Help identify this two pin plug ?

[BS3036]

the rating plate

I wish I'd thought of that!

 

[newhobgirl]

To the OP, if you can upload a picture of the rating plate (probably on the back of the appliance) it may reveal more.

If the appliance is double insulated then I'd be inclinded to cut of the shucho and fit a standad BS1362 british plug.

Adaptors are never going to provide as good a connection as this, and sloppy connections and high powered appliances don't go together too well.

Untitled

• newhobgirl
• 8 Oct 2008
• 1

Here it is, in all it's blurred glory.

I would prefer to have the plug changed to a UK plug. Have emailed them and asked if it will invalidate the warranty. I don't really want to invalidate the warranty, but, to be fair, I'd rather risk invalidating the warranty than risk a dodgy adapter invalidating me !

Still don't get that 3400w over there and 2800w over here thing though. Howzatworkthen ?

 

[Adam_151]

Still don't get that 3400w over there and 2800w over here thing though. Howzatworkthen ?

Someone has got that backwards, haven't they? (and forgotten about harmonisation)

I think 3400w @ 240v and 2800w@220v rougly works out?

like when you see a shower rated at 9.5kw @ 240v, 8.7kw @ 230v

 

[BS3036]

Looked at the manual - and no mention there of anything but 3400W.

All I can think of to save the situation is diversity. This allows you to take a view of how much power is used by something which turns on and off over reasonably short periods. Don't know if this applies to an induction hob though.

If you ran it through an extension lead with a read 13A plug for two or three days to see if the fuse blows?

Toss up between having something you want, and having someone put you at a slight risk. But with a proper 13A plug I can't see the risk is very large.

 

[newhobgirl]

Still don't get that 3400w over there and 2800w over here thing though. Howzatworkthen ?

Someone has got that backwards, haven't they? (and forgotten about harmonisation)

I think 3400w @ 240v and 2800w@220v rougly works out?

like when you see a shower rated at 9.5kw @ 240v, 8.7kw @ 230v

Hear that sound ? It's the whooshing of that going right over my head.
I'm a musician, not a leccy, so "harmonisation" means something entirely different to me than it obviously does to you. Whatever it was that you said was utterly unfathomable I'm afraid.

Please spell me that out in utter layperson's terms.

 

[Steve]

Harmonisation is the process whereby electrics in the UK are being made the same as the rest of Europe. So we now have blue and brown fixed wiring, and we have a slightly lower voltage, to bring us into line with Europe.

So manufacturers are supposed to rate their appliances for 230 volts throughout Europe. Thus your hob will consume the same in Germany as it will here (on different voltages it will consume different amounts of power)

It used to be that they would rate for 240 volts in the UK and 220 volts in europe. The problem with harmonising voltage is that the acceptable voltage is +-10% or something, so the old voltage of 240 actually falls within acceptable limits, therefore it hasn't really changed much. The voltage in my house last check is 235 volts.

 

[newhobgirl]

Right, so --

I had to look up the definition of "watts" because it was a long time ago that I did my physics gcse, but now I see why it makes sense = amps times volts equals watts. Although I did espy some more complicated explanations of that equation that looked way too brain-killing for this time of night - so I stopped reading once I figured what would basically apply to me and my hob.
Am I to take it that tolerances of variations in volts (such as you mentioned about your house, Steve, being 235v) are allowed for in the manufacture of such appliances (hence it saying "220 - 240v" on the plate on the bottom of the hob), and thus this hob will be ok, because it is double insulted (lol, insulated, I mean) as long as it is either
a) rewired to a UK three pin plug with a 13A fuse in it
b) connected to the clamp in un earthed adapter I mentioned earlier in the thread, with a 13A fuse in it

and connected to a standard 13A socket in my little kitchen ?

Sorry to need further clarification but it's been a very long time since I had to think about any of this (and even then I damned if I know how I passed the exam !)

 

[trey]

The reason it's 3.4kw in France and 2.8w in the UK is that the French turn the heat up to 11 whereas we brit's don't like to caramalize too much so we only go to 10

 

[Steve]

Its 3400 watts at standard UK voltage. I cannot justify plugging it into a 13 amp socket.

Its a 15 amp appliance. Fine with a 16 amp schuko socket, but not with a 13 amp socket. IMO its not fit for use in the UK as a portable, plug in appliance, and should not be marketed as such. Sorry. Others may have differing opinions.

 

[wundaboy]

Agreed - it cannot be plugged into a 13a socket. Indeed, in my opinion its on the edge for a continental schuko plug and socket, as supplied. The only domestic plug and socket arrangement I'd be happy seeing it plugged into here would be a BS546 15a (old style large round pin British sockets), but there's not many of those around any more.

To be absolutely honest, I think you should engage the services of an electrician to make a safe connection with this appliance. What they've supplied you with is pitifully inadequate with regard to the small British plug adaptor they've given you with it - its just not safe.

 

[ninebob]

Steve is, technically speaking, quite correct - however in the real world I don't think you'll have a problem. Taking 235v to be the average in the UK you have an appliance running at 14.5A. As I would not expect this to be used for sustained periods I really can't see it blowing a 13A fuse. I would however advise two things, firstly that you do cut the cord and wire it directly to a UK plug fused at 13A - as you're marginally over current anyway the idea of introducing unneccessary mechanical connections does not sit easily. Also (at the risk of kicking off a long-debated subject on here) remember that a double socket is rated at 13A total for both sides so although I would expect it to sustain 14.5A indefinitely, I would certainly advice against using anything else in the other side of the socket at the same time.

 

[wundaboy]

Steve is, technically speaking, quite correct - however in the real world I don't think you'll have a problem. Taking 235v to be the average in the UK you have an appliance running at 14.5A. As I would not expect this to be used for sustained periods I really can't see it blowing a 13A fuse. I would however advise two things, firstly that you do cut the cord and wire it directly to a UK plug fused at 13A - as you're marginally over current anyway the idea of introducing unneccessary mechanical connections does not sit easily. Also (at the risk of kicking off a long-debated subject on here) remember that a double socket is rated at 13A total for both sides so although I would expect it to sustain 14.5A indefinitely, I would certainly advice against using anything else in the other side of the socket at the same time.

What I would be worried about here though is the sustained overload on a 13 a plug, never mind the socket, if the total load was being drawn for even a moderate period of time.

 

[newhobgirl]

Ok, even more complicated than I thought. I want shot of my gas cooker because my eysight is getting too poor to be confident of my safety with a gas hob (when I said in my first post that the pics of the plug were taken by a woman with very poor eyes I was not kidding. I've been legally blind for eight years !)
This is why I'm having this poxy thing in the first place.

So what am I looking at here with this hob, in the real world, of the worst that could happen ?
a) The hob blowing a 13A fuse, possibly if used like, for a long time (which it won't be). A case of "Oh bugger" but the fuse doing it's job so no harm done.
b) "Sustained overload on a 13a plug" if being used for a moderate amount of time, what does this mean ? Does it mean blown fuses or potential fires ?
Or c), my consumer unit (modern mcb with rcd) getting upset and tripping out before the fuses in the plug pop ?

Just goes to show that even assumedly reputable companies don't always tell the whole truth. When I emailed these people they said this would be fine for use in the UK, else they wouldn't sell it to the UK.

You know, this blasted thing may be going back with a flea in it's ear anyway - it's completely freaked my fiance out, all this uncertainty. A couple of the single induction plates from Kenwood et al into seperate double sockets are looking more and more attractive (the Kenwood one I looked at is 1800w). Not as neat but a whole lot less hassle so it seems.

 

[newhobgirl]

UPDATE

Ok, I asked Zaxx what the deal with the UK power output of the hob being 2800w in the UK as opposed to the EU output being 3400w.
This is the reply I got;

Hello,

because the supply in the UK is only 13A - the power output is 13A x 220V = 2860W
in the EU is 16A

Best regards

Uhmeyer



Any thoughts folks ? After reading here and elsewhere I thought the alleged harmonised voltage was 230v, not 220v, in any case. He seems to imply that the watts power of the unit is variable depending on what amps (or possibly volts but the way he's written it seems to indicate amps) it's connected to ? Is this actually possible (I know not of these tings, sorry) ? ? Or am I reading him wrong ?
If so, 13amps times 230v is 2990w - which as I understand it is ok for a 13a socket as it can provide around 3000w ?
(If we took 235v as an average UK voltage then it'd be 3055w.)

This is doing my head in ! I wish I understood the real world effects of all this stuff and how they interact, but I don't. Thankyou for your infinite patience, good people.

 

[vsynth]

The appliance will draw the same amount of current here or in europe.

The supply will try to deliver as many amps as the appliance demands, it will not limit the current to 13A...the appliance could try and draw 100A from the supply and the supply would give it 100A...until the fuse blew.

This ebay seller is either naive or is trying to pull a fast one...I wonder how many more of these he has sold to UK buyers.