Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

Some time ago, I was advised not to bring any electrical items, when I move, as they are likely to stop working, due to the Spanish national grid being different. Recently I was told that that wasn't true, and I have to say it did sound a bit far fetched when I initially heard it. I am not proposing to bring large items, but I do have smaller things, lamps, kitchen accessories etc, that I am fond of and would prefer to bring them. However it seems pointless if they will only stop working. Has anyone used UK electrical devices successfully for any length of time? :confused:

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

Only differences is that Spain is 230 volts, the UK 240, only drawback might be TVs, and as long as it is less than 6 months old it should be OK. This computer is a UK one, as are my DVD, Video, etc.:)

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

Hi Brenda,

There is lots on this in earlier threads so do a search and you will find that Mike is correct and lots of detailed info as well.

Regards,

John.

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Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

That's great, thanks. I'll check them out.

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

Your lamps will no doubt have bayonet bulb fittings - here bulbs are screw threaded but you could change the fitment.
Buy a load of Spanish plugs and change the plugs on your appliances, power tools etc as the 3-pin to 2-pin adaptors always seem to fall apart!

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

Hi everyone,

We have not experienced any problems with electrical appliances brought from the UK (large and small), ranging from wood lathes, computers, laptops, washing machines, dishwashers, lamps, hoovers, etc. This is of couse the Alicante region that I am referring to. I do not know what is happening in other more rural areas of Spain. Also re the bulbs for bayonet fittings, they are also available in most large electric appliance outlets. :)

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

Generally speaking you should have no problems except for the plug fittings and the bayonets, A couple of things to watch for is that any older appliance from the UK may not be double insulated, and therefore may require and earth, a lot of spanish (older houses), have sockets either two pin or earth just plain not connected, so you need to be a little bit careful on some things,

Secondly, although they have changed the rules recently, keeping most consumers within 600mts of a transformer, in the campo this is not always true, so that with the voltage drop from 240v to 230V, plus the voltage drop on the cable due to distance from transformer and the cable being very small, you may find lots of appliance slowing down, or smelling a bit burny,, especially if they are put under heavy load or a couple of things are going at the same time,, The good news is that this is now becoming rare so generally there are few problems, I would recommend to protect your SKY box, Expensive HD TV etc , that you buy a UPS(uninterruptible power supply), you can get a reasonable one from Mediamart 750VA for about 180€, which will absorb the fluctations and keep a TV system up for about 30 mins in a power cut

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

In total agreement with the UPS thingie. We have one for our computers and another for TV, dvd player, etc., but then again we also used a UPS in the UK for our puters as well :)

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

To concur with everyone else, we bought washing machine, pc, printers, kitchen equipment and all works OK, although I have noticed that the DVD drawers on the PC and our cinema system dvd sometimes struggle to open!!! :unsure:

I have the extension type surge protectors on PC and TV which were about 30 euros each.

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

The harmonised mains voltage accross the EU is supposed to be 230v with a margin of error.

The UK brought theirs down from 240v to 230v some years ago as this was reatively easy. Spain had to bring theirs up from 220v to 230v which was much more difficult because a lot of generating equipment needed to be replaced and even now there are areas where the voltage is closer to the old 220v.

The EU standard allows for fluctations in supply from 218.5v to 243.8v.
Equipment designed sold for the EU market must be capable of allowing for this variation and would be designed and built to meet even wider variations of electrical supply.

I have just checked my electrical equipment here in the UK all of which is labelled 230v.

Bit nerdy and simplified I'm afraid, but the upshot is there should be no problems but do take all the recommendations from others on surge protection.

Jim

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

My supply voltage can be anything from 155 volts to 260 volts depending on the time of day and how many of my neighbours are in residence. When I ring the Sevillana call centre to complain I get a reply to the effect of "You have electricity, what are you complaining about?"

EU standard? Don´t make me laugh!!:rofl:

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

Sorry Beachcomber I did laugh when I read your post, we went to the local planning office on Thursday as we had been told by many locals that a road was planned to come straight down our 75ft drive over our lawn and out the other side, so we thought OK lets go and check this out. Yes, everyone was correct the road is going exactly as they all said. When we pointed out to the young man that the road is not going anywhere only into a farmers field which at the moment is white land and that there was a road a few doors away from us that is already in place and the only thing stopping the road joining up with a road the other side was a wall. He said what is your problem, this is your drive you only drive your car on it up to your house, so iinstead of driving on your drive you will drive on the new road! There you go problem solved silly old me.:p

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

Why? We brought our TVs. Among them a Toshiba portable that we bought in 1988, and they all work fine.

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

Because for some reason the sound on does not work on some older TV's .... and of course you don't know until you have already got it here ;) But I think its mainly on terrestial TV

Re: Electrical devices, (don't bring them)?
 

Oh, I knew that. It was the six months bit that confused me. It depends on the brand though, rather than the age. In Spain they use a different PAL broadcast standard to the UK. My 1998 Philips works, but my 1988 and 2001 Toshibas don't.

I've recently bought a cheap Blue Sky portable in Carrefour which only works in Spain (Pal B/G).

If you go to the set up menu on any TV you'll be able to check if it is compatible with different countries broadcast systems.