American Appliances Overseas

All of this can be accommodated with a modestly expensive transformer, but the motors will run at 5/6 speed. For full speed, you will need an immodestly expensive VFD.

thanx tornado, will running the items at 5/6 speed cause premature wear? and is it safe to say these VFD's are in the thousands? steve

The slower speed would generally lead to slower mechanical wear, and hence longer mechanical life. However, motor design "wants to see" voltage proportional to frequency, so the electrical life might suffer, typically from hotter windings. The VFD idea can fix this, but I agree with PW Slack that local appliances designed for 50 Hz are likely to be a better choice. A VFD sized to handle all the motors at once (unless you can ensure they won't all be running at once) will likely be in the low thousandes of dollars. The heaters and lights don't matter, except that 50 Hz fluorescents might have noticeable flicker. ( I don't know for sure about that, but I imagine it should be considered.)

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/11301/The-Frustrations-of-Electricity-Around-the-Globe

Shipping the appliances and conditioning the power to feed them might prove more costly than replacing them locally.

yeah thats what i think. wife accuses me of not "trying hard enough" to figure out how to make it work as i prefer to sell everything with the house. i will let her read these replies. steve

My thoughts exactly, and do not forget the potential for damage during transit, possible tariffs that may be placed, and the great risk of theft during all of the transit.

Surely, it would be much cheaper to buy a suitable set of appliances when settled.

There are, or there were, some outfits in NY that sell American made appliances but were built to run on 240V supplies. These outfits were set up by Indians to supply their compatriots who were returning to India.

I don't have contact with these guys anymore but a web search found these:

exportappliances.com

western-international.com

Unless the sum total of these appliances exceeds at least $15,000 you are better off selling stuff here and buying there. In Yacht design we often run into this problem because many yachts winter in 230V 50HZ country the go back to North America 60HZ for the summer. Or you could consider buying and operating your own 60 HZ genset. Battery chargers batteries and inverters will also cost you around $10,000 or so that way you could also run 60 HZ appliances. Mind you service calls for any type of problem is likely to get expensive. Nobody over there will have parts and a service tech flying over from good ole USA is gonna get expensive real fast.

For a mere $25,000 you can buy a shore power converter that will accomodate any voltage and converter it to whatever frequency and voltage you want 3 phase or single phase.

I too consider option #5 the better choice. African wives are far better behaved and less demanding.

Either that or tell your wife to stop being so silly and self indulgent. After all you are moving into another culture entirely. When in Rome (or in this case Mozambique) . . . . do as the Romans do.

Depending on where you end up you may find out there isn't enough power to support all those pampered American toys. A client of mine is living in Turkey while his yacht is being built there and tells me his house only has four circuit breakers for the 230V 50HZ service. Outages are frequent.

It isn't a question of money.He lives in an upscale neighbourhood and is fairly affluent himself plus his Turkish wife own several properties over there.

Good luck.

It seems the wife would need a much bigger inverter.....indeed expensive !

And if you have been married for 10 yrs or more, then you would need battery backup to account for frequent power outages when u need it most !

A couple of thoughts -

In addition to what has previously been discussed, you may also find that voltage regulation, especially in areas away from population centers, varies considerably more than it does where you live now. Excessive voltage swings either way from the design voltage will also reduce the useful life of your appliances, especially those with heavy current demand.

Second, at the risk of possibly getting a bit off topic, have you and/or your wife, especially your wife, lived in Mozambique for any extended period of time, other than possibly a couple of days in a Hilton or similar tourist facility? You mention "emigrating", a term I would consider as a long term or permanent residence. Unless time is a factor I would suggest that you spend a couple of months in a rented home of some sort to better acquaint yourselves with local conditions, and what you need - as well to allow yourselves to decide if you REALLY want to move there.

Third, I would suggest that you contact the US State Department (or the equivalent in the country in which you now reside and/or are a citizen) and ask them for any information they may have for the use of citizens moving there. Embassy personnel would have many of the same considerations, questions and uncertainties, and such information should be freely available.

Finally, have you considered the cost of packing and shipping those appliances to Mozambique? That may help to tip the balance in favor of buying new units that are designed to be used on the local utilities.

While my time in Africa is limited to a week or so in Dakar in the 1960's, I have spent extended periods in other countries and found that local citizens usually have all of the benefits of home; cars, appliances, medical care, and the like.

Let us know what you decide, and if you do move, how things work out.

Ask your wife who is going to repair this stuff when you have a problem there. Where will she get spares? You should go out ahead and size up the cost of getting new, poss from RSA. Will your warranties be valid if you do all this shipping?

The electrical supply in Mozambique tends to fluctuate a lot so there is a significant risk of damage anyway. I would always go for local appliances in these situations rather than your prized possessions.

Bushdriver to the Rescue......

Hi Capt Steve. You are moving into my back yard. Just a few questions and I will get the right info to you. Mozambique is a great place, but rather seriously third world. Across the border in South Africa you can get all the appliances you need at reasonable prices and the correct voltages and freq. Don't waste your money shipping it here..... There will be no backup for spares or repairs. Is my call.

When you do get here, buy the most basic stuff you can get i.e. avoid fancy electronics, they will be blown away by the irregular supply and the voltage surges. Our electricity is not expensive just irregular. It all depends on where you are going to be based.

Here is a link for one of our bigger retail outlets, small by your standards, but it may help you to get perspective.

http://www.makro.co.za/live/content.php?Action=catalog&Cat=1143&ShowAll=1

The SA Rand trades around R7.20 to US$1.00 Moz Meticas +- 25 to the US. If you are comfortable fitting in with local culture you will have a wonderful time in Moz. Have you been there yet? How long do you expect to stay in Moz?

I have friends who live in Moz so let me know by PRIVATE Message if you need more info.

What I would bring with is any non electrical household and kitchen goods, Propane jetted gas ranges, at least you can cook when the power is out. (call them stoves here, not natural gas /city gas available.) furniture, summer clothing, camping, fishing and hunting gear.Scuba gear - warm Indian ocean and great corals etc. I just snorkel and spear fish. Hobby stuff. Apple Mac's WITH UPS's, GPS's - Garmin, Tom Tom and Navigon are popular here. Ocean tour /fishing Kayaks. DIY tools, and as said in other posts, electrical goods that are designed for multi freq. and that wont be affected by power surges and frequent outages.

I would seriously consider bringing my own car out if you can get hold of 2 right hand drive second hand Subaru Foresters for mommy and yourself. If you need a pick up truck, go with Toyota Landcruiser pick up (You will find in Australia and UAE or in South Africa at a premium) Moz roads are generally crappy, you need a tough car with minimum electronic junk. Spare sets of tyres for sandy conditions.

Hey man I would be hard pressed to leave this crazy continent. We have such great people here and the adventure side is as good as it gets in Mozambique. Look forward to following your progress to the Dark Continent.

I would seriously consider bringing my own car out if you can get hold of 2 right hand drive second hand Subaru Foresters for mommy and yourself. If you need a pick up truck, go with Toyota Landcruiser pick up (You will find in Australia and UAE or in South Africa at a premium) Moz roads are generally crappy, you need a tough car with minimum electronic junk. Spare sets of tyres for sandy conditions.

Captain,

Bushie has good advice.

FYI, it's a buyers market here in OZ right now, and there are thousands of the above-mentioned vehicles for sale.

www.carsguide.com.au

www.carpoint.com.au

www.drive.com.au

Or just Google: used cars australia.

See how you go,

Cheers,

Stu.

Being a military brat, I have a little experience with just this question. We shipped our US appliances overseas (Europe) and had to use transformers on everything to get them to run correctly. The transformer output will even have the correct plug to plug in the US appliances. The only thing we ever had trouble with was a phonograph, yes a real honest to god record player, not some fancy CD player etc. It ran slowly. My dad modified it by building up the drive wheel with copper wire and solder. Smart man. Everything else ran perfectly. When we came back home everything continued to run perfectly. On the other hand, if you are truly emigrating, you have no intention of ever returning, so why not just go ahead and buy local appliances in Mozambique. (Keep your US Fridge though, most foreign refrigerators are tiny, more like a bar fridge than a proper fridge.)