Is this safe?!

A couple boxes remain to unpack. With nothing else planned for the day, I take up the task. One is mostly unpacked, actually, and been dedicated to various bath and pharmaceutical items. These were shipped inside plastic storage bins that I had packed in the box surrounded with bubble wrap and towels for cushion, mostly for protection against leakages, but the bins make it very easy to stash the supplies away in the guest bedroom wardrobe. I rearrange the bathroom counter/shelf so that it’s better organized and put away my travel-sized toiletries so that things are more settled. 

The next box contains electronic stuff… various chargers and power cords, an AppleTV, two Sonos speakers, my commuter bag packed with with a compact flatbed scanner, and other random items. One item I’ve had for many years is an Oregon Scientific clock that projects the time on the ceiling. I’ve become very used to checking the time when waking up in the middle of the night by looking upward (sometimes a strain to see the numbers given my near-sightedness). This adds another device needing to be plugged into my bedside, in addition to my CPAP (more on that later), a separate CPAP cleaning machine, and of course a cable for my phone. All of these are powered with U.S. electrical plugs and cords. To satisfy these demands, I decide to use a mini-travel power strip that conveniently has 3 sockets for U.S. plugs plus a USB port for my phone’s charging cable, with a U.S.-to-UK/Ireland grounded plug adaptor (that even has a built-in fuse). That sounds prudent right? What could go wrong?!

I plug this tangled mess into the wall outlet next to my bed — no immediate signs of smoke, so that’s good! And everything seems to power on. Next I start setting the time on the digital clock, clicking through the various steps for hour, minute, date, etc. Then all of a sudden the clock turns off. I check the power cord to make sure it’s still plugged into the back of the clock as well as the power strip. The connections are secure, but the clock’s power brick it noticeably warm. Uh oh. Now I regret not more thoroughly researching the do’s-and-don’ts of plugging U.S. 110 V devices into European 220V outlets. I unplug the entire configuration out of fear of frying anything else and go to the internet as I should have in the first place. One of the top hits is on the website of travel-guru Rick Steves, so that sound legit. It explains that most modern appliances are “dual voltage” with plugs that have “110V-220V” printed on them:

I check each of the power bricks for my bedside devices, and sure enough, the one for the clock does not offer any “dual voltage” reassurance:

Thankfully, my CPAP and CPAP cleaning machines (which are much more critical) are newer and their power bricks indicate a range of acceptable input voltages:

I had already checked that all Apple chargers are dual voltage, so all those devices should be in the clear. I check the bottom of the Sonos speakers, and after taking a photo and zooming in on the tiny print (illegible to my eyes even with reading glasses), I see a 100-240 voltage range. Whew! 

So the clock is the only casualty, and even then, it may be salvageable because it can run on batteries… maybe just the power brick was fryer? Of course, when opening the battery compartment, I find the old batteries that have been in there for years have exploded with chalky white acid all over the terminals. Sigh. I don’t have any spare AAs, I’ll get some next shopping run and see if they work.

Circling back to my CPAP machine, there’s one other requirement aside from electrical power standards that may be a challenge: finding distilled water. I had looked for some when shopping for groceries but only saw bottled spring water on the shelves. A preliminary google search for “Ireland distilled water” revealed some clues; allegedly it is not regularly sold in grocery stores here, but it can be obtained from pharmacies (at a high price?) or possibly auto parts stores (?!). Another challenge to add to my scavenger hunt list!