Wiring a Spanish plug

One of the first – though very small – mistakes people make when moving to Lanzarote (we did it) is to go and buy a whole bunch of two to three pin adapters for their UK appliances…

Now anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m a long way from being a DIY expert, but even I was able to wire a plug in England. It struck me pretty quickly that as its an extremely similar electrical supply that you could put two pin plugs on the appliances – which are a fraction of the cost of the adapters.

I did feel the need to check though that the live and neutral wires dis not have to go to any particular side of the plug itself. I couldn´t see that they did – but I needed the peace of mind of asking a friend.

Anyway, here goes..

1. Unscrew the plug cover and remove

2. Slide the cover over the wire in preperation for later

3. Attach the live and the neutral (brown and blue wires) to the two pins

4. Attach the earth wire to the remaining connection (green and yellow)

5. Slide the cover back over the main body of the plug and screw firmly closed

It’s that simple.

If you are changing an appliance that has only live and neutral wires with no earth wire, skip step 4 (obviously). However do check that the appliance is double insulated. If it is the appliance will be marked somewhere with a symbol that looks like a square within a square. Click here for more information on double insulation.

One final piece of advice on electrics, when using expensive equipment such as computers it’s well worth using a surge protector. Power surges in Lanzarote are common and can be potentially harmful to your equipment.

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