Barry Lewis [MyVirginKitchen] almost burns down his kitchen...can you guess why?

[Halcyon]

I love Barry's channel, but oh my! Even Big Clive commented.

Barry: Stick to cooking mate. Avoid all electrical gadgets from now on. 

[Brumby]

My very first thought was covered by Big Clive.

I'm surprised he didn't check the voltage on the thing before plugging it in.  The US plug should have been a huge red flag.

[glarsson]

But he said he wished he had payed more attention to electrical stuff in school. If you don't know what to look for you will not find it. Also, he bought an adapter...

[Zbig]

What an utter moron I'll be as politically inappropriate as it gets and I really don't care: I cannot find any bit of respect for an adult male who doesn't realize about voltage differences and uses terms like "power conversion... thing". And I don't care what kind of wizard he could or could not be in the kitchen.

[PA0PBZ]

I agree it's stupid but there is a catch here... they make 'real' 230 to 110 volt converters which almost look the same. It would have melted trying to power that toaster but still:

[Zbig]

I agree it's stupid but there is a catch here... they make 'real' 230 to 110 volt converters which almost look the same. It would have melted trying to power that toaster but still:

Yeah but I think it's perfeclty clear the guy is totally oblivious to the very concept of voltage.  And don't get me started on just standing there, keeping the camera rolling as the toaster emits actual flames and his kitchen fills up with dense smoke

[chriswebb]

Are there no smoke detectors in kitchens in the UK? Unless I missed it.

[Zbig]

He pulled out the batteries as soon as he noticed the smoke. He actually says that in the video's subtitles.

[chriswebb]

He pulled out the batteries as soon as he noticed the smoke. He actually says that in the video's subtitles.

Thanks for that must have missed it.

[glarsson]

And don't get me started on just standing there, keeping the camera rolling as the toaster emits actual flames and his kitchen fills up with dense smoke

But the sticker told him to expect smoke the first time. That's why he tried a second time. :-)

[ConKbot]

Props to the toaster for taking double mains voltage and not failing with gusto.  That being said, for lazy grilled cheese, why a kitchen gadget? A convection toaster oven can handle just about everything toasting and baking related when cooking for one or two.One with a temp probe can even do meat perfect every time.  My favorite kitchen tool to make stuff easy.

[rsjsouza]

The person is really clueless... I used to live in a 220V region and the top thing that we used to check is the voltage.

Despite the grill did not blow up catastrophically, it is so cheap that it does not have a thermal cutoff switch. 

[Mr. Scram]

Who sells new kitchen appliances that aren't suitable for the area you're in? The guy's oblivious, but that's not a very good move either. Selling unsuitable items is just a situation waiting for someone to do this, replace the plug or something similar with equally catastrophic results. There even was French on the box, which might catch a few people out.

[Mr. Scram]

He probably bought it online.

I thought he went to "the shops" to buy it, but reviewing the video again it may just have been the ingredients.

[drussell]

Who sells new kitchen appliances that aren't suitable for the area you're in? The guy's oblivious, but that's not a very good move either. Selling unsuitable items is just a situation waiting for someone to do this, replace the plug or something similar with equally catastrophic results. There even was French on the box, which might catch a few people out.

I was under the assumption that someone had sent it to him to try out or he bought it online.

The cluelessness about using travel adapters and voltage converters seems amazing to me, though.  Heck, my grandmother wouldn't have made that mistake and I don't know that she ever left North America and wasn't exactly a technically savvy lady, but she knew there were different kinds of power in different parts of the world. 

I suppose, though, that today there are so many electronics that don't care about anywhere from 90-250 volts so someone travelling abroad can just use a physical adapter to plug in their cell phone charger or something without actually worrying about the frequency or voltage.   

[Mr. Scram]

I was under the assumption that someone had sent it to him to try out or he bought it online.

The cluelessness about using travel adapters and voltage converters seems amazing to me, though.  Heck, my grandmother wouldn't have made that mistake and I don't know that she ever left North America and wasn't exactly a technically savvy lady, but she knew there were different kinds of power in different parts of the world. 

I suppose, though, that today there are so many electronics that don't care about anywhere from 90-250 volts so someone travelling abroad can just use a physical adapter to plug in their cell phone charger or something without actually worrying about the frequency or voltage.   

I think the latter has contributed to people being less aware of the different voltages out there. People see other people use the same gadgets all over the world.

[drussell]

Maybe he was just not thinking.

Well, he looked at the physical-only adapter he had in his box of adapters and thought, "This doesn't look right," then looked at the ratings where it said 3A maximum, went to the store and bought ANOTHER physical-only adapter instead of any kind of converter and then proceeded full steamsmoke ahead. 

[Mr. Scram]

Well, he looked at the physical-only adapter he had in his box of adapters and thought, "This doesn't look right," then looked at the ratings where it said 3A maximum, went to the store and bought ANOTHER physical-only adapter instead of any kind of converter and then proceeded full steamsmoke ahead. 

You don't know what you don't know. It's not as if people have a feel for what an ampere is either. You need some experience for that. How it relates to voltage is a distant memory to most at best. People here really seem to have a hard time understanding how little most people know about electrics and electronics, but a large part of that is the bias we have here.

[drussell]

Indeed.    If you watch any of that video, just watch the couple minutes starting at 4:07...

https://youtu.be/H66Fbg9nrk4?t=247

You don't know what you don't know. It's not as if people have a feel for what an ampere is either. You need some experience for that. How it relates to voltage is a distant memory to most at best.

Oh, I agree.  Fair enough, but he knew enough to go through the rigamarole of realizing his adapter didn't seem right, then went to the store and bought another wrong adapter. 

[drussell]

My very first thought was covered by Big Clive.

Ah, yes...  I meant to quote that into this thread yesterday when I first saw it.   

bigclivedotcom
The best bit about this video is seeing you plug a 120V appliance into 240V without realising it, and then watching the horror unfold as the grossly overloaded appliance makes loud stressed noises and emits flames. The appliance doesn't just run at twice it's normal power, it's closer to four times the power. Good job. Very entertaining.

Vintage Clive.  Priceless!!   

[amyk]

To add even more confusion, a lot of electronics from China are designed for 220-240V operation yet they also use the North American plug. bigclivedotcom has reviewed quite a bit of those.

https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/China1.html

I'm surprised the toaster caught fire, or it might've just been the bread/oil --- you can see when he preheats it without the bread that the thermostat popped and turned it off like usual, although probably a lot faster than at its rated voltage. All the toasters I've seen are thermally regulated so given a higher line voltage would likely just be done toasting sooner. This, of course, neglects the flammability of the bread and its tendency to char on the outside if heated too quickly.

[Halcyon]

Props to the toaster for taking double mains voltage and not failing with gusto.  That being said, for lazy grilled cheese, why a kitchen gadget? A convection toaster oven can handle just about everything toasting and baking related when cooking for one or two.One with a temp probe can even do meat perfect every time.  My favorite kitchen tool to make stuff easy.

I'd say flames without automatic cut-off is failing in a pretty big way. It's obvious that this device was never intended for 220/240v use, but you would think it would have at least some rudimentary protection against idiots.

But yes, just another, almost useless kitchen gadget for the lazy. I don't even own a regular toaster, if I want toast, a few minutes under the oven grill is fine and toasted sandwiches actually turn out far nicer when done on a frying pan.

[drussell]

Luckily it would only have TRIED to do quadruple power.  The resistance of the heating element wire would have gone up to significantly above the normal 120V operating level from the well above normal temperature. 

Still, the whole idea of a "grilled cheese toaster" is just ridiculous.

[rsjsouza]

Heck, my grandmother wouldn't have made that mistake and I don't know that she ever left North America and wasn't exactly a technically savvy lady, but she knew there were different kinds of power in different parts of the world. 

Maybe he was just not thinking.
My mom, majored in accounting, worked at Chinese government (my hometown's tax dept) as a dull office worker for 35 years, knows not to mix voltage.
Me, a professionally trained power electronics engineer, once plugged an ATX PSU set to 120V input (voltage doubler, not PFC) I'd been using in US to a Chinese outlet -- and a bang swiftly followed.

To me it is a completely different perspective that previous generations had towards this "new technology": my grandparents weren't born with electricity around, thus they were fully educated when this newfangled thing was made available at their houses. Especially my dad's mom was overly cautious before using any appliance.  Also, any appliance or electrical thing-a-ma-jig was horrendously expensive and therefore errors were not tolerated. As for my parents and me (and my kids), this is so ubiquitous that we tend to be forgetful. It doesn't help that we engineers are much more exposed to the process of plugging an ever growing number of artifacts in the wall outlet. 

[station240]

He probably bought it online.

Says in the comments "It was from ebay I think,"

The manufacturer is in the US, and only sell a 120V version.
See manual at https://www.nostalgiaproducts.com/product/tcs2-grilled-cheese-toaster/


Any thoughts on how to get this to work on 240V AC ?
I doubt it's wired as two parallel elements, so re-wiring in series isn't an option.
Options I can think of are:
1) add a diode rated for 6A or more, so the elements get half wave voltage.
2) Buy a second toaster and wire them in series, crazy but would work, if done by someone who knows what they are doing.
3) Buy a thick slice toaster that fits the wire baskets
4) Pillage a 240V toaster to suitable replacement elements. (its a lot of work, I'd do it for him if I was in the UK).