USA 110 Volt Hair Blow Dryer

[ricklev]

It's a 110 volt 1850 watt blow dryer. It's not dual voltage. It just has two setting; low and high.

Seems to work great on low. Fan blows twice as fast, heat is fine. Has a breaker attached to the plug which didn't trip.

I haven't tried it on high.

I paid $10 dollars in the USA and the equivalent fan power in a blow dryer here is about 2000 baht. I have no idea why blow dryers are so expensive here.

Realistically, is it dangerous to use on low?

[Stradavarius37]

It's a 110 volt 1850 watt blow dryer. It's not dual voltage. It just has two setting; low and high.

Seems to work great on low. Fan blows twice as fast, heat is fine. Has a breaker attached to the plug which didn't trip.

I haven't tried it on high.

I paid $10 dollars in the USA and the equivalent fan power in a blow dryer here is about 2000 baht. I have no idea why blow dryers are so expensive here.

Realistically, is it dangerous to use on low?

It'll work great right until it overloads and catches your dresser on fire. Good luck with that.

[ricklev]

It's a 110 volt 1850 watt blow dryer. It's not dual voltage. It just has two setting; low and high.

Seems to work great on low. Fan blows twice as fast, heat is fine. Has a breaker attached to the plug which didn't trip.

I haven't tried it on high.

I paid $10 dollars in the USA and the equivalent fan power in a blow dryer here is about 2000 baht. I have no idea why blow dryers are so expensive here.

Realistically, is it dangerous to use on low?

It'll work great right until it overloads and catches your dresser on fire. Good luck with that.

That's exactly the sort of answer I expected.

I think cheap dual voltage travel hair dryers just restrict usage to the low setting at 220 with no other modifications. Anyone have any useful knowledge?

Edited July 1, 2013 by ricklev

[MaximT]

Anyone have any useful knowledge.

Thailand is pretty warm, you probably don't need to use a hair dryer here.

[Stradavarius37]

It's a 110 volt 1850 watt blow dryer. It's not dual voltage. It just has two setting; low and high.

Seems to work great on low. Fan blows twice as fast, heat is fine. Has a breaker attached to the plug which didn't trip.

I haven't tried it on high.

I paid $10 dollars in the USA and the equivalent fan power in a blow dryer here is about 2000 baht. I have no idea why blow dryers are so expensive here.

Realistically, is it dangerous to use on low?

It'll work great right until it overloads and catches your dresser on fire. Good luck with that.

That's exactly the sort of answer I expected.

I think cheap dual voltage travel hair dryers just restrict usage to the low setting at 220 with no other modifications. Anyone have any useful knowledge?

You're using a 110 heating element with 220 current - you are asking for trouble. Hopefully your "knowledge" doesn't end up burning someone else's property down. You can get a decent Phillips or Panasonic hair dryer at central for less that 1000 baht

[KhunBENQ]

You're using a 110 heating element with 220 current - you are asking for trouble. Hopefully your "knowledge" doesn't end up burning someone else's property down.

Exactly. Silly and dangerous idea.

[Crossy]

Not wise!

However, having had a few dryers in bits I can say that the cheap ones with a little DC motor (and rectifier) that use the heater as a dropper resistor will be quite happy on 'low' at 220V, performance will be similar to 'high' on 110V.

Do not try it on 'high', if you don't fry the motor the heat will be 'volcanic' and cause frizzies.

Probably fine for emergency use, but go and buy a cheap Chinese 220V one.

YMMV, no warranty is implied or inferred, fire or death is not the responsibility of this poster.

[ricklev]

Thanks for your educated and reasonable advice.

[misterphil]

Let me just run this past again???? You want to use a 110 volt hair dryer from the US with 220 volt electric in Thailand???? It would be safer for you to stand in the bath, lick your finger and stick it in the electric socket, that would soon dry your hair. Of Course its going to be a similar speed/temp as high when on low, your running twice the amount of power through it. You're lucky it hasn't melted in your hand.

[wayned]

You could always buy a step down transformer, 200 to 110. I think that they are around 400 baht.

[ricklev]

It works great on low. I disabled high and use it everyday. It's a twofer. My hair gets quickly dried and those who need it get to feel technologically, intellectually, and even morally superior.

FYI. Further research has shown me that there is a absolutely no difference between what I did and what a cheap dual voltage hair dryer does. The 220 setting disables high. All internal electronics are exactly the same.

Edited July 26, 2013 by ricklev

[canman]

It's a 110 volt 1850 watt blow dryer. It's not dual voltage. It just has two setting; low and high.

Seems to work great on low. Fan blows twice as fast, heat is fine. Has a breaker attached to the plug which didn't trip.

I haven't tried it on high.

I paid $10 dollars in the USA and the equivalent fan power in a blow dryer here is about 2000 baht. I have no idea why blow dryers are so expensive here.

Realistically, is it dangerous to use on low?

It'll work great right until it overloads and catches your dresser on fire. Good luck with that.

That's exactly the sort of answer I expected.

I think cheap dual voltage travel hair dryers just restrict usage to the low setting at 220 with no other modifications. Anyone have any useful knowledge?

Do not plug a hair dryer intended for 110V operation into a 220v supply period. This is dangerous and a silly risk, even if it does appear to work.