bijoustrollette

Hi all,

I'm a bit confused by the electrical side of things and am trying to organise what to bring with us to Canada. I've read the compatibility of good article, but still a bit confused. Can some electrical genius tell me whether the below are likely to work in Canada (without going down the transformer route)?

One is a food mixer, one an electric piano and one a coffee machine.

Thanks in advance and have a great day everyone

pdarwin

The mixer is for UK voltage only and will not work here without a transformer or equivalent. Just buy a new mixer here.
The specifications for the piano look OK. Voltage and frequency are compatible. If this is just a power block for the piano then you can buy an equivalent power block here.
The coffee machine is UK voltage only. Waste of time bringing it and waste of transformer resources. Just get a new one here.
Whatever you bring, you still likely need adapters for the physical plug fittings. Also make sure they are compliant with Canadian safety standards.

scilly

Note that most plug fittings are two pin ............ except for large appliances such as the range.

What are the plugs in the UK?? They were 3 pin when I left in 1967.

Hurlabrick

Yep - same as when you left.

Three square pins, much more widely spaced that Canadian and a different shape, no possibility of plugging a UK plug into a 3-pin Canadian socket!

scilly

Before I left home to go to university, my dad sat me down and taught me how to change a plug .......... most small appliances (and some larger ones) came with no plug on the end!

Hurlabrick

Doesn't happen now (but I well remember when it did)! All hard wired and sealed plugs - has been for at least the last 10 years!

Davita

[QUOTE=scilly;12418257]Note that most plug fittings are two pin ............ except for large appliances such as the range.
[QUOTE]
Be careful when using a Cooker Range or Clothes Dryer female plug as they are generally 240 VAC.
Don't directly plug a 120 VAC nor a UK 240 VAC appliance into them.

Can_Fam

Any of those appliances will work in Canada, as they are all rated for 60Hz, and either 120V or 240V. You will obviously need to change the cord end to match the proper wall receptacle each one will need.
Only your coffee maker has an approved certification for "Canadian electrical devices", so if you ever did have a fire or accident with the other two, your insurance company would probably not cover your damages.

dbd33

Do you have an example of such a case? I ask because, when this claim was made here before, I went and asked a claims adjuster with umpteen years of Canadian experience if this had ever happened. It seems to happen only in the internet.

That said, the difference between the price of a plug and the price of a coffee machine is close to zero and the mixer fails my rule of thumb "if it spins or heats up, don't bother bringing it".

pdarwin

I remember people on here getting overly excited about this and saying it never happened before. Thing is, who wants to be the first one it happens to? We know insurance companies try to weasel out of things, so I bet it could easily occur.

dbd33

Easily? Let's see, a little over half the population of the GTA immigrated Suppose half of them brought an electrical appliance with them. If household claims are randomly distributed across the population that suggests that, if the idea that companies considered appliance origin in claims analysis had any merit, a quarter of household claims could have been declined on this pretext. And that's not counting foreign appliances acquired by means other than carrying them on arrival.

No claims have been declined on this basis. The probability of it happening is on is on the level of Lord Lucan riding by on Shergar.

scilly

Regardless ............. I seriously would not consider bringing any electrical appliance, large or small over here

Engineer_abroad

With the exception of devises that are rated for both sets of voltages at 60hz and use a power brick (laptops, games consoles etc.). These can be used and just normally need you to buy a North American power brick.

rivingtonpike

I love it when this topic comes up. It's my favourite! My advice would be the absolute opposite. By either changing the plug to a North American one or using a small transformer, my experience was that virtually everything we brought with us worked either well or very well. Saved us a fortune during those expensive first few years. Turned out I had a 220v power supply in my garage as well, so all my power tools worked OK too.

Can_Fam

Upon some further googling, prompted by dbd33, it seems that most insurance companies only care about the house wiring, not what is actually plugged in.