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British Plugs Are Better Than All Other Plugs, And Here's Why

Tom Scott · 7.6M views · 2014-07-07 · 4:26

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Overview

Tom Scott explains the design of the British BS 1363 plug and socket, including fuses, shutters and safety features, and why he thinks it beats other plugs.

On Hacker News

HN treats it as the obligatory video to share whenever plugs and sockets come up, praised for its safety reasoning.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 4 months · HN mentions 2019–2025

Topics

Product & industrial designElectronics & circuit designEngineering & making (other)
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bs 1363power plugselectrical safetytom scottfuses

What people said

lewiscollard · 2019-08 · Strong recommendation

For anyone that does not know why, as rarely as I recommend videos I very much suggest Tom Scott's video "British Plugs Are Better Than All Other Plugs, And Here's Why": [VIDEO]

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stevekemp · 2023-09 · Recommendation

It is true they can sting a little, but that aside I have a strong preference for them too - almost certainly because i grew up with them! There's the obligatory Tom Scott video here, which always gets shared, deservedly so, whenever the topic of plugs and sockets comes up: [VIDEO]

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tentacleuno · 2021-11 · Recommendation

> The only real advantage of the British plug over Schuko is the fuse (a debatable feature) Could I ask why a fuse is debatable? Seems like quite a basic security feature. There's a good video[0] on the design of UK plugs if you're interested. [0]: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Tom Scott, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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