As I now live in Spain I set about changing some of my English electrical goods to Spanish plugs. All has been well for several months.

However my Dad says you cant just change the plug over as there are different wattages and eventually I will burn out my electrical goods.

Can anybody give me any information.

All I can tell you is when I first moved to England I murdered my toothbrush. It sputtered for a few days and then gave up the ghost. Haven't had the heart to plug anything else in that came over from America.

It is the voltage that matters not the wattage , British voltage is 240V , North American voltage is 120V, to be safe you should always use fused plugs any way , should you overload a wire , the fuse will blow preventing a possible fire , protecting your appliance at the same time .
Colin

Thanks for the reply all and Oddball, but forgive me for being so thick, but I still don´t know the answer.

I will have to check to see if the Spanish plugs I buy have got a fuse, I don´t think they have. If not I will have to go out and look for some.

Was that a yes can I change the plug over only if I have a fused Spanish plug? You mentioned North American voltage, is Spanish the same?

Does this mean that a electrical item bought in the UK would have different wires and would not be able to take another voltage.

God I sound really think, I think I´ll just stop there and buy myself a new toaster.

I just checked and you are safe to use your appliances and they will work okay , the voltage in Spain is 230 v and in England 240 v your toaster would have fried by now if there was a discrepency . You do not HAVE to use fused plugs , i use them for added safety . Hope you feel happier now , Colin .

Also, any of the more sophisticated electronic gadgets, like ipods and laptops, and some of the less sophisticated products, like hairdryers, come with wiring for both systems, and an internal switch that detects which ones it should use. I'm using my laptop now in 220 Volt Malaysia, and only needed a plug adaptor.

We found we could not use any of our US lightbulbs in Europe, either.

just buy a converter that steps the voltage from 220 to 120, i ahve purchased a bunch of these in preperation for my move. i will eventually convert fully but until then this is the best route.

She moved between two countries with similar voltages, 230 and 240. She didn't me to the US or any of the other places that use 120, so she has no reason to step the voltage down. She should be fine, once she has plugs that fit in the sockets.

By the way, that seems very strange to those of us in America. Unless we have lived overseas we have never seen an appliance that comes without a plug, so that you have to get a plug and attach it to the cord yourself. The first time I did it, I was sure I was going to electrocute myself or set my apartment on fire. It seemed so, well, unsafe,

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