Eu Plug

[Chipchopper]

If I buy an electric appliance with an EU plug, do I need a 3 pin adapter plug, for use in the UK ?.

[douglas9401]

You can cut the European one off and fit a UK plug.

The wiring colours are the same.

[gingejbee]

...and, incidentally, there is a difference between an EU plug and the 2-pin plugs supplied on UK-bought electric razors, toothbrushes etc.

[Buenchico]

It's illegal to sell electrical appliances fitted with EU plugs in the UK, so any firm that might be offering you such a product could be decidedly dodgy!

You can get away with using an adapter in order to use such a device but it's far better to remove the EU plug and replace it with a UK one (ensuring that it's got a properly rated fuse).

[KARL]

If the item draws relatively little current then an adaptor is the only way to supply power to it through the original plug, although the EU plug's prongs can usually be inserted into a UK socket and I used a lamp like that for at least two ecades. The UK has saddled itself with a monstrosity of a plug/socket combination, the only one where I have ever come across a socket developing a short circuit (at least two separate ones in two separate properties). Like so much else, in the UK it is the World's best but again as per usual it is not that good outside the UK (only UK dominated, militarily/administratively or culturally, foreign territories use them). That said, the set is what it is and one must live with it in the UK.

[fender62]

KARL, monstrosity..american ones leave a lot to be desired, skinny two prong plug, i once watched a plug and its lead practically melt.

[youngmafbog]

//the only one where I have ever come across a socket developing a short circuit (at least two separate ones in two separate properties)//

It's you mate.