UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > Specific Vintage Equipment > Vintage Television and Video

Notices

Vintage Television and Video Vintage television and video equipment, programmes, VCRs etc.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 6th Jul 2017, 8:26 pm   #21
hannahs radios
Hexode
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Weymouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 422
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

I always turn our set off at its own power switch on the back that way I know its totally off my thinking is that A it reduces the amount of RF hash in my house B it makes it completely safe I know 2 people who have told me stories of the mains doing odd things in the nite one of them told me he couldn't sleep one nite so came down to his workshop and thought the light seemed excesivley bright so put an AVO across the mains and got nearly 300 volts this persisted for several nites and destroyed a couple of streetlights till the SEB put it right
hannahs radios is offline  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 8:29 pm   #22
Philips210
Nonode
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Redruth, Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 2,562
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Station X View Post
One could question the use of switched sockets? Why are they needed?
Hi.

One good reason to have a switched 13A socket is where an unswitched appliance is connected to the socket. The connection process could result in an arc causing potential damage to the appliance. Having a switch on the socket reduces that problem. I suppose it's also quicker to cut the power in an emergency by hitting the switch.

Regards
Symon.
Philips210 is offline  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 8:37 pm   #23
Reelman
Octode
 
Reelman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Rotherham, South Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,701
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

It was very common for TVs to be unplugged at night in the 60s, all my family did. Henry, in his Practically Wireless column in PW said he had seen statistics that one in forty colour TVs actually exploded! This was in the very early days of colour TV in this country, I wonder if any of our members in the trade have any experience of this?

My father in law still unplugs everything at night, TV, microwave and kettle etc. He was an electrician by trade.
Peter
Reelman is offline  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 8:48 pm   #24
chriswood1900
Octode
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Dorridge, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 1,475
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

I clearly remember it as the perceived wisdom at the time that TVs should be switched off and unplugged and lots of people did it so it became the norm, my memory was it stemmed from fire officers after several serious fires caused by TVs in the late 50s early 60s and it seems as if it is still the same. see this http://www.firescotland.gov.uk/media...cal_safety.pdf
However, I normally leave my electronics on standby so that it does all its updates but I do check it is in good condition has correct fuses etc.
Chris
chriswood1900 is online now  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 9:00 pm   #25
G6Tanuki
Dekatron
 
G6Tanuki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,953
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Station X View Post
One could question the use of switched sockets? Why are they needed?
I don't like them: indeed, I don't like the unnecessary use of plugs/sockets in situations where a device could be connected using a fused outlet point instead.

Why? As an example, my late mother seriously scalded herself because of her habit of unplugging the freshly-boiled electric kettle *at the wall* then carrying it around holding the plug in her hand with the flex between the plug and the kettle hanging in a loop. . . She hooked the dangling flex on something and as a result got boiling water all down her leg.

Witing the flex hard to the wall - with a really-short length of flex - meant she had to unplug the flex from the kettle every time she wanted to move it. Much safer. I did the same with the toaster, so the flex was short enough that the toaster couldn't be put in the sink... [don't ask me].
G6Tanuki is offline  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 9:34 pm   #26
M0FYA Andy
Nonode
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Preston, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 2,510
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Station X View Post
One could question the use of switched sockets? Why are they needed?
I'm not sure I understand your question. Sure, the ease of leaving the plug in and operating the switch is only marginally easier/more convenient than pulling the plug out. The difference is a bit bigger in reverse, where you may have to find the plug behind the appliance. But even though the difference is small, it is there, so although a switched socket isn't 'needed', it just makes life a bit easier IMHO.

I'm more confident that a simple mechanical switch in the socket is less likely to fail to ON than the switch in most appliances, for example a kettle. My philosophy is to turn an appliance off, and also turn the socket off, so it requires a double failure to be hazardous.

And don't get me going on the subject of a microwave oven left plugged in on standby with the door closed, where the only thing which stops it inadvertently turning on in the middle of the night with nothing inside to absorb the microwave energy is correct operation of a processor and associated software. But that's how most folk leave their oven, if only so the clock stays correct!

OK, a career spent on safety critical aircraft flight controls colours my thinking somewhat........... Making something work is the easy bit, understanding how it might fail is a bit harder.

So yes, I do worry about the fridge having to stay on...........!

Andy
M0FYA Andy is online now  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 9:55 pm   #27
Station X
Moderator
 
Station X's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,193
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

Well first of all I do have switched sockets in my house and workshop, most of them double pole, but I'm quite happy to unplug stuff. A quick look round showed that apart from wall warts most appliances have an OFF/ON switch built in. The exceptions are a big Oxford oil filled arc welder and a 50 or 60 year old Swan kettle that I never use.

Some stuff needs to be left powered up because it has timers or for other reasons. Cooker, Boiler, Immersion Heater, Telephone Base Station, Broadband Router, Dehumidifier, CCTV, Burglar Alarm, Fridge, Door Bell Transformer, Synchronous clocks and a few more I've probably forgotten.

What about light fittings? If loop in wiring is used they have live wires feeding into them all the time. Same goes for security lights.

What I do unplug or isolate are Washing Machine, Dish Washer, Kettles, Toaster, Radios, TV's, Power Tools, Machine Tools, Soldering Irons, Clothes Irons and Test Gear.

These things can be taken too far. My elderly mother's carers have instructions that they are to turn off the fan oven at the wall switch when they've finished using it. This totally overlooks the fact that the fan is designed to keep running after the heater has turned off to cool things down.

I never leave a washing machine running unattended. Many years ago an unbalanced load in one caused the hose from the powder dispenser to rip out. When the program called for water fiil, the water ran down the side of the drum and onto the floor. As the tub never filled the tub full float switch never operated. This could have gone on for hours had I not noticed.
__________________
Graham. Forum Moderator

Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron.
Station X is online now  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 10:08 pm   #28
chriswood1900
Octode
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Dorridge, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 1,475
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

My list of items left plugged in or not is virtually exactly the same as Graham's in post 27, I also disconnect most things except the fridge, freezer and heating in winter when I go away and shut off the water to washing machines and dishwashers.
Chris
chriswood1900 is online now  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 10:24 pm   #29
trsomian
Hexode
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Box End, Beds. UK.
Posts: 271
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

Still do unplug the mains and the aerial for the TV, but in our house the TV may not be used for days, and sometimes weeks, on end. Likewise desktop PCs now they have ATX power supplies (where the auxiliary converter operates all the time they are plugged in) are unplugged and portable radios where the transformer is unswitched. Washing machine gets unplugged, dishwasher doesn't because the plug is behind it, but it does get switched off at the switched spur to its socket. The kitchen stereo doesn't get its aerial unplugged, but the aerial is in the loft, not external like the TV
trsomian is offline  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 10:30 pm   #30
dseymo1
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 3,051
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

There used to be a real concern about 'wasting electricity'. Some people feared that leaving anything plugged it would result in its consuming current, even if there was no evidence of its doing anything.
dseymo1 is offline  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 10:49 pm   #31
Oliver35
Pentode
 
Oliver35's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Halesworth, Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 188
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

Don't forget there used to be a few public info films about this- such as this one from 1969, exhorting you to unplug at night and cover up fires, etc..
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WA-6ra5kuIA

People probably just did as they were told..

Oliver
Oliver35 is offline  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 11:02 pm   #32
camtechman
Nonode
 
camtechman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Milton Keynes, Bucks. UK.
Posts: 2,552
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

My dad allotted me to switch the telly off at night.....and there was encouragement from him to do so.......if I forgot, I'd a clip round my ear !
__________________
When I die, please don't let my Wife sell my collection for the amount I told her I paid for it!
camtechman is offline  
Old 6th Jul 2017, 11:47 pm   #33
Tim
Dekatron
 
Tim's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 3,301
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

Don't unplug your Broadband router at night , as the DLM will interpret this as a fault and slow down your connection to minimise errors. They are designed to be left on.
__________________
"Nothing is as dangerous as being too modern;one is apt to grow old fashioned quite suddenly."
Tim is offline  
Old 7th Jul 2017, 2:51 am   #34
Maarten
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Haarlem, Netherlands
Posts: 4,185
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refugee View Post
I have a vacuum cleaner that had a RIFA across the un-switched mains.
It had to be changed after it kicked up a stink and set the fire alarm off.
Perhaps someone had reported the same with a telly.
Sony did this in the late 1970's/early 1980's, but unplugging the telly probably dates further back. Maybe other brands have used paper capacitors on the unswitched mains before.
Maarten is offline  
Old 7th Jul 2017, 4:27 am   #35
radiotechnician
Pentode
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Powell River, British Columbia, Canada.
Posts: 217
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

I was a television repairman. Once in Vancouver British Columbia,
a customer called to say lightning had come down the aerial wire
burned the insides of their TV set, and set the drapes alight.

So I picked up the set, wrote a report on why and how it was damaged,
and not repairable. And I said, it was lightning that did it.

The report went to his insurance company, they cleaned up the
soot, hung new drapes, and paid for a new TV.

It was a black and white type.

Our power lines have a grounded neutral. Probably best the set came
between the aerial lead, and the place the lightning ended.

The incident didn't faze the fellow. He was a welder, and used to things on
fire, and fortunately was home at the time.
__________________
Steve Dow
VE7ASO
radiotechnician is offline  
Old 7th Jul 2017, 6:23 am   #36
Karen O
Rest in Peace
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Bridgnorth, Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 787
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

I switch everything off at the wall at night - always have and always will. Only things still on at night are my fridge, my boiler and my router. Accident while clambering under the telly? Nah, I have remote control - a broom handle! The Freeview box whinges every time I turn it on of course.
Karen O is offline  
Old 7th Jul 2017, 8:23 am   #37
HamishBoxer
Dekatron
 
HamishBoxer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: W.Butterwick, near Doncaster UK.
Posts: 8,923
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

I still unplug our lcd tv mainly so the psu caps don't dry up.
__________________
G8JET BVWS Archivist and Member V.M.A.R.S
HamishBoxer is offline  
Old 7th Jul 2017, 8:56 am   #38
G4YVM David
Heptode
 
G4YVM David's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 998
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

Of course, many foreign places do NOT have switched wall outlets, just two pin sockets. And in this country (Ingerlund) the times I see flashes inside the switches as I flick them often makes me wonder about them.

I dont turn anything off domestically, except usually the RF noisy stuff like the xbox or whatever, the TV router and the TV with its back against my shack wall. I dont think it changes much, but I tries, I tries.

As for wasting electricity, well I am sure three hundred million little glowing red lights is a waste, but turning off the three or four in my house wont make any difference but it will probably wear something out! I do find it strangely odd how humans will moan and groan about some types of waste (food, water) then be profligate with others. Similarly how many leave laptops on overnight trickling those wonderfully safe and secure lithium cells, then complain that the airline that carries them to spain each year wont pop them in the hold (unless you fly from Turkey which now INSISTS they do ONLY go in the hold).

Humans and electricity...the relationship is odder than humans and sex I fear.

D
G4YVM David is offline  
Old 7th Jul 2017, 9:01 am   #39
Hybrid tellies
Nonode
 
Hybrid tellies's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area.
Posts: 2,965
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

We would always advise our customers to either un plug or switch off at the mains socket. There was a spate of fires caused by the PYE 697 PSU/Line output boards going up in flames and they seem to take great delight in igniting during the night when everyone was asleep. The Pye hybrid chassis was one of a very few sets where the mains did not go straight to the on/off switch but went via the Line Output/Power supply board and on the 697 chassis this was a PCB just above the line output valves. The insulation of the PCB would gradually break down, due to the heating and cooling effect, and start tracking between live and neutral tracks which quite often would combust into flames.
This is why, especially with these sets, we would always advise customers to unplug or switch off at the mains socket. Most customers were only too happy to oblige.
__________________
Simon
BVWS member
Hybrid tellies is offline  
Old 7th Jul 2017, 9:15 am   #40
ionburn
Heptode
 
ionburn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 583
Default Re: Why did folk always unplug the telly at night?

Back in TV repair days I remember a rental set coming back in after a storm. It had been completely blown apart with the sides blown out and a charred mess inside. I think almost certainly a very close, if not direct, strike. This did bring home the idea that unplugging the aerial and the set could well minimise the damage. I remember from those times a number of sets coming in which had been damaged by close strikes. Unplugged aerials and plugs would have saved them.

These days with the aerial in the loft I don't unplug it. I do think about mains issues but the cables locally are underground so probably less of an issue, although there still are the flickering light, hence mains issues so maybe not good for sensitive equipment.
ionburn is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 1:42 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.