sunny_samantha

Hi
Just a word of warning
We like many others brought lots of those 4/6 way adaptors with us from the UK in order to avoid the necessity of changing over all our plugs at once. My husband had them connected to our laptop, etc and then to the wall with a Uk/Aus adaptor we bought in Singapore...went to plug in the camera today, a large flash of flame seemed to erupt followed by the delightful smell of burning and our power tripping off...just wanted to say be careful (and for those of you in Hallett Cove - it was on Saturday so we didn't wipe out Hallett Cove and Sheidow Park tonight!!!!!!!!) Checked the plug which although it looked very burnt was seemingly wired OK
Scary moment so be careful...have spent the day rewiring plugs!!!!!! What fun!!!!!!!! Really tedious but well worth it.
This could well be a fluke but has inspired us to rewire everything...
Susan
In the immortal words of 'Grease' - You gotta shape up...it's electrifying

Wol

Rewiring plugs is so quick that I believe the advice to bring multiple socket adaptors is a bit over the top. I found the Oz plugs easier to wire than the 13 amp UK ones - the terminals have those little washery thingies that prevent the wire from spinning out off the post!

However, it does seem a good idea to plug all the TV things in through a multiple adaptor (Oz version). Then, when there's a thunderstrom, instead of pulling out 5 or 6 plugs, you can jut pull out the one and safeguard the TV, digital box, VCR, DVD, Foxtel, grannie's footwarmer etc. Bear in mind that switching off at the mains does not prevent a strike jumping across the switch! (I KNOW!)

Pollyana

Sorry to hear what happenend to you Susan; hope your laptop etc is OK?

Not saying that this is what happened in your case but Rog may be right about some people being too quick to use multi-socket adapters. They're very useful, I've got a couple myself for the things with molded plugs - where you can't change the plugs - however, poeple should be careful not to overload them - mine only have a couple of things running off each of them, and I remember being told years ago that you shouldn't plug more than a couple of things into an adapter.

Wol

Depends what current they're drawing!

I believe the Oz sockets are 10A rating, not the UK 13A.

You have to look at the back of each appliance and see what the wattage is, add up all the power requirements on the socket and see what current that equates to. That tells you whether you need to program one of your phone's memory buttons to the local Fire Brigade.

(Guess your's already IS though, Polly!)

rudo1ph

:scared: should I pull plugs out during a thunder storm!!!?? I never have! What might happen. All plugs or just some things?

Sorry - being a bit of a patheitc female here........

Rudi

jayr

Lightning could strike your house and cause a massive surge through the electic cabling - therefore unplug anything you don't want to explode.

ABCDiamond

Many years ago during a lighting storm in the UK I saw a flash of light between the two aerials on my telephone, between the base station and the handheld unit. Next thing I knew the phone was fried !! So beware.

Sandra

Lightening wrecked our laptop computer from a surge through the phone line!

Anyway we did get it sorted on insurance but we do tend to unplug now when the thunderstorms are overhead. I thought it was a bit of an urban myth about phones and electricity but am living and learning.

to be honest for us I found having the gangs of UK plug a big bonus and we have never had a problem with any of those, just the usual tripping out of the normal sockets. I have found limited plugs available in each of the houses we have been in and setting the music centres and TV systems all up and making sure we did not overload was easy. Over time these have changed over, especially as we are now in our own house making things permanent but in the rentals it worked fine for us.

Wol

About 10 years ago - in Sussex - lightning hit my neighbour's house. It blew his masthead amplifier off the chimney wall in the loft and the surge went out of his place, down his garden (100yds) along the lane, up my garden (100yds) and blew up just about everything we had which contained a microprocessor: clocks, CD player, phone, trouser press (the timer) etc.

I had actually switched all the wall sockets off in preparation: NOT ENOUGH! the voltage is such that it easily jumps the contacts in the switched sockets and fries the equipment.

They (we!) have some of the nastiest thunderstorms in the world here - so my advice is: UNPLUG all the electronics from the wall!

(PS: just in from Harvey Norman, where two ladies were buying replacement phones - guess why! <g>)

wmoore

We've had 2 fax machines go the same way in the office :scared:

bondipom

Either that or buy decent surge protectors. Problem is they cost. I am thinking of buying a UPS as I think Sydney power will be a bit flaky this summer. My powerboard in theory should protect the phone line and connected appliances but I am sure a big enough hit will blow the lot.

In Surrey a house 200 m down the road was hit by a bolt of lightening. We lost video TV, phones, washing machine and some other stuff. Quite lucky when you see the house that was hit lost its roof and the iupstairs was gutted by fire.

Not sure if the storms here are worse but they are a lot more frequent.