Senior Member
Ah cool, i think i did ok.. Although its nasty when you get out room and loads people got different answers, now i have doubts
Yes it was at Weltec, drop me a PM.. In fact i got stage 3 practical this week and terrified of the motors (havent been near one in 15yrs!) Drop me a PM if you got any advice mate.
Member
can someone (prob one of you sparky-types) tell me if its safe to plug my kettle and a few other things into a 4-gang socket adapter bought here in the UK and then plug it into a NZ socket (via a travel adapter) ? I'm sure I read on some post somewhere that someone said not to use a kettle/toaster etc in these 4 socket adapters ...
If not, why not ?
cheers
Senior Member
The answer comes down to the rating of the travel adapter and the power of the Kettle etc.Originally Posted by Dom
You need to check that the total power used by all the appliances plugged into the 4 way sockets is less than 2400W (or 10A) regardless of if you use a NZ plug or a travel adapter.
If you want to use a travel adapter then you need to confirm that this can also handle at least the amount of power that you are drawing through it.
So for example, if you fully load the 4 way sockets with a 10A load your travel adapter will also need to handle 10A. If it can't handle this amount then you need to reduce your load to match.
Many travel adapters from the UK are only rated at 7.5A so maximum load would be 1800W which is less that most kettles, which is why it isn't recommended.
It should also be noted that most Kettles from the UK probably shouldn't be used at all in NZ anyway as they draw too much current.
Ian
Senior Member
Ian has summed it up very nicely, i concur....
Member
This issue about plugs on appliances does seem to cause some "confusion"....
My little sister was told by the removal company that they had to cut off all the British style plugs from appliances or they couldn't be shipped. You can buy UK style plugs and sockets out here, they are just as expensive as, eh.
When we came out here, we didn't cut any plugs off, I just bought with me several 4 way adaptors and fitted them with a Kiwi plug, and then plugged all my UK stuff into the adaptor! This works great for low current items like phone chargers which don't have a plug you can change. All my computers still have UK leads on them, are run via the same 4 way adaptors that I bought out with me. High current items like kettles, washing machines, toasters, etc., needed changing because of the current limitations on the basic Kiwi power point. 10 amps or 2200w or 2.2kW is the limit.
Someone stated earlier that Kiwi house wiring is protected by an MCB / RCD system. This would only be the case in new houses or old ones that have been rewired. In general, you will find Kiwi db's with no RCD's and with rewireable fuses.
Senior Member
Guess you were thinking about my comments on another thread?Someone stated earlier that Kiwi house wiring is protected by an MCB / RCD system. This would only be the case in new houses or old ones that have been rewired. In general, you will find Kiwi db's with no RCD's and with rewireable fuses.
If so, I was only quoting our specific circumstances, thank you for answering my question, so it is normal in new houses but not in older ones.
I'm a little confused by your answer regarding maximum power being 2200W or 2.2kW, from what I know it is 2400W or 2.4kW.
Ian
Member
As you know, it all depends upon the voltage..... + or - 6%. But in any case it's 10 amps. So that would be 2162 to 2438 watts @ 230v, or 2256 to 2544 watts @ 240v. So 2200 is a nice conservative guesstimate. And I have worked on rural installations in NZ with under 220v on the incomer under no load conditions. And no, the power board won't do anything about it.
Best
Pete
Senior Member
Yup as Pete has said the maximum safe wattage would be 2200w taking into account possible volt drops. Not only the volt drop at the incoming supply of your home, but when you add "hypothetically" another 50m+ of circuit cable inside your home, the voltage could drop by another 2-3v so when you get to your socket-outlet in the farthest room it could be as love as 220v (in theory). So as a safe figure it is always best to work on a maximum power for a 10A socket as 2200w or 2.2kw. And nothing can be done about volt-drop its one of electricity's little quirks! The longer a piece of cable and its size the lower voltage the other end of the cable.
The voltage in NZ is not 240v, in fact it hasn't even been 240v in the UK for some years, they lowered it to 230v some years back, which a lot of people dont realise.
Member
Like the wiring colours in the UK, it's all due to EU "Harmonisation"..... Now, why did I leave the UK......
Meanwhile, back at the thread,
Best
Pete
Member
So I presume things like my wife's hairdryer (which I think needs about the same amount of power as a snall town) and washing machine/microwave I should replace the plugs with a kiwi one ?
And for all my PC stuff - printer/monitor/sound amp and my hifi etc i should be ok with these 4 way adapters ...
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