Changing continental plugs?

[Cirrus]

Customer has just moved here and wants me to change her 2 pin plugs for UK 3 pin plugs so her appliance / lamps work in her new house. Is this straight forward to do? What about the earthing?

 

[wayne]

assuming shes moved here from europe then the voltage is the same ,just cut the plugs off and connect the british ones double insulated appliances dont need an earth

 

[Shakey]

Customer has just moved here and wants me to change her 2 pin plugs for UK 3 pin plugs so her appliance / lamps work in her new house. Is this straight forward to do? What about the earthing?

just done a post about this

some of the two pin plugs (schucko plugs for example) have a scraping earth

open it up and take a look

 

[Cirrus]

Been to look at the clients job this evening and a lot of her applainces are things like ornate table lamps. The flex on them at the mo just looks like a continental 2 core L/N flex so where do I stand if there is no earth?

 

[rumrunner]

Drill A Hole And Use A Self Tapper?

 

[Cirrus]

She's got 20 appliances RR! Would be there a week mate!

 

[rumrunner]

you will have to change all the lampholders then,use the metal ones with an earth terminal ,they should be pat tested when you have done it,nice work if you can get it ha ha ha

 

[Cirrus]

PAT tested in domestic? Not really Rum old boy

 

[rumrunner]

you are on dangerous legal ground here,if the lamps are ce marked and you alter them in any way ,you would be libel should anything go wrong ,you should have them tested as you will be altering the manufacturers design ,
the precedure you would have to go through to prove there safe ,without a pat test would be cost prohibitive
you obviouslly dont have much idea ,as to keeping your self covered,get thjem pat tested and you are in the clear

 

[Cirrus]

I think some of them are too old / obscure to be CE marked Rum. What do I do?

 

[rumrunner]

Tell the customer there old and will have to be tested ,its a very grey area ,in fact if you just change the flex ,its no different to if you decide to start selling home made lamps!

give her a price ,including an inderpendant pat test ,if she dont want it ,then give her one!

 

[Cirrus]

So how much will it cost to get each of these 20 items PAT tested? Some are large and awkward to move around

 

[rumrunner]

get an estimate ,and add a bit ,if shes got that many she must have some dosh ,so why worry ,just cover yourself

 

[Cirrus]

Yeah, she seems well off but old so I will do as you say and get quotes. Will they change flex and convert to UK plugs for me too?

 

[rumrunner]

That might be the best bet ,farm it out to someone else ,some jobs are best left alone ,
i dont doubt your ability to do the job safe ,but is it worth your reputation if something did go wrong in the future.
people with money have good lawyers,be carefull pall.

 

[Cirrus]

Yeah, good call Rum, thanks old chap

 

[rumrunner]

Yeah no problem, a few years ago my woman got a big brass standard lamp ,made in india ,the wiring had burnt out and i rewired it and used butyl flex ,it got so hot when you went to turn it off you burnt yourself ,that lamp still bothers me now ,if she got hurt by it
i could be libel i supose ,and im not with her now ,if i was i think i would condem it
it looked nice and she liked it ,thats the problem with women
good luck with them!

 

[Cirrus]

Point taken. This lady has travelled the world and a lot of these lamps are from her travels so maybe a necessity to get them tested.