Problems with Swiss elctric plugs

Hi folks,

I moved in recently and I have plenty of French or UK appliances.

I got adapters I bought in France for UK > France.

When I moved 3 weeks ago, all the electric plugs in my flat were working.

I used those adapters with my UK appliances, and now, a lot of electric plugs are not working anymore.

Has it happened to any of you?

Is that a problem with the adapter? It's meant to work for the continent so I am surprised.

Any tips or feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

Electrical appliances which work in France generally also work in Switzerland. But while most French electrical supply is 220V, some is only 110V. In Switzerland it is 220 to 230 V . This may have caused a short circuit. If you are lucky, you just need to replace some fuses, if you are not lucky, then it "burnt" some of your equipment. I suggest that you contact an electrician who can check your stuff

Have you checked whether you've tripped a circuit breaker?

Even with an adapter, my US bought hair dryer continually blew fuses at the home in my m-i-l as where I used it was on the same circuit as her kitchen. If she somehow missed I was drying my hair and turned on the microwave or if the fridge cycled, the whole kitchen and bathroom went dark.

Soooo... for everything you can, get local replacements (I realize some things are "too" expensive to want to replace) , it will save a lot of hassle in the long run.

Such also can happen inside a country. I still remember our model railways. I on Christmas got nice add-ons from my Godfather in Geneva, but in January, mum had to purchase fuses by the dozen as it was too much for our small transformer. Dad one day spoke with a colleague, who had been electrician back in Russia, who swiflty concluded "you need a more powerful transformer. Mum called my Godfather and within a few days a big monstrum of a transformer arrived from Geneva, and the whole thing was solved

It really is NOT necessary to buy local appliances when the originals are from the UK or France. Aside from the plug (and 110V French appliances, which frankly I've not seen for years), there is no difference between a hairdryer bought in Barnsley, Bordeaux or Bern.

Do you mean that some of the wall sockets don't apear to be working anymore rather than the actual appliences?

If it's the wall sockets, there is a little querk about Swiss plug sockets that baffled me for ages until a Swiss friend shed light on it.

It is very common that on the wall clusters of 3 sockets, one of the sockets - usually the bottom right one - seems to work one day & is then seems dead the next.

It is in fact linked to the main light switch in the room, this being so you can plug in a standing lamp or a table lamp & use the main light switch to opperate it.

Therefore, if you don't know about this, every time you use the main light switch to turn on/off the main light, you are turning on/off the power to whatever you have plugged into that particular socket as well.

I thought I was going mad due to it until it was explained!

I second Leafy. If the appliances work and not the sockets then I would recommend calling an electrician, you can call your landlord and if it is a company they will call for you (and like mine even cover the costs), they will then come and check if electricity is flowing or not. Just be careful, we had some simialr problems only to find out we had a short circuit and almost burnt the house down (Thank God for retardants)!

Is it definitely the socket that's not working, and not a problem with the adapter? Most adapters are rated quite low (e.g. the adapter next to me has a 2.5 amp fuse).

If you've tried using something with a high current draw (e.g. a hairdryer) then the fuse in the adapter might blow.

Are you serious? Do they still have 110V?

Fixed that for you

.

there was some 110V in France dating back to the second world war but these days you cannot buy 110V appliances or plugs in France.

You may find some things that are 110V compatible yes(like laptop computer power supplies being 110-220V rated), but not 110V exclusive.

Ha! Thanks for this tip buddy.

I've just moved into a new apartment and noticed this and was thinking of calling someone to look at it.

Kash.

Hi all, thanks for the suggestions.

So...

It turns out it is not the main light swith.

I switch off the power and unscrewed on of the plugs.

Since I know nothing about electricity, I did not see anything. So I rescrewed and switched back the power.

Now all the plugs are working.

How weird is that?

sounds like a short to me..........if it happens again if i was you contact your landlord , its there job to make sure they are safe ....

shane

You mean that you somehow have used the following

UK appliance - > UK:France Adaptor ->Swiss Socket?

It might be that the larger diameter pins of the french euopean plug on your adapter have forced open the contacts in the Swiss scoket as the swiss pins are narrow. Then they may not make proper contact again.

In addition to this, it's very cheap, usually (but not always) quick and easy to swap in a CH plug for a FR/GB/DE one. The other half got some for 2 CHF a go (choice of black or white plug!) and has merrily converted a few of our appliances already....

Get yourself an electrician's screwdriver, one that has a little neon light in the handle - it will glow when there is a voltage present. Then you can test your sockets in relative safety before changing lamps and other electrical stuff. It's a good alternative to licking your finger and touching the sockets

another vote for swapping the plugs over on your appliances, it's not hard

If it looks like this one, it has a small 5a fuse inside:

It's in the centre there above the plug; the circle is the end of the barrel containing the fuse.

Yes but NEARLY as much fun!