Talk Quesada forum

Hi, I recently went round and replace all our light and electrical sockets with new ones. It wasn't till my wife tried to plug the Iron in that I realised that all the new sockets are 2 pin and the Iron is a 3 pin. I checked the old sockets and a few of them were 3 pin. I went back to Leroy to see if I could get a few 3 pin sockets, but they didn't sell them.

Am i missing something? Can you by 3 pin sockets or do I need a new Iron that is 2 pin? What is the difference between 2 and 3 pin - apart from the extra pin

Thanks for any advice.

Just replace three pin with two pin!

The 3rd pin is ground (earth) and Spanish plugs and sockets most certainly can be 3 pin just not in the sense you may be used to.

In a 3 pin socket grounding is accomplished by the two small blades at 12 and 6 o'clock in the socket which mate with contacts on the plug.

ALL electrical outlets sell them, you're just not looking for the right thing!

I don't mean to offend however it must be said that if you don't know the difference between 2 pin and 3 pin plugs and sockets - and when and why to use them - then it brings into serious question whether you should be fiddling with electrics!!!

The three pin wall sockets that you talk about - do they have the normal two holes for a plug to go in, plus an earth pin that sticks out near the two holes?

If so, these are the French version of the EU socket and aren’t compatible with Spanish plugs.

Best bet is to put a new Spanish plug on the iron and any other appliances that have French plugs on them, or earn a few brownie points by splashing out on a new iron for ‘er indoors.

Pete.

Hi Scott, my immediate reaction was the same as A.N.Other, totally mystified as to how you could be qualified to replaced electricity sockets and yet raise this sort of query.


Anyway, the simplest way to deal with the problem is to buy a three pin to two pin adapter, which can be bought very cheaply from any Chinese merca.


Be careful to plug it in correctly..

Thanks for the useful feedback - not for the sarcastic feedback!! No problems with the electrics so I must have done something right. I'll look out for a 3 pin socket. Cheers

Get a qualified electrician every time, better safe than sorry, you can make money but you can't make life, stay safe

I just leave adapters in all sockets no problem with 2 or 3 pin.

We changed the plugs after guarantee was over. Remember though if it is something like a kettle, need to use round plugs NOT the flat type.

Lights, lamps, TVs etc are double insulated and only require the flat plug. There should be a mark on the equipment that looks like a square with a smaller square inside to show that. These do not need earthing.
Appliances like kettles, toasters, coffee makers etc do need earthing and this is done by the round plugs which are earthed by the two pins in a Schuko socket, the metal bit at the top and bottom of the plug.

Any appliance where you can't see the double insulated mark should be fitted with the round Schuko plug.