Difference Between Dryers Sold in UK and the Continent.

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UK vs Europe

Laundress

I am surprised there is a difference - I would have thought that manufacturers would have made them uniform for economies of scale. Louis would probably know better but I expect it is down to the UK have a maximum socket outlet draw of 13amp, where in Europe the rating for a socket for a large appliance would be 16amp - as I am sure you are aware our domestic wiring systems are different. Of course for years we were running appliances of 3kw on 13amp sockets as the fuse in the plug had a little more flexibility.
It's a curious thing though that where you have a dedicated circuit for a fixed appliance like a wall heater the breaker on the board will be fused at 16amp but the termination by the appliance (generally not a socket) is still 13amp. However where you have something like a storage heater or immersion heater (for hot water tanks) where the draw is 3kw for a protracted period then it is not terminated with a fused outlet but simply a switched outlet, this usually being rated at 20amp but the breaker at the board is still 16amp.

Did you just do a comparison with France or with other European countries? The reason I ask is that I have always been struck with how limited the cross over between the UK and French markets are. It would be interesting to know how the Italian and German machines compare as they have far more penetration into the UK market. Or even the likes of Beko.

On a slightly different note I was struck with how my new Miele dishwasher was rated at only 2kw (I will check again at the weekend as I need to pull it out in any case) and I wondered if that was to allow the same machine to be sold in UK and Aus/NZ where I believe the max socket rating is 10amp

Interesting question
 
Hello luv...

Hope you are biding well..

Actually the query grew out of the "Lessiveuse" thread....

Nosing around the Internet and seeing various washers and dryers both old and new sold in the UK and on the Continent. Noticed those in France say had higher wattage (usually 16amps at 230v/3.1kW)versus what one finds in UK.

This struck me as odd as even the big multinationals like Miele did this when one assumed outside of their North American offerings they usually kept things pretty harmonious.

Of course this all could be academic and even though the appliance is rated for 3.0kW it pulls not nearly so much power normally.
 
It's down to the plugs and sockets.

UK and Irish plugs are 13amps and actually don't give much margin for error, despite their enormous size. Realistically, for a sustained load 12 amp is probably more reasonable. The design of the plug and socket only makes contact at the tips of the pins because. This was to avoid contact with fingers. Modern UK type plugs have a plastic sheath covering most of the pin except the tip area.

Continental European plugs are 16 Amps and seem fairly well able to handle sustained loads. They've no need for pin sheaths as the sockets are recessed so it's physically impossible to touch the pins while inserting the plug.

This allows for greater surface area for contact and thus less of an overheating risk.
 
Over here its 10amps 2.4kw, Our consumer magazine slammed the Miele dishwasher when it was first imported in the mid 70's as it came via the UK with no plug and was 13 amps. Their concern was that Unsuspecting Aussies would put a standard 10amp plug on the cord and away they'd go.

When the Miele Washing machine arrived in 78, it was rated at 13 amps, but came with a 15amp Australian plug fitted, the concern then shifted to the cost involved in running the wiring for a dedicated 15amp socket to support the machine.

In reality, our Circuits are all 15amp 240v minimum, in a modern house they're 20amps 240v, so the wiring can handle 13amps, it just might take you close to blowing the fuse with too many things on the go at once.

In our house with 20amp circuits you can regularily run Kettle, Dishwasher, Washing machine and vaccum for a total of 8.8kw on a 4.8kw circuit and because of the thermostats and peak load switching in and out, the system copes without issue.

Michael's mum's house is 40 years old and has 15amp circuits. You can generally get to 4.8kw but as soon as you turn on that third appliance you'll trip the circuit breaker.
 
The circuits here are 32amp ring or 20Amp radial but the plug tops are all individually fused with a little cartridge fuse rated 1 to 13amps

the BS1363 plug / socket system would need to be beefed up yo take 16amps though. It definitely doesn't safely handle more than 13, regardless of the fuse.
 
Miele seems to have or had at least two different heating batteries for the European market; 2.6kW (or so) and 3.1kW (ditto). All things being equal if a model was being sold across Europe and UK aside from changes such as the language plates could be a simple sizing of heating batteries for the country in question.

Compared to the blast furnace temps (LOL) of American electric dryers where wattage starts around 4kW or above; 2.6kw to 3.3kW found in Europe/UK is quite "cool". The latter two are going to take longer to dry a full load of washing either way.

Suppose if someone in the UK was that worried about their Miele dryer from the continent drawing too much power a swapping out of the heating battery could bring things down to an acceptable range.
 
Reviewed.com lists most "blast furnance" dryers peaking at temps of 140 to 150F - that's lower than my Bosch condenser at almost 170F on High, despite its 2.8 kW heater. I think the size of the drum and blower on American dryers somewhat makes up for the power of the heating element so they don't run "furnance" hot under normal conditions.

My modern Bosch dishwasher has a pretty universal rating. It says: 50/60 Hertz, 220-240V, 10/16 Amps (13 UK).
 
@laundress:

I guess the main reason this isn't an issue is because there are generally relatively few appliances that draw >3kW these days anyway as most dryers are now heading towards ultra efficient heat pump technologies and the majority of heating appliances in Europe take 10amps as the lowest common denominator.

Otherwise, I think it would have been an internal market issue and would have been regulated out of existence with a requirement for 16Amp sockets in the UK and Ireland.

It's a shame that the UK didn't participate more in the standardisation processes in the 1960s which brought about CEE 7 plugs.

The UK system not only managed to have a different pin layout but also picked an odd rating 13amp, when everyone else used 16amps.

It's too awkward to change all the plugs/sockets at this stage, and it seems we're stuck with what we have.

There was a proposal for a pan-EU system to replace the whole lot of them with something which looks more like the Swiss plug. Quite a neat little device with two round pins and a 3rd earth pin slightly out of line. It's now being used in South Africa and Brazil, but not in the EU where it was designed in the first place.

It wasn't adopted because CEE 7 is used in almost all of Europe and the UK had no particular interest in changing plugs. Italy and Denmark seem to be moving towards CEE 7 sockets now too, so in reality it will just leave the UK and Swiss systems as the odd balls eventually. And even the Swiss system accepts low-power Europlugs on things like mobile chargers etc.
 
3kW or more on washers and dryers are a thing of the past over here.

Vented and condenser dryers now peak out at 3kw, washers have been at 2,2-2,4 kW max for 2 decades, close to 3 even. Only manufacturer to offer a true 16A𖠼-240V with 3,5kW on a washer is V-Zug.

Didn't BSH now fit one of those systems on their DW where you get a seperate power cord that plugs into the machine itself? Like on laptops.
This system makes international marketing a magnitude easier.

On EU overall, the trend is towards low wattage systems. Heatpump dryers (most sold dryer type in Germany by now) never draw more the 1,5kW. Candy&#92Hoovers smaller machines draw only 1,5kW as well, Whirlpools smaller model range like our Bauknecht now only draw 1,85kW.
Even fridges now run on ultra low wattage compressors. The systems are designed to basicly only compensate heat loss. Thus, compressors now run almost 24/7.
 
Don't understand.

With heating power of between 2.5kW and 3.1kW why do some complain European vented dryers take "so long" to dry say a full 11lb load from a front loader?

Can understand condenser dryers but even my Whirlpool compact with its pitiful 1300w heater can dry 5kg in about an 1 1/2 hours.
 
I guess that's more about the market target group. Miele only sells EU sized washers in the US, thus being only in the compact market. And where compacts are needed, there are rarely vents.

Miele only offers 1 vented and 1 condenser model here in Germany as well. So, prepare for heatpumps.
 
Speaking of Italy, you didn't have dryers or common appliances typically above 3kwh because the typical household is only allowed to pull 3300 watts per hour hence 3,3kwh, this is what the standard meters are set for, go over 3,3kwh and the thing shut off itself, meaning that while you're running a 3kwh dryer or whatever if you have a refrigerator and a few lamps on either you launder in the dark and unplug the fridge or what exceed.
Also, schucko german plugs are not what you find commonly, you still have the Italian setting in many homes, which may include the small-plugs & adaptors and some large scattered around... small ones are not meant for such high absorbition at all.
Said this, I'm sure some twin tubs and automatics such as the Servis and others actually had 3kwh heaters...so did toploaders from Servis and such:
http://automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/...TERMIKEUK.jpg&dir=/COLLECTIONS/CHESTERMIKEUK/
If one didn't know would assume that for washers that was also done as typical UK machines were hot&cold fill machines vs the continent, heating time would shorten...
But so was here....no element in an automatic FL would be 3kwh ever ...2650 at max.
Am really not aware of what dryers were elsewhere, but few I've seen would not go over 2650-at max 2750-2800 watts.
I've owned and used Euro electric vented dryers for years, changed some and they all would dry relativly fast, a full 6kg load towels spun at 600-700 would take about 1,5hr...depending on the dryer, 1000rpm 50 mins... the white knight I owned before the Speed Queen was the fastest I've ever used....
Slower than US dryers, but not indecently slow....US dryers would move more air and actually heat the laundry slightly less than many euro vented dryers I've seen, the more power makes for the muuuch larger size and air they move.
Condensr dryers instead...forget about, we're talking 2+ hours and I personally rached the peak of 4hrs for a load...heat pump...don't let me start.
 

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