod not a grounding rod from what I understand. Last thing. You can actually see for yourself that grounding is simply mean to short accidental hot wires touching what they aren't supposed to. Inside your bathroom often by your gfc you have the ground connected to the copper plumbing. Why would a wire meant to carry an immense amount of current at home voltage be connected to plumbing l. That is because if a hot wire touches plumbing it will trip instead of staying hot. By the way sticking a fork into one side of an outlet won't shock you often times because your resistance is to high. Now that changes if you are in the shower.

[@prjndigo]

the ground and the neutral are both actually bound to the ground, its a method of neutralizing a building charge on the neutral and keeping the wiring from appearing like a target to lightning as well... very few people understand the lightning thing because house wiring is "do as we wrote or you get fined"

[@aaron_11111]

Pulling 17 amps from a 15A breakers takes awhile trip because a bi metallic strip takes a while to warm up and open the circuit. When you short a 15A breaker it trips immediately because all that current passes through a coil which will pull the breaker contacts a part when the magnetic field is strong enough. This is by design so something like an air-con unit with its large compressor does not constantly cause tripping because for a few hundred milliseconds motors tend to pull a high current just as it accelerates its rotor from stationary. In a RCD / GFCI there is another coil where neutral and live passes through. In normal operation no electricity will be induced in that coil as the outflow and return cancel each other out, but when you stick a knife in the toaster and make contact with the element some of the energy is not returning via the neutral, which induces electricity in the GFCI coil, the tiny bit of electricity is passed on to a TRIAC (or something similar) which then basically shorts the breaker causing it to open almost immediately.

[@foogod4237]

It's not about the size of the wire. It's about the fact that there's no resistance _in the device_ between the hot line and the ground (when a fault develops), so in that situation the _device_ will allow a lot more current to flow than is supposed to, which trips the breaker. The same thing would be true if there was a fault in the device connecting live to neutral, too. It's just that ground is a dedicated connection that's always guaranteed to be safe to touch, so it can be connected to things like metal exterior bits (live and neutral are often inadvertently swapped, and in some fault situations, neutral can actually end up with voltage on it too, so neutral isn't always guaranteed to be safe). Also, at least in the US, there is no difference between a "grounding rod" and an "earthing rod" (technically, in standard US terminology, there is no such thing as an "earthing rod" at all. They are officially always called "grounding electrodes".) Grounding rods (or "earthing rods") are also not intended to protect against lightning (this is a common misconception). The grounding conductors are actually nowhere near large enough to be effective in the case of a direct lightning strike anyway (they'll probably just be vaporized). Grounding electrodes are actually intended only to dissipate _static charges_ and eliminate _differences in ground potential_ from one location to another, and also to ensure that the ground wires (and neutral) are always kept close to the same potential as surrounding things that are not part of the electrical system (they are not allowed to "drift up" to accumulate high voltage potential on them, which might otherwise be possible if they weren't tied to anything else).

[@jovetj]

Earthing rod, ground rod, same thing; earth wire, ground wire, same thing.

[@heronimousbrapson863]

Here in North America there are still some older houses which have ungrounded outlets, many of which have no ground wire in the cable either. In many cases, people removed the grounding pin to get the plug to fit in the ungrounded socket. Many appliances are dispensing with the grounding pin altogether in favor of double insulation, whereby no hot conductors are capable of making contact with the outside casing.

[@professorg8383]

The individual GFCI outlets are much safer because their trip currents are only about 5 milliamps. Costs more but protects better and are easy to reset when you do something stupid. Central GFCIs or RCDs also protect the wiring downstream of the panel, but the personal protection is less.

[@appleimacdude]

I was thinking what someone else commented on - why not push the U.S. to combine the two systems? Seems like they would work excellent together. If the GFCI failed, the old-fashioned ground system would still offer a good amount of protection.

[@remko2]

the majority of the outlets in the Netherlands are ungrounded, only in kitchens or rooms for for example washing machines, so where there is a chance of moisture, there are grounded outlets

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

A detail that he failed to mention is that devices with a ground are often single insulated, whereas ones with only 2 prongs are typically double insulated to make it that much less likely that you'd be shocked by them. Even in the US where it's standard for outlets to have 3 prongs, a good chunk of the stuff we plug into those outlets has only 2 prongs. Probably for the same reason that most of our stuff has the ability to run on 115/230v an 50/60hz, a good chunk of the stuff these days is designed to work anywhere in the world with as few modifications as possible.

[@leerman22]

That whole hassle of getting a screwdriver out to ground something is very redundant when you could just use a basic north american socket.

[@bitskit3476]

But then it wouldnt be kawaii anymore. Baka.

[@jovetj]

I'm pretty sure Japanese plug blades are just a slightly different size than the US/Canada's.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@jovetj Why would they be? Japan uses basically the same power standard as the US and Canada do, at least with respect to amperage and voltage, and most modern electronics are designed to handle both 50 and 60hz. Anything in any of those countries with just 2 plugs is supposed to be double insulated as there's no ground to direct stray current to other than through the body.

[@hambone8820]

How often are you moving your refrigerator or washing machine around the house? Those are the only thing people ground. I have a welder with the 3rd prong and just use the 3 to 2 converter and don't ground it, I have cut the 3rd prong off some of my other things

[@leerman22]

@@hambone8820 kettle toaster air firer lots of kitchen stuff. gaming pc and monitor

[@HeathenGeek]

In the UK TT systems usually have a 300mA RCD upfront to protect the whole installation. This is then time delayed, that is: it won't detect a fault for the first 100ms or so. This is because each circuit is then protected by its own 30mA RCD, so the circuits are protected twice over, and the circuits still have an Earth. Some types of systems in UK have Earth and Neutral connected. These are called PME (protective multiple Earth) and still have to have 30mA RCD protection. So, usually, they're safer. Still the best plugs and sockets in the world. . . unless you stand on them 🙂

[@jonc4403]

Yeah, I maintain that UK plugs are the most dangerous in the world. It hurts to step on a US plug, a UK plug will send you to the hospital with a puncture wound. In both countries the death rate is practically nothing. Turns out the vast majority of US electrocution deaths are caused by fractal wood burning - a hobby that effectively requires all safety mechanisms to be intentionally defeated.

[@Nemo222]

Australian plugs are better. All the same safety features in a much smaller package. But the Australian plug doesn't work with ring main circuits with a fuse for every device. The fuse for every device isn't needed if you have spoke circuits with appropriately sized breakers in the panel. The UK plug is the 4th best plug and is wildly overrated.

[@edrose5045]

​@@Nemo222Fuses in plugs have nothing to do with ring final circuits, that's a myth. They are beneficial to be used anywhere. Take a look at a small lamp cable and compare it to your kettle cable. Do they look like they should be protected by the same 15A/20A breaker? The breaker protects the wires in the wall, but cannot protect that little lamp cable. A fuse in the socket is needed to protect it

[@ImprobableWizard]

@@Nemo222 What is the ranking?

[@leerman22]

@@Nemo222 I like aussie plugs, they are so simple how they all lock out of being plugged into a lesser circuit, just change the pins' GIRTH instead of a completely different layout of pins.

[@johng.1703]

in the UK we are moving towards RCBO (residual current circuit breaker with overcurrent protection) for each circuit. we also use the CPC (Circuit Protective Conductor) also known as a ground. exposed conductive parts are prevented from becoming live as all exposed metal parts are connected to the CPC, which when a live touches it, it trips the individual circuit breaker for that circuit. I should also point out that ever device doesn't always have a ground, but they are double insulated and are still protected by the RCBO.

[@michaelsliwa2578]

Our house was built in 1983. We have the original central GFI system built in. It covers the bathrooms, outdoors, and garage. For example, if water gets into an outside outlet, it trips the breaker in the panel. All connected outlets go dead until the breaker is reset. No one else in our development has this feature, as far as I know. Same builder.

[@fireaza]

I live in Japan, and for whatever reason, power strips nearly always have a ground pin hole, despite basically no appliances having the pin. Also, many appliances that have a ground wire, don't have the fancy metal connector. It's just a bare wire, and you're expected to just sorta, shove it into the ground plate.

[@drtekrox]

Likely just re-use of American designs. In Australia many plugpacks coming from China are 'upside down' since China uses a very similar (but not quite the same) outlet as we do, but they have the earth pin on top, so if the plugpack pulls away from the wall slightly, the earth pin is the exposed pin, where in old Australian appliances, active and neutral would have been exposed. in 2003 it was mandated in Australia that the first half of the flat pins (the half at the back of the plug, not the half first inserted into the socket) is insulted to prevent that issue. Different solutions to the same problem, but since we share an outlet and do it differently, sometimes the plugpacks are just upside down - happens the same for China too, sometimes a plugpack released in the local Chinese market will be Australian standard with insulated pins but upside down for Chinese sockets.

[@MCA0090]

It's a bad design. They should have just started making outlets with the 3rd pin as well as the plugs that need it. They could have done that decades ago.

[@NaStEric]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="491">8:11</a> needs an oscars

[@dohabandit]

Too many devices have small leakage current to ground, smart outlets, yadda yadda. As a result the whole home GFCI has to have 30ma or higher threshold and that makes it still dangerous for human safety. It's better to put individual GFCI breakers or GFCI outlets with a lower threshold voltage around 5ma or less. Japan is saving 30% or more in copper costs though!

[@Spyd77]

In Spain, having a RCD (Differential as we call them here) on the electrical panel is mandatory since 1973, this same year grounded sockets were mandatory on kitchens and bathrooms or similar places. Since 2002 sockets without grounding are banned and you can't find them for sale. The only electrical devices without ground plug that are allowed on Spain since 2002 are those that are double insulated.

[@tlhIngan]

Europe actually has a mix of grounding systems. As a result, all consumer units have a GFCI/RCD because a ground fault could turn the ground system into a TT by accident. TT systems require a GFCI at the input. North America uses TN-C-S (Earth("Terra")-Neutral-Combined-Split) where Neutral is put at Earth potential by bonding at various points in the circuit, while Europe uses a whole mix depending on basically the jurisdiction. The UK especially has a huge mix of grounding systems at play. Incidentally, it's code-compliant in North America to retrofit a 2-prong outlet (no ground) with a 3-prong outlet as long as a GFCI is installed (and the notation "No Equipment Ground" is labelled on all outlets with such a "dead ground"). There are enough legacy outlets where this is necessary and having a 3-prong outlet is often required without resorting to things like cheater plugs.

[@grife3000]

TLDW: Japan uses GFCI's everywhere, except for where they don't (because high currents are needed for motor kick-offs).

[@maxmisterman785]

As far as i know, you can programm them so they are also used in industrial settings, or what do you mean with motor kick-offs?

[@cc-to]

@@maxmisterman785 Motors are notorious for tripping GFIs not because of high currents as such, but because when a motor starts there is a split-second mismatch between the current it draws and the current it passes back to the panel on the neutral wire. Basically the motor is very briefly storing electrical current, which exactly simulates the fault that the GFI is supposed to protect against. In some US/Canada jurisdictions, you're allowed (or required) to *not* use GFI's where a nuisance trip would cause property damage (sump pumps) or food spoilage (freezers). However, I'm not seeing that Japanese grounded outlets avoid this. They can't be wired to bypass the GFI because they also seem to accept 2-prong plugs. I'm thinking that these whole-house RCDs are set with a high enough threshold (to avoid whole-house nuisance trips) that they just aren't effective in protecting human life in certain high-risk conditions, so the ground path (even a high-resistance one) will let the GFI trip in a hot-chassis fault condition before a person has a chance to grab it.

[@ddjohnson9717]

yeah clickbait 100%. its basically just like the 100-year-old homes that lacking ground so we put gfci outlets, but the Japanese did it to the entire house.

[@Lam]

Exactly that, I'm glad I didn't have to explain nuisance tripping Japan sells GFCIs for motors! www.amazon.co.jp/Panasonic-Breakers-Notebook-Protection-bjw3303/dp/B00IX8DQ4I/

[@sorin-vn3mc]

You need GFCI with a current curve for your appliance. In Europe you have curve A, B, C... The trip for one is 30mA. Doesn't matter if it's for motor or your laptop.

[@xonx209]

In usa, residential GFCI trips at 4-6mA

[@alouisschafer7212]

What? In Central Europe and UK+Ireland the standard is 30ma to avoid nuisance tripping on ground leakage/stray currents that occur naturally in electronic devices.

[@hburke7799]

@alouisschafer7212 the big difference is American GFCIs are protecting only one branch circuit, and stray currents are likely to be reduced at 120v (as compared to 230v).

[@retrozmachine1189]

10mA RCDs are available but are only used in certain settings. They can trip from 5 to 10mA but always at 10mA or more.

[@jonc4403]

@alouisschafer7212 But we just have to push the reset button on the nearby outlet to reset it if it trips - and devices here DO NOT have that kind of leakage current under normal conditions.

[@retrozmachine1189]

@@jonc4403 You can have a GFCI outlet protecting additional sockets downstream though so potentially you still have to contend with aggregate leakage pushing close to the trip point and potentially have to go walkies to reset the device anyway. 6 of one, half a dozen of the other really.

[@osgeld]

I also have a second question, in the USA GFCI devices trip at 4-6 ma difference between neutral and ground, why is 30 "so much safer" 25 across the heart is enough to kill. In my 1992 house in the USA we have one GFCI device connected to all wet locations and outdoor locations in the garage. Just plugging in an outdoor device with condensation in the plug is enough to trip it! I would much rather take a 5 mA average zap than a lethally 30 mA zap on the circuits that actually matter IMO. Ground is better, and even here in the USA most appliances under a certain wattage is still 2 pronged but expected to be used in protected zones ... defined damn near 50 years ago

[@mediocreman2]

Yep, there's some really bad information in this video. Full house GFCI doesn't make sense because you can shut down the entire house with one outlet. The U.S. with an AFCI breaker, ground, and GFCI outlets, safer voltage than Europe, but still have 220 if you need it, is pretty hard to beat.

[@ComeonmenID10T]

i think the power outlets in Germany are much better and safer, because the Power Pins are pretty much inside the outlet ( you can't accidentally touch them ) and the first contact made is always the ground, when inserting the connector / power cable into the outlet

[@MCA0090]

In Brazil we usually use the grounding connected on the neutral in the electric panel, but our regulations also allow the TT grounding, but people avoid it because GFCI is mandatory on every circuit that is installed with TT grounding (because otherwise the grounding would be useless for protection). We also use the GFCI in the electric panel like Japan does (GFCI is mandatory for kitchen, bathrooms, outside areas and any other areas that are subject to be wet or too humid). But you still can be electrocuted in a groundingless circuit protected by a GFCI if you touch both wires at the same time (live and neutral) and the current pass through you body from one wire to the other wire and doesn't escape to the ground, in this case GFCI will not detect it.

[@Bigrignohio]

Just started watching, can already say it is because of the GFCI protection.

[@hladick]

Kinda missing a important fact of why birds sit on power wires, but people usually get shocked when they grab a hot wire.

[@qwunchyoats9892]

Because the birds are only touching the wire and nothing else, there's nowhere for electricity to go and they don't get shocked. When humans touch a live wire, they are standing on the ground so the electricity goes from live to ground through their body which shocks them.

[@hladick]

@@qwunchyoats9892 and when you have a ground wire and a human in parallel?

[@Skracken]

@@qwunchyoats9892 But most of the time while you're indoors, what you're standing on is not grounded, or more likely not very conductive. So as lot of times, it's actually not going to hurt you to touch something live. You might just feel a vibration. That being said, I wouldnt recommend trying it.

[@okaro6595]

There typically are only hot wires on power lines. Birds do not get shocked as they do not touch two wires.

[@okaro6595]

@@Skracken That is why in many European countries ungrounded sockets were used in dry rooms until the 90s. They actually can be safer if a kid sticks something in it as there is nothing grounded nearby. I hate how people net stupid nationalistic on these issues picking individual points in their system and claiming how it is better or superior without understanding the systems and the logic behind them as a whole. Americans seem to be especially fond on grounding. The more the better.

[@ativerc]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="644">10:44</a> All hail the FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!

[@Robbedoes2]

In Holland many homes still feature ungrounded outlets. GFCI's are also very common. I have 3 of them for my house, each sharing like 4 breakers. So if your washing machine gets leaky only your bathroom gets switched off, but not your fridge.

[@bpark10001]

The GFCI only blows when you touch the toaster. The grounded system blows when the toaster has insulation defect occur.

[@SonOfZeusGaming]

I hate one main GFCI. One a-hole can just trip the entire place. I love the idea of a GFCI per outlet, more expensive but less stupid.

[@Basement-Science]

yeah its just a cost saving measure, and one that comes from a time when GFCIs were a lot more expensive by comparison. Unfortunately GFCIs with less than 30mA are not really a thing for breaker panels, I think something like 5-10mA per room would be much better.

[@sbdpro2]

Over here in germany there at max six circuits allowed per GFCI by the newest code. In a modern house, you not only have one GFCI but many of them, one for lighting, one for every high power application, one for the outlets and even a own GFCI for the bathroom and outdoor area. So no, if you have doen it right your whole house isnt without pwoer. And by doing it like that, we have a GFCI protection for EVERY outlet and circuit in the house. In older homes, you regularely have not so many 3 GFCIs but more than one, for exacmple one per floor and then one for the outside area.

[@tdgdbs1]

That is how you bring old house up to code; replace all 2 hole outlets with GFCI outlets.

[@BuzzinsPetRock78]

Or do it like here (netherlands): one per breaker. Individual sockets can't really be fitted with it here, mostly because we have always done it on the central panel. Works fine and is cheaper than doing it on each and every socket.

[@sootikins]

@@tdgdbs1 Where are you going to get the ground (earth) wire for that third hole? It won't be there in the outlet box (why would it in a "2-hole" system).

[@richsherman3673]

The better technical term for that "third connection: is PE = Protective Earth.

[@rerolledDK]

In the Philippines, we use Japanese style ungrounded outlets but blast 220v through them and don't use GFCI. Life is more exciting when your outlets have no safety features and are physically compatible with the plugs of appliances that use about half the voltage.

[@NotExpatJoe]

I swear my house in the Philippines is wired with phone cable. There are also a lot of wires in public that hang very low. My wife is only 4'6" and strolls under them without a care in the world, while myself at 5'10" catch them in the throat or they drag across the top of my head. Scary stuff.

[@jounlow]

@@NotExpatJoe welp at least the Filipino kids are probably smart enough no to touch a bare HV powerline . not the case in the US. found a news story online [there were highly vivid pics of the scene] the line was hanging about 4ft off the ground. i was aggravated by how much they were praising the person who dragged his i assume unconscious butt away. they made it seem like it was a highly dangerous endeavor. i don't remember but i believe the football field sized area they had yellow Caution tape strung up along was there when it happened.

[@Cotronixco]

@@NotExpatJoe Is there no NEC there?

[@NotExpatJoe]

@@Cotronixco Yes, the Philippines has an electrical code, known as the Philippine Electrical Code (PEC). The PEC is part of the Philippine Grid Code (PGC) and the Philippine Distribution Code (PDC). However, there is a lot of corruption and little desire to enforce the code, especially with residential housing.

[@originaldarkwater]

When I was a kid in the 60's, before grounded outlets were common in North America, I remember our in-window air conditioner had a separate grounding wire like that one you showed, and it would get screwed onto that screw that holds on face plate, right between the two outlets (I guess the boxes were grounded even if the outlets were not?)

[@BoDiddly]

Just an FYI, I live in Georgia, USA. Our Ground goes to the copper pipes which come into the house from underground. We don't have a "grounding rod", we have a grounding Copper Pipe. Our house was build in the 1970's when copper pipes were standard for water.

[@James_Knott]

Same in the house I grew up in. These days, plastic pipes make lousy grounds! 🙂

[@TexasEngineer]

The new NEC does not permit this.

[@BoDiddly]

@@TexasEngineer Probably because they don't use Copper pipes as a default anymore.

[@TexasEngineer]

@@BoDiddly Not really. Gas pipes are steel and sometimes bonded to water pipes especially at the water heater..There are cases where you get induced currents on your gas pipes and sparks can happen. It is best to only ground in one location with a ground rod.

[@BoDiddly]

@@TexasEngineer I meant copper pipes for water. Now days they use PVC instead of copper.

[@jimlocke9320]

A single GFCI breaker for the entire house would plunge the entire house into darkness if that breaker were to trip. If the fault were to spontaneously occur somewhere in the electrical system, it would be hard to track down. It is bad enough when several outlets are on the same GFCI and one causes the GFCI to trip. A strategy would be to switch all circuit breakers off, reset the GFCI, then switch the breakers on, one at a time. The GFCI should trip when the faulty circuit is powered up. I prefer to have the GFCIs at each outlet. Then, a fault will only disrupt power to devices plugged into that one outlet. A downside mentioned in the video is that the GFCI outlets should be replaced every 10-15 years. Few homeowners will think to do that. If the homeowner does the replacement, wiring errors might make the system more dangerous than if the outlets were left alone. An electrician could be expensive and there is no guarantee that the electrician won't make errors.

[@xenuburger7924]

I lived in Japan once when I got lightly zapped by the refrigerator. I reversed the plug and it stopped zapping.

[@mmotsenbocker]

it probably helps that Japanese voltage is 15% lower than US and less than half that of China/Europe. Construction workers in the UK use transformers/110V power tools sometimes because 220v is so god awful and 110 is much safer.

[@okaro6595]

Either that was a normal leak or there was some random fault that did not manifest when the plug was the other way.

[@FatSn8ke]

I got saved by a GFCI once when I was 3. I poked a long screw into the live wall socket while sitting on the floor wearing shorts. My finger got burnt and was shaking a lot. Luckily, no other injuries were caused. I probably would have been dead if the GFCI didn’t work as intended. Real life-saver!

[@jovetj]

Yes they are!

[@arraybytes7214]

I am not surprised most people don't know, since 2014 the US requires Arcflash protection for any occupied spaces, so any room other than the garage or a shed. And in many cases a dualtech breaker that can do both GFCI and AFCI (any potentially wet location) the AFCI can detect a faulty wire connection, or a outlet with a bad connection, or a fayed wire contacting ground. Just like any change to the code, only newer homes have this, and if you upgrade your breaker panel.

[@SA12String]

I was once under a customer's house, crawling with my entire body in contact with the earth, and grabbed a piece of low-hanging flexible conduit to get it out of my way. I was INSTANTLY caught in that "can't let go" situation. I'm alive just by pure luck. The contact within the conduit either burned itself through, or came loose. I refused to go back under that house again until their electrical system was corrected. People don't get it until they've found themselves holding current and their hands clench. It took me quite awhile to get myself back together. It's much more than just the nasty shock you get when you touch a live wire. That being said, that's a really cute and tiny electrical panel. In my 1500 square foot home in the US, we have a 100 amp main breaker panel, and I'm planning on upgrading to 200 amp, because we live in a nearly all-electric area, where electric appliances are more efficient than gas in terms of therms. Still, IMO, grounded outlets WITH GFCI protection is best.

[@FIGHTTHECABLE]

I would never solely rely on a RCD tripping. I've had RCDs get stuck. Also important is to use RCD that can detect mixed overlay frequencies and DC-faults, as electronics these days can blind an RCD. That's why a fuse or breaker should be in first line to trip if there is an amp spike. I'm not sold on japans approach, it seems to me it was a hot fix.

[@magnifikus3]

That's why you need a special RCD when DC overlay can occur like frequency inverters etc.

[@morphingjar]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="98">1:38</a> proceeds to demonstrate a made in china toaster that did not have a properly installed ground wire and damaged electrical wiring.

[@RedToxy-rc7ev]

In Russia we combining GFCI (or RCD, but we call them "differential automates") with grounded outlets. It gives us a chance to trigger GFCI before some device zaps you. For example a couple years ago I got heater failure in washing machine. Of cource resistance of water limited current and it would'nt be enough to trigger circuit breaker on 16A. But GFCI triggered immediately because this leacage current on grounded shell of washing machine was enough. I really don't want to test how good my GFCI on myself. So it better if it triggered on leak on grounded devices.

[@galdavonalgerri2101]

same system in Germany. RCDs are mandatory for new buildings and for "major renovations". In old buildings, only "at-risk rooms" have to be retrofitted. These are rooms with water (bathrooms, kitchesn, washing machine rooms, etc.). When I renovated my house, I fitted all the electrical circuits with RCDs. They cost only 30-40 € and that should be worth your safety

[@toyloliSpare]

Oh RCD's we have them here as well. They first started appearing in the 90s, and around 2008 they made it law all houses have to have them installed. Retroactively The gov paid out to make sure homes didn't have to pay to have it done. Most houses here still have 3pin but most devices are two pin. The Ground system is there for redundancy. (Later the gov enforced fire alarms the same way).

[@shubhang9758]

We actually put up a GFCI when we were building our new home in India. We had to get it removed 2 years later though because even small sparks from plugging appliances in would cause it to cut off the electricity to the entire house. In the end, we ended up to retrofitting the system with a US-based model, focusing only on bathrooms and areas with high moisture or wet conditions.

[@mrdonetx]

Well I don't understand why everyone is so proud of theirs being safer. There are only 400 electrocutions in the United States avg/yr. It doesn't specify how many are from wall outlets. Since far more people are injured from falling power lines and doing dumb stuff I'm confident that there aren't many at all. So....

[@retrozmachine1189]

The USA's electrical related death rate adjusted for population count is about twice that of peer countries.

[@mrdonetx]

@retrozmachine1189 and yet 17,000 people are unalived in the United States from gravity every year. Gravity is 100x more likely to unalive you than an electrical outlet. So....

[@ThexXxXxOLOxXxXx]

@@retrozmachine1189 How come? US uses 120v?

[@retrozmachine1189]

@@ThexXxXxOLOxXxXx Your guess is as good as mine.

[@mediocreman2]

Nobody is getting electrocuted from 110 volts unless they're sitting in a bathtub in a very old home without GFCI outlets.

[@asaturn]

USA has fuse box mounted GFCI circuit breakers. this is superior to Japan because every outlet also has ground built-in. no need to manually wire it in. and this can always be added in to older homes without the need to re-wire anything.

[@moonasha]

I don't understand how japanese appliances aren't grounded. What happens if a live wire in a toaster or something touches the metal body? The japanese system just relies on you completing the circuit to ground? that's ridiculous. In the US as soon as the wire touched the toaster's metal body the breaker would trip. Is the neutral just used as a ground in appliances??

[@Lam]

Good point, so there's a lot of type II appliances (plastic on the outside) that minimizes this risk. But yeah, otherwise you would just get shocked which is why grounded outlets are being introduced to kitchens where that's more likely to happen. In the USA there are instances where ground doesn't have enough energy to trip the breaker.

[@philiptong4978]

consider the scenario neutral is not tied to ground, in other words not at ground potential no part of the mains power supply has connection to ground, as a result current will not flow when a grounded conductive object (such as your hand) come in contact the drawback is lack of lightning protection

[@nox5555]

@@Lam what about the big beafy 400V in the kitchen? is that one grounded?

[@monteglover4133]

Please correct me if I’m wrong! Per NEC (National Electric Code) Tamper resistant outlets Are required on new builds. I also believe that GFCI and arc faults are required on many of not most circuits. My woodworking shop is detached from our house if I understand the code my shop would require about $1,000 in just circuit breakers by current code. None metallic sheeted cable (aka Romex) is not a good electrical system as it is very susceptible to damage both mechanical and rodents. EMT (metal thin wall pipe) should be required for electrical wiring even in houses FYI I am a retired industrial electrician

[@sincerelyyours7538]

Up until 2008 Japan hadn't even standardized on polarized outlets in residential buildings. Since then all new house construction has been required to have polarized outlets installed, but older houses could continue to use their old non-polarized outlets. Appliance manufacturers, however, have not yet been required to install polarized plugs on their products to fit in those new outlets. 16 years have past since the regulation went into effect and appliances still don't come with polarized plugs, presumably so they could stay compatible with all those older houses still using the old outlets. Even large appliances (washer and dryer, etc.) that come with the pig-tailed grounded plugs are not polarized. As those appliances are expected to be installed in one spot and not moved around much, the use of pig-tailed grounds and outlets to accommodate them was deemed sufficient protection, but many people don't know what those pig-tails are for and simply leave them hanging. As was correctly noted in the video, Japanese regulations don't require three-pronged grounded outlets either, but you can have them installed in a new house at an additional cost to the homeowner. If you do this make sure there's no misunderstanding between you and your electrician. I've found that many are so used to installing two-pronged outlets they may automatically install those outlets just because that's the normal way it's done in Japan. I had grounded outlets installed in my two custom built houses, but to cut costs I had them installed only in some of the rooms. My 2nd floor radio/computer room, woodworking shed, media center, washroom, kitchen and large appliances (refrigerator, heatpumps, etc.) have them but the other rooms rely on the whole house GFCI for protection. In retrospect I probably should have had grounded outlets installed in all the rooms because I found out later that Japanese electricians typically use two-wire Romex for non-grounded outlets which makes replacing those outlets later with grounded ones quite difficult. A greater problem for me is the low-voltage 100V, 50Hz power and the limited service amperage allowed for house wiring. I can deal with the lower voltage by using step-up transformers when needed but the maximum current any house can get here is 60 amps which is pitifully low by American standards. If you want more power you have to have two service panels installed which effectively requires two complete installations with two meters and that means two separate bills to pay the electric company. I must watch my power consumption very carefully to keep from tripping the house's main breaker if I happen to turn on too many appliances at once.

[@luckywetland]

IMO, GFCI + a ground pin will more safe. I live here and I'm telling you Japan is just too outdated and lazy. It just doesn't make any sense why only appliances such as washing machines, ACs and washlets in toilets etc. come with that dangling ground wire that requires extra work to install? And why only certain locations in the apartment/houses have that outlet that accepts the funny ground wire? Like for instance, my microwave has that ground wire, and my outlet doesn't have that so called EARTH アース thing to wire it in. Yeah, I feel safe already. Another fun fact, that North American outlet is actually available in the market here in Japan but they just don't install it for some reason even in the new houses as you mentioned which makes me go like "WTF why not".

[@jort93z]

I wouldn't say "lazy", just cheap. Japan also uses overhead wires, even in large cities, in all of europe and most of the US you don't see it anymore in cities.

[@PanduPoluan]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="640">10:40</a> ah, a safer version of ElectroBOOM.

[@Lam]

That's where I got the idea from!

[@PanduPoluan]

@@Lam you need to make the resistor explode 😅

[@mediocreman2]

North American outlets with a GFCI are actually safer. Whole house GFCI sounds good on paper, but individual GFCI outlets can have a lower sensitivity and respond faster. North American outlets are only 110 volts whereas Europe is 220 to 240 I believe. 110 volts doesn't really hurt honestly, but 220 to 240 doesn't feel very good. That's why Europe is forced to use a design that better hides their prongs. The history of that also goes back even further because they have to use thinner copper wires after World War II, which means they had to use higher voltage. If it wasn't for that, they would probably use the same standard as the US.

[@wyomingguy4743]

The common belief is that 110 volts is more dangerous because the human muscles react to this voltage by contracting when current is passed through them. So if this would happen with something in your hands then you wouldn’t be able to let go. Current would pass through your arms and likely your heart. A higher voltage might do the opposite but current is still going to go through you either way. I’d rather not test it out either way. But you’re correct in that the higher voltage can “push “ more current and it the current that kills. And it’s only tens of milliamperes that can kill a human.

[@okaro6595]

@@wyomingguy4743 No, the 120 volts in the US is more dangerous because people think it is safe so they are not careful.

[@jovetj]

FYI Nominal voltages: Europe: 230-240V US/Canada: 120V Japan: 100V

[@Fudgieguys]

Only at the main panel can you connect neutral and ground circuits only. A sub-panel, ground, and neutral are isolated from each other. This is required by code in the USA.

[@ebol08]

If Technology Connections watches this video, he'll trip faster than the GFCI

[@cyzcyt]

why uk outlet is safer than both

[@sootikins]

Much more expensive too. UK seems to be an extreme example of regulators thinking all people are hopeless idiots.

[@longnamedude3947]

​@@sootikins That is because most people are hopeless idiots when it comes to electrical safety. Many regular people in the UK are clueless about how a plug even works, if you gave them two plugs, one with a grounding pin and one without many UK people wouldn't be able to tell you what will go wrong with the 2-Pin Socket if you use it and the appliance attached to it has a major electrical failure. The reason we have high standards is to ensure peoples safety, it works too, let's not change what isn't broken. UK Residential Electrical Systems are one of the best globally still, and it's over 100-Years Old at it's core Spec, it's also older than the American Spec, so that says a lot about how crap the American Spec is when it's worse than a older Spec lol As for the Japanese Electrical System, they still have two line frequencies splitting the entire nation in half, let's not compare them when they can't even get that bit right.

[@baksatibi]

If the ground is really just a different path to neutral in the US then why on Earth does it have to be driven into the ground? Also, wouldn't this also make neutral just a different path to ground? Btw. I live in Europe and I have the best of both worlds. All my circuits are protected by GFCI just like in Japan but all my outlets accept grounded plugs (Type F socket) like in the US.

[@maxmisterman785]

Ground needs to be in the ground cause the idea is that it also detects current that flows over the real ground from a live cable to it and then trips the breaker.

[@rhysrail]

Yes neutral is the same as ground at least in theory , and you can run circuits just using ground as neutral (although there are issues associated with it, it has to be driven into the ground so that if the connection somewhere brakes you won’t get shocked, that is the whole purpose of grounding and is why it’s a different cable from your appliance because if there was an issue with the normal ground you don’t want it shocking you

[@HerbieBancock]

Maybe a high school physics class can help you out.

[@jm036]

It is an alternate path to neutral in Europe as well in most cases. If it is just an earth rod then the RCD handles this protection.

[@rhysrail]

Also the video’s description of ground while correct isn’t the full story as there are far more ways ground saves you more than just tripping a breaker, some of the other safety features from it are keeping the neutral at 0 as well as providing an alternative path to the substation

[@minitos1]

Yeah no, EU's standard is better.

[@Irilia_neko]

Was thinking the same, we have literally everything

[@okaro6595]

There is no EU standard. Countries make their own standards.

[@Irilia_neko]

@okaro6595 there is a standard, but the country can modify it.

[@michaeljavert4635]

Moved into a house 4 years ago and almost NONE of the outlets were 3 prongs. Very inconvenient in today's world. Also a source of my OCD and paranoia. The only 3 prongs that existed were in the kitchen, the lavatory and the basement. The one in the kitchen were grounded by a stray wire that ran up through the floor (Basement ceiling) and to an outlet in the kitchen. They should have just rewired the entire circuit with 12/2 with ground. They were GFCI. However, in the lavatory, they created a "Bootleg or False" ground by connecting the neutral to the ground screw, this creating a very hazardous situation for anyone using a metal appliance with a ground. Ironic. When I was a kid, my parents inherited a house we lived in. It had two prongs and NONE of them were polarized. I heard my parents use words that I never heard before at 4 years old. So lots of trips with Dad to the hardware store to get polarized outlets. Those plug in testers aren't very good because out of 6 I have, NONE of them detect a false ground and show the circuit as "Correct" I also had to go around the house, replacing the 2 prong outlets with a GFCI and put a sticker saying on outlets being fed "GFCI Protected" and "No Equipment Ground" Ironic. I have been considering "Delete Me" and I have to wonder what happens if Delete Me gets breached or hacked. Then it's all worse. So I am still on the fence about volunteering all my info to them to get rid if it. Now they've got it all too as does anyone that hacks them or a rogue employee.

[@maxheadroom1506]

North america also has gfci circuit breakers that are installed during remodels and new construction.

[@Michaeldoesdrumsofficial]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="650">10:50</a> that’s what electroboom does

[@dylanleach1604]

You should learn more before you make a video

[@James_Knott]

Same could be said about a lot of YT videos.

[@justgivemethetruth]

I am continually amazed and impressed by the Japanese.

[@1337penguinman]

I remember one time I got shocked by my sink. After the initial "what the heck" I was immediately panicked and hit the main breaker for the house. Initially I assumed it was the garbage disposal that had shorted so spent like an hour looking for the cause. Turns out the power cord for my microwave had gotten damaged somehow and ended up laying on the very corner of said sink. Simple easy fix, but very panic inducing.