Cleaning pins on UK mains plugs

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 18:18:44 UTC, Piotr Makley wrote:

I am in the UK and was wondering if there was any merit in cleaning
the brass pins of my three-pin mains plugs.

In many cases the pins look tarnished and I must have had some of
these plugs for 10 or 20 years.

The plugs all seem to work well and they do not heat up. But I
thought it would be good practise to sandpaper the pins so they
were shiny.

Am I wasting my time?

In this group (uk.comp.vendors), probably...it's massively OT. Perhaps
you meant to post to uk.d-i-y ?

--
Bob Eager
begin by not using Outlook Express...

"Piotr Makley" wrote in message
...
I am in the UK and was wondering if there was any merit in cleaning
the brass pins of my three-pin mains plugs.

In many cases the pins look tarnished and I must have had some of
these plugs for 10 or 20 years.

The plugs all seem to work well and they do not heat up. But I
thought it would be good practise to sandpaper the pins so they
were shiny.

Am I wasting my time?

Yes.

Alun Harford

"Piotr Makley" wrote in message
...

The plugs all seem to work well and they do not heat up. But I
thought it would be good practise to sandpaper the pins so they
were shiny.

Am I wasting my time?


ROFL !!

Yeah I reckon you should sandpaper them. It's extremely important that they
look good and fit in with the decor of the home whilst they're plugged in. !
LOL

"Piotr Makley" wrote in message
...
I am in the UK and was wondering if there was any merit in cleaning
the brass pins of my three-pin mains plugs.

In many cases the pins look tarnished and I must have had some of
these plugs for 10 or 20 years.

The plugs all seem to work well and they do not heat up. But I
thought it would be good practise to sandpaper the pins so they
were shiny.

Am I wasting my time?

Unless you finish off with Brasso yes. and don't forget to do the wire
inside too

"Trev" wrote in message
...
"Piotr Makley" wrote in message
...
I am in the UK and was wondering if there was any merit in cleaning
the brass pins of my three-pin mains plugs.
[snip]
Am I wasting my time?

Unless you finish off with Brasso yes. and don't forget to do the wire
inside too

One strand at a time, for optimal effect.

Alex

Alex Fraser wrote:

"Trev" wrote in message
...

"Piotr Makley" wrote in message
...

I am in the UK and was wondering if there was any merit in cleaning
the brass pins of my three-pin mains plugs.

[snip]

Am I wasting my time?

Unless you finish off with Brasso yes. and don't forget to do the wire
inside too


One strand at a time, for optimal effect.

Alex


Yes. Shininess reflects electricity, sort of like a
mirror. Hence for maximum energy efficiency once must
use highly polished wire.

And no bends in the wire, either. No slowing down for
the corners no stop or yield signs needed.

Ken

In alt.engineering.electrical Piotr Makley wrote:

| I am in the UK and was wondering if there was any merit in cleaning
| the brass pins of my three-pin mains plugs.
|
| In many cases the pins look tarnished and I must have had some of
| these plugs for 10 or 20 years.
|
| The plugs all seem to work well and they do not heat up. But I
| thought it would be good practise to sandpaper the pins so they
| were shiny.
|
| Am I wasting my time?

Why not just buy a shiny new plug and replace the old tarnished one?

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Phil Howard KA9WGN | http://linuxhomepage.com/ http://ham.org/ |
| (first name) at ipal.net | http://phil.ipal.org/ http://ka9wgn.ham.org/ |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 21:02:46 UTC, Ken Weitzel wrote:

And no bends in the wire, either. No slowing down for
the corners no stop or yield signs needed.

And fit the sockets near the ceiling, because gravity will help the
leccy come down the cable. (it gets pumped up there by those miniature
pumps they call MCBs).

--
Bob Eager
begin by not using Outlook Express...

Trev wrote:
"Piotr Makley" wrote in message
...
I am in the UK and was wondering if there was any merit in cleaning
the brass pins of my three-pin mains plugs.

In many cases the pins look tarnished and I must have had some of
these plugs for 10 or 20 years.

The plugs all seem to work well and they do not heat up. But I
thought it would be good practise to sandpaper the pins so they
were shiny.

Am I wasting my time?

Unless you finish off with Brasso yes. and don't forget to do the wire
inside too

But don't forget, if they are very clean and make better contact - they will
use more electricity, which in turn will lead to global warming. You have
been warned and if we are flooded in the UK we will lay the blame at your
door.

"Malev" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 19:18:44 +0100, Piotr Makley wrote:

I am in the UK and was wondering if there was any merit in cleaning
the brass pins of my three-pin mains plugs.

In many cases the pins look tarnished and I must have had some of
these plugs for 10 or 20 years.

The plugs all seem to work well and they do not heat up. But I
thought it would be good practise to sandpaper the pins so they
were shiny.

Am I wasting my time?

Under the terms of The Clean Pins Act 2003, you are legally obliged to
ensure
that all 3 pins are exempt of any deposit whatsoever and shine to BS 6907
specifications.
The newly formed Pin Inspection Special Squad (P.I.S.S.) has power of
entry to
inspect all your plugs, whether connected to the mains or not.


And further more the Pin Inspection Special Squad have the power to remove
offending items to be safely disposed of. This is known as taking the
P.I.S.S.

PC