On 15/04/2011 10:06, asalcedo wrote:
I have moved to Spain from the UK.

I have brought with me plenty of UK appliances.

All of them have the standard UK fused plug.

My house in Spain is of recent construction with modern circuit breakers
and RCDs.

I know well the purpose of the UK fuse, explained at 'All about fuses'
(http://www.glodark.co.uk/fuses.htm)

However, I am considering cutting the UK plugs in all appliance power
cords and replace them with the Spanish/ European one that does not have
a fuse.

I really do not think I am compromising much in terms of safety or
other. If there is a current overload, the circuit breaker will cut the
current. Surely, it will not be at the same amperage as the fuse, but it
will certainly not let a fire or cable melt happen.

Additionally, I would have the appliances wired as they are wired in
this part of Europe, no fuse at the appliance power cord, which further
seems to corroborate that I am not very wrong.

Lastly, I think I would even be making things better. Most UK to
European adaptors are rated 5 to 6 A. It is not easy to find 13A ones,
which means that often times a 6A adaptor is used for easily 10 A.

At the very most I would keep the UK plug for the smaller rated
appliances, up to 5A, where the flex may be compromises in case of a
current overload. For bigger appliances, with a 13A fuse, it seems to me
there is little advantage in keeping the UK plug.

In short, is it advisable to use in Spain the UK appliances with their
original UK fused plug with an adaptor or is it safe to replace the UK
plug with the European one?

Thanks,

Antonio





When we moved to France I cut off all the UK plugs and replaced them
with the appropriate French two or three pin plugs as appropriate. It
sounds like the Spanish system is the same as the French system.

The only mistake was using a travel adaptor for a something rated at 1kw
and the adaptor got very hot - dangerously so.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.