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

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

On Apr 15, 9:06*am, 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

--
asalcedo

Or you could take UK multi-outlet socket extenders out there and
replace each plug top with a Spanish one, then there's only a fraction
of the number of plugs to change.

OK, so it's not so tidy.

rusty

On 15/04/2011 10:50, therustyone wrote:
On Apr 15, 9:06 am, 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

--
asalcedo

Or you could take UK multi-outlet socket extenders out there and
replace each plug top with a Spanish one, then there's only a fraction
of the number of plugs to change.

OK, so it's not so tidy.

rusty


I don't know if the Spanish system is like the French one, but doing
that could potentially be dangerous. The reason being (in France) that
no distinction is made between live and neutral since the RCD breaks
both poles. This means it is pot luck which feed is live or neutral at
any given socket (and if two pin plugs are used for anything they can be
inserted either way anyway). So in the worst case scenario a UK fuse
could blow on the neutral leaving the appliance still live and
potentially dangerous.

I had a nice whack once fumbling around in a narrow space replacing a
blown cooker light - despite the switch being off - the switch happened
to be on the neutral not the live.

--
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.

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.

On 15/04/2011 09:06, asalcedo wrote:
I have moved to Spain from the UK.

[...]

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.

The purpose of the UK plug fuse is solely to provide 'fault' (i.e.
short-circuit) protection for the flex. Any overload protection
required should be in the appliance.

[...]

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?

If all your appliances are modern and have flexes of 0.75 mm^2 or larger
then it is perfectly safe to fit unfused Schucko plugs to use in sockets
where the building wiring is protected at 16 A. With modern approved
flexes you will normally find the conductor cross-sectional area in the
embossed markings on the outer sheath.

You need to exercise caution with smaller flexes such as 0.5 mm^2 or the
old 14/0.0076 inch Which will not necessarily be protected by a 16 amp
fuse or MCB. Any appliances using such flexes should be connected using
a fused plug and adaptor.

Also be careful with extension leads, particularly long ones. The
simplest, safest, advice is only to use extension leads which have 1.5
mm^2 (or larger) flex.

HTH
--
Andy

On Apr 15, 9:55*am, Andy Wade wrote:
On 15/04/2011 09:06, asalcedo wrote:

I have moved to Spain from the UK.

[...]

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.

The purpose of the UK plug fuse is solely to provide 'fault' (i.e.
short-circuit) protection for the flex. *Any overload protection
required should be in the appliance.

[...]

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?

If all your appliances are modern and have flexes of 0.75 mm^2 or larger
then it is perfectly safe to fit unfused Schucko plugs to use in sockets
where the building wiring is protected at 16 A. *With modern approved
flexes you will normally find the conductor cross-sectional area in the
embossed markings on the outer sheath.

You need to exercise caution with smaller flexes such as 0.5 mm^2 or the
old 14/0.0076 inch Which will not necessarily be protected by a 16 amp
fuse or MCB. *Any appliances using such flexes should be connected using
a fused plug and adaptor.

Also be careful with extension leads, particularly long ones. *The
simplest, safest, advice is only to use extension leads which have 1.5
mm^2 (or larger) flex.

HTH
--
Andy

Thank you for all the informative and helpful comments.

I agree most with Andy.

The fuse is to protect the flex.

Since this Spanish installation is mostly radial with, yes, plenty of MCBs rated at 16A for the power circuits, I agree, and conclude, that it is perfectly safe to cut the UK fused plugs for all those appliances that have thick wired flexes (usually those with a 16A UK fuse).

It so happens that these are the appliances were one benefits most from getting rid of the adaptor. When plugging and unplugging often, when working in crowded workshops you miss the convenience of not having to unplug the UK plug and then unplug the adaptor.

For thinner flexes, it is usually not much of an issue to keep the adaptor.

Many thanks,

Antonio

I have moved to Spain from the UK.

I have brought with me plenty of UK appliances.

about the same as anyone in the forces being posted abroad, my dad had 2
postings to germany when i was growing up, anything brought from england had
it's plug replaced with a shuko one, anything bought in germany (most of the
items as it was so much cheaper over there) got a uk plug put on when we
came back to england.

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

european properties usually use the radial wiring system, so you have a lot
more circuit breakers in the box than a uk house, (my house here in england
has 4 active breakers, one for all the lights, one for all the sockets
(upstairs and down) one for the garage, and one for the kitchen)

In the houses we had in germany, the fuse box was about a foot wide by 2 and
a half foot long, located at the top of the cellar steps, and it had a
breaker for about every 3 sockets, the living room had 3 breakers for the
sockets in it, fixed appliances had their own breakers and so on.

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.

Dunno about mainland spain, but i remember when i went to tennariffe (a
spanish island so i'd assume spanish electrical systems but could be wrong)
they had 2 sorts of socket and plug, a standard 16 amp shuko for large
appliances, and a smaller pin spaced shuko style for low power items upto 6
amps i believe,

Thing like tv's, lamps, radios etc were plugged into the smaller sockets,
the portable air conditioner was plugged into the larger socket, as was the
hoover and so on.

In article , asalcedo asalcedo.7edb388@
diybanter.com writes

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.

Why bother? The adapters are inconspicuous, dirt cheap, e.g. Ebay
170622046345, and you retain the benefit of the fuse.

--
Mike Tomlinson

Mike Tomlinson wrote:

Why bother? The adapters are inconspicuous, dirt cheap, e.g. Ebay
170622046345, and you retain the benefit of the fuse.

I'd reckon on them being more of a hazard than the loss of a fuse.

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

In article , Scott M
writes

I'd reckon on them being more of a hazard than the loss of a fuse.

Nonsense. I travel in Europe a lot (for work and pleasure) and use them
without issue.

--
Mike Tomlinson

Mike Tomlinson wrote:

In article , Scott M
writes

I'd reckon on them being more of a hazard than the loss of a fuse.

Nonsense. I travel in Europe a lot (for work and pleasure) and use them
without issue.

Oh, in their place they're ideal, I've no doubt. But for possibly using
them, say, 24/7, shoved behind a cabinet on a high load device, I'd not
trust them. They're a bit flimsy and exaserbate the problem of
europlug's ease to fall out of the wall compared to a UK plug.

--
Scott

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

In article , Scott M
writes

They're a bit flimsy and exaserbate the problem of
europlug's ease to fall out of the wall compared to a UK plug.

The flush Eurosockets, yes, I'd agree, but the recessed ones seem pretty
solid.

--
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Apr 15, 9:06*am, 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)

only mentions one of the purposes of the plug fuse. basic fuse choice
data wrong.

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.

Fires occur with UK and Spanish systems. If you want to know the
relative safety you could get hold of the spanish fire statistics and
compare. Doing it the other way round, looking at the potential causes
of fires, isn't effective, beacuse what matters is how many fires
result, not whether certain causes exist in each system or not.


NT