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Thread: Foreign electric appliances in this country - safe?

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    ERU
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    Foreign electric appliances in this country - safe?

    I bought a cheap Oil Heater today for £15 but got it home to see it had a power adapter on it i.e. a two prong lead going into an adapter for out 3 prong plugs.

    Is it safe to use in the UK? I ask as it hasnt got an earth and i had thoughts that France might be on 230v?

    If i chop the plug off can i just safley add a UK plug? or would something like an internal power adapter cause probelms?

    Thanks in advance

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    the continent is on 115V (1/2 UK power), so unless it has a switch on it, or you have a step down transformer, its gonna blow

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    Shunned from CS:S Trippledence's Avatar
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    France is 220 v isnt it? If it came with a 3 pin adapter in the box changes are it is safe. Does it say on the box?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trippledence
    France is 220 v isnt it? If it came with a 3 pin adapter in the box changes are it is safe. Does it say on the box?
    oh, actually, i may have become confused. Yes, you're right, all electronics are 230v + or - 10v. So it should work over here.

    Sorry for mis-information

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    ERU
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    We'll i plugged it in and it works but worried about no earth.

    Can i cut plug off and put a new one on?

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    Shunned from CS:S Trippledence's Avatar
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    If it works yes. But the cable is going to be two core as well. As long as you keep it away from lighnign i wount worie about having no earth. Mabey keep it on a RCD if you want more saft. Other countrys have more lax safty regs. Which is most likely why it doesnt have one, because they can get away with it.

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    Earth is slightly more fundamental than cutting off the plug and putting a new one on.
    I wouldn't worry about it, there doesn't seem to be a massive amount of people dying on the continent of electric shocks
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    I'll just leave it then ....

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    Quote Originally Posted by ERU
    We'll i plugged it in and it works but worried about no earth.

    Can i cut plug off and put a new one on?
    Yes, go ahead, cut it off and replace with equivalent power rating power-plug. The difference between them is purely physical, not electrical.

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    In that case i'll put a new one then

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    Yeah, I wouldn't worry either. Pretty sure things like hairdriers don't have earths either, and they're heating devices with a similar power rating.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ERU
    We'll i plugged it in and it works but worried about no earth.

    Can i cut plug off and put a new one on?
    You can change the plug to UK version but if the cable and plug are 2pin you still won't get an earth connection.

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    Not a good idea to give advice which could get people hurt or killed.

    Earth ground was invented for people safety not actually intended for hardware equipment protection, most equipment actually had no use for earth ground whatsoever.

    Most computers don't come anywhere near the sustained 1.5 KW power capability of many hair dryers. Hair dryers had no earth ground because they were purposely that way by design. Computers don't actually need earth ground, the people who used them do. Earth ground in computers was intended for people purposely by design.

    Equipment purposely designed with no earth ground (protection through complete isolation - isolated ground device) are as safe as equipment which were purposely designed to have earth ground (protection by a ground barrier).

    The same can't be said for computers with no earth ground.

    220V/230V AC power in Europe is greater than twice more dangerous comparing to 120v AC power in the US. The main redeeming quality of 220V AC power is power transfer efficiency. In the US, 120V AC power had been used because of the provided relative safety which was valued over efficiency.

    It is extremely, extremely rare for any in Japan to die from household power equipment, Japan residential used 100V AC power.
    Last edited by Nein; 18-04-2005 at 02:41 PM.

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    wtf have computers got to do with it?
    Its a heater...

    Not a good idea to give advice which could get people hurt or killed.
    like what?
    Twigman

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    Quote Originally Posted by Twigman
    wtf have computers got to do with it?
    Its a heater...
    The heater was designed to have a grounded barrier for protection just as computers are designed to have a grounded barrier for protection, no earth ground meant the protection is removed.

    Quote Originally Posted by Twigman
    like what?
    Electrocution, ~300V is the nominal voltage to overcome the human body internal resistance/impedance. 220V AC is actually rated in RMS power, hence the reason its more dangerrous, being able to exceed 300V in much longer duration of time than 120V AC.
    Last edited by Nein; 18-04-2005 at 02:54 PM.

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    Now with added sobriety Rave's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nein
    The heater was designed to have a grounded barrier for protection just as computers are designed to have a grounded barrier for protection, no earth ground meant the protection is removed.
    If the heater was designed to have an earth ground then it would have come with a three pin continental plug rather than a two pin. The hairdryer comparison may have been a red herring admittedly.

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