[Charlesw25]

We've had conflicting info from two of our friends who have moved to NZ. One said the washing machine and fridge brought from UK didn't work and one said they did. Anyone know?

[stephenandjulie]

both appliances work fine for us in NZ. we also bought our tvs from the uk but had to buy a DVD recorder here to get NZ tele. hope this helps
Julie

[bumpffslam]

Both UK and NZ have 230-240 volt 50hz mains electric. So no problem, except you'll need to change plugs or buy an adaptor.

You might read on here that the power is less reliable than UK - that was true until recent UK floods !

[IanW99]

Although bringing a Fridge or Washing machine should work without any problem as said by others - and confirmed by us as we brought ours over from the UK without problems.

There are a couple of points which are worth noting.

1. Fridges and Freezers are designed to work in a particular market e.g. temperature, humidity etc. They may work fine but they also may not work to their optimum efficiency. There was some report that they tend to burn out more quickly (don't know if this is true?)

2. Electricicity in NZ may be the same as the UK but the normal mains sockets run at 10A instead of 13A, so it is possible that some electrical goods from the UK e.g. Clothes Dryers, Bar Heaters etc could draw too much power, so would be worth checking (for safety). You may be able to change the power setting e.g. some Dryers allow you to set 10A or 13A, and you can also get the cable upgraded if needed.

3. Depending on the make, it may not be easy to have it repaired if there is a problem (might be worth checking).

Ian

[Charlesw25]

That's cleared that up. So I take it TVs are out completely? I suppose they could be brought and used in a play room just with a DVD or video.

[jackie m]

Yes we brought our 2 smaller Tv's over for the childrens rooms, they think they are now royalty now they have their own :D of course they only watch video's & dvd's on them.:o
One word of warning we did buy a new fridge freezer not long before we left but now have really bad problems with it icing up at the back of the fridge (warranty voided not in UK) but all other white goods are fine, just a gamble to take :uhoh
Hope this helps
Jackie

[JulesB]

TV's should work once you've had one capacitor changed. This is a pretty simple mod (for a tv guy). A few years ago we brought a NZ tv to uk and the sound frequency is the only difference. So we'll be shipping our UK TVS. next week!!!

[zardell]

That's cleared that up. So I take it TVs are out completely? .



No - both our sets from the UK work just fine.

Hooked up to Sky and switched 'em on - sorted.

Julie

xx

[IanW99]

There have been other threads on TVs from the UK.

But to summarise:

NZ TV's use PAL B/G whilst UK uses PAL I.

Many CRT TVs can also allow you to select PAL B/G (or sometimes allow country setting - you can select Germany for example) in which case they will work without any problems.

Most LCD / Plasmas if they support PAL will support both UK and NZ.

If the TV doesn't work in NZ, all this means is that you can't tune to the broadcast programs, you can still attach Sky or Video etc and use their tuners instead to watch NZ programs.

Ian

[james the mechanic]

Hi all,
Ian you say that ‘Electricity in NZ may be the same as the UK but the normal mains sockets run at 10A instead of 13A, so it is possible that some electrical goods from the UK e.g. Clothes Dryers, Bar Heaters etc could draw too much power.’
I’m not saying your wrong, because I simply don’t know, however, I am confused.
The NZ plugs I have seen don’t have fuses, much like the rest of the world. There are no fuses in the actual sockets in NZ and the ring main appears to consist of 2.5mm by the look of it (in my house at least) good for at least 20amp and appliances up to about 4800w. Are you saying the ring main is fused at 10amps? As I see it, that just isn’t possible. (normally 32amp in the UK). Or is the safe working load of these un-fused plugs 10amps, in which case changing the cable wouldn’t help.
Or are the majority of older houses in NZ wired exclusively with 1.0mm which is rated at 10amp and appliances up to about 2400w?
Are you talking about changing the cable on the appliance its self, if so why?
I have a whole load of wall hung electric heaters I’m going to ship to NZ,, however I will probably run a separate ring for them anyway and put them all on fused spurs.
Can someone clear this up for me?
James

[IanW99]

Sounds like you are getting too technical for me :laugh , sure an electrician will be able to answer this properly.

What I am saying is that officially you should only draw a maximum of 10A from a socket (as you say safe working load) i.e. that is what they are rated at. If you buy a Heater in NZ then its maximum output is 2400W (10A) which as you know is less than the UK.

I would agree with your comment that the ring main will take more than this, but non the less you should NOT connect a device to any socket above this rating (10A) for safety. When I was looking into buying a Clothes Dryer, I found that they were either 10A already or gave you the option of setting them to 10A - for all I know this is standard, or it may only be for Dryers imported into NZ?

This is certainly not for older houses, but AFAIK, all NZ houses.

The 'change cabling' comments was indeed to have an electrician to run an additional spur from the fusebox with suitable cabling to handle the increased load.

Ian

[owens clan]

I've been working on domestic propertys for the last 12 weeks and the wireing in some of the houses is unbeliveable but is acceptable over here, some of the fuse boards in the houses would be condemd in uk staight away but not here , so be very carefull in what you add on to .
they also use radial runs instead of ring circuts that is why they are only rated at 20A mcb (if you are lucky enough to have one) plus the boards dont have a fixed buss bar but added onto as you go from fuse to fuse,
next time I am in a house I will take some photos and phost them

[Charlesw25]

What about phones. Do they have a different plug in bit? When we were there in May I noticed the phone connections to PCs seemed to be similar to the UK.

[IanW99]

Check out this thread for details on phones

UK landline phones - do they work in NZ (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12196)

Ian

[Charlesw25]

I promise this is my last one - but what about Dysons? Does the different electro-thingy have any effect on vacuum cleaners?

[james the mechanic]

Hi Charles,
Your Dyson will work fine just change the plug.
James

[zardell]

Purely from a nontechnical housewife's (oops sorry - home-maker's) perspective and bearing in mind we came to NZ from UK, all the electrical items we brought with us, including the phones, PC and white goods, Dyson etc work just fine.

We simply changed the plug, plugged 'em in and Bob's Your Uncle.......:nice1

One thing I would strongly suggest though is for you to put a couple of 4 plug extention leads in your suitcase and a couple in your container - this simply means that you will initially only have to change the one plug on the end of the extention lead and be able to plug in your UK goodies without having to change ALL the plugs. Thinking of the hairdryer/tongs/hair straightener here......get my drift ?

Julie

xx

[holland]

Good Tip Zardell, Thanks