Power Problems in Costa Rica

Most of you know about the power problems is Costa Rica. The country relies on a hydro-electric power source which is great but the problem occurs during the dry season when a lot of the rivers just trickle. We tried to prepare ourselves by buying a crank system radio and stocking up on flashlights and candles. The radio turned out to be worthless and we’ve only used the flashlights a couple times now.

I can’t speak for everyone in Costa Rica but let me tell you about our experiences with the power issues here. First off, mostly they are brownouts not blackouts. We generally only lose power for 5-10 minutes. This occurred more when we first moved here. Then we received a newsletter from the water and electric company stating that they were working on a new substation to relieve the outages in San Rafael and it would be completed by January.

Well, I didn’t believe the news but sure enough sometime around January we stopped experiencing so many brownouts. BUT we were warned by some people that during the dry season the water would be turned off for many hours during the days to help conserve. Then I read in the Tico Times that the government was trying to prepare for the water/electric problems during the dry season by purchasing more generators.

So, now it’s April and the dry season should be ending soon. The last two Sundays our power has been out from 2-3 hours. I kind of liked the quiet but this past Sunday when the power wasn’t on by 5pm and the sun was setting, Patrick started to worry a bit. The power did come back on by 5:30 so all was well.

Now I would suppose these were planned outages but since we don’t read the local newspaper in Spanish and the Tico Times doesn’t carry this kind of news, I can only guess. The outages don’t bother me as long as they are during the day. The thing that did concern me happened Wednesday when the power kept turning off and on again for several minutes. That can not be good for the appliances! As a matter of fact, I’m sure this is why our computer died last fall.

I hope the country can figure out a good solution to this power problem.

Buy your appliances in the States

We went shopping this afternoon for appliances to take with us to Costa Rica. I just wanted to make a quick note of things to keep in mind if moving to CR.

The electricity there is the same as here but the Ticos (as the locals are called) don't use as many big appliances as we do in the States. Which means you need to be aware of how many outlets your house has, especially 220 volt for say a dishwasher...

We are short an outlet for a dishwasher so we are purchasing a movable one since it works on 110v AND there is no room for an under the counter model. We also probably need to get stackable washer and dryer due to lack of space in the laundry room (many of the Tico homes we viewed had their laundry facilities outside the home).

Of course, one way around this problem would be to only consider buying American standard homes but the price jump is huge for the convenience (and it isn't that important to us!). Our priority was land with privacy over American standard fixtures.

Oh yeah, we are moving everything down to CR instead of buying it there due to expense to ship vs. buy down there seems to lean toward us doing it that way. We saw basic stoves and other appliances for about 3k at the mall in Heredia compared to $600 at Best Buy here. Plus, we have been told the parts used in the States are far superior to those used in CR.

Ok, to close, I have to share my new favorite music site. Pandora allows you to create your own radio station based on your favorite artists/music types. Try it out here: http://www.pandora.com/