EHU - please explain to a camping --idiot-- novice...

[Kingsroadie]

So... I have no idea if we will do the EHU thing but could someone pls explain how it works - can you get adaptor sort of things to make normal household appliances work? Or can you only use special camping ones?

Indulge me please - I don't have a clue!

So apparently strike outs don't work in titles... am a twat.

lol, you probably wou;dn't take normal household appliances, but basically you just get a lead with a plug on the end so you can plug things in

i don't know what though, because i've never used one

You need a thing like this - the blue three-pin plug goes into the electric outlet on the pitch. It's waterproof, that's a really important thing! You can then plug normal plugs in to the other end. They always seem really expensive, but don't go for Ebay cheapies, they won't be safe.

As to special camping stuff - I don't think there's a reason why you can't use normal stuff, except for size, plus I think campsite EHUs will trip if you overload them (well, any electric outlet will, but campsite ones don't have that much capacity).

Thanks both!

Don't - I have heard talk of TVs and DVD players etc (!) which is why I was confused re using normal appliances etc. And was wondering about kettles etc.

Yes if we choose to get one would def buy a good quality waterproof one - am distrustful of ebay for lots of things, especially when safety is an issue. Maybe I need to find something with note of how much capacity a campsite EHU will have.

We have a kettle , heater , elec cool box and sometimes slow cooker plugged into ours. Also use it for charging phones , ds etc
Def get one from a good camping shop , have seen some very dodgy looking hook ups at some sites

You just have to be careful not to use too many appliances at once, eg you can't usually boil a kettle and have a fan heater on at the same time, or a hairdryer as it may overload the bollard.

We take an electric multicooker, an electric coolbox, a kettle, various chargers for phones, etc, radio, heater if needed and haven't had any trouble apart from in France once I, by mistake, put the multicooker and the kettle on at the same time. In France the amps are much lower (often 6) whereas in the UK it's often 16 amp.

All you need to know about EHUs

This post tells you everything you need to know - the emphasis is on safety and buying a decent EHU with built-in circuit breaker.

We bought the Towsure one (£29.50) for our camp with friends last weekend - it comes with a storage bag
www.towsure.com/product/Camping_Site_Mains_Supply_Unit_3_Outlet

Thanks everyone! Will have a read and make sure we buy a good one (if we go down that route - which I think we might - mainly for laptop dvd capabilities for rainy days with toddler!