For those who complains about the substandard wiring in Taiwan

[Taiwan Luthiers]

... should check out India...

http://american-in-delhi.blogspot.com/2009/07/frightening-electrical-panels-in-indian.html

Apparently not catching fire is advertised as a feature in India, not something that is expected.

[Shaktipalooza]

... should check out India...

http://american-in-delhi.blogspot.com/2009/07/frightening-electrical-panels-in-indian.html

Apparently not catching fire is advertised as a feature in India, not something that is expected.

India sets the standard for ineptitude. On two separate occasions I've been in rooms where the electrical work caught on fire, it's normal.

[headhonchoII]

I was in a hotel there a while back and my toast caught fire and the while toaster was up in flames. No-one batted an eyelid.

[Dog's_Breakfast]

I am just completing construction of a new house. Taiwan has only recently upgraded its standards for electrical wiring - on new house construction, you now have to have 3-prong outlets with ground. Hurrah! But because this is a very recent change, many electricians wire the outlets wrong (reversing neutral and hot) and some don't even connect the ground. On the other hand, I have to give them some slack, because it's nearly impossible to buy a ground-tester in Taiwan, like this one:



Well, the story gets more interesting. They mis-wired my outlets. How do I know? Because I have such a tester as the above one, which I brought from the USA some years ago. The tester is made in Taiwan. That's right, made here, not sold here. Of course, why would they sell it here, since you can't use it on a two-pronged outlet which was standard in Taiwan until just recently?

Anyway, my electrician was fascinated by my tester, and wanted to buy one. Borrowed it from me to show the electrical shops so he could order one, but they didn't know where to get it. So I did some online searching, located the factory in Taichung, got them to ship me 12 testers, kept two and handed out the other 10 to local electricians. I'm hoping I've changed the electrician culture a little bit here in Taidong.

[Feiren]

I think this company probably also makes the kind of testing equipment you may be looking for.

http://www.sew.com.tw/index.html

[Taiwan Luthiers]

I didn't know that 3 prongs are recently required in all new installations, because if that's so, then they should stop selling 2 prong outlets forcing anyone with old houses to upgrade them. Plus I have seen plenty of remodels where they still use the 2 prongs.

On old installations they may have to piggyback the ground with the neutral, but its still better than nothing.

[Belgian Pie]

As long as the final stage in electric installation (certified inspection) is not taken serious little will change, as we know there are a lot of rules but none is enforced.

[Okami]

I am just completing construction of a new house. Taiwan has only recently upgraded its standards for electrical wiring - on new house construction, you now have to have 3-prong outlets with ground. Hurrah! But because this is a very recent change, many electricians wire the outlets wrong (reversing neutral and hot) and some don't even connect the ground. On the other hand, I have to give them some slack, because it's nearly impossible to buy a ground-tester in Taiwan, like this one:

Well, the story gets more interesting. They mis-wired my outlets. How do I know? Because I have such a tester as the above one, which I brought from the USA some years ago. The tester is made in Taiwan. That's right, made here, not sold here. Of course, why would they sell it here, since you can't use it on a two-pronged outlet which was standard in Taiwan until just recently?

How can you miswire? The wires are color coded FFS. Even a complete moroon like me can do it correctly.

[Confuzius]

Anyway, my electrician was fascinated by my tester, and wanted to buy one. Borrowed it from me to show the electrical shops so he could order one, but they didn't know where to get it. So I did some online searching, located the factory in Taichung, got them to ship me 12 testers, kept two and handed out the other 10 to local electricians. I'm hoping I've changed the electrician culture a little bit here in Taidong.

[Dog's_Breakfast]

How can you miswire? The wires are color coded FFS. Even a complete moroon like me can do it correctly.

Extremely easy to miswire. Just reverse the white and black (neutral and hot) wires. You'll still have power and your washing machine and microwave oven will still work. But you won't have ground, even if the ground wire is connected (and in Taiwan often it's not). There is also the issue of GFCI circuit breakers, which this device is meant to test, though GFCI is usually not such a big deal (at least not until you drop a plugged-in hairdryer into a full bathtub).

My electrician was at least consistent - he had every single outlet reverse wired. I made him change it, but despite the temporary loss of face, he's grateful to me for getting him the testing device.

I didn't include info on where I ordered it from. OK, I'll do that now. Be advised that this is the factory and they might not want to sell you a single unit - they were probably being kind filling my order for 12 units because normally they sell wholesale. However, their price is so low that ordering 12 from them was cheaper than ordering just one from Amazon, due to shipping cost. They charged me NT$110 a piece, plus NT$80 for shipping. So for a total of NT$1400, I bought 12 units, kept 2 and gave away 10 to electricians. If I prevented even one person from eventually getting electrocuted or their house burned down, I consider it money well spent.

Here is a link to the company's web page showing the product in question:

Stronic Tools - GFI Receptacle Tester

The above web page is in English. They have a Chinese web site here though it's actually less informative about what they produce.

There's a phone number on their web site. I just rang them up and the woman who answered (who does speak English) was very cooperative and helpful.