How to wire a plug in Poland?

I need to change some of the plugs on my electrical stuff from UK to Polish ones and while I've done this loads of times in the UK, I thought I should just check... I assume the earth is the one that connects with the pin that sticks out of the socket, but which way round are the live and neutral wires connected? Any guidance would be gratefully received!

Close your eyes and take your pick. If you get zapped, there's your answer.

Its no matter....the first time you try to plug anything into the socket it will all fall out of the wall...this is normal in Poland....

Thanks - I guess this is the most obvious option - I was hoping to spare my fusebox though...


I know - that's why removing plugs in Poland needs 2 hands...

Over a thousand fires break out annually in the UK by overloaded electrical outlets. Mainly caused by the Poles, who force plugs into outlets which were brought with them from their country .

The problem is that Poles have two round entries, and the British three flat ones. What does a canny Pole do in such cases? Grabs the screwdriver.

The British have many "capable" Poles, who go to the store and buy a special overlay that will burn their houses.
With posters and leaflets, they call on not to play homemade electricians and not to push in with force the Polish plugs in British contacts. And that this is very different from home. Instead of two round flat has three entrances. . But it makes no difference to Poles. What are screwdrivers for?

Many times during the inspection of Polish housings were found forced plugs into the outlets.This is very dangerous, because it just takes a short-circuit and a fire is ready - says Thomas, American firefighter working in one of the cities in the south of England.

If any Pole going to the UK wants some free UK plugs i have dozens that i removed from my stuff brought from UK....come and get em......

i wouldnt be so quick to throw mine away i wana go home :(

Homesick...? or just sick of Poland....?

Correct, but read the remarks at the bottom of my post.


As far as I know it doesn't matter for electric devices. I'm no electrician, but I can ask one tomorrow, just to be sure.

Anyway I just checked in my house and sometimes the live wire is on the left side and sometimes on the right side :)
You can also buy a "próbnik napięcia" (a screwdriver-like tool with neon lamp inside - at the right side of this picture:




Take a look at this post (



It's universal, which will be important in some near future, because, according to the EU regulations, Poland will change the earthing method, instead of the pin used now in the sockets, it will be like this:

Hahaha.
Even more confusing.

I have to agree.. Love the zapping.. ;)

>Anyway I just checked in my house and sometimes the live wire is on the left side and sometimes on the right side :)

This is what you get - from our experience those nice, neat double socket plates force the wiring to be reversed from one side to the other.

Any time we wanted to force consistency on the wiring we had to settle for 2 separate single sockets mounted side by side.
That was 5 years ago so it's possible things have changed for the better.

c

In my case I meant the sockets in different points (for example in my kitchen a double socket plate by the oven has both sockets where the live wire is on the left side, while the plate at the window has live wires on the right side).

btw, all the electric works and installations in my house were made by my father (a professional electrician), so it wasn't a fault of some lazy workers.

those double (upper + lower) socket plates will also be replaced with single sockets because of the EU regulations in the future, I'm not sure if double paltes will be allowed in the horizontal lay-out (one at the side of the other, not above, like today)

I wasn't implying laziness -- merely that consistency hasn't been considered necessary.

Another thing that surprised me was the stiffness of the cables - I presumed it was because they weren't ducted but rather buried directly in the walls (and plastered over) and therefore needed to be resilient ... However, it meant they were especially difficult to bend - it could be that "left" or "right" decisions were simply "this is the way the cable lay". :)

And don't get me started on "why should the cables go round the top of the walls rather than the bottom?" :D

/c

I know you weren't, but I added this explanation just in case, before someone could have thought it :)
So aren't the wires (in your house) in plastic tubes?

Plug converters (both ways) are quite cheap - Argos or Electroworld in the UK and Media Saturn or Electroworld in PL stock them. When coming to PL, don't just use shaver converters - they can stick in the sockets here, especially if the sockets are new or good quality.