Changing electrical plugs from UK to NZ ones
pleccy2000
27th May 2009, 03:29 PM
OK so i bought a plug end for $4 from the Warehouse. Went to swap the plug on my GF's hair straighteners to free up an adapter, screwed in the Neutral and Live (there was no Earth) only to discover that there was no where to put the fuse on the new plug socket?
Do NZ plugs normally not use fuses? Is it safe to swap or a fire risk?
Janey
27th May 2009, 03:35 PM
no great isn't it have no changed 25 odd plugs none with fuses had to cut plugs off some appliances as they had those stupid grip things
mylesdw
27th May 2009, 03:37 PM
As far as I know, the UK is the only country in the world that puts fuses in plugs (I haven't come across any others). It is a very good idea. Changing to an NZ plug makes it no more or less a fire risk than any other bit of unfused equipment.
pleccy2000
27th May 2009, 03:40 PM
wow. interesting to know that my 2500w oil heater has no fuse!!!! thanks for the info.
On a side note, is there anywhere that sells black plug ends? I can only find white ones at the warehouse and dick smiths!
IanW99
27th May 2009, 03:42 PM
wow. interesting to know that my 2500w oil heater has no fuse!!!! thanks for the info.
Are you sure it is 2500W? This is too much for normal NZ mains connection.
Ian
pleccy2000
27th May 2009, 04:02 PM
Are you sure it is 2500W? This is too much for normal NZ mains connection.
Ian
It might be 2400w but pretty sure it's up there in that region. I'll check tonight
mylesdw
27th May 2009, 04:08 PM
It's not the big load appliances that you should worry about. Your 2400W heater drawing 10A is (sort of) protected by the fuse in the fuse box. A small appliance such as a stereo, TV or fridge, faulty and drawing 10A will almost certainly go on fire and no fuse will blow!
James 1077
27th May 2009, 05:42 PM
We found that the easiest way of doing it was to change the end of a UK multiplug adaptor. That way we haven't needed to change too many UK plugs to crappy NZ ones (the plugs are tiny and fiddly and a hassle to change when you have big fat fingers like mine!).
You can get black plugs from Hammer Hardware as I changed a few of mine to black plugs for aesthetic reasons!
Twig
27th May 2009, 06:21 PM
We found that the easiest way of doing it was to change the end of a UK multiplug adaptor.
Oh thats a good idea, thanks for that! :nice1
IanW99
27th May 2009, 06:50 PM
It's not the big load appliances that you should worry about. Your 2400W heater drawing 10A is (sort of) protected by the fuse in the fuse box. A small appliance such as a stereo, TV or fridge, faulty and drawing 10A will almost certainly go on fire and no fuse will blow!
I certainly wouldn't be worried about small appliances such as stereos and TVs these all have internal fuses which are rated much lower than the one that you would get in the plug.
Ian
Steven & Ann
27th May 2009, 08:17 PM
Pak And Save has very cheap white ones, so does Bunnings.
Also, try and buy the same type of plug, some are incompatible with others in a multi-strip, if they pass the cord in different directions. All of mine have the cord leaving at 5pm from the plug, so the line up nicely (right hand exit), but you can buy left handed plugs
Steve
