Lisbeth

Does anyone have any experience in taking household electrical goods from USA to UK. I hate to get rid of everything due to the cost of replacement. How well do adaptors/convertors work? What should I take - what should I leave?

acer rose

Leave anything that doesn't have sentimental value!

The main exception to this might be computers. They generally have a 110/220V switch on the back (you MUST remember to switch this over before you use it at a different voltage) so can be used anywhere.

We brought back a VCR (intending to use a transformer with it)but found dual standard VCRs readily and cheaply available here and much more convenient. TVs will not work.

A word of warning.
We brought back a piece of equipment that was not available in the UK that we simply couldn't live without. We had a step-up/step-down transformer that copes with the change in voltage and coded plugs so "nothing could go wrong". Needless to say, I came home from work one day to an acrid smell, a faint blue haze, no batteries in the smoke detector and a very sheepish looking husband (his background is instrumentation - delicate electronics, high vacuums, I do this stuff for a living so of course I can wire a plug, etc). Apparently the flash bang had been pretty impressive.

Interested

What peice of equipment was that out of interest ?

There is lots of stuff that I will one day want to take back to the UK from Canada!

acer rose

It was a particularly dinky (small enough to be pretty mobile) laser printer that is now unavailable. The alternatives were way more expensive (UK and US). It didn't help that the rest of the computer components were switched to 220V, so in all the tangle of cables.....(well, that's his story).

The main danger is that stuff will not survive at the higher voltages in Europe. We used a transformer without any problems for our UK equipment in the US. Even if we'd got it wrong we would probably not have destroyed things - they would just have not worked.

The point was that transformers are widely available but you do need to be pretty careful about usage. If you've got kids or people that are not happy doing technical things it might not be worth the risk of getting things wrong. As I said, if it's of sentimental value or essential....

Pulaski

Static appliances, fridges, freezers, laundry appliances etc are not only going cause you a problem with the voltage, but they are also likely to be too big to reasonably fit in an average British house.

Anything with a motor may also not work at a proper speed because US mains power is 60Hz (transformers step up/ down the voltage, but do not alter the frequency), whereas British mains is 50Hz, so an American motor will probably run 17% slower in the UK. (CD ROM drives, DVDs, and CD players have their own internal speed governors, and so will work satisfactorily.)

shrack

I'm new to the board and will be relocating to London in the coming weeks. Forgive my ignorance, but it appears I have a lot of homework to do!

What you're saying here is pretty much everything electrical, that I've grown to love (small appliances...coffee maker, alarm clocks, etc; electronic gadgets....power supplies for digital cameras, video cameras, etc and most of my major stereo/entertainment center equipment) will become useless once I move to London????

Wow....understanding what I do about the cost of living in london, this could add up to a hefty bill to replace these things. I had heard from a friend of a type of "flea market" where people (mostly those leaving back to the US, sell UK-standard electronic goods. Does this exist?

Any help is appreciated!

London Bound

BCBOY

You might want to try posting something similar on

www.americanexpats.co.uk

Its for american expats in the uk....they have a message board similar to this one, and you may well find an expat who's leaving the UK and wants to get rid of all of the electrical gear. Just an idea anyway.
Flea markets do exist, though they're more general markets where people sell stuff from stalls. One of the great things about london is the number of markets they have....you could pick something up there, but obviously there's less guarante of the quality of what you're buying, and you'll have to look around to find what you want...not sure how much success you'd have with electric bits and bobs. Check out any guide for london to find out all the diferrent markets there are....good luck!

darrenb

Theres a US website that sells lots of electrical kit for people in our positions. Im going the other way (UK-US) and intend to pick up a DVD player (plays all regions, on all voltages, on any TV) and a similar VCR. They also sell step up / step down converters. From what I understand the key to using them successfully is to make sure that do not under estimate the power of the appliance you are converting. EG> when using a converter for a TV make sure the converter can handle 4 times the power of the TV output. This protects against the power surges that happen when the TV is turned on.

check out: www.dvdoverseas.com and look at the step up / step down converters. I think you will need something that will step down the power supply (220 -> 110).

Hope this helps.

D

Pulaski

Can I collect a royalty, or at least get a name mention?

philj6969

Hi, I've escaped from the Australian forum for a breather. I have an American DVD player, my transformer has only a US wall socket on it so the US plug stays on my US dvd player. No mixups, no bangs.

Phil.

mariawatanabe

I am moving back to the US, Sep. 2nd from Glasgow, and would like to sell my 2000Watt 220V to 120V transformer. Any offers? I used it for my rice cooker. I've heard it's important to get the correct wattage for anything that produces heat (iron, cooking appliances). It's compact (lunchbox size) but weighs a ton, so shipping might cost a bit. For my US sewing machine, I used a lesser wattage transformer, which was much cheaper, and worked well, too.

Oh yes, BRING YOUR OVEN TOASTER! You cannot buy an oven toaster in the UK except one the size of a giant microwave that you could cook a whole chicken in. They only sell vertical slot toasters here, so no reheating bagels topped with cheese, for example. But you would need a proper transformer for that.

By the way, I would like to buy a step-up transformer for a UK lamp to use in the US. It turns out that if you try to use a UK lamp with 120V source, a 100 W bulb only produces a 15 W light. Anyone selling one?

daisymoll

You could always just use the grill?? (Broiler)

mariawatanabe

So how do you toast the underside of the bagel without the cheese falling off or sticking to the aluminium foil?

The charm of a toaster oven
* You can set the timer
* i.e., no need to keep an eye on it
It'll even ping you when it's ready
* Same amount of toastage every time
* Toasts both sides
* Glass fronted unlike some grills

Mari

jaytee

The downside comes if someone uses the toaster oven for grilling and allowed fat to drip down. Then it is a big fire hazard.

Pulaski

Toast the underside first, then flip it over, spread it with cream cheese and do the top side!

I know that the instructions are bit complex, but if you write them down maybe you'll remember eventually!