Life / Electricity in Poland: plug and voltage? [72]

This thing from Allegro seems to be a more modern one, based on electronics. But the operation is the same. It is triggered by a doorbell switch (meaning such one with a spring, that closes the circuit only for the moment when it is kept pressed) and then keeps the lighting on for some time (which can be set by the potentiometer). This one keeps, in addition, the light dimmed (probably it decreases the voltage by half, because, according to the description, it can't be used with fluoroscent lamps) for about 30 sec. before turning off - to let the user turn the light on again safely (i.e. not in darkness - remember that it's used mostly in staircases) before it goes off.

google.pl/search?q=staircase+light+timer

I have never met in Poland such one that would just be:


Probably nobody have come into this simple idea in the continental Europe and nobody was so smart to copy this solution from the UK :)

On the other hand, I heard that in the UK you have always two separate taps for the cold and hot water above sinks. And it's always driving people from the continental Europe crazy :)

Life / Electricity in Poland: plug and voltage? [72]


Automat schodowy. In Poland it is usually used in stairwells in blocks of flats. Typical solution how it was constructed, at least in the past (now they are probably based on electronics): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay#Time_delay

The switch is a normal doorbell switch (such one that returns to the "off" position immediately after pressing it), the delay of the turning off is generated by the relay.

Life / Electricity in Poland: plug and voltage? [72]

In Poland any of these is legal, the only thing is that if for example a cooker is installed not by a licensed specialist, it has no guarantee. The case is just different mentality of people. Of course the owner of the house as a person responsible for it would be in big problems if somebody is killed by gas or electricity there and the installation is made against the norms that were valid when it was being made.

Life / Electricity in Poland: plug and voltage? [72]


There is no risk because there are no fuses, breakers, anything like this in plugs and sockets. RCD is somewhere in the flat (if somebody is lucky, because it's still not very common, in new installations it should be installed, but older norms demanded it only for "wet" rooms like bathroom, even older ones, from something like 30 or 40 years ago, didn't demand it at all; RCD is quite a new solution - earlier the only security means was a traditional fuse, often one for the whole flat, and the earth pins in sockets were connected to the N wire - when the voltage appeared on e.g. the metal casing of a device, it blew the main fuse, at least if the installation was made correctly and was in good condition, because for example breakage of N somewhere near the main fuse was very dangerous), but never in the plug, socket, never in the appliance, so the user can be sure that it breaks L, and not N.

In walls L and N are distinguished. Correctly N should be marked by a wire with blue isolation, PE by yellow-and-green one, L by brown one or of any other color. But never take this color markings for granted! For example in lightning circuits the yellow-and-green is used often as a live wire, because if you want to buy a 3-wire cable (to install in the wall), the easiest to buy is the one that has wires of colors: brown, blue and yellow-and-green.

If somebody is doing something inside an appliance and wants to be sure it's not live, he/she unplugs the plug from the socket.

Sometimes there are plugs with a switch (such ones to install them on the cable on your own, for example if the original one is broken - like in the photo a few posts before - rather than original ones installed by device manufacturer, which are impossible to disassembly), but they don't ensure that there is no voltage inside the device.


I am not an expert, but according to this:
ise.pl/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=39&jfile=viewtopic.php&f=23&t=13209 (forum of electricians)

RCD controls the geometrical sum of currents in wires: L1, L2, L3 and N - if it's greater than the given value (parameter of the RCD) it will break the circuit.

If there is short circuit to the appliance casing and then to PE or to ground (L-PE, N-PE) then the current leaves the circuit omitting the RCD - thus geometrical sum of currents is much greater than the one with which the breaker is triggered.

If there is L-N or Lx-Ly short circuit, then the RCD will not work (but then the traditional fuse or breaker works).

The current flows in to the circuit, the same current doesn't flow out, because it flows through a human to ground - then it doesn't matter if it has a way to return to the RCD, or not, RCD will be triggered.

But remember that if it's an installation in Poland, there is very often no RCD at all. And it might be OK from the legal point of view - it depends only on the time when the installation was made.

RCD won't disconnect N unless it's incorrectly installed or workers of the energy supplier made a (very costly) mistake and exchanged L and N somewhere outside the flat. There were even situations then during works they connect by mistake two different phases instead of L and N and then in sockets there is 400 V instead of 230 V (of course for a moment, until they see their mistake). This is even more costly, the energy suppliers must return money to people for the damaged devices, but I've heard about such situations.

I would add that in the past it was very common that the lightning switch disconnected N instead of L. Normal switch, of course, not a breaker.

Life / Electricity in Poland: plug and voltage? [72]

Fuse shouldn't be applied on the N wire. After it blows, device doesn't work but it is still under voltage.

In Poland there is no fuses in plugs and sockets, so there is no problem with it. In the wall wiring the L and N are distinguished (for the sake of the main fuses, RCDs etc.), as well all the way from the local transformator station to the house, but in the device - they shouldn't.

In older installations you may meet even one fuse for the whole flat, or for example three ones, one for each phase, for a detached house. These old installations are often made with only 2 wires, where the N wire plays role of PE too. It's quite dangerous (and in such a situation there should be definitely no fuse on the N wire), but it's how the wiring was made in the past, and it is still commonly met in Poland. In newer installations one modern circuit breaker might be for example only for lightning and another one only for sockets in one room, there are three wires and there is an RCD, at least for the bathroom (although according to the current norms the whole installation should be secured by RCD), but it is an idealistic case. Sometimes the electrical wiring is installed by people that aren't even electricians, or they are electricians, but they don't really know how to do what they are supposed to do (for example they finished their education in their profession 40 years ago and they didn't extend it any more) - and investors, especially private ones, use their services wanting to save money. Unfortunately - skimping on safety.

Nevertheless, regardless of whether the wiring is made correctly or not, whether it's old-fashioned one or modern one, the order of L and N in the sockets and plugs in Poland doesn't really matter. It is important everywhere between the transformator station and the socket, but between the socket and the device (and inside the device) - not. Again in theory, because sometimes some devices demanding specific order of L and N are met (it's especially about gas water heaters), but they shouldn't really be sold on the Polish market with plugs. They should have bare wires to connect them to the installation permanently through a switch. But the manufacturers don't care about this and also any apropriate institutions don't react. And - if they were produced without plugs, what most of people (meaning normal people buying such a heater, not electricians) in Poland would do is they would just install a plug and connect it to a wall socket. It's common with instantaneous electric water heaters of the power of, I think, more than 3 kW, which are sold without plugs, and what most of the customers do, is - you may guess :) They install plugs on their own.

Polonia / Polish satellite TV abroad [40]

You won't rather buy a card anywhere other than in Poland, because the contracts of TV companies with content suppliers allow them to broadcast in only within the area of Poland. They unofficialy let people take the cards and receivers abroad, because a lot of people use them abroad and otherwise they would lose a great amount of clients. But theoretically the TV companies shouldn't do it, so they won't make it officially possible to buy they cards abroad.

Bad news for you is that TVP Kultura and TVP Historia will no more be broadcast free-to-air, probably from 1 January 2015. TVP resigns from broadcasting FTA on the Astra satellite. They will use Hot Bird only. FTA will be TVP Polonia and TVP Info only. On Hot Bird.

All the information is here: satkurier.pl/news/109133/nowe-parametry-tvp-polonia-od-1012015.html

In short:
* the new parameters of TVP Polonia (on Hot Bird, FTA) are:
Eutelsat Hot Bird 13D (13°E)
tp. 133 (11,179 GHz, pol. H, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, DVB-S/QPSK)
The signal should be better than on the old TVP Polonia broadcast on Hot Bird.
* from 15 December 2014 on the new parameters on Hot Bird TVP Polonia is present
* form 31 December 2014 (about 23:30) TVP channels on Astra will be off
* from 1 January 2015 the transmission of TVP Polonia on Hot Bird will be a permanent one, not test one
* on the old parameters on Hot Bird TVP Polonia will be probably present for some time yet, for example 2 weeks
* TVP Kultura on Hot Bird will be encoded from 29 December 2014 (about 0:00), maybe they will start encoding later on
* TVP Info on Hot Bird (the signal used now by digital platforms) will start to be FTA 1 January 2015 (about 0:00), maybe earlier
* TVP Historia won't be FTA any more

What is more:
* the Polish digital platforms will probably move from MPEG2 to MPEG4 transmission in the middle of 2015 (or later on), so SD receivers will have to be replaced with HD ones; Cyfrowy Polsat exchanges now all their SD receivers with new HD ones in their selling points, even those without any contract, used by People as FTA receivers - for free

* the TNK SD offer will be valid until 31 October 2016, so topping up the account for a longer period is pointless

In terms of problems with Hot Bird reception, maybe the dish setting is inaccurate. Otherwise - try to replace it with a bigger one (of greater diameter).

Language / Dziadzia / Babcia - help me with spelling/pronunciation [81]

Just put "babcia" or "dziadek" (or whatever you want, even this weird "busia") into Google Translate, turn it to translation from Polish, and click the loudspeaker button on the left-hand side. It will show the correct pronounciation for sure.

Language / jedzie ? ci ludzie ? czym ? [11]

"Jechać" is not necessarily "to drive", it is a general word meaning "to go by or ride any vehicle or animal". As a passenger too.

"Czym jedziesz?" - "What do you ride?" or "What do you go by?". Expected answer - by car, by bus, by train, by plane etc. Or in another context - I drive BMW / Ferrari / Fiat 126p. I can imagine also a situation in a movie with action happening on a desert in the past, where expected answer could be - I ride a horse / a camel etc.

Law / Polish EU Drivers Licence - can I get one the easy way (by paying for it)? [185]

No way in another way than the standard, legal one. Try in Ukraine.

Polonia / Polish satellite TV abroad [40]

There is no Cyfra+ and n any more, they have merged and now they are nc+.

ncplus.pl/sklep/telewizja-na-karte
This is a pre-paid offer. You just buy a set-top box and then top up the account by means of a bank transfer. You don't need an agreement with them, so you don't need an address in Poland.

The only thing that might be problematic are bank transfers from the UK onto Polish bank account. Probably it's possible without transfers, by just buying some top-ups in a shop - I don't know. But for sure it's possible to make a top-up for a few months in advance.

See here:
allegro.pl/sprzet-satelitarny-tunery-67129?order=m&string=nc%2B+na+kart%C4%99&bmatch=s0-e-1021
On the tab "Dostawa i płatność" it is written whether the seller agrees to send the tuner to abroad or not. Allegro is such a Polish eBay. Of course the price of the delivery would be different than the one that is written there, they are for the parcels inside Poland.

Law / Old Polish money banknotes - what's their value today? [415]

1 PLN and it's no longer exchanged by banks.

Life / When will SMOKING BE BANNED? (from public areas in Poland) [44]

Answering to the question in the topic: it is. Since 2011.


infor.pl/prawo/nowosci-prawne/261047,Zakaz-palenia-w-miejscach-publicznych.html

Law / Is it safe and legal to use torrents / downloads in Poland? [29]

Torrent works in such a way that you have to share to other downloaders (and it's done automatically) all the part of the file that you have already downloaded. Therefore downloading copyright-protected files via torrent is illegal in Poland.

Life / Exam for Drivers License in Poland; English? [99]

The "written" (which is in fact not written, but solved on computer) part of Polish driving exam has an English version, so you don't need an interpreter.

I cannot find any English-language publications on Polish highway code. The Polish version is here:
isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19970980602+2011%2405%2421&min=1 (choose the lower link - D19970602Lj.pdf - it's a consolidated text, so it's fully up to date), you may try to translate it with translators and dictionaries.

Some driving schools have courses in English, you may try contacting them, for example:
kursant.wroclaw.pl/oferta-wiecej-prawo-jazdy-b-po-angielsku.htm (this one is in Wrocław, you should find something in other cities too).

Till 2012 the driving licence theoretical test was based on a constant set of few hundreds of questions, which were available to everyone. Now it's different, there are few thousands of questions and they are secret (and in a vast part connected with short videos), but basing on the old questions' set you may prepare to the new test quite well. So if you found the translation of the old questions' set, it would be also very useful for you. Especially because the test contains also some questions on practical aspects of driving, for which you won't find answers in the highway code.

Language / What computer keyboards are in use in Poland? [34]

Hm... It seems that it's easier to buy one abroad than here in Poland :) I have never seen such one in supermarkets. And I don't know anyone who would use this layout.

The speed of writing is just a matter of experience. For me pressing two keys together doesn't make typing slower, anyway so is also in case of capital letters and it's not a problem.

The version with "oversized" Enter is most popular in Poland, although I meet ones with Enter of "single" height too. There are also differences in Backspace size, sometimes it's of normal "single" width, sometimes it's double (the \| key goes then into different weird places, sometimes it's next to right Shift, which is then smaller) and they are equally common here.

I meant this one:



Because the "oversized" Enter can be also in two versions. This one is most popular in Poland. Which doesn't mean that one cannot meet other British or American ones here.

Language / What computer keyboards are in use in Poland? [34]


All Poland uses it. A different situation was in case of typewriters, where we used a layout based on the German one (QWERTZ). Yet in Windows XP Polish-language edition this "typewriter" layout was installed by default apart from the standard one having Polish letters under key combinations with Alt (and if I remember well, in Windows 98 this QWERTZ layout was a default setting!). I think it may be still used by people who've learnt touch typing on typewriter - but usually it's a reason of funny situations if someone switches the layout incidentally (Ctrl+Shift keyboard shortcut in Windows).

If in your country you are using a standard US keyboard, just change the keboard layout into Polish (not Polish 214! - it's this typewriter's one; in older Windows versions the proper one was called "programmer's") . Then you have Polish letters under combinations with right Alt. For example Alt+A -> Ą. The exception is -, where you use Alt+X, as Alt+Z is for Ż. All the Latin alphabet is available normally from the Polish keyboard layout.

Life / Help with Polish address - the correct way of putting that on an envelope? [29]

Postal codes in Poland were introduced just in the 70's. Believing Wikipedia, it was 1st January 1973. But probably initially they weren't obligatory, as it was something new.

In the address:


the house number is lacking. There would be problems with delivering it. I have no idea how the post office would behave, would they reject it or pass to the postman, who may just know this lady.

Writing the name of województwo (province, voivodeship) on the envelope is not obligatory. The recommended pattern in Poland is:



And 62-560 is a postal code of not only Skulska Wieś, but also all the area of the post office in Skulsk (which can be checked on the website of Poczta Polska - Polish national mail operator). So the correct addres would be:


In such cases the village name is written instead of the street name.

If the letter is sent to a village with a post office and without street names (with house numbers only), there is no second line as in the address above and the house number is written after the name of the village/town/city with the post office corresponding to the post code. What if it's a village without post office and with street names? I don't know what is a correct version, but I would address it like the official example in the picture above writing the village name just before "ul. Cicha 132" (in the same line), separated by a comma.

Polonia / Polish satellite TV abroad [40]

Consult a point selling Polsat services? Maybe they would send you the receiver abroad for some extra charge. But they would have to send you an agreement to sign it and this could be a bigger problem.

If you don't manage to find a point which would agree, the only option is that someone in Poland would do everything for you.

Polonia / Polish satellite TV abroad [40]

Receiver (or at least CI module) must be from Polsat. Cards from TNK (SD, not HD) and old cards from Cyfra+ (from before it merged with n) will work in any receiver supporting encoding systems used by them (Conax for TNK, afair Nagra for Cyfra+). But from Polsat, n and nc+ (product of the Cyfra+ and n merger) will not.

Dish might be yours, you must only set it on Hot Bird 13" E.

News / POLAND to have its own automobile brand (back), the SYRENA! [36]

Generally a mermaid is a symbol of Warsaw, this creature has for example a few statues in the city.

News / POLAND to have its own automobile brand (back), the SYRENA! [36]

And it's probably connected with the Warsaw's coat of arms:



And the legend of Warsaw Mermaid: warsawtour.pl/en/warsaw-for-everyone/for-kids/warsaw-legends-3160.html

Syrena car used to be produced in Warsaw, by FSO company. Before Syrena, they had been producing a car called Warszawa.

Life / Halloween vs All Saints' Day in Poland [48]


Not everyone know that Slavians (so also people from the area of Poland) more than 200 years ago also had such a festival:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dziady

Law / Can i still exchange my driving license after fail in practical exam [9]

For example: This is information of Municipal Office of Warsaw. In other cities/powiats rules are identical.

Pakistan signed Vienna Convention of Road Traffic, so it shouldn't be any problem.

Life / Typical Polish house and family [46]


In areas without gas network, central heating is usually based on coal, more seldom (as they are much more expensive, but also much more comfortable in use) on LPG gas or heating oil.

Life / Street names in Polish towns/cities [22]

Smutna street in £ódź. With prison and cemetary.

maps.google.pl/maps?q=Smutna,+%C5%81%C3%B3d%C5%BA&hl=pl&ie=UTF8&ll=51.788464,19.492203&spn=0.002207,0.005681&sll=52.025459,19.204102&sspn=8.941138,23.269043&hnear=Smutna,+%C5%81%C3%B3d%C5%BA,+Wojew%C3%B3dztwo+%C5%82%C3%B3dzkie&t=m&z=1 8&layer=c&cbll=51.788435,19.49199&panoid=gXgiPfK9d6Y8UunLf7sDDw&cbp=12,162.92,,2,-2.13

Genealogy / Want to find a person [758]

Piotr Czarniecki or Czarnecki?

Language / Fun with Polish ambiguous language [62]

It depends on the context :) "Zamek" has few meanings. Everyone of them looks rather strange. Lock or zipper are rather cheap, but I don't know anyone who would like to buy a castle.

Language / Fun with Polish ambiguous language [62]

translate.google.com

I can't afford a new lock (or castle or zipper, depending on the context).