Blackstone 193 Dryer Returns Home! 220 to 110 Conversion????

[DADoES]

 
220v (or 240v, whichever was the standard) surely was available before it became common in the construction.  I figure U.S. homes built since the 1960s would have 240v power as standard, if not the late 1950s.

The maternal grandmother's house built in 1950 didn't have any 240v circuits until a window unit and dryer were added in the early 70s.

The paternal grandparents had gas for water heating, range, and space heating.  Presumably no 240v circuits until they got a dryer somewhere around 1968 and a window unit probably around the same time.

My parents built their first new house in early 1964.  It was all-electric so had 240v for the water heater, cooktop, wall oven, central heating, and dryer.  No central A/C.  Window units were added a year or so later one of which was 240v (branded Thomas A. Edison).  The house they bought in 1983 was built in 1972 and has access to 3-phase power due to proximity of a city sewer lift-station.  The original York air conditioning was 3-phase.  Replaced by a 3-phase Lennox, then replaced again with a single-phase Lennox.

 

[launderess]

American 240v service is two 120v lines out of phase with each other. Thus yes, far as most private one to three family homes are concerned 240v electrical service is what enters breaker panel/box.

What happens afterwards is often another matter. Some homes have 120v/240 outlets about the place, others do not. Usually (but not always) in areas where natural gas lines are absent or for other reasons electricity is used say for heating/HVAC, cooking, clothes dryers, hot water, etc... you'll find 120v/240v outlets.

Even where there are gas lines say for a range or dryer homes will have electrical 120v/240v in kitchen, laundry area or wherever to give an option. If it isn't there such outlets can easily be installed.

Multi-family and other buildings have 240v coming in from street to main panel, but not every individual box or apartment is wired for such service.

Despite people always going on about how "everyone" has 120v/240 service in USA that wasn't or isn't true. Miele and other European appliance makers lost many a sale because home or apartment was not wired for 120v/240v service. Worse tenant or owner of unit wasn't allowed (by landlord or co-op board) to install said service. That and or they weren't interested in incurring cost which could be substantial.

Depending upon how electrical box was wired for individual apartment in question and perhaps from street to building upgrading service could be a major undertaking.

240V is the Standard U.S. Household Voltage (Kinda.)

s.co.tt

 

[ragnboneman]

Where I live in Canada most homes had 120-240 service this is called the Edison 3 wire system...
Some rural areas had only a 120 volt connections, but this was very uncommon.

Washing machines needed a new motor.
One of the shops where I worked still had parts for old wash machines from this era.
Mostly Repulsion induction motor parts.

For the voltage change change most 240 volt motors had the winding split this was a simple modification.
Just cut the connection parallel the coils in the stator
If not sell a new motor..

Same trick worked on a 25 cycle AC motor at 120 volts.
But a Pulley change was required to slow the motor down or if there was no room for this sell a new or rewind motor.
AS of the early 90s I remember there were still 25 cycle motors in stock up stares in the old warehouse ( probably would never be sold )
I rewound and made my last 25v cycle conversion on some motors from a machine shop in 1993 after that point all power in Ontario was 60 hz Edison three wire for residential use.

 

[ragnboneman]

Before I move off on my morning reads I wanted to add some information.
I read motor needs lubrication.

Most older equipment uses bronze bearings not ball so they need a few drops of oil now and then.
Don't use motor oil.
Its detergent and will likely cause dirt to move and migrate around and could shorten the life of the bushing .( trip to machine shop and new bushing or replace motor if this happens )..

A non detergent oil like this will work
https://www.grainger.com/product/3-IN-ONE-Electric-Motor-Oil-Conventional-3UM48
A non detergent 30 SAE oil will work too.
Steam oil, low speed turbine oils all will work...

Veg oil is not going to work.
I once had a guy bring me a Hobart Potato peeler with 30 years of disgusting veg oil and potato in it.
Just awful to repair, and expensive...

Converting the heater element to 120 is pretty easy.
Just split the heater coil in two and parallel fuse accordingly or use a Self resetting klickson...

It might be worth the trouble to look for a heater from a more modern dryer and see if you can remove the unit parts you have and adapt the newer one.
Your biggest concern is that the coil has to be supported so it will not sag and touch the metal surfaces of the dryer.
Second is all 120 volt heater with a single sided contractor be wired to break the hot and not the neutral.
There are situations where the OEM also wired the heaters single sided and left the other side hot and connected at all times

READ and Consider.
IF the heater coil sags or breaks in the drier and touches the frame of the dryer it may not cause any short that trip breakers of fuses.
It will draw power however if the high side of the coil is not disconnected from the line and the result could be a fire as the coil stays hot and overheats the unit.

Make sure the heater coils are well supported and never left connected to line when the drier is off.
Parts to convert single sided 240 volt driers are easy to get from a just about anyplace no reason to leave it that way

This is really cheap, check your heater rating before buying and be sure its the correct size
https://www.amazon.com/Packard-C230C-Pole-Contactor-Volt/dp/B004YW5CWQ.

 

[combo52]

Power supply systems in American homes

The great majority of homes in the 1950s had 240 V available for dryers and such if they had space for the dryer to begin with, for the people that did not want to upgrade their electrical service of course many people chose a gas dryer.

I would wager that not 25% of full-size dryers were connected to 120 V instead of 240 V. Some brands of full-size electric dryers in the 1950s such as Maytag, early GE Westinghouse, etc. had a dual heating element so you actually got a little bit more heat than the usual one quarter of the normal heat when you operated the machine on 120 V, whirlpool never made any dryers That were designed to be convertible and give you the extra heat.

In the United States in the 30s and 40s and into the 50s homes had 110 V or 220 V, by the 60s this has been raised to 115 230 V and by the later 60s almost everywhere in the US is 120 V and 240 V that’s where the misconception comes From that things run on 220 volts today. Of course many apartments and multifamily housing often does have 120 V at the outlets and 208 volts for the larger service for heavy appliances.

John