Alan,

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:25:25 -0000, Alan B. Pearce wrote:

> >> Interesting, where would you plug in a hair dryer?
> >
> >In the bedroom!  My girlfriend (who is from New York) finds
> >it annoying that she can't dry her hair in the bathroom,
> >but it's the way we do it here.
> 
> Well, you can have one in the bathroom, but it has to be permanently wired.

I've only ever seen those in hotels, the wall-mounted ones - never seen them for sale anywhere, either.
 
> The one that amuses me is that Britain still uses pull cord light switches 
> in bathrooms. I assume that the reason is some safety inspector decided many 
> years ago that a wall mounted light switch was likely to get water into it 
> and electrocute someone if it wasn't IP rated. 

Ah, you misunderstand the way we "do" wiring regulations!  First, until fairly recently there were no inspectors as such - the installing electrician 
tests his installation and issues a certificate showing the results (a whole load of them, mostly resistance readings along and between the 
conductors).  Secondly, there are no hard and fast rules - you have to ensure that things are done safely, such as an accessory (light switch for 
example) must be suitable for the place it's located, and most sparkies take that to mean that in a bathroom a switch that isn't IP66 or better isn't 
suitable.  In theory if it's more than 600mm from the nearest edge of the bath, it's OK according to the recommendations, but since they don't want to 
make headlines by wandering off the beaten track, you almost always find pull-switches inside or ordinary switches outside the bathroom.

> But NZ has had all mounted 
> light switches in bathrooms more years than I can remember, and they are 
> just the standard light switch. If anyone thinks an NZ bathroom doesn't 
> become a steamy wet room, they should try living in the sub tropical climate 
> of the northern provinces, and you'll get just as much condensation on the 
> walls as any British bathroom.

I'm sure you're right, but the inertia of the electrical trade here is huge!  :-)
 
> At the end of it, I think it is just a con by the switch manufacturers - I 
> think I have replaced my bathroom light switch on average every 3 years, as 
> the cord breaks. 

Errr - every pullswitch I've ever seen has a replaceable cord... did you try unscrewing the little "bobble" near the switch, that the cord goes into?  
Also, I can't remember ever breaking a cord myself - the one over my bed has been in daily use since before I moved in (24 years ago!).  Is there 
someone in the house practicing their Tarzan technique?  :-)

Cheers,


Howard Winter
St.Albans, England


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