Novice needs advice: Using a lower wattage voltage converter

[jimmyh]

I think I have received some bad advice from electricians and want to ask here. I was ignorant and did not consider the specs of a Vitamix kitchen blender before plugging it into a 300-watt voltage converter. However, both the blender and the converter worked fine for many events and continue to do so, which baffles me as I'd expect there to be a major problem since the Vitamix actually requires about 1320 watts (120 volt rated blender that takes 11 amps and is 2 horsepower). I live in Singapore which is 220 V. My converter converts from 220 - 120 but also vice versa, via a switch. Yet it is rated at 300 W, so I suspect if it is converting to the 120, then my blender still requires the full 1320 watts since the output is 120.

My questions are:

1) Does 2 Horsepower mean you multiply the wattage requirement by 2? I have seen some electricians make this advisory.

2) Some electricians have told me that since I am converting down from 220 V, the wattage requirement is close to half the 1320 watts, more around 650. I suspect this is bad advice since the output of the converter is 120 V, regardless of the original voltage of the electrical outlet.

The real big questions are:

3) Why does the blender still work on such a lower watt converter that should not support it?

4) What is the risk of using the blender on this low watt converter?

Thanks for help on this issue.

 

[DPG]

Regardless of which figures you use, you are way over the rating of the converter and the circuitry inside it will be working well outside its specified ratings. You may be lucky, and there may be enough overhead in terms of current capacity and cooling, hence why it seems to be working, but it is a fire hazard and I would recommend that you stop using it and purchase one of the correct capacity. Daz