please empty your brain below
The answer? New home builders are interested in saving every penny (10p saving on build cost = 10p more profit) , and providing 3s would cost more than it costs to provide 2s. Most people don't think about things like whether 2s or 3s are fitted when they are buying.
It is a safety issue. Primarily these days it is because of unnecessary exposed flex which amongst other things can be easy to trip over rather than overloading the circuits.
In three places (kitchen, main computer area and workshop) we have abandoned individual sockets for flexible bus-rail trunking. It seems incredibly expensive but in the long run it is much, much cheaper. Need a new socket ? Just buy one, cut out a slot for it in the snapfit cover and push it in. And no issues with part L of the latest building regulations.
I cannot agree with BW's argument for triple sockets. I am sure that to comply with the latest regulations these have to be individually fused (one fuse for the three sockets). Indivual fuses are a nuisance. Its much easier to reset the circuit breaker in the main consumer unit rather than to have to mess around with fuses. However there is nothing to stop you having two double sockets together provided they are all in the ring main not on a spur.
The flat we are moving into shortly has 4, yes 4, in the living room and bedrooms. How uncivilised! However, it does have a whopping 11 in the kitchen. Very odd.
the most ridiculous situation is at work when as the partitioning was being put up, the director asked for two sockets only per office. most offices are supposed to be shared but at the moment we all have our own so that's no problem - especially not in my office as i was in charge of the partitioning going up and the caballing, etc, so sneaked in two more sockets on the other side of my office. otherwise the computer opposite me would have all it's wires running across the floor to my wall.
a danger hazard and plain stupidity on the director's behalf.
But then you'd probably need an external disk to *hold* all that stuff you record, and then you're back to the same number of plugs. But at least your recordings would look better.
At least the over-specced mains rings in the UK *let* you do this. Try it in the US and you'll just blow breakers left and right.
Please don't do that, it's something of a fire risk. And I hope you're using proper extension leads, rather than those box things that plug directly into the socket.
Behind the computer there are so many tangled wires it is pretty incomprehensible as to how this place hasn't burned down yet.
Currently plugged into the sockets behind the pc we have:
The PC
The monitor
The scanner/copier
The printer
The router
The wacom tablet
The shredder
A fan
A light
The poncey mouse
and the yamaha keyboard
Then behind the telly there are another SEVEN sockets in use, and all of this is before taking the laptop and mobile chargers into consideration!
One day we WILL die in an electrical fire.
I would consider a laptop a 'temporary' plug like that for mobile phone and PDA charging devices. Certainly it isn't necessary to have a landline telephone that also uses mains power - there are many which run quite acceptably just on the power from the phone line.
I have no TV, no Freeview box, no video recorder or DVD player - I'm just not that interested in video as a media format. The hi-fi has digital radio. It would be nice to get a surge-protected six-plug extension for that stuff.
The laptop is the only computer I really use; my ancient desktop up in the loft is no longer plugged in.
OK so thats down to 14...I'm out of ideas. I tried.
When we recently built an extension, a lot of planning went into sockets, data cabling and video cabling. Trying to cover all positions for data became a nightmare, and then I remembered wireless, shunned initial because of the “cost”. Well that cost was a fraction of what we were looking at for 1Gbps data cable, esp. as the interweb is usual available at “up to” 2Mbps. Of course, since building an extension, I have no need for a wireless router: I have no money for a new router, nor anymore computers. I make do, “perfectly adequately” now with the single 6 year old desktop I’ve always had.
And, of course, if I really want tele in other parts of the house (I thought I did, but I really don’t), I can get one of them FM transmitter things. And I’m confident that long before I’m ready to go HD, they will have sorted wireless HD transmitters.
I had a colleague who, as a student flatting with 2 others, lived in a small house with 2 sockets. I think they used the electric cooker for heating...
I often wonder how people manage at Xmas, especially those "airport landing strip" style houses...
what of your kitchen appliances, DG?
to make myself a bit of a hypocrite, they do six way adaptors at your local tesco multiplex, though they're probably made by a crippled orphan alpaca.
Untrue PoP... they only have to be individually switched (as do 2-gangs these days).
One can buy backplates for installing 3-gangs into solid walls, and 3-gang fronts, just not the backplates for installing into plasterboard. Our electrician rang MK (one of the biggest manufacturers) and was told exactly what I said - they claim that there is no demand as buiders don't want to spend a penny more than is absolutely necessary.
Despite the new regs, one can still change indoor 1- or 2-gang sockets for 3-gangs oneself, and that's what Mr BW has done, all round The Coven. It has made a big difference, and is much safer than umpteen adaptors or plug boards.
Pah!!!!
My last three-month electricity bill totalled less than £25
The right solution is a double socket at each PLACE that is likely to want power. That is what should be provided by builders. Once the place is determined, except for high power heaters and things like that, then use as many multi-way extensions as necessary - even daisy-chaining them if required - to group your equipment so that each batch can be switched together. So all TV stuff on one, all computer stuff on another, all hi-fi on one.
Despite what some other commenters have said, there is no fire risk from lots of extensions so long as you don't overload them. Get fused multi-ways and don't plug in the three bar fire and you will have no problem.
The exception is the kitchen where more items have a high power rating and leads need to be kept much shorter for safety.
Also, I was just reading recently about a company that has invented a way to transmit electricity through the air much like WiFi. At the moment, it can’t send an extremely powerful charge, but it does send enough to power a cell phone or Ipod charging, meaning you could put those items in a drawer together and turn this device on and not have to worry about a socket at all. They also say that the next generation of laptops, which supposedly will use less power, may be able to feed off this device, saving yet another outlet.
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