Electric sockets in Spain

[McJ]

Hi,l ap
I moved to Spain and I'm really confused of electric sockets in my flat. There are these sockets:

Any Type C,E,F plugs can be plugged into these, but they are not grounded, which causes trouble with some of my appliances (for example my laptop with metal casing has strange static feel when touched and I tested that it's OK when plugged to grounded type F plug). The question is - what is the type of the socket on the picture? I could not find it anywhere, it resembles the swiss SEV-1011 and brasilian IEC 60906-1. And is there some kind of adaptor to type E or F socket?

Thanks

 

[mayfair]

BJC do a direct replacement that fits the odd size back box and makes it look a lot nicer. where you at can maybe recomend a supplier?

 

[McJ]

I'm in Valencia, but still I would prefer to have an adaptor, because I'm just a student sharing the room with others and staying only for 6 months.

 

[mayfair]

You can buy a plug to fit that socket, the middle offset hole will be your earth live is normally the top one. look for a oldish looking hardware (fereteria)shop they will have a plug to fit then just wire that to a modern extension lead so you can just plug in without altering your existing leads. Enjoy Valencia its a great city we live near Alicante.

 

[McJ]

Hi, I tried to look for the plug in several fereterias, but it seems to be really old and some vendors don't even believed me that this is used in Spain. So I decided to change the socket myself. However, these sockets have fuse in them and I am not sure if I can put there a socket without a fuse.

Another problem is that the socket I bought is a little bit shorter than the original one - each of the screws is around 0.5cm aside. I can try to return that socket and buy another one, but do I even have chance to buy good socket that would fit this atypical dimensions. BTW. the original socket is not exactly that one on the picture - mine does not have a switch, so it's not that wide.

Thanks a lot for dealing with my problem,
McJ

 

[McJ]

So I finally solved the problem with a quick and dirty solution. The bought socket went back to the shop and I bought a screw instead. I put that screw into the grounding hole of the socket, so the screw touches both ground in the socket and ground metal part in the plug of my extension lead. So it's very dirty solution, but I hope that for ground it is OK. And the potential on the case of my laptop is gone.

 

[barnzi]

If it's a Type-J, Farnell (and probably others) do an adapter to side earth contact connectors: STEFFEN|149571.|ADAPTOR, SWISS-GERMAN | Farnell United Kingdom

My hunch is that it's an old-fangled Tripoliki socket which was the Greek standard until about 140AD.

 

[mayfair]

Best place for that is in the bin.....Sorry

If it's a Type-J, Farnell (and probably others) do an adapter to side earth contact connectors: STEFFEN|149571.|ADAPTOR, SWISS-GERMAN | Farnell United Kingdom

My hunch is that it's an old-fangled Tripoliki socket which was the Greek standard until about 140AD.

 

[barnzi]

I'm not exactly a fan of travel adapters myself. In fact, I usually travel with a fused 13A four way trailing socket with a pan-European Shucko plug on it. However, it's got to be better than using a screw to make the earth connection.