"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...

"Ric" wrote in message
...
In the UK electrical fittings are always massively over-specced. You
will
be
fine using the lowest spec and cheapest ones.

By way of example, here in France I have so-called "exterior" sockets
all
around my garden in various places for exterior lights and garden tools.
They are just the same as interior sockets except in a mildly more shock
absorbent plastic. They are considered perfectly ok here.

What happens if you touch a wet cable after some rain has fallen on the
plug
$ socket?

Nothing! It has rained heavily for the past two days here and I was out
working in my garden this morning, moving the lilghts around etc and it
seems fine. I even have one by my pool, which sometimes gets splashed while
I am swimming. They are waterproof, the plugs are waterproof, the wires are
waterproof etc. The French safety standards are perfectly good. I think in
UK the standards of electrical safety are unnecessarily high and expensive.
Don't leap to the conclusion that French standards are sloppy - I lived in
Germany and Switzerland before moving here, and in both countries it was the
same. UK is the odd man out.