UK appliance in Italy / fuses

[Tcd212121]

Hi - we have recently moved to Italy and brought most of our UK appliances with us. After blowing a couple of UK-European adapters on the washing machine I realised they were most likely rated too low at 7.5A - on the second occasion one of the pins even managed to fuse itself to the connection inside the Italian extension lead! I'm surprised the kettle hasn't gone yet too... The larger adapter (and the only one I had) that I replaced with and what I believe is 10/16A has gone today also on a rare 90 degC wash.

As it is extremely difficult to find any adapters with a high enough rating in the UK (if anyone knows where to find these online I'd love to know!), let alone in Italy, I was going to re-plug a UK extension lead with a large Italian 3-pin plug so I can at least retain the fuses on the UK appliances (washing machine and dish washer). Obviously the extension lead will now be un-fused with this setup.

To clarify, the end result will be a UK extension lead refitted with an Italian 3-pin plug and straight into the wall socket, with two appliances using their original fused UK plugs fitted into this.

Any advice here would be much appreciated! Is this safe? What, if any, are the pitfalls and anything else I need to consider? My electrical theory is not great!

Many thanks!

 

[Nozzle]

Why not fit Italian plugs to your UK appliances? This negates the need to mess about with extension leads - the extension lead itself can be a cause for concern particularly the current capability of the cable that is then common to both appliances. The same applies to your adaptor block - which you have seen suffer. When changing fuses, remember the fuses protect the CABLE not the appliance or people. So size the fuse to match the current carriying capability of the cable, or "smaller" - never "bigger".

Nozzle

 

[winston1]

You don't need to "retain the fuses" as the circuit will be protected at the CU. As Italian plugs are not polarised any adapter you use will have a 50% chance of the fuse ending up in the neutral which is more dangerous than not having one.
As Nozzle says fit Italian plugs to your appliances. They are probably cheaper than adapters anyway.