Contents:
There are gadgets you can buy that look like test lights but sense the electric field emitted by the Hot wire. It is also possible to inject a signal into the wire and trace it with a sensitive receiver. However, if you are desperate, here is a quick and easy way that is worth trying (assuming your wiring is unshielded Romex - not BX - and you can power the wire). Everything you need is likely already at your disposal. Get a cheap light dimmer or a fixture with a light dimmer (like that halogen torchier that is now in the attic due to fire safety concerns) and plug it into an outlet on the circuit you want to trace. Set it about half brightness. Now, tune a portable AM radio in between stations. If you position the radio near the wire, you should hear a 120 Hz hum - RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) which is the result of the harmonics of the phase controlled waveform (see the section: "Dimmer switches and light dimmers". Ironically, the cheaper the dimmer, the more likely this will work well since no RFI filtering is built in. I have tried this a bit and it does work though it is somewhat quirky. I do not know how sensitive it is or over how large a circuit it is effective. It is somewhat quirky and even normal power may have enough junk on the waveform to hear it in the radio. However, with a partner to flip the dimmer off and on to correlate its position with what you hear, this may be good enough.
Residential service comes from a centertapped 110-0-110 V transformer on the utility pole. There are 3 wires into your house - 2 Hot or live wires and the Neutral which is the centertap of the transformer. If the connection between the Neutral bus in your service panel and the pole transformer centertap becomes loose and opens or develops a high resistance, then the actual voltage on either of the Hots with respect to the Neutral bus (which is divided among your branch circuits) will depend on the relative loads on either side much in the way of a voltage divider using resistors. Needless to say, this is an undesirable situation. Symptoms include excessive flickering of lights (particularly if they get brighter) when large appliances kick in, light bulbs that seem too bright or too dim or burn out frequently, problems with refrigerators or freezer starting due to low voltage, etc. In the worst case, one set of branch circuits can end up with a voltage close to 220 VAC - on your poor 110 V outlets resulting in the destruction of all sorts of appliances and electronics. The opposite side will see a much reduced voltage which may be just as bad for some devices. It is a simple matter for an electrician to tighten up the connections but this is not for the DIY'er unless you are familiar with electrical wiring and understand the implications of doing anything inside the service panel while it is live!
"I have several outdoor 110V outlets, protected by GFCI breakers. These circuits nearly always trip when there are nearby lightening strikes. I am satisfied that there is no short circuit caused by water as : * A lightning storm without rain will still trip the GFCI. * Water from the sprinklers does not cause a problem. * I can immediately reset the GFCI when it is still raining and it comes back on. The electrical cables buried underground run for about 600 feet. Is GFCI tripping caused by electrical storms normal ? Are my GFCI breakers too sensitive ? Is there any way to modify the circuits to avoid this?" This doesn't surprise me. Long runs of cable will be sensitive to the EM fields created by nearby lightning strikes. Those cables probably have 3 parallel wires: H, N, G. The lightning will induce currents in all three which would normally not be a problem as long as H and N are equal. However, I can see this not being the case since there will be switches in the Hot but not the Neutral so currents could easily unbalance. These are not power surges as such and surge suppressors will probably not help. Since it happens with all of your GFCIs, it is not a case of a defective unit. Perhaps there are less sensitive types but then this would reduce the protection they are designed to provide.
Most likely, moisture/water is getting into some portion of the GFCI's protected wiring (at the GFCI or anywhere downstream) and the GFCI is simply doing its job. You will have to trace the wiring through all junction boxes and outlets to determine where the problem is located. Yes, I know this may not be your idea of fun!
A Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter is supposed to be a valuable safety device. Why not use them everywhere, even on large appliances with 3 wire plugs? 1. A properly grounded 3 prong outlet provides protection for both people and the appliance should a short circuit develop between a live wire and the cabinet. 2. Highly inductive loads like large motors or even fluorescent lamps or fixtures on the same circuit can cause nuisance tripping of GFCIs which needless to say is not desirable for something like a refrigerator.
The following is a reason to use GFCIs on kitchen outlets that may not be obvious: (From: David Buxton (David.Buxton@tek.com)). In addition to the usual explanations dealing with safety around water, another reason why kitchen outlets need a GFCI is the toaster. All too often people stick a butter knife in there to dislodge some bread. If the case was grounded there would be short from the element to the case. So toasters are two wire instead of 3-pronged. So, you must have a GFCI for any outlet that might take on a toaster.
"Our new home has reverse polarity in all of the electrical outlets. The house inspector didn't seem to think this was a major problem, and neither did he think it was worth fixing. Can anyone explain how this might matter for us? The best I understand this is that when something is plugged in, even when it's not turned on, there is still a current going through it--is that true at all, or is that normal? Our biggest concern is our computers, and the possibility that our surge protectors won't be effective. If anyone could clear this up, that would be great." New as in brand new or new for you? If it is a totally new home, the builder should have them fixed and you should not sign off on the house until this is done. While there is no imminent danger, the house inspector was being a bit too casual for my tastes. It is not a big deal as in should stop you from going through with the purchase but it really should be fixed. As far as current present when the appliance is off, this is not quite true. When properly wired, the power switch is the first thing in the circuit so it cuts off power to all other parts of the internal wiring. With the reversal, it is in the return - the rest of the wiring will be live at all times. Except or servicing, this is really not that big a concern and does not represent any additional electricity usage. Normally (I assume these are 3 prong grounded outlets) you have the following: * Hot - the live conductor - the narrow slot. * Neutral - the return for the current used by the device - the wide slot. * Ground (or safety ground) - the U shaped slot. Reverse polarity means that Hot and Neutral are interchanged. (any other variation like an interchange with the ground represents a serious safety hazard and it should be corrected as soon as possible. The outlet should not used until it is). For most appliances and electronics, this does not really matter. By design, it must not represent a safety hazard. However, there can be issues - as you are concerned - with surge suppressors and susceptibility to interference. In some cases, the metal case of a stereo could be coupled to the Neutral by a small capacitor to bypass radio frequency interference. This will be coupled now to Hot instead. While not a safety hazard, you might feel an almost imperceptible tingle touching such a case. Surge suppressors may or may not be affected (to the extent that they are ever effective in any case - unplugging the equipment including modem lines and the like during an electrical storm is really the only sure protection but that is another section). It depends on their design. Some handle the 3 wires in an identical manner and interchanging them makes no difference. Others deal differently with the Hot and Neutral in which case you may lose any protection you would otherwise have. My advice: If you are handy electrically, correct them yourself. If not, get them corrected the next time you have an electrician in for any reason. It is a 5 minute job per outlet unless the wiring is extremely screwed up. Use a properly wired outlet for your computer to be doubly sure. It is not an emergency but I consider proper wiring to be very desirable. Here is another example: "I was checking some outlets in my apartment. As I recall, the narrow prong should be hot, i.e., there should be 120 V between it and the wide prong or the ground prong. The wide prong should be neutral, i.e., it should show no voltage relative to the ground prong. Well, it appears that the Neutral and Hot wires are reversed in some outlets. In others, they are correct." Well, there should be very little voltage although it may not be 0. Reversed polarity outlets are not unusual even in new construction. Reversed H and N is not usually dangerous as appliances must be designed so that no user accessible parts are connected to either H or N - even those with polarized plugs. Think of all the times people use such appliances in old unpolarized outlets or with unpolarized extensions cords. (There are exceptions like electric ranges where there may be no separate safety ground conductor but I assume you are talking about branch circuits, not permanently wired-in appliances.) "In still others, I get some voltage between ground and either the wide or narrow prong. Ack. Should I worry? Should I do more than worry?" You should, of course, measure full line voltage between the H and G. The safety ground, G, does not normally carry any current but is at the same or nearly the same potential as N. The voltage between G and (actual) N if quite low - a couple volts or less - is probably just due to the the voltage drop in the current carrying N wire. Turn off everything on this branch circuit and it should go away. However, there could also be a bad (high resistance connection) somewhere in the N circuit. If the voltage reads high to either H or N - say, 50 volts - and you are measuring with a high impedance multimeter, this is probably just due to an open ground: a three prong outlet was installed without connecting the ground (in violation of Code unless on a GFCI) and this leakage is just due to inductive/capacitive pickup from other wires. Full line voltage on the G conductor relative to an earth ground (like a copper cold water pipe) would represent a serious shock hazard to be corrected as soon as possible - the appliance or outlet should *not* be used until the repair is made. While unlikely, for anyone to screw up this badly, it could happen if someone connected the green or copper wire, or green screw to H instead of G. In any case, it would be a good idea to correct the H-N reversals and determine if the voltage on the G is an actual problem.
These are typically offered your power company: "I have a surge suppressor that was put between my meter and the service panel. It's rented from my power company. The advertised product is part of a 'package' that includes plug in surge suppressors. The package price is $4.95/month. I didn't want the plug in suppressors so they said that it would be $2.75/month. Is this a good deal?" (From: Kirk Kerekes (redgate@oklahoma.net)). The power company just passes on the warranty of the manufacturer, which is, in turn, merely an insurance policy whose premium in included in the normal retail price of the unit. Basically, the power company is taking a product with a wholesale cost of about $30, and "renting" it to consumers for $40-$100 a year. Forever! Nice work if you can get it. Note that most homeowner and similar insurance policies _already_ cover lightning damage, and that the policy from the surge protector is generally written to only apply to losses not already covered by other insurance. As a result, you are paying for insurance that you will likely *never* be able to make a claim against, even if the device is totally ineffective. The simplest whole-house protection is to purchase an Intermatic whole house surge protector ($40 from Home Depot or Lowe's) and install it yourself (or pay an electrician to do so -- maybe 15 minutes of work). Then purchase inexpensive ($10 and under) plug-in surge protectors and surge-protected power strips and use them all over the house at sensitive equipment. Note that surge protectors and surge protected power strips protect the _other_ outlets in the house as well as the ones they contain (because the MOV's in inexpensive surge protectors are simply connected in parallel with the power line), so the more of that that you have plugged in, the more effectively protected your home is. Some power strips need to be turned "on" for the MOV's to be connected to the power lines. You can also buy MOV's and add your own custom protection -- but if you don't already know that, you probably shouldn't be tinkering with such things. Note that you should only purchase surge protectors that contain a monitor LED to tell you if the protector is still functioning -- MOV's deteriorate when zapped by large surges. This is one reason why I recommend the multiple-power-strip distributed-protection approach -- it is doubtful that all of your surge protectors/power strips will get zorched at once.
Note: For an understanding of the AWG numbers, you may want to first see the
section: "American Wire Gauge (AWG) table for annealed copper wire".
A semi-infinite variety of wire and cable is used in modern appliances,
electronics, and construction. Here is a quick summary of the buzz words
so you will have some idea of what your 12 year old is talking about!
* Solid wire: The current carrying conductor is a single solid piece of metal
(usually copper. It may be bare, tinned (solder coated), silver plated, or
something else.
Solid wire may be used for general hookup inside appliances and electronics,
and building (and higher power wiring) but not for cords that need to be
flexible and flexed repeatedly.
* Stranded wire: The current carrying conductor consists of multiple strands
of copper or tinned copper (though other metals may be found in some cases).
The individual strands are NOT insulated from one-another. The wire gauge
is determined by the total cross sectional area (which may be a bit greater
than the specified AWG number due to discrete number of strands). See the
section: "What about stranded wire?".
Stranded wire is used for general hookup, building wiring, etc. It is
easier to position than solid wire (but tends not to stay put) and more
robust when flexed repeatedly. Cordsets always use finely stranded wire
but despite this, may develop problems due to flexing after long use.
* Magnet wire: This is a solid copper (or sometimes aluminum or silver)
conductor insulated with a very thin layer of varnish or high-tech plastic.
This coating must be removed either chemically, by heating in a flame, or
fine sandpaper, before the wire can be connected to anything.
Magnet wire is used where a large number of turns of wire must be packed as
tightly as possible in a limited space - transformers, motors, relays,
solenoids, etc.
The very thin insulation is susceptible to nicks and other damage.
* Litz wire: This is similar to stranded wire EXCEPT that the strands are
individually insulated from each other (like multiple pieces of magnet
wire).
Litz wire is used in high frequency transformers to reduce losses (including
the skin effect which results in current only traveling near the surface
of the wire - using multiple insulated strands increases its effective
surface area).
Like magnet wire, the insulation needs to be removed from all strands before
making connections.
* Tinsel wire: A very thin, metallic conductor is wound around a flexible
cloth or plastic core.
Tinsel wire is found in telephone and headphone cords since it can be made
extremely flexible.
Repair is difficult (but not impossible) since it very fine and the
conductor must be unraveled from the core for soldering. The area of the
repair must be carefully insulated and will be less robust than the rest of
the cord.
* Shielded wire: An insulated central conductor is surrounded by a metal braid
and/or foil shield.
Shielded wire is used for low level audio and video, and other analog or
digital signals where external interference needs to be minimized.
* Coaxial cable: This is similar to shielded wire but may be more robust and
have a specified impedance for transmitting signals over long distances.
* Zip cord: This is 2 or 3 (or sometimes more) conductor cable where the
plastic insulation is scored so that the individual wires can be easily
separated for attachment to the plug or socket.
* 14/2, 12/3, etc.: These are the abbreviations used for building (electrical)
wire like Romex (which is one name brand) and for round or zip-type cordset
wire. The conductor material is usually copper.
Note: Some houses during the '50s and '60s were constructed with aluminum
wiring which has since been found to result in significantly increased risk
of fire and other problems. For more information, see the references listed
in the section: "Safe electrical wiring". However, aluminum wiring is safe
if installed according to very specific guidelines (and is used extensively
in power transmission and distribution - probably for your main connection
to the utility - due to its light weight and low cost).
The first number is the AWG wire gauge.
The second number is the number of insulated conductors (excluding any bare
safety ground if present). For example:
- A 14/2 Romex cable has white and black insulated solid #14 AWG current
carrying conductors and a bare safety ground (some older similar types of
cable had no safety ground, however).
- A 16/3 cordset has white, black and green insulated stranded #16 AWG wires
(or, overseas, blue, brown, and green or green with yellow stripe).
Nearly everyone who has done any sort of wiring probably knows that the AWG or American Wire Gauge number refers to the size of the wire somehow. But how? (From: Frank (fwpe@hotcoco.infi.net)). According to the 'Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers' (Fink and Beaty) the 'gauge' you referenced to is 'American Wire Gauge' or AWG and also known as Brown & Sharp gauge. According to above handbook, the AWG designation corresponds to the number of steps by which the wire is drawn. Say the 18 AWG is smaller than 10 AWG and is therefore drawn more times than the 10 AWG to obtain the smaller cross sectional area. The AWG numbers were not chosen arbitrary but follows a mathematical formulation devised by J. R. Brown in 1857!
Each increase of 3 in the gauge halves the cross sectional area. Each
reduction by 3 doubles it. So, 2 AWG 14 wires is like one AWG 11.
It seems that everyone has their own pet formula for this (though I prefer
to just check the chart, below!).
(From: Tom Bruhns (tomb@lsid.hp.com)).
As I understand it, AWG is defined to be a geometric progression with AWG 0000
defined to be 460 mils diameter and 36 gauge defined to be 5.000 mils diameter.
This leads directly to the formula:
Diameter(mils) = 5 * 92^((36-AWG)/39)
That is, 460 mils is 92 times 5 mils, and the exponent accounts for 39 steps
of AWG number starting at 36 gauge.
(From: David Knaack (dknaack@rdtech.com)).
You can get a fairly accurate wire diameter by using the equation:
Diameter(inches) = 0.3252 * e^(-0.116 * AWG)
where 'e' is the base of the natural logarithms, 2.728182....
I don't know where it came from, but it is handy (more so if you can do natural
base exponentials in your head).
In its simplest form, the cross sectional area is:
A(circular mils) = 2^((50 - AWG) / 3)
(Similar tables exist for other types of wire, e.g., aluminum.) (Table provided by: Peter Boniewicz (peterbon@mail.atr.bydgoszcz.pl)). Wire Table for AWG 0000 to 40, with diam in mils, circular mils, square microinches, ohms per foot, ft per lb, etc. AWG Dia in Circ. Square Ohm per lbs per Feet/ Feet/ Ohms/ gauge mils Mils MicroIn 1000 ft 1000 ft Pound Ohm Pound ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0000 460.0 211600 166200 0.04901 640.5 1.561 20400 0.00007652 000 409.6 167800 131800 0.06180 507.9 1.968 16180 0.0001217 00 364.8 133100 104500 0.07793 402.8 2.482 12830 0.0001935 0 324.9 105500 82890 0.09827 319.5 3.130 10180 0.0003076 1 289.3 83690 65730 0.1239 253.3 3.947 8070 0.0004891 2 257.6 66370 52130 0.1563 200.9 4.977 6400 0.0007778 3 229.4 52640 41340 0.1970 159.3 6.276 5075 0.001237 4 204.3 41740 32780 0.2485 126.4 7.914 4025 0.001966 5 181.9 33100 26000 0.3133 100.2 9.980 3192 0.003127 6 162.0 26250 20620 0.3951 79.46 12.58 2531 0.004972 7 144.3 20820 16350 0.4982 63.02 15.87 2007 0.007905 8 128.5 16510 12970 0.6282 49.98 20.01 1592 0.01257 9 114.4 13090 10280 0.7921 39.63 25.23 1262 0.01999 10 101.9 10380 8155 0.9989 31.43 31.82 1001 0.03178 11 90.74 8234 6467 1.260 24.92 40.12 794 0.05053 12 80.81 6530 5129 1.588 19.77 50.59 629.6 0.08035 13 71.96 5178 4067 2.003 15.68 63.80 499.3 0.1278 14 64.08 4107 3225 2.525 12.43 80.44 396.0 0.2032 15 57.07 3257 2558 3.184 9.858 101.4 314.0 0.3230 16 50.82 2583 2028 4.016 7.818 127.9 249.0 0.5136 17 45.26 2048 1609 5.064 6.200 161.3 197.5 0.8167 18 40.30 1624 1276 6.385 4.917 203.4 156.6 1.299 19 35.89 1288 1012 8.051 3.899 256.5 124.2 2.065 20 31.96 1022 802.3 10.15 3.092 323.4 98.50 3.283 21 28.46 810.1 636.3 12.80 2.452 407.8 78.11 5.221 22 25.35 642.4 504.6 16.14 1.945 514.2 61.95 8.301 23 22.57 509.5 400.2 20.36 1.542 648.4 49.13 13.20 24 20.10 404.0 317.3 25.67 1.223 817.7 38.96 20.99 25 17.90 320.4 251.7 32.37 0.9699 1031.0 30.90 33.37 26 15.94 254.1 199.6 40.81 0.7692 1300 24.50 53.06 27 14.20 201.5 158.3 51.47 0.6100 1639 19.43 84.37 28 12.64 159.8 125.5 64.90 0.4837 2067 15.41 134.2 29 11.26 126.7 99.53 81.83 0.3836 2607 12.22 213.3 30 10.03 100.5 78.94 103.2 0.3042 3287 9.691 339.2 31 8.928 79.70 62.60 130.1 0.2413 4145 7.685 539.3 32 7.950 63.21 49.64 164.1 0.1913 5227 6.095 857.6 33 7.080 50.13 39.37 206.9 0.1517 6591 4.833 1364 34 6.305 39.75 31.22 260.9 0.1203 8310 3.833 2168 35 5.615 31.52 24.76 329.0 0.09542 10480 3.040 3448 36 5.000 25.00 19.64 414.8 0.07568 13210 2.411 5482 37 4.453 19.83 15.57 523.1 0.06001 16660 1.912 8717 38 3.965 15.72 12.35 659.6 0.04759 21010 1.516 13860 39 3.531 12.47 9.793 831.8 0.03774 26500 1.202 22040 40 3.145 9.888 7.766 1049.0 0.02993 33410 0.9534 35040 41 2.808 7.860 6.175 1319 0.02379 42020 0.758 55440 42 2.500 6.235 4.896 1663 0.01887 53000 0.601 88160 43 2.226 4.944 3.883 2098 0.01497 66820 0.476 140160 44 1.982 3.903 3.087 2638 0.01189 84040 0.379 221760 45 1.766 3.117 2.448 3326 0.00943 106000 0.300 352640 46 1.572 2.472 1.841 4196 0.00748 133640 0.238 560640 Ohms per 1000 ft, ft per Ohm, Ohms per lb, all taken at 20 degC (68 degF). Note: Values for AWG #41 to #46 extrapolated from AWG #35 to #40 based on wire gauge formula.
(From: Calvin Henry-Cotnam (cal@cate.ryerson.ca)). In addition to the cross-section area, there are a few other factors. First off, a stranded wire effectively has more surface area than a solid wire of the same gauge, but much of this surface is "inside" the wire. I checked out the label of a spool of #18 stranded wire and found it was comprised of 16 strands of #30 wire. Given the info above that each reduction of 3 in the gauge, then #18 has a cross-section area that is 16 times greater than #30 -- so it *appears* to translate exactly. Looking through a catalog for wire, I found that this more-or-less holds true, though the occasional wire might have an extra strand or two. Here is what I quickly found -- there are many more, but this is a sample:
#32 7 x #40
#30 7 x #38
#28 7 x #36
#26 7 x #34
#24 7 x #32 19 x #36
#22 7 x #30 19 x #34
#20 7 x #28 10 x #30 19 x #32
#18 16 x #30
#16 19 x #29 26 x #30
#14 41 x #30
#12 65 x #30
#10 65 x #28
#8 84 x #27
Editor's note: Not all of these actually apply to small appliances but may be of use nonetheless.
So, where does all the electricity (or money, same thing) go? You could put a watt-hour meter on every appliance in your house but that is probably not needed to estimate the expected electricity usage. Check the nameplate on heating appliances or those with large motors. They will give the wattage. Multiple these by hours used and the result is W-hours (or KW-hours) worst case. Appliances that cycle like refrigerators and space heaters with thermostats will actually use less than this, however. Multiple light bulb wattages by hours used to get the W-hours for them. Things like radios, clocks, small stereos, etc., are insignificant. Add up all the numbers :-). It would be unusual for an appliance to suddenly increase significantly in its use of electricity though this could happen if, for example, the door on a freezer or refrigerator is left ajar or has a deteriorated seal.
When does it make sense to take an appliance or piece of electronic equipment to a country where the electric power and possibly other standards differ? For anything other than a simple heating appliance (see below) that uses a lot of power, my advise would be to sell them and buy new when you get there. For example, to power a microwave oven would require a 2KVA step down (U.S. to Europe) transformer. This would weigh about 50 pounds and likely cost almost as much as a new oven. There are several considerations: 1. AC voltage - in the U.S. this is nominally 115 VAC but in actuality may vary from around 110 to 125 VAC depending on where you are located. Many European countries use 220 VAC while voltages as low as 90 or 100 VAC or as high as 240 VAC (or higher?) are found elsewhere. 2. Power line frequency - in the U.S. this is 60 Hz. The accuracy, particularly over the long term, is excellent (actually, for all intents and purposes, perfect) - better than most quartz clocks. In many foreign countries, 50 Hz power is used. However, the stability of foreign power is a lot less assured. 3. TV standards - The NTSC 525L/60F system is used in the U.S. but other countries use various versions of PAL, SECAM, and even NTSC. PAL with 625L/50F is common in many European countries. 4. FM (and other) radio station channel frequencies and other broadcast parameters differ. 5. Phone line connectors and other aspects of telephone equipment may differ (not to mention reliability in general but that is another issue). 6. Of course, all the plugs are different and every country seems to think that their design is best. For example, going to a country with 220 VAC 50 Hz power from the U.S.: For electronic equipment like CD players and such, you will need a small step down transformer and then the only consideration power-wise is the frequency. In most cases the equipment should be fine - the power transformers will be running a little closer to saturation but it is likely they are designed with enough margin to handle this. Not too much electronic equipment uses the line frequency as a reference for anything anymore (i.e., cassette deck motors are DC). Of course, your line operated clock will run slow, the radio stations are tuned to different frequencies, TV is incompatible, phone equipment may have problems, etc. Some equipment like PCs and monitors may have jumpers or have universal autoselecting power supplies - you would have to check your equipment or with the manufacturer(s). Laptop computer, portable printer, and camcorder AC adapter/chargers are often of this type. They are switching power supplies that will automatically run on anywhere from 90-240 VAC, 50-400 Hz (and probably DC as well). Warning: those inexpensive power converters sold for international travel that weigh almost nothing and claim to handle over a kilowatt are not intended and will not work with (meaning they will damage or destroy) many electronic devices. They use diodes and/or thyristors and do not cut the voltage in half, only the heating effect. The peak voltage may still approach that for 220 VAC resulting in way too much voltage on the input and nasty problems with transformer core saturation. For a waffle iron they may be ok but not a microwave oven or stereo system. I also have serious doubts about their overall long term reliability and fire safety aspects of these inexpensive devices.. For small low power appliances, a compact 50 W transformer will work fine but would be rather inconvenient to move from appliance to appliance or outlet to outlet. Where an AC adapter is used, 220 V versions are probably available to power the appliance directly. As noted, the transformer required for a high power heating appliance is likely to cost more than the appliance so unless one of the inexpensive converters (see above) is used, this may not pay. For additional information, see the document: "International Power and Standards Conversion".Go to [Next] segment
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