# Rice cooker not working **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 19, 2018, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-cooker-not-working/810822 "2018-03-19T12:32:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-cooker-not-working/810822/1 "2018-03-19T12:32:14Z")
My Mother in law bought me a nice little rice cooker which operates at 220v (UK standard is 240v) I have an adaptor which I can use so it works in the UK, but now it doesn’t work. When I originally plugged it in the lights were on, but after 20 minutes they went dead, is it the fuse or the voltage? I didn’t think 220v would be that much of a problem. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-cooker-not-working/810822/2 "2018-03-19T17:56:52Z")
Every rice cooker I’ve owned needed to be unplugged unless you were actually cooking rice. Once the rice was done, the cooker either turns itself off (lights out) or switches to warming mode. If the cooker was plugged in but did not contain water, it might very well burn out. I apologize if I have misunderstood the situation (and I certainly don’t mean to insult your intelligence), but have you actually tried to cook rice to see if the light will come back on? ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-cooker-not-working/810822/3 "2018-03-22T08:37:19Z")
I have tried cooking the rice thinking the issue was just with the light not coming on, however this did not happen. Could it be the fuse? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-cooker-not-working/810822/4 "2018-03-22T09:51:59Z")
See if there is a red reset button underneath. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-cooker-not-working/810822/5 "2018-03-22T15:41:34Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > See if there is a red reset button underneath. There is not. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-cooker-not-working/810822/6 "2018-03-23T17:17:54Z")
First thing’s first: does the outlet still work? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rice-cooker-not-working/810822/7 "2018-03-24T06:12:50Z")
I’ve never heard of needing an adaptor to handle a 20 volt difference. Here in the US, our nominal voltage can be anywhere from 114 to 126, and for high power things, the range is around 208 to 250. The “harmonized” UK standard voltage is 230. Do you know that the adapter still works? My first guess is that the rice cooker may have drawn more power than it was capable of. My next guess is that the rice cooker will be fine if you just plug it in.