bigglesworth

I had hoped electrical stuff would last until we make the move in the Spring, but the washing machine has packed up.
Is there any reason a new one would not work in Spain, (apart from changing the wattage or whatever it is)?

Rosemary

Voltage is the same. Washing machines here are cold fill (do not think that they do any others) so if your place is plumbed ready for washing machine it will usually only have a cold tap.

Rosemary

betris

How about just getting a secondhand one just to put you over and buying your new on in spain.a new english one in spain would be a bit of a problem if you need to claim or get a repairman out on the guarantee.

jurdyr

UK mains supply voltage was specified at 240 Volts AC or, more precisely, 240 Volts RMS +/-6%. The alternating current runs at a frequency of 50Hz.

Electricity in Spain is 220 Volts, alternating at 50 cycles per second. If you travel to Spain with a device that does not accept 230 Volts at 50 Hertz,The usual electrical current is 220 V and 50 hertz in spain

bigglesworth

Thanks all. I never cease to be amazed at how helpful all are on this site. And how knowledgeable! Thanks again.

Fred James

UK voltage is now 230v +10% -6%

Spanish voltage is 230v +6% -10%

All new electrical appliances in the EU have to work to the extremes ie. 230v +10% -10%

It's an EU harmonisation fudge to allow the UK to run at 240v and Spain to run at 220v for the time being. Eventually they will both have to work to closer tolerances but the key point is that the appliances must work on both.

Whenever I have checked our voltage it has been spot on 230v. I know that is not the case everywhere in Spain.

lynnxa

that's what we did - our washing machine died about 3 weeks before we moved and was included in the sale of the house - the buyers actually got a newer machine than the original one, but we didn't want to buy a brand new one

pete_l

I've noticed that whenever the immersion heater is switched on (or the kettle, for that matter) the lights dim noticably. I got my trusty old DMM out and measured the mains voltage ay 186V. That's probably because we're at the end of a long electrical cable run. The washing machine still worked fine though.
When bringing it over, I asked the same same questions about UK machines and got the same advice about hot/cold fill, which I ignored You can get adaptors if needs be.
If you have the means to pick one up (since the OP says they were planning to bring one to Spain, I'll presuime so) they they're quite cheap on ebay - typically 20-25% of the new cost

Fred James

I expect that is the reason plus the size of the cables in the system.

It seems like the electricity companies can provide the voltage but in many cases the distance and wiring can have a big effect.

We are in the Campo and our supply is from a newish transformer about 500m away. As our supply wiring is rated at 25kw 3 phase that's probably the reason why we always get 230v.

snikpoh

We're exactly the same - at the end of a long line and sometimes only get 186V. This causes mayhem with the computers:curse: - I've asked our insurers about it and they say they will NOT pay out if this is the cause! Ibedrola, on the other hand, say they will NOT fix it.

Fred, this +- 6/10 % you mention, I assume this is contractual so how do I go about forcing Ibedrola to do something about it?

Fred James

Those figures are the EU figures for the main supply in each country.

No doubt Iberdrola would argue with the EU that that's what they put into the system, what comes out the other end is anyone's guess!

I expect there is some contractual obligation for Iberdrola to supply within these limits but, like Telefonica, I expect they would blame the customer!

I know Beachcomber has similar supply problems which have never been resolved.

Any comments Beachcomber?

colin julie

Hi .the voltage at your fuse board /consumer unit may have sufficient incoming voltage , but the socket you are trying the appliance in could be wired in undersize cable which the spanish are fond of and quite a lengthy run which will give you a bigger decrease in voltage drop .plug an extension lead to the nearest socket to fuse board /consumer unit and try that ,also make sure other appliance are switched off that pull some current like A/C or water heater and the kettle as these will contribute to volt drop as well .,just for testing purpose as i assume you havent a voltage test meter and i dont mean a screw driver that tells you theres voltage there lol..which are un reliable any spark would tell you that .
let me know what the out come is .

Colin
ps .extension lead 10mtr max or may defeat the object .

betris

dont mess about with all that crap.meters ect.do what the spanish do.
stick your finger in the socket.if you just get a belt its no good.But if you hair goes curly its ok

pete_l

Ahhh Colin,
Let me tell you a little story about the electrical installation I inherited before I had the whole mess completely rewired.
To start with, all the wires dropping from the ceiling to the light-bulbs looked about 50 years old (remember the old cotton-type insulated wires?) with xmas tinsel wrapped around them.
There were no earth conductors to any of the plugs - which explains why I kept getting a tingle off the fridge when I opened the door when it was running.
The plug to the immersion heater was inserted into a jerry-rigged socket on the bathroom wall. The cable from that socket to the distribution panel had obviously been added later. It was 2-conductor bell-wire (the sort you use to connect your doorbell - hence the name). In one place the load to the immersion heater (also replaced) had been too much and the wire had literally burned out. To fix this, the previous owned had merely twisted the copper conductors back together and wrapped some insulating tape around the joint. You could still see the burn marks on the PVC insulation.
So yes, there has been undersized wiring in my house and it has caused problems. However, I am now completely sure that my wiring is not only up to spec. but that I've satisified myself (see next) that it's safe too. When the chappie came round to issue my boletin for the new wiring it involved a stamp, a signature and a transfer of folding stuff. Strangely I have no recollection of him ever getting his megger out to check the insulation - but the piece of paper I received definitely states that the insulation has been checked. Likewise with by brand new earthing spike! Hmmm.

betris

what you have to remember is that spain has not long come into the modern world and was basicly a third world country.Do you remember in the uk when you had plugs that were like the bayonet fitting on a uk bulb and you had umpteen pugs from a adapter on your cealing light.that was just after they got rid of gas mantel lights.spain used to be 120v for lights and 220/230v for appliances.times have changed and slowly slowly things will change as the younger ones are trained up.most of the last remaining old fitters still have the old mentality.bah that will do