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If you are moving to Cyprus to live permanently, you may not want to buy all new household electrical products for your new home, instead preferring to bring some of your existing ones with you. One of the questions often asked is ''What about our existing electrical products - will they work in Cyprus?''.
Generally the answer is yes, most UK bought electrical items will work the same in Cyprus. The electricity voltage is 240 volts, a.c. 50Hz, the same as in the UK. Fitted sockets are usually the same 3 square pin type, 13 amp. However some electrical goods will come ready fitted with a two pin round plug, but this is not a problem as you can easily buy an adaptor at low cost, Just ask in your nearest electical shop.
TV's and videos need to be modified (chipped) if they are from the UK. It is a simple procedure, with a small device being fitted into them, and not too costly, however you will need to find a shop near to you that can do this for you, otherwise you will probably get no audio through your TV or video or DVD player, which is why many prefer to buy these products new in Cyprus. Also, Cyprus will switch to digital tv in line with the rest of Europe, and analogue tv will be cut off. This means that to be able to view local tv everyone will need to buy an MPEG4 set-top box to receive digital transmission. Cyprus analogue tv will be switched off in phases commencing from the second quarter of 2010. We will update our news section with announcements. The official completion date is July 2011. We hope to bring you the best offers on the set-top boxes so check back here when the change-over commences.
You will need to decide for yourself if it is worth the shipping expense of bringing your existing electrical items with you, remembering that if they are fairly old, they may soon die out anyway. Some people prefer to have their old existing items around them in their new home, whilst others prefer to have everything new to compliment their new home.
If you choose to buy new electrical products, there are many small and large electrical goods shops throughout Cyprus, as well as online electrical goods shops. Many stock everything from wide screen TV's to dish washers, fridge freezers, microwave ovens to juicers. Whatever you want you will likely not have to go too far to find it. Most leading brand names are stocked, with the latest in technology. Guarantee periods on products are much the same as the UK, however in the event that something may go wrong, it is traditional for most electrical shops to repair or replace your product, refunds are very rarely given.
You should not find much problem with language barriers when shopping for electrical goods. Most of the products are labeled in Greek and English, and most shop staff will be happy to help you in fluent English. Larger / heavier items can be delivered to your home by the shop that you purchase from, however there may be a small extra cost for this.
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