I have a lot of Schuko wired power tools I brought over to the UK as I inherited some from my dad. I have an extension lead in the workshop for my "exotic" continental power tools. Even my hoover bought in Germany runs with an adapter straight from the wall for years. I have thought of re-plugging some of the stuff, but couldn't be bothered as it was easier just to replug the continental extension lead.
UK power sockets outside UK
- Thread starter BradyS
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
Which is one of the things shocking me the most when I came to the UK 25 years ago. Everybody could do anything without qualification. I really love the "I am a builder" qualification. Jack of all trade, master of none. It has improved significantly though, at least proper qualified trades people boast their certificates and qualis online now.
Indeed, I was referring to T&E as the cable has three cores. A two-way lighting cable would be a 4 core (or 3 core with earth).
Rings are generally cheaper to install and can be safer than radial circuits as a ring final circuit, properly installed, will have a more resilient earth continuity throughout the ring, so a break in one leg will not affect the earth protection.
I have never experienced any problems in a ring circuit and, of course, the odd radial off a ring socket has greater flexibility in adding sockets. The theoretical failure of the ring leaving two legs is rare and is no greater a risk than the one I've mentioned above. In fact, a 2.5mm² core will carry twice times its rated current almost indefinitely under fault conditions without failure, or fire, but, like all faults, it's not a good scenario.
In this day and age, power requirements are generally lower than the old days although they do supply an increasing base load from appliances on standby, smart equipment etc.,
Because of the compactness of my workshop (6.6m x 2.5m) I ran a 2.5mm² ring but fed it via a 16A breaker. That allowed me to reduce the workshop feed cable from the house. Never had a problem overloading the breaker.
The problem there being the best qualified aren't necessarily the best builders and sometimes the unqualified are brilliant.
Rings are cheaper, hence why they were introduced following WW2 when there was a shortage of copper but they are now obsolete, Radials are much safer due to the ease of testing and the simple fact that if either the neutral or live conductor is broken you now have an overload situation and potential for a thermal event. Power requirements are now higher not lower, this can be seen by the number of sockets being fitted into houses and that you can now get consumer units with 32 ways compared to years ago when most houses were two or four way with wired fuses and no RCD. This is one of the reasons we now have an energy crisis, a lot more people all using more power, the only saving grace has been LED lighting otherwise we would be in trouble.
That is why our education system is failing, pushing every Tom, Dick and Harry through university when in reality you have those who can use their hands to make and build things and those that are academic and we need to put more value / respect on trade skills because otherwise the shortage will just get bigger.
I'd go along with that. As an indentured electrician the training was better, and more comprehensive, than just learning to pass the exams. The standards of some installations these days leave a lot to be desired.
Some don't even warrant the word standard being used, having seen the work of some domestic installers if it was not for the mandatory use of RCD protection we would be seeing far more electrical incidents. This is a shame because the materials and tools available today should make the jobs that much better if only they spent more time on doing it. Good example is that now we have decent readily available jb's and connectors like Wago's compared to the old chocolate block and those horrible round jb's that were used for lighting circuits. As I have said before I much prefered industrial to anything domestic as 99% of the time you knew no one had been just " having a go " . Also there are now battery powered conduit benders / threaders and hydraulic crimpers so life is easier than when you had ratchet crimpers and faced with terminating 185mm armoured cables.
The dilution of exams so the schools and collages can meet the standards and pass numbers that OFSTED set laves a lot to be desired, the word Professional is now used to denote anyone that does a job and is paid for it, no longer needing a qualification recognised by a professional body.
And so many 'engineers'!
Last edited:
Agent_zed
Established Member
Whilst this is a bit out of date now according to Average Electricity & Gas Bills In 2019 - Great Home electric use in UK households actaully fell between 2006 -2016. Assuming a similar or static trend there doesn't seem to be an increase in power requirements from what i can see.
Whilst there are more sockets being installed it doesn't necessarily equate to more electric useage. When I re-did my electrics I put lots of sockets in for convienience rather than running a load of bar fires like my grandparents would have done years ago.
A lot of modern equipment are pretty low wattage compared to older stuff. A modern 40inch TV only uses about 40-50 watts which is less than 1 old lightbulb. The samsung one I just looked at was 39w when on and 0.5w in standby. Even with a digi box and soundbar you'd be pulling very little power.
The big energy users like ovens and hobs, as I'm sure you know, are on individual cables anyway.
The only thing I can think of in my house that could pull a lot of power on a ringmain would be if my dishwasher and washing machine were on and heating at the same time as they are about 2.5kw each.
Bojam
Established Member
I’ve not read the whole thread so apologies if this isn’t relevant or has already been posted.
I live in France (French Guiana) and my power tools are all UK bought. Rather than change the plugs on the tools, I bought a few of these heavy duty 4 gang adaptors from Tough Leads. They’ve worked faultlessly. There are various options to suit the plugs where you live. Recommended!
I live in France (French Guiana) and my power tools are all UK bought. Rather than change the plugs on the tools, I bought a few of these heavy duty 4 gang adaptors from Tough Leads. They’ve worked faultlessly. There are various options to suit the plugs where you live. Recommended!
https://toughleads.co.uk/
do decent kit.
do decent kit.
Bojam
Established Member
Yeah, that’s my experience too (see above).
HamsterJam
Let’s take it apart to see what’s inside….
A piece of equipment I bought ages ago had an IEC (kettle) connector and came with a choice of leads, one fitted with a UK plug and one with a Schuko plug, both being moulded assemblies.
I cut the IEC connector off the schuko lead and wired it into a 4-way UK socket block.
This has been on many continental trips and is great for charging multiple phones, laptops fitted with UK plugs.
I cut the IEC connector off the schuko lead and wired it into a 4-way UK socket block.
This has been on many continental trips and is great for charging multiple phones, laptops fitted with UK plugs.
To clear up this fallacy often quoted by scare mongers and repeated ad infinitum, you have a contract with your insurance company, they can not break that contract unless fraud is found either on the application for insurance or on the claim, however a claim can be reduced if the house is under insured or the insurance company can prove contributory negligence.
Last edited:
Superduner
Established Member
Ok, so I'm in France where things work a little bit differently.
A friend of mine has a barn which is not yet "renovated" but is in good condition. He keeps his car in it. A couple of years ago a small beam fell from the roof onto his car.
The barn and the car are insured by the same company (under different policies, of course)
He is still waiting for a settlement as the different parts of the company (vehicle and building) are each saying that the other part is liable.
Insurance in France is a bit of a joke.
A friend of mine has a barn which is not yet "renovated" but is in good condition. He keeps his car in it. A couple of years ago a small beam fell from the roof onto his car.
The barn and the car are insured by the same company (under different policies, of course)
He is still waiting for a settlement as the different parts of the company (vehicle and building) are each saying that the other part is liable.
Insurance in France is a bit of a joke.
True dat
French insurance companies didn't get to be as big as they are by paying out in a timely manner.
Often takes years..sometimes many years. Even if you are the injured party in a RTA. Plus they quibble, if quibbling was an olympic sport, french insurers would take gold, silver and bronze every time.
Took 5 years for SWMBO to see a payout after some one hit her with a car ( she was on her cycle ), they were going the wrong way, down a one way street, when they saw her, they panicked and swerved into her.When they saw her get up, they drove off.Gendarmes didn't prosecute the driver as "madame hadn"t reported the incident within 24 hours". The question of "how do dead or unconscious, comatose people report hit and run" got a shrug. Other party then lied about where it happened, ( despite witnesses ) and their insurers tried to minimise the damage ( and pay out ) by asking for their medical expert to insist on very many painful movements to be performed in multiple visits over 5 years while their doctors watched. This despite surgery ( 2 months after the event , and 6 weeks off work with physio ) and previously 6 weeks off work as a result of the "accident", the other driver admitted to taking a short cut despite knowing it was one way.
Last edited:
Using a non approved adapter could be argued as contributory negligence
But the sockets look so happy!
Any adapter with a CE mark has been approved as with anything else you fit in your house, TV, Oven, Fridge, Freezer etc........
