Electricians

[Ashcroft]

The day we were heading back to England we found that the plug from our water heater and the wall socket were black. We are back again in a few weeks and obviously need an electrician.
Any recommendations? We're worried we may get bamboozled into buying a new water heater when all we need is a new plug!
We're in the Marbella area and have very limited Spanish.

[spanish_lad]

hmm.. i can recomend the guy i work with, where abouts are you exactly, as he is based in coin.

pm me if you want.

[jazper]

Sounds like a loose connection which has been arcing for some time. You could change it yourself couldn't you?

[neilinalcaucin]

Hi - heres the number of Ian, lives your way i think and i used him last weekend-
a ex pat who was an electrical engineer etc - good value and appears reliable - got me me early !! 606507978

[chrisuk]

Dont get me on Spainsh electrics, where I was staying up in the never regions of san marcos I was helping with a house there and so it was decided to change a light switch to a plug point, easy done and set about it, some 15 min later we test it only to find that we are only getting 110+ volts through but the house is 220volts, after a serious round of coffee I tackled and investigted the little junction box high above the arch way, opned it up to be greeted with a ton of blue and black wires twisted here and everywhere.
After switching off the main switch I jumped into it and then it dawned on me that all the wiring was joined simply by twisting various ends together and then insulating them, traced which was where and inserted connector blocks on most of the twisted joined up wires, problem solved and I hope it helps someone one day if they have a supply problem, check those little boxses, Im also more than happy to assist anyone if so need be as a problem solever I am, I live for it but dont give me a jigsaw puzzle.
Back on line via Wi Fi and its free, now on the coast near Velez Malaga and loving it, dogs more so than I by the looks of things

Cheers

[Chrissi]

When i moved into my villa here I had a complete rewire including new 3 phase mains connection and box in the street. It was pointed out to me that my old box was removed but the cables (also 3 phase) where just taped up and the hole filled in. I was wondering if anyone know any dodgy electricians that wouldn't mind wiring up some appliances ie hob, pool heater and sauna (as these drain most of my electricity) bypassing the meter? A nice backhander is awaiting.

[colm o'shea]

be very careful when tampering with a three phase supply. Firstly, most houses would only require a single phase supply @ 230/240v. A 3 phase supply may be needed for a larger property say with air conditioning and large electrical load, but you have to ensure that you have adequate seperation of your 3 phase circuits (normally red/yellow/blue in UK at least) keep your individual phases in a designated areas so as not to mix up providing 2 phases in the same room if at all possible. this is necessary as a 3 phase supply gives 415v and unless you know what you are doing, could be lethal, take care !!

[chrisuk]

Are you sure you have 3 phase connected....I kind of doubt it unless you live in a castle somewhere in the mountains.....

[Beachcomber]

If you lived in a castle in the mountains you would be lucky to have any electricity at all!

A three phase supply is normal in larger properties as the maximum power that can be contracted for single phase is 8kW. If you have air-conditioning, electric water heaters and electric cooker and hob you need considerably more than that.

Unfortunately the colour coding for electricity cable in Spain is not standard. In my case I have three phase sheathed cables which are black/brown/black and blue for neutral but this can vary.

I was in a friend's house the other day where a single phase appliance was connected with green/yellow earth cable for both phase and neutral!

I was surprised than even a Spaniard would connect something up in this way until I was told that the installation was actually carried out by an English 'electrician'.