Travel Adaptors Full Time, bad idea?

Travel adapters are what they are.. For travelling to say a hotel/apartment for a holiday.. Really only suitable for low wattage appliances (travel kettle, travel hairdryer, phone charger etc.) on a casual basis. Not for higher wattage permanent usage, if you have ever taken one apart you'll find most have really thin conductors and are a fire waiting to happen..

I totally agree that there are some very cheap and nasty adaptors out there. The ones that I have are kite marked and rated at 16 amps. More than adequate for most portable apparatus. Having said that, I wouldn't leave my 7 inch angle grinder continuously running in the kitchen. That would be asking for trouble

El Tel wrote:

Hackeredude wrote:not a good idea long term, because there always the potential problem that in having things plugged into adapters plugged into power, you have multiple bits of metal being held in contact with each other by mere spring pressure. This a poor contact which presents an impedance to current flow. Over time this will cause the contacts to oxidise, and heat up, and thus burn out or set fire. I just replaced a travel adapter on a microwave with a plug, it was starting to brown, indicating it was overheating.

The best plan then is to change all the plugs. The next best plan is to put a euro plug on a UK 13A 4 gang extension bar. But watch the loading, you dont want to be putting more than 2Kw on such arrangements.

Not a good idea to keep a microwave plugged in all the time. We had a well known make, expensive model and one day it just burst into flames. It did not have a clock and nothing came up on the display until you actually used it. Work that one out!

most microwaves need to be kept powered to keep the clock running. If you depower otrs, then when you next plug it in, it demands you set the clock, which is a pain.. They are designed to stay plugged in because the power consumption on idle is trivial. Reminds me of my mother, who used to go round the house every night and unplug everything before she went to bed. Modern electronic is beyond that stage now.

I must be bad then, or waiting for a fire, I’ve used 13 amp adapters, plugged in for over 2 years, and no problems what so ever, kettle, microwave, even a heater.
Whether i leave an appliance plugged in directly, or plugged in through a good adapter, it is still plugged in, so I don’t see the issue. just check the current they can take. Many so called ‘travel ‘ adapters are just 5 amp. Just make sure they are 13amp so at least they match most standard plugged in items used in the U.K. good luck in whatever u decide.

For god sake just change the damn plugs, job done !

I’m using travel adaptors on some of my items until they need replacing and the previous people who had the villa from new had some items using travel adaptors. And as for people saying lazy ‘change the plugs ‘ I do need to take the items back to the UK at times but as I say when they need replacing they will have a two pin plug. Enjoy your new home.

daz wrote:I must be bad then, or waiting for a fire, I’ve used 13 amp adapters, plugged in for over 2 years, and no problems what so ever, kettle, microwave, even a heater.

Whether i leave an appliance plugged in directly, or plugged in through a good adapter, it is still plugged in, so I don’t see the issue. just check the current they can take. Many so called ‘travel ‘ adapters are just 5 amp. Just make sure they are 13amp so at least they match most standard plugged in items used in the U.K. good luck in whatever u decide.

Well the issue is poor contacts. These things catch fire because of contact resistance, and thats dependant on the current flow though the contacts. This is one of the reasons most wiring components used holes with a screw in the top for wires, among other reasons, its eliminats contact resistance. more or less. And it all reinforces in a positive feedback loop - slowly any contact held together by the spring pressure of the metal will weaken, that decreases contact pressure, that increases contact resistance, that increase contact heating and oxidation, which increases contact resistance, and it spirals.

A Kettle is only used in short bursts, so thats ok. The danger comes when you are running the adapter close to or past its design limit, for a long time. A normal adapater is rated 1250W. So runninga 2000W fan heater through it for 8 hours for a month is dangerous. You have to be careful with Spanish electrics, they dont seem to have invented the Ring Main, either, everythig is on spurs, which isnt allowed in UK IEE (IET) wiring regulations (BS 7671).

Related side story:

Once in my fickle youth i was working in an unheated room with no power in winter with a mate, there was a 100m reel of 13A cable, so we found the ends, put a plug on one end and a 13A socket on another, unrolled about 1/4 of it and used it as an extension cable to run a 2 Kw fan heater. After about 3 hours we smelled burning. The remaining rolled up cable had heated up ,partially melted the plastic coating and was close to catching fire. What had happened was ofc course the rolled up cable acted like an induction furnace, helped by the metal spool it was wrapped round, once it got the 8 amps from the fan heater down it. In 3 hours it heated it up almost to destruction

MORAL: Do not under estimate the power of high electric currents (even at low voltage) to heat up stuff if you give it chance, be it induction or contact resistance. And never ignore Michael Faraday.....

I think you’ll find the term is radial circuit ( spur is a different matter) and they are not illegal in U.K.

Richard.H wrote:I think you’ll find the term is radial circuit ( spur is a different matter) and they are not illegal in U.K.

You cant put more than one socket on a spur, thats the point, the regs prevent it. A ring main (which is what they've been called in Uk since time immemorail, ie at least since i wasted a year working for an electrician when i was 18, and decided there was more money to be made elsewhere) ) allows multiple sockets because it load balances.




ring main
noun
British

noun: ring main
; plural noun: ring mains

1. 1. An electrical supply serving a series of consumers and returning to the original source, so that each consumer has an alternative path in the event of a failure. Another term for ring circuit

[*]
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... =ring+main

I am aware what a ring main and a spur is having spent 45yrs in the trade (not 12 months as a mate). The point being neither a spur or a radial circuit is illegal in the UK if you know what you’re doing.