In the book "Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future" by Ashlee Vance it is mentioned that at Elon's house there was a problem with "dirty electricity" that was causing devices to overheat.
I've experienced this in a variety of places with my own devices.
In one case, while traveling abroad, my devices would not work at one of my host's house it was so bad. In fact, his top of the line U.S. blender he had just purchased burnt out within 2 weeks. I didn't have this problem at all with my other host's house in the same country, so I know it's not simply a voltage conversion issue.
What exactly is "dirty electricity", what causes it and is there a simple way to prevent it from doing damage to your electronics while traveling or at home?
Answer
First, if you're travelling, take care to look at your electrical devices' specs. Electrical standards change the voltage and frequency of the mains. Just because it isn't a "voltage" issue, doesn't mean your blender won't burn up. The wrong frequency can burn out motors.
The main is supposed to supply a sinusoidal of a certain frequency, amplitude, and power factor, \$A*sin(\omega t + \phi)\$. Anything that deviates from this is a flaw.
Things can cause this to deviate from this ideal. Large motors can (strongly) affect \$\phi\$ (therefore changing the power factor) and introduce noise. Non-linear loads can cause harmonics.
Power factor will cause the resistive elements, like the wiring, to heat up (through \$I^{2}R\$) without contributing to work.
As to the blender: harmonics, if not filtered by the device, can burn out electrical motors.
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