Voltage converter for desktop fan? Continuous use?

I am traveling to the Czech Republic with a group of people, and one
of them wants to take along a desktop fan for nighttime use, since
there will be no air conditioning in the place we are staying.

The problem is, all of the voltage converters you can get in the
stores say "Not for continuous use" and the fan might be running all
night. What is the reason they are not for continuous use? Is it that
the converter itself can't stand up to the usage, or that the power it
provides isn't clean enough, and the device may not survive well?

Thanks!

Following up to :

I am traveling to the Czech Republic with a group of people, and one
of them wants to take along a desktop fan for nighttime use, since
there will be no air conditioning in the place we are staying.

Firstly you might not actually /need/ air conditioning.
Secondly how much are you expecting to pay for a converter?
Thirdly why not buy a fan when you get here?

The problem is, all of the voltage converters you can get in the
stores say "Not for continuous use" and the fan might be running all
night. What is the reason they are not for continuous use? Is it that
the converter itself can't stand up to the usage, or that the power it
provides isn't clean enough, and the device may not survive well?

If a converter can't provide "clean" enough power for a cheap electric fan,
then I'd throw it away.
--
Tim C.

I am traveling to the Czech Republic with a group of people, and one
of them wants to take along a desktop fan for nighttime use, since
there will be no air conditioning in the place we are staying.

Just tell this person they're being a wimp. I was in Prague on
its hottest day of the 20th century and it didn't occur to me
for a moment that I'd need air conditioning to put up with it.


The problem is, all of the voltage converters you can get in the
stores say "Not for continuous use" and the fan might be running all
night. What is the reason they are not for continuous use? Is it that
the converter itself can't stand up to the usage, or that the power it
provides isn't clean enough, and the device may not survive well?

Mains will be 50Hz. Your US device will be designed for 60Hz. When
the load is a motor, that matters. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impedance_matching

for some of the theory. A simple converter will catch fire since the
untransmitted energy has to go somewhere. Anything that could cope
with the frequency difference - doing two-frequency impedance matching -
will be heavier than the fan and several times more expensive.

If you expect the rest of the planet to waste energy for you on an
American scale for chicken**** applications like air conditioning,
just stay at home.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

On Jun 6, 7:44 am, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote:
I am traveling to the Czech Republic with a group of people, and one
of them wants to take along a desktop fan for nighttime use, since
there will be no air conditioning in the place we are staying.

Just tell this person they're being a wimp. I was in Prague on
its hottest day of the 20th century and it didn't occur to me
for a moment that I'd need air conditioning to put up with it.

The problem is, all of the voltage converters you can get in the
stores say "Not for continuous use" and the fan might be running all
night. What is the reason they are not for continuous use? Is it that
the converter itself can't stand up to the usage, or that the power it
provides isn't clean enough, and the device may not survive well?

Mains will be 50Hz. Your US device will be designed for 60Hz. When
the load is a motor, that matters. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impedance_matching

for some of the theory. A simple converter will catch fire since the
untransmitted energy has to go somewhere. Anything that could cope
with the frequency difference - doing two-frequency impedance matching -
will be heavier than the fan and several times more expensive.

If you expect the rest of the planet to waste energy for you on an
American scale for chicken**** applications like air conditioning,
just stay at home.


Perhaps this person has a medical condition? Too quick for judgement
aren't we?




============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

PeterL wrote:

On Jun 6, 7:44 am, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote:

If you expect the rest of the planet to waste energy for you on an
American scale for chicken**** applications like air conditioning,
just stay at home.

Perhaps this person has a medical condition? Too quick for judgement
aren't we?

If a person has a medical condition that requires the use of a fan all
night long, that person might not be fit to travel.

I don't agree with Jack's analysis. The energy consumed in travelling
to Europe and back is so great that the use of a fan is trivial by
comparison.

But I share his sense of irritation. Why travel at all if you want the
places you visit to be just like home?

In Central Europe you rarely need air conditioning at night. It can
get quite hot in July and August, but humidity tends to be low and
temperatures fall at night.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED
My travel writing: http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/

On Jun 6, 8:39 am, Padraig Breathnach wrote:
PeterL wrote:
On Jun 6, 7:44 am, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote:
If you expect the rest of the planet to waste energy for you on an
American scale for chicken**** applications like air conditioning,
just stay at home.

Perhaps this person has a medical condition? Too quick for judgement
aren't we?

If a person has a medical condition that requires the use of a fan all
night long, that person might not be fit to travel.


Again why are we playing doctor on the net?

Shouldn't that decision be made by that person and his/her physician?



I don't agree with Jack's analysis. The energy consumed in travelling
to Europe and back is so great that the use of a fan is trivial by
comparison.

But I share his sense of irritation. Why travel at all if you want the
places you visit to be just like home?



Again the quick judgement. How is having a fan, for whatever reason,
make it "just like home". If the person needs to take a specific
prescription medication and can't travel without it, does that make it
"just like home"?

OP asked a simple question, and everyone rushes in to condemn.


In Central Europe you rarely need air conditioning at night. It can
get quite hot in July and August, but humidity tends to be low and
temperatures fall at night.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED
My travel writing:http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/

Make credence recognised that on Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:44:05 -0000,
has scripted:

I am traveling to the Czech Republic with a group of people, and one
of them wants to take along a desktop fan for nighttime use, since
there will be no air conditioning in the place we are staying.

The problem is, all of the voltage converters you can get in the
stores say "Not for continuous use" and the fan might be running all
night. What is the reason they are not for continuous use? Is it that
the converter itself can't stand up to the usage, or that the power it
provides isn't clean enough, and the device may not survive well?

Taking a fan? Can't the hotel organise one?
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:44:37 +0100, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote:

If you expect the rest of the planet to waste energy for you on an
American scale for chicken**** applications like air conditioning,
just stay at home.

What part of "a desktop fan for nighttime use, since
there will be no air conditioning" didn't you understand?

Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:

I am traveling to the Czech Republic with a group of people, and one
of them wants to take along a desktop fan for nighttime use, since
there will be no air conditioning in the place we are staying.

Just tell this person they're being a wimp. I was in Prague on
its hottest day of the 20th century and it didn't occur to me
for a moment that I'd need air conditioning to put up with it.

Whether or not you're comfortable in your hotel room depends as much on
the room as the outside weather.

I was very uncomfortable in hotel rooms in Birmingham and Cheltenham
during weather which wasn't exceptionally hot. I don't like air
conditioning, but I also don't like sweating in the middle of the night,
despite not having any sheets on top of me. I would have used a fan in
those hotel rooms if I'd had one.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

PeterL wrote:

On Jun 6, 8:39 am, Padraig Breathnach wrote:

If a person has a medical condition that requires the use of a fan all
night long, that person might not be fit to travel.

Again why are we playing doctor on the net?

What a stupid suggestion! You suggested that the person might have an
illness. In response to your diagnosis, I have made a suggestion in
moderate and qualified terms.

Shouldn't that decision be made by that person and his/her physician?

Yes. And I did not say or suggest otherwise. But it is you who made
the individual sick.

I don't agree with Jack's analysis. The energy consumed in travelling
to Europe and back is so great that the use of a fan is trivial by
comparison.

But I share his sense of irritation. Why travel at all if you want the
places you visit to be just like home?

Again the quick judgement.

In your rush to comment on my post, you made your own quick judgement.
I wrote about my being irritated. I did judge, from the tone of Jack's
post, that he too was irritated. But he actually addressed the
question. You are doing nothing except pronouncing judgements.

How is having a fan, for whatever reason,
make it "just like home". If the person needs to take a specific
prescription medication and can't travel without it, does that make it
"just like home"?

I made an inference. You are not going to persuade me that my
inference is mistaken.

OP asked a simple question, and everyone rushes in to condemn.

Get a sense of proportion: Jack and I do not quite add up to
"everyone". And the question was not all that simple. Now that you
provoke me, I will say that I considered it a stupid question: it
would make far more sense to buy a fan in the Czech republic.

Why, instead of tangling with me, did you not make any helpful
suggestions?

In Central Europe you rarely need air conditioning at night. It can
get quite hot in July and August, but humidity tends to be low and
temperatures fall at night.

No lecture on my giving of relevant information?

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED
My travel writing: http://www.iol.ie/~draoi/