6 Amp Mains Electric In France
We will be spending 32 days in France in our Coachman VIP 545 from the end of August till the end of September. We enjoy the luxury of 16 Amps on our UK Caravan Club sites. The many sites we will be staying on in France do 6 Amps at the most! What experiences do fellow club members have of 6 Amps? What essential electrical appliances do you use and what never gets switched on? is there a role for 12 volts here?
Comments
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We use the caravan fridge, but remember not to put the water heater on at the same time as the kettle or hairdryer. We use high-wattage appliances with care, for instance remembering not to use the kettle and the hair-dryer at the same time. We have a mini-oven and a two ring hob, and if using those on a site with low amps, we make sure we alternate the rings - turning one on to high, putting the pan on, then when it boils, turn it off and turn on the other one - that way each ring's residual heat carries on the cooking process.
Although many sites mention 6 amps, you sometimes have the option to pay for extra, and sometimes the supply seems to provide much higher amps than is stated.
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Don't try and use a UK domestic kettle on a 6 amp supply, if you don't already have one buy a low wattage one. Every appliance is measured in the amount of watts it uses so on a 6 amp supply you have 1380 watts available to you. If you need to heat water most caravans/motorhomes allow you to use a mix of electric (at its lowest setting) and gas. We have just come back from a 50 night trip and we used gas quite a bit but that only amounted to about two thirds of a 10kgs bottle. Whilst it can't be relied on sometimes 6 amp supply will be quite tolerent but before you go overboard make sure you can get into the electric cabinet to reset the switch, otherwise exercise caution!!!
David
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If you travel extensively in Europe you will come to realise that it's the UK that's out of step by having 16 amps which has lead to caravans being equipped accordingly with electric hobs etc. Just follow the advice above and you will be fine. You might
find you are also OK with 3/4 amps in Italy!0 -
If you travel extensively in Europe you will come to realise that it's the UK that's out of step by having 16 amps which has lead to caravans being equipped accordingly with electric hobs etc. Just follow the advice above and you will be fine. You might
find you are also OK with 3/4 amps in Italy!What about Germany which is almost exclusively 16 amp supply?
David
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Just come back from our European excursion this year and had no problems with 6 amp on the few sites which had it most where 10 amp or above. As stated just be sensible and think before you put kettle on what have I got on. Now if like us you go to Italy
3 amp is quite common and that is a problem,0 -
yes, 3 amp is just about 700w so ok for travel kettle and fridge and charger....however any water (and space) heating will require gas.....or diesel in some cases.
still, in the Tuscan sunshine, using site showers, not really an issue as no heating required...
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we use domestic kettle and toaster, not at same time our site is 6amp. never had any trouble.
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Why not consider taking a kettle you put ipon the gas? You then do not have to worry about putting on an electric kettle at the same time as something else.
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Never been a problem in the summer as we don't need any heating. The fridge is run from the mains and we have a 750 Watt kettle (3 amp) and that's about it. We do have a hairdryer and a travel iron, but I don't recall either being used in the van. No
TV, no satellite, no microwave or anything like that. If OH takes her 'tablet', it takes very little power.In the winter it's a different story.
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If you travel extensively in Europe you will come to realise that it's the UK that's out of step by having 16 amps which has lead to caravans being equipped accordingly with electric hobs etc. Just follow the advice above and you will be fine. You might
find you are also OK with 3/4 amps in Italy!What about Germany which is almost exclusively 16 amp supply?
David
Only been there once and the charges for electricity we're unbelievable. I imagine that anybody using the full 16 amps would be shocked at their bill. Take your point though, my experience is mainly France and Italy.
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Not all sites in Germany meter the electricity, but when they do it certainly is expensive.
Northern European countries are likely to have at least 10 and often 16amps EHU.......Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland......also Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Holland and Belgium.
Even France often has 10amps.
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We've just finished an 11 weeks break in France and Spain most of it on 6 amp sites, not had any problem with it we even had to have the heating on at the begining of the trip. Just follow the advice on here and you won't go wrong. Switch of the kettle to
use the microwave etc. do your showering and dishwashing at the facilities block that way you don't have to have the water heater on or put it on gas when you need to use it. I use an electric fry pan its 1500w max, not had an issue using it at all, just
not at the same time as the microwave or the kettle. Its amazing how you get used to it, I've got a small travel hairdrier that I use in the van it is mains 240v but not high powered like the one I use at home, many ladies take their hairdrier to the shower
block with them and do their hair over there.0 -
Just been to Croatia for the 10th year and use sites with 10 amps or above. It is not hard to find sites with 10 amps, no use haveing a £50000 outfit and worrying about which item to have on or off. We also have a second electric lead fitted, so that if we do have to stay on a 6amp site we pay for two plugs and therefor get 12amps.(there is a second ringmain in the van) Sometimes as we are traveling out of season and there are always empty sockets, we pay for two 10amp plugs and have 20 amps supply to the van!!
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We do have a kettle for gas use it when we stop.why use gas when paying for electric?is it just us must be the Yorkshire in us.
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