Plugged In

When using electrical appliances in other countries, you have to be aware of the type of voltage and the type of plug.  While there are many different types of plugs in the world, there are only two basic standards of voltage: 110V applies to the range of 100V to 160V, and 220V applies to the range of 200V to 260V.  The majority of appliances sold in the States are labeled 110V only, which is the standard for the country.  However, some things are made dual voltage which are labeled 110V/220V.

Using an appliance that is a different voltage without converting it properly will not allow it to work the way it should.  For example, in high school I went on a school trip to Spain.  A girl in our group made this mistake and her curling iron got so hot that it burned her bangs off.  I can still picture her holding out her iron with her bangs attached to it while touching the short hairs left on her head in horror!

The plugs here in Korea of course look different than American ones and the voltage here is 220V.  While the housing on-base actually has "regular American" plugs and voltage, we are living off-base which means we have to adapt to the Korean versions.

Unpacking our electrical appliances, we found only a handful that are dual voltage - my Canon camera battery chargers, everything by Apple (computer, ipods, etc), and my travel flat iron.  These dual-voltage things are easy to use because we only need an adapter (something that simply changes the shape of the plug) in order to use them.

American to European Schuko Outlet Plug Adapter

The rest of the electrical appliances that we brought are 110V and require a converter box in order to be used.  A few of these boxes came with the apartment but we had to buy a few more.  The box plugs into the wall and converts the power down from 220 to 110 so that the appliances plugged into the box work correctly.  We have converters for the things we use most often (TV, microwave, toaster, etc) but there are a few things (lamps and alarm clocks) that we won't bother using while we're here.

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"I want to get a job as someone who names appliances.  Toaster, sweeper, blender... all you do is say what it does and add 'er' to the end. Hey, what does that do? It keeps stuff fresh. Well then, that's a Fresher... I'm going on break."
-Mitch Hedberg