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Blog Thread 5: A New Beginning

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Cornelius:
I suppose there's that. The tradition here is to just keep your own name.

There has been some discussion on which name to pass on to children, though, and last year, the law was changed to allow the parents to choose which surname, or both, to give their children. If they can't agree on that, it defaults to the one that comes first in the alphabet. Most people stick to tradition, though, and go with the father's surname.

LTK:
I've already had to learn basic woodworking and metalworking since moving in here, and now I can add electrical engineering to the list, which was a little more of an iffy process since I was risking more  than a power tool accident, namely frying a €400 washing machine, the fuses, and maybe myself. The reason I couldn't simply plug it into a wall socket is that I'm supposed to install it in the bathroom, which has a special pullcord-connection for safety reasons, with the humidity and all. Of course, nobody told me this. When I ordered this thing I even paid extra for installation service, and when the guys came to haul it in they were like "cord's too short, can't connect this" and left. Paid them for nothing and still couldn't wash.

Following the advice of people on the internet, I decided not to simply power the washing machine with an extension cord from the nearest wall plug because that might have started a fire or something, and went about doing things the proper way. I first bought a few meters of cable, stripped the ends, and then noticed I had no idea how to connect bare wires to the part where the power cable connects to the washing machine. So I had to learn about terminals and crimping, which is hard when you sort of know what those things are but not the actual words for them. Bought a box of 100 terminals for the three I needed, and attached them.

Then it was just a matter of connecting the stripped wires on the other end to the pullcord-connection, which was much more difficult than it had to be, because I had to turn off the power so I wouldn't electrocute myself in the process. Fortunately that blood-loss-induced bout of stupidity from earlier didn't last, otherwise I might have forgotten to do that. But that did mean I had to connect three wires to a socket that was practically against the ceiling with no light except from that of my phone flashlight. It was a bit of a pain in the ass.

Nevertheless, I got it done, and before flipping the power back on I double-checked whether I connected the brown and blue wires properly, because one's supposed to go on the bit labeled L and the other on the N. Turns out I did mix this up and I connected them properly. I don't know what would have happened if I connected the phase wire to the neutral connector and powered it on, but I'm guessing something would have gone 'pop'.

TL;DR: I now have a washing machine and I didn't electrocute myself, hooray!

pwhodges:
Phase and neutral are largely interchangeable in AC power systems - that's how two pin plugs can be OK.  Mixing up phase or neutral with earth, on the other hand is a pop scenario (phase will give a bigger pop).

LTK:
Oh of course, I hadn't even considered that. If someone asked me which way the plug should go into a socket I'd look at them like they were crazy, but if I'm faced with the same question when looking at a machine's insides and I have to connect a tiny clamp to a tiny metal lip, suddenly it starts to seem like a real conundrum. Fortunately the earth connector was down to the side somewhere and it was impossible to mix it up with the phase or neutral.

Thrillho:
Just came out to my sister because I am ramping up to coming out to my mum. Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

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