Hi,
I am new to Switzerland and to this forum. We recently moved from Ireland to Zurich area and are now in our new apartment, we love it. Only problem is we need to change our Irish 3 pin plugs to the european 2 pin or swiss 3 pin asap. It's bugging walking around with an adaptor in my hand all day long..

Anyway, the Voltages are nearly the same, 250 V vs 230 V so i gather it shouldn't be too much of any issue. Do we just change the plugs? Or do we need an adaptor/convertor? If so, where would we get these?

Thanks in advance

Just change the plugs. In classic Irish parlance "it'll be grand".

Just change the plugs.

I did it on everything I could that I have from the UK and haven't had any problems at all. Some of my plugs are kind of sealed so had to stick with adaptors for those.

A good tip for those who aren't convinced they will be here too long.....

...buy a multiple adapter and change the plug on that. Then all sorts of stuff with English style plugs can be plugged into the adapter block. Particularly useful for computer bits & phone chargers with moulded or integral plugs.

We created several the opposite way round, for a friend moving from here to London, for all her Swiss plugs - she thought it was a great moving present.

In fact all countries in Europe, including Ireland, standardised on 220v, rather than the previous 240v used in the British Isles, some years ago. No changes were necessary to any equipment. Just cut off any moulded plugs, replace them all with three-pin Swiss ones costing a couple of francs each, job done.

The cheapest place that I've found for plugs is Migros -- they're about CHF1- each.

The jumbo also has a pretty good supply, various shapes and colours for about 1.25.

It makes life so much easier rather than dealing with those big Irish plugs and adapters for everything.

Nearly right... EU standardised on 230v about 15 years back. UK dropped 10 volts and europe went up 10. Simple plug or 4 way changers are all that's needed.

If you are here a long while you will find it really annoying when you come to use something you've forgotten in the cellar like a drill you've forgotten to change the plug on!

Thanks to all the replies, i'll be up to our local migros tomorrow to buy quite a few...now someone to take the kids for a while, so i can do the actual job

It'll will while away the time, just be mindful that with some manufacturers chopping the moulded plug off may invalidate any warranty.

Cut the plug off and then rewire into a new plug that isn't sealed...

just needs a sharp knife and a screw driver (a wire stripper makes it easier, but is not essential)

Before you set off for the shops, make sure you have all the tools you'll need for the job:

• pliers with cutters integrated or very sharp knife ("Stanley knife") to cut off the old plug and to strip the wires
• wire stripper (optional -- but you'll still need the pliers or knife above)
• tiny Phillips screwdriver
• tiny flat-blade screwdriver
• medium Phillips screwdriver

... and a modicum of common sense to do the job ...

Regarding common sense: Leave the Yellow/Green earth wire a tad longer than the other two. If somebody pulls on the cord instead on the plug it will be the last wire to come loose.

I recommend to get some Aderendhülsen (100 pcs aporx CHF 4), put it over the blank wires and the crunch it with the pliers. This way you can screw the wires very thigh in the plug. If somebody pulls on the cord instead of the plug the wires should not become lose as easily.

lots of info , thanks, will check my hubbies toolbox for all the above

On a general note, Migros offers courses on carrying out repairs in the household, also changing plugs.

Naah. Only if they could show that your faulty wiring had caused damage. I've definitely had stuff fixed under warranty with changed plugs, French-Swiss or vice versa, and it's never even been questioned.

What has the world come to? I'm actually shocked to think that anyone could have survived to adulthood without such basic skills.

Although I suppose the fitting of moulded plugs to pretty much all new appliances for the last couple of decades may be not unrelated...

Good for you, the fact remains that SOME manufactures will decline warranty work if you tamper with the lead. So it's always worth checking before you start lopping of the plugs, maybe go with the changing the plug on a UK bar adaptor.

Do you actually have any first-hand experience of this?

Yep, a friend in Zug has a Sony Bluray HTS that he had chopped the plug off when he came here last year. The head unit developed a fault and Sony would not fix it under warranty and he had to pay for the repair, which wasn't to expensive luckily, reason given was he had changed the plug. They actually said had he bought a new power lead no problem... happy now.

I buy Swissy leads http://www.conrad.ch/ce/de/product/0...10108&ref=list to replace UK http://www.cabling4less.co.uk/catego...woduRnHlwleads for for people with items still under guarantee from Conrad, and for none warranty, swap the plug.... JIC.

You may have been lucky with your warranties, I have had not had anything fail <<touch wood>> so I've been lucky too, but some folks haven't been. So as I said SOME manufacturers MAY be difficult and it's worth being mindful of that. If it's an expensive item still under warranty maybe spending CHF 5 more on a new lead rather than a plug swap would save any potential grief