Bubble-wrapping the world

When I went looking for advice on what's involved in replacing my father-in-law's hard-wired, 3 conductor "Electrosaurus"... with a new-fangled 4 conductor electric range... I had no idea I would encounter a philosopher.

As long as you bonded the neutral connection to the chassis of the stove per manufacturer's instructions, you've made it as safe as you can with the current wiring, and it is a level of safety accepted by the code.

Of course, you can always make things safer.

In this case, you could make things safer by rewiring the circuit with four conductors.

But it would be even safer still if you unplugged it or hired somebody to do all your cooking.

There's a limit to what we are willing to do in the name of safety. Eventually we declare it "safe enough".

Now, obviously... and I don't think I'd get an argument here... updating the electrical code is a good thing. I guess, on the other hand, in a situation with an existing installation, you've gotta make a judgement call.

Now I could go off on a tear here... about David Miller's idiotic decision to fight crime by going after perfectly legal pistol ranges... or the statistically insignificant number of (compared to say, vehicle related) deaths by taser, or the "human rights" argle-bargle we've all been so preoccupied with lately... but I think you get the point.

Sometimes you've just gotta apply a little common sense... which apparently, these days, isn't as common as you might think.

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