110 vs 220

So we are adapting to Germany. They drive on the same side of the road as we do, a lot of the words are very similar, there are shopping malls and grocery stores and big electronics stores.

But since there is a difference in power we left all our kitchen appliances at home. We put some of these items on our list of things that would be nice but not necessary list: microwave, vacuum sweeper, blender, griddle crock pot and a mixer. In the first month we managed to find at reasonable prices all these in the 220 volt version except the crock pot. I am sure we will be able to find a 220V crock pot somewhere, but so far have not been successful in finding one.

We could have brought one from home or picked one up really cheap from the Patch Thrift store, but then we would have to use a transformer to convert the power from 220V to 110 and we would be doubling up on the power required to cook in the crock pot all day. Not very efficient so I will wait until I find one.

220V things are easy to spot, they have a different type plug than we are used to from home. On post they sell both 110 and 220 gadgets so we have to watch very closely when buying things from the PX/BX. And who knew that light bulbs came in different voltages? I bought bulbs from the PX/BX and put them in a lamp at home. About 30 minutes later the bulb popped and it threw the breaker, sure enough they were 100V bulbs! So now we look closely at light bulbs to make sure we get the 220V ones!

The good thing about all this is that most new Electronics (PC, laptop, TV, Ipod, Iphones...) are 110-240 compatible; and we knew this ahead of time so brought some of this stuff with us (thankfully because these are more expensive than kitchen appliances)! But the bad news is all these new appliances will have to remain here in Germany as we wont be able to use them back in the states without a power converter! So we will thrift shop them or give them away just before we leave (just the way they do things over here).


UPDATE: 3-17-2010 I found a crockpot at the PX and brought it home ! time to pull out all the crockpot recipes~