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Post by mamamia on Feb 22, 2013 1:24:56 GMT
Hi,
We were told by our relocation advisor that when we move in March we will be assigned a home wired for 220 volts. Is this rewiring of homes likely to happen in the near future (before our arrival in Dahran) or is it something to expect further down the line? The reason am asking is that I need to know whether to pack my 110 Volt appliances into my airline luggage or not. Any input would be very helpful. Thanks.
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Post by vpainter on Feb 22, 2013 20:18:45 GMT
Well, Aramco is trying to rewire the houses they renovate for new hires. Unfortunately, there may only be a plug in the kitchen. Some new hires haven't had any and its all been 110V.
They are working on it.
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Post by Overland on Feb 27, 2013 15:31:07 GMT
I'd bring your 110 stuff knowing there is a confiscation risk. 220v wiring is moving forward, but the number of circuits will be few compared to 110v. These are uncertain times at the moment...
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Post by TexasDave on Apr 9, 2013 20:52:18 GMT
I live in Dhahran Hills. Just had 220v outlets activated in my apartment last week. There are two outlets total - one upstairs in the bedroom, and one downstairs in the kitchen. I have a one bedroom unit.
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Post by Orchid on Apr 24, 2013 18:47:25 GMT
I am a single female coming from the UK and all my appliances will be 220v, UK 3 pin plugs. Has the single female accommodation been converted yet or will I need to get a bunch of converters? Apologies if this has been answered but I can only find responses relating to family accommodation. Many thanks.
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Post by vpainter on Apr 26, 2013 3:07:46 GMT
I do not know the answer to your question, but I would bring them. If you don't have 220 plugs, call maintenance and get them installed.
A taxi ride or bus ride to Dhahran Mall to the Saco store will allow you to get converters as needed.
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Post by azraeil on Apr 27, 2013 10:47:24 GMT
Orchid, I think what you meant was a step-up or step-down transformers. Most 220v appliances will work with 110v outlet though as mentioned by one of the members, it takes doubly long to boil your water  110v to 220v outlet is a no-no. |
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Post by Orchid on Apr 27, 2013 16:15:36 GMT
Thanks both of you, as you might be able to tell, I'm not the most technical person, so it's good to have the right terminology and to know where to purchase.  |
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Post by sapphire on May 6, 2013 16:02:02 GMT
For the recent arrivals in DHA, can you confirm whether you guys had 220v already installed in your homes (and if so, how many outlets?). We're moving into a 3 bed house later in May - is it likely to have 220v already installed during renovation or would we have to request once we arrive?
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Post by justthe4ofus on May 6, 2013 21:43:38 GMT
We arrived a few days ago. The whole house is 11o, with one 220 plug in the kitchen, one in the living room I think, and I believe I saw one upstairs.
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Post by vpainter on May 8, 2013 16:27:44 GMT
Some new hires are being assigned houses with the 220 plugs, others have not. Call maintenance if you need them and do not have them. Their number will be on the phone list left in your house.
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Post by Hadia on May 8, 2013 18:47:45 GMT
I was told by Community Services that when residents request 220 plug installation, they will get 3-4 outlets installed in pre-determined locations, depending on the type/size of house. What JT4ofUs writes correlates with that info. When we had the 220 plugs put in, we got one in those locations, plus one in downstairs front room (3BR townhouse). None were installed in bedrooms, nor baths. There was no flexibility on room location, but we could adjust a bit where in the designated locations the plugs ended up. I was disappointed there were no plugs for bedrooms, since we'd like to get more lamps.
Advice on 220 lamps and 110 plugs, anyone with electrical prowess??
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Post by vpainter on May 9, 2013 20:48:28 GMT
You can buy 220V lamps and put in 110 bulbs, use an adapter and plug into your 110V electrical sockets. There is no motor involved, so no problem changing the bulb and plugging them in.
I have found my 110V bulbs in the commissary, at Saco and in the Souq electrical light bulb stores.
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Post by GroveWanderer on May 10, 2013 16:29:49 GMT
As far as I am aware, they have not fully converted any accommodation (family or bachelor) to 220V throughout.
At the time when they made an announcement (about 6 months ago IIRC) about installing 220V outlets, they said that you could get only two 220V outlets in family houses and only one in bachelor accommodation and in either case, only in the kitchen.
However since then, I have seen several posts saying they will now install 3 - 4 outlets in various rooms throughout family houses so I guess there should now be a possibility of getting more than one 220V outlet in single accommodation, upon request.
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Post by gbhatia on Jun 8, 2013 7:43:48 GMT
Our house (on main camp) is similar to what Grovewanderer describes below. We have 4 outlet locations with 2 sockets each so a total of 8 sockets.
They are located in the main areas (Living Room / Dining Room / Main Hallway and Kitchen). No outlets in Bedroom / bathrooms as pointed out by Hadia. We also don't have one in the office which is a bit of a pain as most of the office equipment runs on transformers so is 110/220 switchable. Having the 220 V sockets would have allowed us to avoid using powerbars. That's one thing I wish we'd brought with us in the e-shipment. They are available at SACO though a little expensive for the decent quality ones and we just dumped the ones we had back home with friends etc.
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