Samovar: where to buy?

[Michael Denner]

This is a quirky but quite exhaustive site on samovars:
http://home.fazekas.hu/~nagydani/rth/Russian-tea-HOWTO-v2.html

You'll find there an explanation of how to get your samovar to boil
water. If I were you, I'd take it to the local electrician or
lamp-repair shop and have them do the alteration for you...
***

Samovars in North America

In North America, charcoal-burning samovars can be used exactly the same
way we use them in Russia, except, perhaps, that you should warn each
participant of the garden-party, preferably in written form, about the
dangers of scalding themselves. Otherwise, some ignorant bastard might
sue your pants off, should s/he touch the samovar in the wrong place.

The operation of Russian electric samovars is somewhat more involved,
given the differences in the AC grid. First off, the frequency differs:
as opposed to the Russian 50 Hz, North America operates at 60 CPS (unit
conversion: 1 Hertz = 1 Cycle Per Second). This difference does not
affect the samovars in any way.

The difference in voltage is more salient. Recall Ohm's Law: R=U/I and
the definition of electric power: P=UI.

>From these two equations it is apparent that the heating power of the
same resistance at half the voltage is one fourth of the original value.
Assuming the samovar's heating coil linear and the losses negligible, it
would take four times as long to boil the water in the same samovar in
America than it took in Russia. Fortunately enough, non-linearities work
to your advantage.

The last obstacle is the difference in connectors. You can overcome it
either by replacing the plug with an American one, or by utilizing a so
called "outlet adapter" (Radio Shack part #273-1406D). Don't forget the
grounding!

The brave and impatient can hack up the samovar to operate just as fast
as it does in Russia. In order to achieve the same power at half the
voltage, you'll need one fourth of the resistance. Now, recall the
definition of resistance in terms of dimensions: R=rl/A, whereby l
denotes the length of the resistor, A its cross-section and r is a
constant that depends on the properties of the material. The volume of
this resistor would be V=lA.

In order not to affect the longevity of the spiral, you'd better
preserve the volume of the heating element, while decreasing its
resistance. If you take a look at the two above formulae, you'd notice
that halving the length and doubling the cross-section would achieve
exactly the desired effect. So, pull the spiral out, remove the
insulation, fold it in two, and stretch it to the desired length before
putting the insulation back. If you cannot stretch the spiral without
risking its integrity, you can prolong it with a thick copper-wire.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
   Dr. Michael A. Denner
   Editor, Tolstoy Studies Journal
   Director, University Honors Program
   
   Contact Information:
      Russian Studies Program
      Stetson University
      Campus Box 8361
      DeLand, FL 32720-3756
      386.822.7381 (department)
      386.822.7265 (direct line)
      386.822.7380 (fax)
      www.stetson.edu/~mdenner

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