BootsnAll's Travel Community

So my friend Jessica went to France and I lent her my power converter thing with all of the different plugs. When she was in Paris, she plugged in her curling iron (and I'm assuming she plugged it in with the right part) and when she went to use it, the curling iron somehow MELTED into itself. She had to throw her curling iron away (the metal melted and wouldn't reopen) but still has my power converter stuff....

So do you think I should just chuck it?

the plug converters only convert the plug type - from the flat US pins to the round european pins. It does NOT convert the voltage. the US is on 110 volts, and europe is on 220 volts. Thus, the double voltage in europe is what melted the curling iron, not the plug converter. The converter is most likely fine.

You can only plug things from the US into european power that are dual voltage. Typically laptops, digital cameras, and most things with a little box in the power line. Look on the back of anything electrical, it'll tell you what voltage it can accept. It'll say "110 - 220 volts" if it's dual voltage.

Curling irons, hair dryers, blenders, toasters, (basically anything that gets hot or has a motor) are never dual voltage.

Nor can you use US clocks on european power, they run slow because the power is at 50Hz instead of 60Hz.

Must admit--actually I brought my curling iron on my last trip to London as I had a wedding and wanted to look lovely. The converter was fine.

MINE didn't melt!

And my hair looked nice!

Some hair care stuff (dryers, curling irons, etc) are now (and have been for awhile) made to run on either voltage. Check before you buy since not ALL are this way. Usually it will say blatantly on the box.
Steve doesn't know what he's talking about.

obviously i'm not up to date on modern hair care implements. this is probably a good thing.

thanks for the lesson.