Re: Appliances from the UK
 

If Insurance companies might refuse a claim because of the use of an adapter, what would their attitude be if they found out that it wasn't a qualified electrician that changed the plug?

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

In my opinion - not worth the hassle and expense - Buy new here, all correct and guaranteed.

Washing machines are different here - only cold water fill.

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

to be honest, i would probably recomend to buy new here.

things like nikki clarcke hair products etc, that are super expensive, no.. but things like the toaster or kettle.. of course.

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

Something which hasn't been mentioned is that in Spain items like washing machines and dishwashers are cold fill only unlike UK where generally they are hot and cold.

Furthermore there can be big problems when appliances go wrong, even with minor faults, as parts may be had to find and someone willing to work on non Spanish equipment even harder.

All now moot though as the OP has very wisely decided to buy new in Spain, good choice :drinkingwine:

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

indeed we have, I’m for the easy life so Spanish appliances all the way.

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

Another reason to buy in Spain is that the warranty is far better than in the UK.

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

You would be very hard pressed to find a Hot & Cold fill machine in the UK nowadays and the same applies to Spain as well now.
The bulk of white goods are mostly built in Turkey with just label changes for different county’s and of course all use the same internals.
Yes it is common for UK kettles to be rated to 3kw+ on a lot of those fast boil items but half that in Spain (IMO)

The OP has made their choice but for others if you have good kit then why not just change the plug and carry on as normal as white goods have risen in price steeply over the past year or so.

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

we used a uk machine for years, it was like triggers broom, i used to order parts for it all the time.

the fill thing is easy to get round, you just need a couple extra pipes, a t-piece and 3 male/male connectors. €10 worth of bits.

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

Also there's no point in a hot and cold fill for 30-40º washes as it's more energy efficient to use a cold fill for those types of programmes.

Balay, Bosch, and Siemens are built in Zaragoza. The quality between the brands is the same, the difference is mainly in features.

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

Just remember that you will have a redundant wire with items from the UK as Spain just uses the two wire system.

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

Although Europlug plugs are fine, Europlug (two pin) sockets would fail a present-day inspection, all your sockets in the house should be Schuko (three pin) sockets.

Appliances that come with shaver-sized Europlugs draw less than 2.5A. Appliances that are double insulated and draw from 2.5A to 16A come with flat Schuko-sized Europlugs. Something like a washing machine comes with an earthed Schuko plug and should be plugged into an earthed Schuko socket, they really shouldn't be plugged into a two-pin socket if you've still got them.

And if your house does still have two-pin sockets then check that any Schuko sockets if you've got them really are three pin instead of two pins with an unconnected earth...

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

Not anymore - my house has 3 wires everywhere and all outlets are earthed

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

You will find that Hot and Cold fill depends on the make and model of device. Most devices (aka Washing machine or Dishwasher) will allow you to enable or disable hot fill these days.

The 'lifetime' of higher power devices is often determined by how stable or 'clean' your power supply is.

For a computer there are devices call UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) which clean the power sand stabilize it, as well as giving you a few minutes emergency power in the case of a power cut, enabling you to shutdown gently.

There are also power cleaners/voltage regulators available which you can attach to domestic devices.

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

Even with an earth you can still get shock issues from older appliances.
In my art room (Oo get me ) the sockets were installed upside down, so the live & neutral were reversed.
It took me ages to figure out why the 1960's record deck was giving me a shock and the static on the records was intense, every time I used it and the tube amplifier was less than happy as well, cost me a fortune in new tubes..

Older non double insulated stuff may have the chassis grounded, reversing the wires means even when switched off the appliance is still live (if using a single pole switch).
Which was the norm in the UK for years.....

The FIL has old style single pole breakers in the consumer unit in his house, his pool lights were still live even after switching the circuit breaker....
And the RCD (RCBO) unit in your panel wont trip if you get a short if the plug is upside down (now will any inline fuses blow as they will be on the neg side not the live side..

I have a plug checker (left over from my Uk machine wiring days) that will tell reversed polarity, earth fault etc..
And the other thing here is, its soo easy just to plug things in anyway up.. Both pins are the same size, who's bright idea was that then????
At least in the Uk there is no way to do that....

Re: Appliances from the UK
 

There is no "up" with Schuko sockets, they are unpolarised.

The appliance should be designed to cope with live on either pin. If it isn't, it shouldn't get a CE badge. So it may be a problem for older appliances you might bring from e.g. the UK or France which rely on having a polarised socket and you plug it into an adaptor or change the plug.