Watts That You Say?

One of the fun things about moving between cities in Brazil is that there is no national standard for electricity. Some might say that there are no standards at all, but I am sure that somewhere, on some shelf, in someone's office, some standards do exist. But between cities, there is no rhyme or reason as to electrical standards. São Paulo is 110 volts all the way; Recife is 220; and just to make things even more fun, Brasilia is a mixture of 110 and 220. Of course, 120 and 127 are also common finds.

Prior to leaving São Paulo, I checked with the Consulate to see which appliances I should or should not be taking with me to Recife. The advice was that all large appliances which are constantly working, or require large volumes of power, should be left behind, while all small appliances which could easily be plugged into a transformer should accompany me since it would be cheaper to buy transformers than it would to buy all new appliances. And so we did.

Well, as we slowly settled into the new apartment in Recife, we decided that it was time to start putting some of our small appliances to use, notably the coffee maker, the sound system and a table fan [boy, can it get hot here!]. Off to the hardware store we went, only to discover that transformers a) range from a potency of 30 watts to 1500 watts; and b) aren't actually all that cheap. Having no idea about our actual wattage needs, we checked a few in-store appliances for comparison and eventually ended up buying two transformers; one for up to 200 watts and the other for 1020. Back at home we were amazed to discover our wattage needs:

10. Juicer: 25 watts
9. 5-CD Sound System: 77 watts
8. Table Fan: 80 watts
7. Sewing Machine: 80 watts + 15 watts for the light
6. Blender: 350 watts
5. Cuisinart & Blender combination: 500 watts
4. 2-Slice Toaster: 800 watts
3. Coffee Maker: 1000 watts
2. Vacuum Cleaner: 1300 watts

... and our number one wattage need – clocking in at 1350 watts – was none other that the ...

1. Walita Iron

Who knew that the iron was even more powerful than the vacuum cleaner? And that the coffee maker was as powerful as the juicer, the sound system, the sewing machine, the blender and six table fans combined?

After spending more than a week running around the apartment, moving the transformers from one room to another, from one appliance to another, and considering the fact that we couldn't listen to music if we wanted to sew, or turn the fan on while listening to music, we decided that maybe we could splurge and buy a few extra transformers. Well, back at the hardware store, the choice wattages were missing! They had lots available in the 30-40 watt range as well as in the 1020+ range. Nothing in the 100-200 range caught our eyes. So no more transformers for us! However, after thinking about it, we decided that in order to make our lives easier and to avoid possible accidents of forgetfulness, we should strike out and buy a new iron. Gasp! Yes! Well, considering that a 1500 watt transformer is actually more expensive than a new iron, it all seemed to make sense. Plus, it's one less transformer to lug around from room to room. Spiffy ironed clothes to follow soon!