"Ric" wrote in message
...

"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.

Higher up, you said about your outdoor electrical instalations:
"They are just the same as interior sockets except in a mildly more shock
absorbent plastic. They are considered perfectly ok here."

A little lower down you said about these same accessories:
" They are waterproof, the plugs are waterproof, the wires are
waterproof etc"

My conclusion is that your indoor wiring standards are grossly
overspecified.

Franz