Uk AC motors in Thailand

[capin]

Hi All,

 

To cut a long story short - I am from the UK and moved to the USA with work abut 4 years ago. I have a 240v 50Hz vacuum cleaner and a fan in the garage which as they are no use to me here in the USA, I think I might take out to my place in Thailand next month. I am real beginner with Thai domestic electrics but I know that the supply is 220V 50Hz. I'm a little concerned as I believe that live and neutral are transposed in the UK and Thailand, Will this cause me a problem running appliances utilizing AC motors?

 

Thanks,

[sometimewoodworker]

3 hours ago, capin said:

I'm a little concerned as I believe that live and neutral are transposed in the UK and Thailand, Will this cause me a problem running appliances utilizing AC motors?

Living in Thailand with quite a few U.K. Appliances I can assure you that line and neutral are the same. They are only transposed if your "electriction" has installed them that way. There are very few, if any, items that have any problem and no double insulated ones AFIK.

[johng]

Your stuff will work fine ...the only small problem is with UK style plugs...if you find a socket to plug them into then live and neutral will be reversed...the appliance will work fine but switching on/off will be via neutral instead of live which is dangerous....so better to fit Thai style 3 pin plugs.

 

 

 

[Crossy]

Yeah ^^^.

 

The appliances will be fine, but do fit Thai plugs to those you can.

 

I have a UK power board with a Thai plug for when family visit from home with 1,000 wall-wart chargers for all manner of "essential" devices.

 

[Damrongsak]

I thought "live" and "neutral" were only applicable to places where you could get two voltages, such as 120V and 240V.  In other words, a 240V transformer that was center-tapped.  "Neutral" being the center.  But in AC electricity, there is no polarity as there would be in DC.  The frequency is important in many motors, 50 vs. 60 Hz.

[Crossy]

14 minutes ago, Damrongsak said:

I thought "live" and "neutral" were only applicable to places where you could get two voltages, such as 120V and 240V.  In other words, a 240V transformer that was center-tapped.  "Neutral" being the center.  But in AC electricity, there is no polarity as there would be in DC.  The frequency is important in many motors, 50 vs. 60 Hz.

 

Think of one half of your centre tapped transformer then up the voltage to 220V. That is effectively what you have in Thailand.

 

The neutral is grounded at the transformer (and often at multiple other points) keeping it near earth potential. The live is the other wire.