French Appliance with UK plug

[Lusi83]

Hi
Not sure if this should be electrics outside UK or not...
My partner has been given an electric French fondue set. His friend apparently just put a UK plug on one and plugged it in and it worked fine...

We put a UK plug on it and plugged it in and it was working fine for about 5 mins when something tripped the RCD on half the consumer unit -the half which included the socket the fondue set was plugged into...it might just have been a coincidence -but I can't think of any thing else that is different....

So should there be a problem with this? Could it be a faulty appliance?
(I checked the plug again and it seems fine - it does have a 13 amp fuse in it - doesn't seem to be one in the french plug....)...
Thanks
Lucy

 

[rebuke]

In theory it should be fine, since across the EU we are nominally the same voltage etc. It's possible that there's a fault with it causing e.g. neutral to earth leakage, which wouldn't trip an MCB, but might cause an RCD to trip - on the continent my understanding is that RCDs are much rarer than they are over here, so could be a design flaw etc.

I'm assuming the plug had brown, blue and green+yellow wires (if not, then what colours were they, as it's possible you've wired the plug wrong - although I'd expect it to trip instantly and not after 5 minutes in that case)....

 

[Lusi83]

Hi Thanks for the reply ...sorry for not getting back quicker - I thought we got an e-mail when someone replied...

The wires were the same colour as ours...my Dp put the plug on - but I checked it and can't see a problem....

The one his friend used in Britain was in a commercial premises -which has recently been refurbished - so I'd assume it was plugged into a socket with an RCD (????) and it didn't cause a problem...
(RCDs scare me a bit - the circuit tripping even when turned off..always think it must be live still or something...).

French plugs can go in either way round (live or neutral) and I don't have a clue where the earth came from...they don't have earth pins...

I think I will redo the plug and also (if I can get in there) open it up the heating part and see if I can see anything obviously loose/wrong -especially neutral to earth...
Thanks again
Lucy

 

[333rocky333]

Hi Thanks for the reply ...sorry for not getting back quicker - I thought we got an e-mail when someone replied...

There is an option for that, found in your "Settings" on the above menu bar, then under "Forum settings".

 

[JohnD]

is it a 2-core or a 3-core flex?

 

[mointainwalker]

@ rebuke

You are wrong about the "rarity" of RCD's in Europe, they are much more widely used than in UK.

All the major RCD manufacturers like Merlin Gerin, Legrand ,Hager, AEG are in based in France , Germany and Switzerland which does indicate where their major markets are.

The only UK "maker"I was aware of, used to buy-in the technical part - the sensing unit - and assemble around it.

@Lusi83

In France there is this simple two-pin plug for double-insulated and/or low power devices which is often a rubbish fit in sockets ( by the way comment ).

Other appliances have a 3 pin system ( with the earth-pin fixed in the socket) .

French plugs don't have fuses: they rely on what's in the CU.

No evident reason at all why you should have a problem, I would check the wiring again.

By the way, why did your (first ) friend take his plug off ?

 

[Lusi83]

Thanks 333rocky333 - I'll check that out (I thought I have got them before...)

John D - it is 3 core

Mountainwalker -
First friend is French and moved to the UK and couldn't live without it.. My Partner (also French but has lived in the UK for almost 20 yrs) showed an interest - so 'first friend' bought him one back after a visit...
Now first friend is opening a restaurant and plans to use them in there -so has been playing with them...I know he had an electrician in doing work and also installing sockets at some of the tables...so I assume he had help doing the plugs -at least I hope so...

I was a bit relieved - not sure a boiling hot cooking plate on the table within reach of a 2 year old is such a good idea....but I don't think my partner will be happy until we have used it at least once. Then it can collect dust at the back of a cupboard

Thinking about it - it might have tripped the RCD when it got up to temperature and temporarily turned itself off...still don't understand why though...