UK Kitchen Appliances in Italy

[danrobinson]

Hi,

This may seem like a daft question but will all UK kitchen appliances work in Italy? This includes Oven, Large Fridge Freeze, and D/W.

Obviously the plugs will have to be changed but will they work on the lower voltage just as well as they do in the UK?

Thanks

Dan

[Cassini]

Its very possible that some of them have been adapted to use less electricity. I have similar things in both places - the dishwasher is configured differently and takes longer, the electric oven seems to run on a lower voltage and has a strong cooling fan run on after using in Italy. Think you could look at websites for specs both here and in Italy.

[alan h]

The lower voltage thing is a bit of a red herring - UK quote 240V versus 220V in Italy - as they are both nominal there shouldn't be too much of a problem on that score

Your bigger problem will be the power that the appliances take. UK appliances usually have big Wattages.

Because of the limited supply you will have in Italy [usually 3KW-ish] you risk blowing fuses if too many appliances are switched on.
For example - your UK oven may well take too much power on its own.

I have found that Italian bought equipment [ovens, fridge/freezers/dishwashers etc] have lower wattages - so you need to look at what you propose to take over and see if its too powerful.

And learn to live without an electric Kettle! [cuts down on the trips to re-set the fuse]

[tuscanhills]

Are you planning to take your white goods over as you're relocating to Italy?

If not, then I understand that they sell them in Italy ;)

...sorry, that was not nice(!) but why not buy them over there? If you have spare in the UK, then it might be worth considering, but we manage to trip our power with a meaty hairdryer (that's the royal we, of course!) so I'd caution against using meaty white goods ;)

[neilmcn]

Originally Posted by alan haynes

Because of the limited supply you will have in Italy [usually 3KW-ish] you risk blowing fuses if too many appliances are switched on.
For example - your UK oven may well take too much power on its own.

I have found that Italian bought equipment [ovens, fridge/freezers/dishwashers etc] have lower wattages - so you need to look at what you propose to take over and see if its too powerful.

And learn to live without an electric Kettle! [cuts down on the trips to re-set the fuse]

Excellent advice. Moving to Italy is a great excuse to buy a full new set of modern replacement appliances which are energy efficient and lower powered than UK equivalents. Although it's quite an investment up front it will save money within 5-10yrs because utilities are expensive in Italy. In addition constantly having to reset trip switches gets boring very quickly.

[Licciana]

Originally Posted by alan haynes

And learn to live without an electric Kettle! [cuts down on the trips to re-set the fuse]

Thinking about it, I would have thought that use of an electric kettle ought not to conflict too much because the times when you want to make a cup of tea etc. you're probably not running too many other competing appliances. We're only on the basic ENEL tariff and we don't own a clothes dryer but we've so far not had any problems.

We brought an electric kettle over and haven't (touch wood) had it trip the fuses. Mind you it cost all of £6 from Argos and is fairly rubbish but I would have thought it still uses the same amount of power as other kettles.

[Dream Academy]

We asked for and got a higher voltage supply, it was very easy.
We now run oven, washing machine, hot tub and UK kettle and toaster at the same time with no problems.

[DaveJ]

Quite agreen Alan,

Most electrical devices will run at 220 Volt if the run at 230 Volt in the UK which is closer to what we actually have! The issue is the wattage used by each appliance and the total at any one time

[brendon collins]

we found as regards to the electric kettle problem, just do not use it at the same time as ie, washing machine!. Other than that no problems, although we have of course forgotten this on many occasions and had to run out and sort the trip switch out!!!!. Benvenuto e Italia!!!! Brendon.

[Andria]

The wattage of Italian vrs english kitchen appliances is much of a muchness. The potenza you will need will depend on how modern your kitchen/house will be..in particular how big an oven you have as they tend to need the most power out of any of the appliances i.e we have a large italian oven which needs 3 kw on it's own. In short if you live out here it's advisable to have 4.2 min potenza to the house to avoid a problem....we have 6.0 but run lots of other things like out door lights, computers, pool pump etc. If you don't live here then you can get used to 3.0 through trial and error. It costs each time you move your house potenza limit up and you have an annual charge for each unit which is pro rata split in your 2x monthly bill so it can be expensive.

If you are buying a house and want lots of power....check first with your local authority that this will be possible and what the charges are. In our area it can cost between 350 and 700 Euros to upgrade to the next level for example. It was not possible for some friends as they lived too remotely from the main power station without additional equipment and for one house they refused since the government only supplies so much as a grant for this type of work and there is a cap on how much they can charge the individual.

Any appliance which runs off a thermostat like a kettle or an iron can cause your house to trip.....for some reason those bought in the uk especially. It's not very esay to buy an electric kettle in Italy and it's not without good reason!!....

:D Andria