Living in a 220 volt World

Argh! That was my first reaction as I immediately knew the big mistake I had just made. I had just plugged my beautiful new color laser printer into the power socket and it made a giant “pop” sound and smoke came out. Since this was not my first time making this mistake (Yes, you would think I would have learned by now!), I immediately knew I had just plugged a 110 volt item into a 220 outlet and had just burned it to a crisp.  Julie took a look at my frustrated face as she knew what had just happened. 

In a world that is getting smaller by the day, it still baffles me why we have a 220 vs 110 volt world. There is some very interesting history in this regard. As you can see in the map below, actually most of the world is 220 v, and the 110 v people are mostly in the New World with a few exceptions.  Early in the history of electricity use, Thomas Edison championed a 110 v DC (direct current) type of system, but the system that later became standard in the USA was that championed by Nicola Tesla (originally from Serbia) who worked for the Westinghouse Company to use the AC (alternate current) system which was more efficient. Most of Europe was also 110 v early-on, but after World War II, most European countries switched to the 220 v as this is a more efficient system for electricity delivery. Since infrastructure had been so devastated and many people did not own too many electrical devices, it was easy to rebuild with a new system. USA’s infrastructure was largely untouched by the war. It was considered to switch to 220 v but then decided it was too costly to switch this huge country. As a compromise they switched the delivery to the home to be 220 v but then it gets split down to 110 v prior to use inside, except for stoves and electric clothes dryer which are still usually 220 v.  Interesting, eh?

I’m usually pretty careful, and most electronics nowadays accept both 110 and 220 v. However, every now and then some manufacturer still makes a 110 v only item such as this laser printer. (Why?)  Sometimes the artifact in question takes either voltage but you have to manually move a switch in the back of the artifact PRIOR to plugging it. Otherwise, the result is the same “pop” and waste of money. (That is how I burned an HP computer in Bangladesh).

As we traveled to multiple countries, one of the things I have to research ahead of time is not only the 110 vs 220 v issue, but also the myriad of plugs that are used throughout the world, sometimes for rather capricious reasons. You don’t want to get stuck in Australia not using your computer just because you forgot they have such a unique plug.  To make it more complicated, sometimes our embassy housing uses a particular plug that is UK style in countries where they use the continental European style. That was what happened to us in Bangladesh.  Needless to say, we have bought all kinds of plugs to connect our many electric items but we still find ourselves having to buy more when we move to our new home.  Just imagine how many things you have connected to a plug in your house? Now imagine every one of those now will not accept not only your voltage but also your plug.

Just when you thought we were done with the 220 vs 110 and the multiple plug issue, you also need to consider 50 vs 60 Hz frequency! I don’t want to make it too complicated or make this an online electrical engineering class, but it usually does not affect you much except when using certain specific items. For example, I could never get  any electrical timer on the 110 v coffee machine or my 110 v alarm clock to work correctly in Bangladesh even after connecting it to a 220 to 110 transformer. Apparently it has to do with the fact that electricity is 60 Hz frequency in USA, while it is 50 Hz in Bangladesh and many other countries.  It is just easier to buy alarm clocks and coffee makers that are made for 220 v 50 Hz systems.

Electricity is rather stable here in Serbia. However, in Bangladesh we also had a big issue with power outages. We would sometimes lose power 10-15 times/day (no kidding!)  We were lucky that our house had a giant diesel generator, but we still needed APS units to give a back-up power for about 1-2 minutes while the generators kicked-in.  Our house was full of converters, APS units and plug adapters.

Most people only have to deal with one power voltage and one type of plug all of their lives. However, our lives are rather different as we move our household every 2-3 years and travel a lot in the region. As a  cup half-full type of guy, I find these eccentricities of life amusing. Today I did not find it so amusing since it was a costly one after burning my printer. Ask me tomorrow, and I’ll be able to make a joke about how I burned a computer in Bangladesh and a laser printer in Serbia. What will I burn in my next post?