What kind of plug does Thailand use?

[KonaRain]

Ungrounded power strip. But circut breaker stops problems for Thais.

Take a lesson from Charles and ground it.!

Aloha

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[lopburi3]

Actually power strips may or may not be grounded - the key is normally the plug into wall - if 3 pin it will normally extend that ground to power strip sockets - but the sockets themselves may have a ground hole with nothing attached on cheap cords so check the plug end. Actually you would normally not be using for most things that require a ground (other than computers and perhaps hot pot/kitchen things).

Remember when making judgement on wire size that it only takes about half the size for 230v so those from US will likely feel wire is much too small when it actually is fine.

[KonaRain]

So ups is good up to a couple amps.. thanks

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[CharlesHH]

WHY IS GROUNDING (EARTHING) IMPORTANT ?

Having an electrical connection between the metal case enclosure of an appliance, like a washer, and ground is an important safety necessity because sometimes something fails inside the appliance and some or lots of voltage is diverted onto the metal case. If a person touches the electrified case and provides an electrical path to ground, electricity will flow through the person. The person may be insulated from what the electricity thinks is a ground, like wearing rubber boots, and will escape harm.

Electric energy of the 220 VAC amount can kill if the flow is through a vital organ like the heart... which beats because the body's electricity triggers it. Other than death, the flow can burn the flesh similar to fire. You will hear of many stories of survival and dismissing of danger. Who wants to take a chance based on hearsay.

Connection to the ground is best done with a long metal rod, 4 ft or more,pushed into earth, soil, with a wire running to the case of the appliance. You can find a short piece of this wire, with green insulation on it, coming out of the case of washers, dryers, air conditioners, and so on. Thai practice is to either ignore that wire or screw it into a concrete/brick wall nearby; that is NOT a sufficient ground.

Remember that walking in water on the street or home floor can conduct electricity if somehow a hot electric wire is also touching the water. During the flood several people died that way.

[David48]

WHY IS GROUNDING (EARTHING) IMPORTANT ?

Having an electrical connection between the metal case enclosure of an appliance, like a washer, and ground is an important safety necessity because sometimes something fails inside the appliance and some or lots of voltage is diverted onto the metal case. If a person touches the electrified case and provides an electrical path to ground, electricity will flow through the person. The person may be insulated from what the electricity thinks is a ground, like wearing rubber boots, and will escape harm.

Electric energy of the 220 VAC amount can kill if the flow is through a vital organ like the heart... which beats because the body's electricity triggers it. Other than death, the flow can burn the flesh similar to fire. You will hear of many stories of survival and dismissing of danger. Who wants to take a chance based on hearsay.

Connection to the ground is best done with a long metal rod, 4 ft or more,pushed into earth, soil, with a wire running to the case of the appliance. You can find a short piece of this wire, with green insulation on it, coming out of the case of washers, dryers, air conditioners, and so on. Thai practice is to either ignore that wire or screw it into a concrete/brick wall nearby; that is NOT a sufficient ground.

Remember that walking in water on the street or home floor can conduct electricity if somehow a hot electric wire is also touching the water. During the flood several people died that way.

Actually ...

First up ... a double insulated appliance requires no earthing.

Tis not the voltage that kills you, but the amperage. Different countries set their safety limits differently.

In Australia the ELCB's (Earth Leakage Circuit Breakers) are set @ 30 mA. Different countries have different names for the similiar device.

As for earthing, the acceptable earthing rod is made of copper as it doesn't rust and a place which does receive some moisture to ensure better connectivity.

But, we can agree on something ... "Remember that walking in water on the street or home floor can conduct electricity if somehow a hot electric wire is also touching the water. During the flood several people died that way."

... and yes, I'm a qualified electrician.

But all this is a mute point ... because we are not answering the OP's question.

[David48]

If you do need some good factual advice re the Electrics in a Thai House ... there is a whole sub-Forum dedicated to it.

Here ... the-electrical-forum

[CharlesHH]

1. double insulation is only as good as the insulation... that breaks down and a ground is then needed very much.

2. If the voltage is large enough to overcome skin and other resistance, ONLY THEN will amperage flow and provide the dangerous shock

3. Alphabet soup does not help the novice.

4. The normal ground rod in Thailand is about 4 feet long and made of a steel rod coated with copper; solid copper rod is too soft to pound in and needlessly expensive.

5. I answered the plug question in detail in another message on this thread.

I felt adding some facts to the wildly crazy opinions and false advice here about electrical safety is a good response to some of the errors listed here. The dedicated electric site link also is an embarrassment of errors and half baked opinions, some of them dangerous.

The average person is in a bind in Thailand because reading ThaiVisa could kill them and hiring an unknown Thai electrician could kill them.

WHY IS GROUNDING (EARTHING) IMPORTANT ?

Having an electrical connection between the metal case enclosure of an appliance, like a washer, and ground is an important safety necessity because sometimes something fails inside the appliance and some or lots of voltage is diverted onto the metal case. If a person touches the electrified case and provides an electrical path to ground, electricity will flow through the person. The person may be insulated from what the electricity thinks is a ground, like wearing rubber boots, and will escape harm.

Electric energy of the 220 VAC amount can kill if the flow is through a vital organ like the heart... which beats because the body's electricity triggers it. Other than death, the flow can burn the flesh similar to fire. You will hear of many stories of survival and dismissing of danger. Who wants to take a chance based on hearsay.

Connection to the ground is best done with a long metal rod, 4 ft or more,pushed into earth, soil, with a wire running to the case of the appliance. You can find a short piece of this wire, with green insulation on it, coming out of the case of washers, dryers, air conditioners, and so on. Thai practice is to either ignore that wire or screw it into a concrete/brick wall nearby; that is NOT a sufficient ground.

Remember that walking in water on the street or home floor can conduct electricity if somehow a hot electric wire is also touching the water. During the flood several people died that way.

Actually ...

First up ... a double insulated appliance requires no earthing.

Tis not the voltage that kills you, but the amperage. Different countries set their safety limits differently.

In Australia the ELCB's (Earth Leakage Circuit Breakers) are set @ 30 mA. Different countries have different names for the similiar device.

As for earthing, the acceptable earthing rod is made of copper as it doesn't rust and a place which does receive some moisture to ensure better connectivity.

But, we can agree on something ... "Remember that walking in water on the street or home floor can conduct electricity if somehow a hot electric wire is also touching the water. During the flood several people died that way."

... and yes, I'm a qualified electrician.

But all this is a mute point ... because we are not answering the OP's question.

[David48]

4. The normal ground rod in Thailand is about 4 feet long and made of a steel rod coated with copper; solid copper rod is too soft to pound in and needlessly expensive.

About this, we can agree, what you suggest above is a viable option.

The rest ...

[Farma]

Actually power strips may or may not be grounded - the key is normally the plug into wall - if 3 pin it will normally extend that ground to power strip sockets - but the sockets themselves may have a ground hole with nothing attached on cheap cords so check the plug end. Actually you would normally not be using for most things that require a ground (other than computers and perhaps hot pot/kitchen things).

Remember when making judgement on wire size that it only takes about half the size for 230v so those from US will likely feel wire is much too small when it actually is fine.

As I discovered recently just because a power strip has a 3 pin plug doesn't mean it is grounded.

It was a common brand power strip that looked good with molded plug and fuse.

I needed to change the plug and discovered it only had 2 core cable between the 3 pin plug and board.

[WhizBang]

My condo and all the hotels I stay at take the american 3 prong. Ok, some are the american 2 prong. Grounding does seem to be an issue here.

[elgenon]

Most decent electronics- phone chargers, computers, shavers etc are made with transformers. So, if they have American plug you are good to go. Nothing needed.

[jocko]

Tis not the voltage that kills you, but the amperage.

The volts jolts the mills(current) kills.

Remembered from school.

[lopburi3]

Actually power strips may or may not be grounded - the key is normally the plug into wall - if 3 pin it will normally extend that ground to power strip sockets - but the sockets themselves may have a ground hole with nothing attached on cheap cords so check the plug end. Actually you would normally not be using for most things that require a ground (other than computers and perhaps hot pot/kitchen things).

Remember when making judgement on wire size that it only takes about half the size for 230v so those from US will likely feel wire is much too small when it actually is fine.

As I discovered recently just because a power strip has a 3 pin plug doesn't mean it is grounded.

It was a common brand power strip that looked good with molded plug and fuse.

I needed to change the plug and discovered it only had 2 core cable between the 3 pin plug and board.

Have never seen here that had ground plug but not three wires - was this from a store or a street seller? I don't doubt there may be some as just about anything fake is sold here - but in supermarkets/Lotus type places have always been able to use the plug check for buying (always check with electric that ground is in place). In general anything less than several hundred baht is not likely to be grounded.

Perhaps more important for life saving is making sure you have RCD/Safe-t-Cut type protection where you live. But we have come a long way from travelers shaver plugs.

[Greg Nixon]

I am from North America and any appliance I have brought has fit here. If you are in doubt they have travel adaptors with a full set of adaptors that will fit anywhere in the world.

[Crossy]

I am from North America and any appliance I have brought has fit here. If you are in doubt they have travel adaptors with a full set of adaptors that will fit anywhere in the world.

How many of them have gone bang?

Fitting the outlet is not the only issue, more important is the voltage rating of the appliance. A lot of technology has universal (90-250V) power supplies that will work anywhere, your blender probably won't be that lucky.

[ravip]

The Question

What kind of plug does Thailand use?

Is it the two vertical pins variety?

Some Answers

>>> Depends on the type of sink or bath...cheesy.gif

>>> ha ha that's what everybody forgot to say.The US adapter might fit.....but boy will you be disappointed...or shocked!

>>> Or Butt whistling.gif

wai.gif

Explains a lot, doesn't it?

[Farma]

@Lopburi3

It was one I found lying around the house and suspect it was bought at a local market. It looked good with the molded 3 pin plug and nice round cable.

I was heading to Oz on holidays and I thought I'd change the plug to an Oz one as the strip had 4 sockets that took all design plugs and would be great for all our Thai and Brit chargers while traveling.

It went in the bin once I saw it was unearthed.

One thing I made sure when we refurbed our house was replace all the wiring with good earth throughout and had a safe-t-cut fitted.

[pomchop]

Unless you bring your washer-dryer with you, then you have no problem.

All portable devises have built in convertors and i think all plugs fit in Thailand, or at least the european and american that i know of.

wrong...all portable devices do NOT have built in converters...laptops do but many devices do not...better check the voltage before you plug ANY usa device into a Thai plug....found out the hard way with a pair of bose speakers....

[chainarong]

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The official 3 pin plug is below (top left) - but US style 2 and 3 pins are common as are the round Schuko plugs (but adopter required for ground in most sockets for the Schuko). Normal flat or round two pins are accepted by most outlets.

Got a nice plug in there Lopburi3

[lopburi3]

@Lopburi3

It was one I found lying around the house and suspect it was bought at a local market. It looked good with the molded 3 pin plug and nice round cable.

I was heading to Oz on holidays and I thought I'd change the plug to an Oz one as the strip had 4 sockets that took all design plugs and would be great for all our Thai and Brit chargers while traveling.

It went in the bin once I saw it was unearthed.

One thing I made sure when we refurbed our house was replace all the wiring with good earth throughout and had a safe-t-cut fitted.

The wire color can be of many standards but normally there will be three conductors if a round cable. Did you open the box itself to check if anything wired to the ground terminals at that end? Would suspect a home made unit if it were not a molded plug but having that 3 pin plug on a round cable sure should indicate a grounded outlet. It must have been a bargain market product designed to fool.

[Sandman77]

The power splitter in Thailand has real bad quality last year a lighting after I plugged the iPad

I told my wife please do not plug the iphone in also telling here 5 times she not belive no problem she says plug in

Lighting come again But this time

Only the power adapter was burned up

In my home country I have some imported us electronics

And a 220 volt down converter

Here I can charge all thai electronic also on 110 volt

But why a eu plug fits in Thailand but not via versa?

In meantime I only use plugs from home!