Ok, back from my week in Greece. Sunburnt, only with a slight heartache, not such a bad hangover as my former classmates had.
Parts of the wiring looked quite decent (PVC flex conduit, blue, black and yellow/green wires, Romex, lots of junction boxes to avoid bends and joints in outlet boxes,...). Outdoor wiring tends to be rather sloppy. Meters are in standardized weatherproof enclosures on the facades. Service drops can look quite funny, I once saw a nicely sloped piece of Quadruplex hanging from the pole, secured with a few leftovers of wire to the balcony rail. Wiring to outbuildings is usually either simple PVC flex conduit or if overhead a simple extension cord strung from tree to tree or across the street or whereever. Switches look British, lamps were both ES and bayonet cap. No ground at switches and light fixtures. Receptacles Schuko and at our hotel also... SWISS! I don't have the slightest idea why, but most rooms had both Schuko and Swiss receptacles. Panels seem to be 3phase with 3 Diazed III fuses at the bottom, a 30mA main RCD and single pole as well as some double pole breakers. All panels and components I've seen are obviously direct importsm from Germany, usually Siemens brand, VDE mark and labeled in German. Phones were 1960ies vintage Siemens phones from the German Post, either hardwired or with a plug that looks like a miniature Euro plug (about half the pin spacing, with split pins). Strip connectors are used as well as wirenuts.

I've always associated heartache with girls and hangover with alcohol

Well, in this case it usually went hand in hand. I agree that the senetence is a bit unclear, but after a week of more or less constant party thinking is set to "low". What I wanted to say was: I do have a heartache, but I don't have a hangover anywhere as bad as some of the guys had there (one girl woke up somewhere in the middle of nowhwere after a party and still can't remember what she did that night. She was last seen with a good-looking greek...).

You want us to believe what you write after one week of partying? No wonder you are seeing swiss sockets...

Nah, seriously now: I did a websearch for Greek suppliers of electrical supplies when you asked about Greek plugs, and came up with only German stuff. At the time I attributed it to chance and assumed that other suppliers just weren't on the web. But now it appears it was representive of the actual situation.

The thing is that I've done similar searches in Russian and some other Eastern European languages, and came up with only German and sometimes Scandinavian supplies. If accurate, it means that German supplies have become the norm for eastern and southeastern Europe. Boring!

Maybe the hotel gets a lot of Swiss clientele or was built by the Swiss? What's the name of the joint? Maybe we can find some information on the owners over the web (especially if it's one of those chains).

I was always under the impression that Greece used Schuko plugs (from all the stuff one of my friends has brought back -- even a socket-strip)

Hangover?

Pshaw!!

Dude, if you're gonna drink, you gotta learn to drink until you feel comfortably buzzed and like you're about to fall asleep....and then NO MORE!

Go look for a comfortable chair in a corner (preferably in your own room) and reeellaaaax.

Also start drinking copious amounts of water and fruit juice (if available) to flush the alcohol from your system and to avoid dehydration. That's the key.

Those people who drink until they're paying homage to the porcelain god are fools.

The next day....just keep drinking lots and lots of water and fruit juices.

Two weeks ago some friends and I decided to get a little "happy" with some bottles of wine on Saturday and the following Sunday I was fine (no headaches, etc.).

As for the relationship between women and drinking.....well I can't help you there.

Any idea of how dominant the Schuko is? I'm thinking of putting the other socket types in brackets in the database.

A little too much of the giggle-water, eh? Isn't it amazing how a substance with just a certain arrangement of atoms can have such an effect?

Any idea what sort of grounding methods are employed in Greece? With a main RCD, perhaps TT is common.

I never really had a hangover, I was jsut dead tired until about 1pm. Then I started slowly moving towards the beach and relaxed for several hours. At 10pm or so the party started again.
Anyway, back to the electrical stuff. I never saw Swiss receptacles anywhere but in our hotel, all other places had Schuko receptacles, the common style, secured to the box with claws (one in our room came loose, so i had the opportunity of taking a look inside the box). The switches absoilutely looked like the pictures of UK switches posted here, the switches consisting of only one single piece, not guts and face plate, directly screwed to the box with 2 screws on the sides. Really new switches looked more continental.
First thing I noticed upon enetering our room was: Ok, they got Schuko receptacles. Then a second look, this time at the 2 receptacles next to the beds: Whadda heck is _that_? SWISS receptacles???????
Schuko is definitely dominant. The ferry we were travelling on had NEMA 5-15 receptacles.
We were staying at a small hotel run by a greek named Spiros something, the name of the hotel was Akrogiali o Spiros, Antiparos.
Overgead distribution was always 5 wire, 3 phases, neutral and street lighting. The entire village was fed by a few large pole-mount transformers that looked European style. Brownouts (flickering lights) were rather common.
Once I had the chance of seeing a building under construction where i got a good look at the wiring. Standard PVC flex conduit, only black and blue to lamps, no ground, the yellow-green wire of NYIF (flat zip cord style NM cable once commonly used in Austria and Germany but quickly disappearing) often abused as 3rd conductor for a ceiling fan/light combo. At switches all wires are black, no idea how they want to identify common and travelers at 3way switches but I've definitely seen 3 black wires at switch boxes.
No idea about the earthing arrangements.
I guess you can definitely put French and BS plugs into brackets. Maybe some older houses still have them.

C-H,
Just a note for your site:

You should specify on your site that while BS546 is recognised in the UK and Ireland that it normally has non-standard uses. I have come across a few incidents where US tourists managed to plug a laptop into a BS546 2amp lighting socket (which was dimmer controlled!!!!)

BS546 15amp is sometimes used on trains here in Ireland carrying some weird DC voltage used to heat catering trollies. Again, I've heard stories of tourists armed with multiple adaptors using these sockets to charge a laptop!!!

The main use of the system is in lighting, particularly theatres, although it's being gradually replaced by the much more mechanically robust blue ceeform plugs.

BS546 is pretty rare in normal domestic use and practically unheard of in hotels and commercial premisis. Even in houses with old wiring the BS546 recepticals have usually been replaced by BS1363 versions as round pin plugs can be hard to come by.



[This message has been edited by djk (edited 07-02-2003).]

Agreed. BS546 outlets here were still around in quite large numbers in the 1970s in properties which had not been rewired for some time, but these days it's rare to see them except in "special" circumstances.

The only exception is the two-pin 5-amp outlet used for shavers.

Ok, the plugs in Greece are now C and F with E and D in brackets.

And I've added a comment to the entries for UK and Ireland.

I had to change field type in the database to allow the longer comment. Believe it or not, it worked without any dataloss. Even my script creating the webpage accepted it. One of those rare occasions when something computer related works the first time...

A note on ferries and trains.

These are traded around the world, back and forth. Even subway trains are sold this way. Usually, the ferry or trains is repainted and given a new name/designation. E.g. the Greek archieplago has become a new home to old ferries from all over the world.

Therefore, one should expect just about anything when it comes to electricity and sockets on trains and boats.

Ranger,
What voltage do they use in Greece?.

I think you'll find its 220/380V. As a lot of Greece comprises numerous small islands, though, I suppose it's just possible that there might still be one or other systems about.

Boats do indeed have a variety of sockets. I remember seeing one of the fleet owned by Irish Ferries which was equipped with Schuko throughout.

Don't forget that like aircraft, the power on boats is often 400Hz instead of 50Hz.

Paul,
Thanks mate!,
Is that a fact, being a Helicopter Pilot, myself, the CAA over here are a bit stand- offish about us even doing an oil-change on a H/Copter.
You have to have CAA Quals to do anything remotely connected with the engine.
Makes sense, though a Helicopter will fall out of the sky like a brick, if the engine fails!.

If I remember correctly, the Swedish Gripen fighter jet has a 115V 400Hz system. Struck me as a bit odd, but I suppose it is some kind of aircraft standard.

(In a previous workplace I had a binder with drawings and technical specifications for the plane, but they don't let you take it home... )

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 07-04-2003).]

Either 220/380 or 230/400. The transformers I saw looked fairly modern, so it could quite well be 230.
One boat I was traveling on had waterproof Schuko outlets labeled "220V". However, the party guys ran their sound equipment off a portable generator I think. They brought that thing from Austria in their car! We used it on a few occasions when we had beach parties at very remote locations.
My Mom says they already had 220V in Greece when she went there in 1971, only ungrounded (C) sockets back then. Travel guide from 1978 states voltage should be 220V everywhere but 110V might be encountered in very remote places that generate their own power.
All houses I saw had a 3ph feed.
Our hotel definitely had a nice way to wire the air condition. It was obviously added after the hotel was built, so they put a wall-mount unit above every window. Then they ran a long piece of 3x2.5mm2 flex stapled to the walls all across the room and plugged it into a 3way adaptor next to the door. In our room the flex wasn't long enough, so they just twisted and taped 2 pieces together.
Guess it was a pretty hot summer even for that island 'cause the streets were literally paved with empty boxes of Panasonic wall-mount AC units.