Swapping 3-Pin (Uk Style) Plugs For 2 Pin

[corkman]

Hi Guys,

I am really sick of messing about with adapters.

Can I just chop off the uk plugs and put a 2 pin plug on it?

I bought a 2-pin plug, opened it up..... there's no earth wire connection, and no fuse either (no surprise there). The plug sockets in my house do seem to have 3-pin style connection points, but whether they are actually earthed or not I do not know. In any case, does anyone know where I could get 3-pin style plugs to fit the local 3-pin format, and if so is it a simple case of swapping them?

So without fuses etc. does it matter which way you wire the plugs i.e. live and neutral? Since with a 2 pin plug you can insert it either way, then I am guess it doesn't matter?

Many thanks,

CM

[lopburi3]

If you have 3 pin plugs on your equipment do not change to 2 pin. As your house accepts three pin that is what you should install. Such replacement plugs are available at any electric shop or Home Pro type place.

You are right that the sockets used here for two pin plugs are not polarized but if your equipment has the ground wire use it with a three pin plug. Most recent construction do have grounded outlets.

[soundman]

Moved to DIY forum.

[transam]

Put a tester, Liv to neutral then Live to earth to be sure you are earthed. You can buy 3 pin plugs but l haven't found one with an internal fuse. 2 pin fit in 3 pin outlets, but item not earthed.

My place has earthed outlets and l have run earth wires to the chassis of stuff with no earth.

[citizen33]

Put a tester, Liv to neutral then Live to earth to be sure you are earthed. You can buy 3 pin plugs but l haven't found one with an internal fuse. 2 pin fit in 3 pin outlets, but item not earthed.

My place has earthed outlets and l have run earth wires to the chassis of stuff with no earth.

If the house is wired correctly, the live and neutral wires on the Thai three-pin socket will be the opposite way around compared with the UK plug (so that where an adaptor was used the UK plug fuse would be on the neutral line and ineffective). The polarity may matter for some things so it is best to check with the meter what you have.

Crossy made a useful point some time ago when he said that the UK system typically uses fuses to give different levels of protection for different kinds of appliances on a 30 amp ring circuit. In the absence of the fuses, you would be well advised to make sure the current rating of the circuit (i.e. the value of the circuit breaker) isn't too high for the appliances connected should a fault develop. Basically this usually means coming down from 30 amp to 15 or 20 amps.

Re the post above, this test with an ordinary multi-meter won't tell you how good your earth is. If possible, borrow a purpose-designed meter and google 'earth resistance testing'.

[surayu]

yes you can, just cut the third wire (yellow-green= earth) and connect each of the remaining two to one of the new plug pins( 1 wire only to 1 pin only), done! in the case you are changing the plug of something that use lots of electricity, as an electric oven/washing machine/water kettle, make sure you select a heavy duty plug to match it, if however you do have 3 holes power points in your house already fitted, then better to make use of them, hoping that there is actually some wire in place behind the power point, TIT

[citizen33]

yes you can, just cut the third wire (yellow-green= earth) and connect each of the remaining two to one of the new plug pins( 1 wire only to 1 pin only), done! in the case you are changing the plug of something that use lots of electricity, as an electric oven/washing machine/water kettle, make sure you select a heavy duty plug to match it, if however you do have 3 holes power points in your house already fitted, then better to make use of them, hoping that there is actually some wire in place behind the power point, TIT

If you do use two-pin plugs, connect the live to the narrower of the two flat pins. A cheap plug may have two pins of the same width and should only be used for appliances where reversing live and natural isn't an issue. Actually this won't matter with most appliances, but isn't recommended for florescent lights, some boilers and some audio amps. You'll notice that decent Thai sockets do have slots with different widths.

By getting rid of the third pin you'll lose the earth, which may be a bigger issue with some appliances. So my inclination would be to buy Thai style three-pin plugs to go with the existing sockets. They are sold in Thailand, but be careful not to get the European Schuko plug for a conventional Thai 3-pin socket. Confusingly these plugs are very common on many of the appliances sold in stores, and need to be converted with a small adaptor that changes the female earth connector to male. A good quality US 3-pin plug is okay in Thailand, despite the voltage difference of the systems.

Reversing live and neutral won't matter much for most small electrical items, but it may be a major safety issue if the reversal occurs in the supply coming into the house. This is because the circuit breakers in most consumer units (i.e. the distribution panel) only operate on one pole of the supply. They are designed to cut off the live supply. If instead, the switch actually breaks the neutral connection, you still have a potential difference (i.e. voltage) between live and earth, so if you hold onto a wire you thought was dead when you have a good connection to ground through your body, you may be in trouble. Personally I like to know which wires are live and neutral, and also the polarity of the supply going into appliances. The humble neon tester will give you that information - it will only glow on live.

Edited January 3, 2011 by citizen33

[Crossy]

An awful lot of UK appliances are double-insulated anyway and will have a 2-core flex, if you have one of these chop off the UK plug and stick a Thai plug on the end, if you use a 3-pin Thai plug the Live is on the left with ground at the top looking into the outlet (i.e. at the back of the plug). Don't worry about polarity if you use a 2-pin outlet, modern appliances don't care.

BUT if your appliance has a 3-core flex it MUST (that's MUST) be grounded, just leaving the ground lead floating is decidedly unsafe. If you don't have 3-pin outlets look here for a solution http://www.crossy.co.uk/wiring/2pin.html

[electau]

Make sure that you have 30mA RCD protection on all socket outlet circuits.

[Crossy]

Make sure that you have 30mA RCD protection on all socket outlet circuits.

ABSOLUTELY !!