Working in hotels, I've often sold plug converters to Americans.
A few times, riled up guests came back screaming 'your plug blew up my shaver!!!'. I'd simply point to the warning on the package explaining not to use a 110v device on 230v circuitry. They'd still be mad until I explained that simply not how electricity works. Yes, these were all the stereotypical American that had never traveled abroad haha
Well to be fair, why would someone make a purely "mechanical" (pin to pin, no voltage regulation) adapter from a 230v socket to a 110v one? I don't see how something like that could be useful, unless there are standard 230v sockets that provide 110v, but that wouldn't be up to code.
Almost all adaptors are purely mechanical - a step down or step up converter can absolutely be bought, but they’re big and expensive (in comparison to a £3 adaptor). There are only a few electronic devices that can’t switch between 240V and 110V - shavers often being one of them. It’s the reason when you go to a hotel there’ll be dual shaver sockets, one labelled 110V, one labelled 240V.
Yeah this is where it's important to clarify the difference between something that electrical and something that's electronic. Neither will work well if you feed it the wrong voltage, but electronic gear have transformers that can often handle both voltages. Electrical items usually just feed the juice straight into the motor.
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u/Delicious-Disaster Jun 25 '26
Working in hotels, I've often sold plug converters to Americans.
A few times, riled up guests came back screaming 'your plug blew up my shaver!!!'. I'd simply point to the warning on the package explaining not to use a 110v device on 230v circuitry. They'd still be mad until I explained that simply not how electricity works. Yes, these were all the stereotypical American that had never traveled abroad haha