The electrical guy I just spoke to on the phone for some reason did not inspire confidence so I thought I’d check here for a second opinion.
I have a bunch of lamps and chandeliers from North America that I want to use in my London home. Is converting them for UK use as simple as changing the plug at one and and the light bulb at the other? Would the wiring likely to be robust enough to handle the increased load? Should the light sockets be changed?
Maybe I caught the guy off guard with what he thought were stupid questions but I thought his answers were a little unsure.
wire and devices will have a rating for both the voltage and current it can be used for. you would need to know those values for the wire, switches and sockets in the devices you want to use.
There will probably be some sort of label near where the cord enters the device, saying what it’s rated for. If there is, trust that. If there isn’t, I wouldn’t risk it.
each part wire, switch and socket will have a rating that could differ from other components in the rest of the fixture, the lowest voltage or current value would prevail. you need to know the values for each part or for the total lamp or chandelier. a label (imprint) on the cord might be just for the cord and not the whole fixture. each component should have a marking. as Chronos mentioned there may be a label on the fixture for the whole device, lamps may be labeled on the base, chandeliers may be labeled on metal inside where a bulb socket is mounted.
Realistically, I’ve never seen lamp cord rated at less than 600V. Fixtures are also typically rated at 250V, so I seriously doubt that you would have any problem doing what you suggest.
Still, it’s always a good idea to check the ratings…
I’d recommend re-wiring and replacing the sockets if you want to use a US lamp or fixture in the UK and want to have no worries about it.
For starters, the voltage is the UK is 240 instead of 120 in the US. The insulation on the fixture’s internal wiring might be able to handle twice as much voltage, or it may not. As a general rule, we don’t have portable lamps here that run on 240, so it’s unlikely to find a lamp that would be rated for 240.
As for the sockets, can you readily get bulbs to fit? If not, you’d want to change the sockets just for convenience, but they’re probably only rated for 250 volts, which I would not be comfortable using on a 240-volt circuit.
My information isn’t up to date, but in the 80’s much of the household wiring was rated at 300 volts, still plenty. For the same amount of light, you would need about half the amps. Replace a 120 volt 60 watt bulb with a 230 volt 60 watt bulb, and the amps go down.
Do they use the same bulb sockets as we do?
Do they accept UL ratings? I think Canada wants to see CSA ratings.
It appears to me that household incandescent light bulbs in the UK typically range from 40 to 100 watts, at ~240 volts. This is essentially the same wattage range found in the US at 120 volts. That means the amperage for a given wattage in the UK would be about half of its counterpart in the US (watts = amps X volts).
Wattage = load, so no real difference there.
Amperage = flow rate, wire thickness usually corresponds to this, so the actual (metal) wires should be more than up to the task.
Voltage = intensity, might be a concern as far as thickness of insulation on the wires. Switches designed for 120v probably cannot safely handle 240v, but may be easy to change over.
UK electrician here, I would change out the wiring and switches and lampholders.
If you end up with a fire in the house the insurance company will find it all too easy to wriggle out, does not matter if the components are capable or not, soon as they find out its US rated, end of story.
I would also be concerned about the earth bond connection, UK uses earth connections except for double insulated stuff.
The absence of an earth connection on US stuff may well mean it isn’t fit for UK connection.This means if you hve a metal chassis you will run into problems, you may well fasten an earth connection to part of the chandelier base, but if its made up of a number of parts, there could easily be finishing lacquer between metal surfaces which could lead to parts of the metalwork not being earthed, you would need an electrician to test the earth continuity. The solution might be something as simple as wire brushing all the metal joints mating surfaces or screw threads that hold it together.
On the other hand, if you do bring it up to UK spec, you should have no trouble going back to US standards, it will all be fine for the lower voltage.
The UK system is quite arcane, what with the earthing and the higher voltages.
Ok now that I have a better idea of what to look for, I took apart the candle on the chandelier and stamped on side of the socket it says the UL rating is 75W 125V, so yeah the sockets need to be replaced. As for the wiring I know I would feel better if it were all just replaced but I can’t figure out how to get the base apart…the wires from each arm must meet somewhere in the middle of the base and although it looks like one piece of turned wood, it’s glued somewhere. I didn’t want to wreck it trying to get it apart.
