Schuko plug information

[oceanobsession]

Hi all ive just bought a tig welder with a (SCHUKO PLUG) plug on it ive bought
a travel adaptor but the (SCHUKO PLUG) can fit into it both ways mixing up
live and neautal does this matter cheers ocean

 

[Archie]

It shouldn't matter which way round it goes.

BTW, bear in mind the draw could be up to 16A. I've no idea what a travel adaptor is rated to. For example amazon sell a 'Heavy Duty' European adaptor that is rated at 8A....

 

[Mikey D]

cut it off and fit a uk plug or 16amp industrial type .....

as only the live is fused in the uk , i think it does matter which way round you plug it in ! i think on the contonent both live and neutral are fused (although i could be wrong )

cheers mike

 

[wobblemonster]

cut it off and fit a uk plug or 16amp industrial type .....

as only the live is fused in the uk , i think it does matter which way round you plug it in ! i think on the contonent both live and neutral are fused (although i could be wrong )

cheers mike

Its a standard French plug, your correct in saying that phase and neutral are both fused over here.Travel adapters are NOT going to last long at all, best fitting a UK plug before use.

 

[rtbcomp]

If it's European it shouldn't it have the same colour code as the UK?

When you say live & neutral are fused do you mean from the supply or internal to the equipment?

 

[wobblemonster]

The colours in the plug are the same as the UK, the phase and neutral are fused in the fuse box, appliances are not fused in France, cant see any problems at all wiring it with a 16 amp site plug.

 

[chevyman_de]

i think on the contonent both live and neutral are fused

Yes and no.
- Only one side is fused. The fuse protects the wiring, once the circuit is open the current flow is interrupted and it doesn't matter which side is cut (fused).
- Protecting the person is the job of the RCD which will interrupt both lines when tripped.

 

[rtbcomp]

Yes and no.
- Only one side is fused. The fuse protects the wiring, once the circuit is open the current flow is interrupted and it doesn't matter which side is cut (fused).
- Protecting the person is the job of the RCD which will interrupt both lines when tripped.

It's much safer to fuse the live only, if the neutral fuse blows the whole wiring through the appliance back to the fuse is live. This is dangerous because an appliance which appears to be switched off can in fact be live.

It used to be common practice in the UK to fuse both lines, but now all fuses are in the live only.

Is the neutral on the continent connected to earth like in the UK?

 

[chevyman_de]

Usually the live is fused, of course; but we have no fuses in our plugs, they're always in the fuse box. Since you can insert our plugs both ways, the appliance doesn't really know and the fuse is basically for protecting the wiring.

What do you mean by "Is the neutral on the continent connected to earth like in the UK?"

 

[madkayaker]

chop it off and rewire the flex should be blue and brown on continuant they use a lot of radial and double pole linked breakers for fusing with no fuse in outlet

 

[rtbcomp]

........ Since you can insert our plugs both ways, the appliance doesn't really know and the fuse is basically for protecting the wiring.

Yes, but you can still have a live appliance that appears to be switched off. It seems they're making the installations more expensive and less safe by double fusing.

........ What do you mean by "Is the neutral on the continent connected to earth like in the UK?"

In the UK the earth wire (connected to the frame of an appliance) is conencted to the neutral where the mains comes into the building.

 

[chevyman_de]

In the UK the earth wire (connected to the frame of an appliance) is conencted to the neutral where the mains comes into the building.

Same here.

 

[matt1978]

Hi Phil,

Its up too you, you can either chop off the Shucko plug and put a standard 16 amp Blue plug (Reccomended)

Or use the adaptor.........I use simerla adaptors (with 13 amp fuse) for demos etc and I have never noticed plugging it in one way or another to be honest, its certainly never done any harm anyway.

Easiest would be to use Blue plug though, but thats assuming you have a 16 amp socket fitted in your garage/workshop

 

[simon718]

In the UK the earth wire (connected to the frame of an appliance) is connected to the neutral where the mains comes into the building.

depends what type of supply you have

 

[rtbcomp]

depends what type of supply you have

What are the alternatives? There's got to be a relationship betweem live & earth or else RCDs wouldn't work.

 

[simon718]

a lot of properties over here have a copper earth spike in the garden somewhere, not connected to the neutral in any way

 

[madkayaker]

neutral linked to earth is what is called PEN protective earth and neutral. The supply and quality regs prohibit its use except on DNO equipment

 

[rtbcomp]

They're still commoned at the substation though? My earth seems to be connected to the sheathing of the incoming mains, (Through a couple of stands of copper wire)

 

[Woody.v8]

My new installation is a PME (protective multiple earth) (EARTH TO NEUTRAL)
.My old one was just a earth rod in the ground (whatever that's called)!

 

[madkayaker]

earth rod is called TT or Tera Tera (French for earth) it is allowed on supply systems but not after main fuse. They are liked @ the substation so that a live to earth fault becomes a live to neutral over load.