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Electrical equipment (Read 3106 times)
warner31
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Electrical equipment
Mar 7th, 2007 at 8:01pm
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Hello to everyone.
We only have 10months now until we join you all. We are now deciding what furniture to take and what to leave. Now obviously the electrics are different in Spain than back here in England. So do we take all our electrical equipment or not?
Firstly, we will be saying goodbye to our dishwasher as im sure Spain doesnt have enough water to cope with that, but what about Washing machine, Fridge, Freezer,Televisions, Dvd and Video players? Even down to Lamps.
I know that we can get adaptors and its probably straight forward but we just wanted to know from the experienced movers like all of you.
Any help would be greatly appriciated
Many thanks in advance
Wayne and Charlotte Warner
  
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nobrot
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Re: Electrical equipment
Reply #1 - Mar 7th, 2007 at 10:19pm
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Are you on mains electric or another source,ie solar,wind or generator ?
  
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Nigel
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Re: Electrical equipment
Reply #2 - Mar 8th, 2007 at 8:52am
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The power here, as in the rest of Europe is a 'nominal' 230V, 50Hz (see http://users.metro2000.net/~purwinc/seec2_2.htm). ; The UK used to be 240V but a few years ago they harmonised with the rest of Europe and now it's a 'nominal' 230V the same.

Most, if not all, equipment is rated 220/240V to work in the whole of Europe.

The difference here is that, unlike the UK, there is no standard for the connection of the phase and neutral wires in a socket.  In the majority of cases this isn't a problem as most equipment doesn't care as the circuit is designed for the European market.

There are exceptions however.  If you do have a piece of equipment that doesn't work as expected then (crazy as it sounds) it's worth turning the plug around and trying it - you may find it works.  You can buy replacement plugs here - there are two types - one has an earth connection, the other doesn't. Just use the type you need for whatever appliance you have. 

All plug sockets should have an earth. The older 2 pin sockets don't have an earth connection and shouldn't be installed in a new installation - if they are then it may well fail the electrical inspection and won't be allowed to connect  to the mains supply.

The exception is (sometimes) a UK TV - this will work ok with satellite systems, dvd's and so on but it won't necessarily work with the Spanish terrestrial TV signal - you'll get a picture but no sound.  This is due to the differences in the way the signal and sound are transmitted (for those interested in that sort of stuff the UK uses PAL I with an audio subcarrier of 6MHz and video bandwidth of 5.5MHz, Spain uses PAL G with an audio subcarrier of 5.5MHz and video bandwidth of 5MHz). The Video frequency doesn't cause a problem but the audio one does.  You may find that your video recorder is capable of receiving Spanish TV and can cope with the difference - if you connect it to the TV with a SCART cable then everything may work absolutely fine!

You mention about your dishwasher and water - actually dishwashers are much more efficient with water than many people believe.  The newer machines can actually use less water than washing up by hand and if you have an 'A' rated one then it's going to be energy efficient as well - so don't discount it!

Obviously what you bring/use will depend on the power you have available - be it mains or solar/generator.  Anything that generates heat (washing machine, dishwasher, iron, hairdryer, kettle, toaster etc.) will need a reasonably good supply.  It's worth getting the wiring checked out as the Spanish were a bit lax in their concept of power verses cable thickness - the worst I've seen has been an electric cooker (rated at 8KW) connected with bell wire (intended for use where power consumption is less than 50W) needless to say the results were impressive - the wire caught fire, vapourised and left a nice black carbon mark on the ceiling!

Nigel
  
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biki
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Re: Electrical equipment
Reply #3 - Mar 8th, 2007 at 10:41am
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Charlotte
My advise is bring everything that will fit in the removal van.Having carefully left everything I thought I did not need I am forever thinking I wish....including the dishwasher.I stupidly thought I would enjoy washing up gazing at the spectacular mountains with more time on my hands..wrong.. a novelty for the first month.Now having installed a new kithchen I dont have room for a dishwasher!

Having waited a year to get a Fecsa to install our mains connection I happily placed all our table lamps and fitted the ceiling lights to discover for safety I had left ALL the light bulbs behind...oh yes they are all bayonet fitting and spain uses screw fit.Maybe you can buy bayonet bulbs here but I have not discoverd where yet.We waited till visitors arrived to use any of the uk fittings.Now the "Is there anything we can bring you?" includes various light bulbs as well as marmite ,bacon and ribena.

Biki
  
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Debbie
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Re: Electrical equipment
Reply #4 - Mar 8th, 2007 at 6:10pm
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Biki

You mean you have run out of those light bulbs I bought out for you, it must of been at least a year ago! Grin

When we come out at Easter I will try and fit some in for you, I will add light bulbs to the Costco list.

Debbie Smiley
  
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biki
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Re: Electrical equipment
Reply #5 - Mar 8th, 2007 at 7:06pm
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Thanks Debbie

Two years ago now, my how time flys!!!It is not often you can say "you bring light into my life" but you really did.Still going through the original lot.Maybe they last longer here??Light bulb study to follow shortly.

Biki
  
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