Most voltage converters and transformers come supplied with plug adaptors, so you may not need to buy a separate travel adaptor.Īll converters and transformers will have a maximum power rating (AMPS or WATTS) so make sure that any appliance you intend to use does not exceed this rating. For example, a 50Hz clock may run faster on a 60Hz electricity supply. If the frequency is different, the normal operation of an electrical appliance may also be affected. It can be extremely dangerous to use an electrical appliance that is rated at a voltage different from the supply.Īs voltage can differ from country to country, you may need to use a voltage converter or transformer whilst in Italy. Italy operates on a 230V supply voltage and 50Hz.Įlectricity supplies worldwide can vary from anything between 100V and 240V.
Plug type C is the plug which has two round pins, plug type F is the plug which has two round pins with two earth clips on the side and plug type L is the plug type which has three round pins. It is important to note that it does not convert the voltage or frequency.įor Italy there are three associated plug types, types C, F and L. This normally includes the use of a travel adaptor , which is a device that simply allows you to plug any UK electrical appliance into a foreign electrical socket. the amount of cooling or heat-pumped heating that is supplied), which is more efficient than just turning on and off at fixed thermostat points.You will need to consider what to pack, to ensure you can use your personal electrical appliances safely whilst abroad. Modern a/c motors have complex electronic control of the actual output power (i.e. Old-fashioned electric motors will compensate for a lower voltage by drawing more current thereby maintaining an almost constant output power. I was pleasantly surprised how little needed repair when the power came back on. I was once in a building when a substation blew up, and for a brief period of time one of the phases dropped out and the other two went seriously over-voltage before darkness descended. The safety specifications will include a much greater margin of error that the hardware must safely handle for short periods of time before fuses or circuit breakers can do their thing. In any case it's +/- 10%, so 230V might be 253V worst case. Our national supply used to be nominally 240V, but at some point (perhaps for inter-operability with the EU) it was dropped to 230V. Just for interest, here in the UK the reverse happened. But if it is something like a dryer or an oven outlet, it should be perfectly fine. RARELY, something is either old, or made somewhere where they don't follow industry norms (or don't understand, or don't care) and they made it so that it STRICTLY requires a very narrow input voltage.
In reality because some commercial and apartment complexes will use 208V 3 phase distribution, and you want to be able to accept 90% of 208V, the equipment manufacturers often actually make their products suitable for -15% from 230V (195V). So partially because of this, the unofficial "Utilization Voltage" level has been 230V for decades, but the tolerance is +-10%, meaning the devices are supposed to be designed to accept anything from 207V to 253V. Generically, it's all referred to as being the " nominal" voltage 220, 230, 240 all being relatively close enough. It's actually somewhat rare for it to actually BE 220V. But because old habits die hard, and because SOME utilities never actually changed, "220V" is a common term still used all over the place. So for residential single phase distribution, the official voltage is actually 240VAC. So to avoid having the REA workers have to carry different products for different utility voltages, a standard was established that has become codified as the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) Distribution Voltages that power utilities are SUPPOSED to adhere to. Some time around the 1930s, as part of one of Roosevelt's "New Deal" programs called the "REA" (Rural Electrification Act), power lines were run out to farms and small communities all across the country.
Here in the US (we don't know where you are), 220V was an old original standard going back to the 1920s.
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