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electricity plugs


Nicos

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You do not have to worry about which pin is live and which is neutral. Both sides of French supplies are switched at the fuseboard and most appliances are double insulated. You will probably find that - for convenience in manufacture if nothing else - British appliances are also double insulated.
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Thanks for this info.

Is it just me - or do all  2 pin plugs fit loosely into the

socket? I have memories of trying to iron and use a hairdryier, and the

plug dropping out of the socket every few minutes!! ( think an

extention lead was the answer to that!)

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Are there any dangers in changing plugs for appliances bought in France to use in UK?  e.g. we have bought a raclette and a tajine here in France for our children in the UK.  When trying to change the plugs I found that the French wires were not colour coded.  I could tell which was the earth wire, but I could not differentiate between the live and neutral wires.  I copped out, left the plugs on, and bought adaptors for French to UK.

Thanks in advance,

David

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[quote user="David"]

Are there any dangers in changing plugs for appliances bought in France to use in UK?  e.g. we have bought a raclette and a tajine here in France for our children in the UK.  When trying to change the plugs I found that the French wires were not colour coded.  I could tell which was the earth wire, but I could not differentiate between the live and neutral wires.  I copped out, left the plugs on, and bought adaptors for French to UK.

Thanks in advance,

David

[/quote]

So long as the appliance does not have an on/off switch, and if it is French bought it almost certainly wont, then you do not need to differentiate between the phase and neutral. This is also true if the on/off switch is double pole i.e switches the live and neutral.

To explain: The only possible safetey implication in swapping live for neutral is if all of the following were to occur.

The appliance had a single pole on/off switch and someone left it plugged in, switched off (so they thought) and removed the cover to poke around inside.

 

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Thanks very much J.R.

Simple and clear advice, and even I understand it.

I had wondered whether it might be possible to unplug the appliance, take it apart, and check the wiring with a continuity tester.

However, from your explanation this seems to be unnecessary.

Many thanks,

David.

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[quote user="David"]

Thanks very much J.R.

Simple and clear advice, and even I understand it.

David.

[/quote]

 

Not quite sure how that happened, usually even I cannot understand my posts the next day.

I shall have to go through my empties and see what yesterdays red wine was!

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