JnK

Have had conflicting opinions on this question so some sensible advice needed please. We're not sure whether or not to take our electrical appliances from the UK to Spain mainly because most of ours are earthed whereas the Spanish system isn't and just uses the two-prong plug. We did buy travel adapters but on them they say that they're not to be used only "with non-earthed appliances up to 1800W 250V and 7.5amps". This would then apply to our tumble drier and freezer which we were planning on taking. Can someone please help

valenciatim

Does your property not have any of the round plug sockets? They are still two pin sockets, but the earth is at the sides.

rachelk

You should be able to change the plugs to continental ones

See here - you don't need spanish as it's all done in photos.

JnK

That is fantastic ... thank you thank you thank you, in fact, I can't thank you enough

mikelincs

That's the best idea, we bought about 3 adaptors, but changed all the ones we could before we came. The only ones we needed adaptors for were the things like chargers for phones etc that plug direct into the socket.

jurdyr

buy few plug boards from uk and the put EU plug on the end off it , non-earthed appliances can not trip and lead to fires that damage your house and kill

bigglesworth

Wow what a great idea! Thank you also

JnK

Okay, bearing in mind that I'm a woman ... no smart remarks ... what is a "plug board"?

rachelk

I think he means one of those what I call extension cables - plugs into the wall and has room for you to plug 3, 4 or more other plugs into it. Then you'd only have to change one plug.

bil

We get around the problem by wiring in a separate earthing 'loom' and then conecting an earth line where those are lacking on the Spanish system.

trentino

Ok, stupid here. I thought spanish plugs could only take two wires. It does not show in the phto what they have done with the brown wire. Oh, by the way, I am female??

linda Coyle

We shipped our microwave DVD and LCD tv to Spain and just had Spanish plugs put on - no problem

rachelk

One of the photos shows all 3 wires connected, just before the cover goes back on.

Brown and blue to the two pins, earth to the metal bit at the side.

jdr

Fire insurance ?
All electrical work is supposed to be done by a qualified electrician now, hence the moulded on plugs on all electrical equipment nowdays.

Fred James

So why do they sell plugs in every supermarket?

I think that rule only applies to the wiring in the house, not to what you connect to it.