GE Dryer - any good? Help me please

[DADoES]

3-Phase??

 
Typical 240v dryers on the U.S. market are not 3-phase ... unless I'm not understanding what is the reference to 3-phase in this discussion.

 

[henene4]

Said I'm not a profi abou this, but....

... a normal 120V-plug (220V in Europe) has 1 ground, 1 "hot" wire and 1 neutral, or am I wrong? And as far as I know a US-dryer has 1 ground, 1 neutral and 2 "hot" wires?
Sorry, but I may have in fact been dumb this time. I meant 2/3 "hot" wires and one neutral...

 

[DADoES]

 
Well, yes.  2 hot legs, 1 neutral (and 1 ground if the outlet is 4-wire).

That's not 3-phase per U.S. standards.  3-phase would be 3 hot wires.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-phase_AC

 

[henene4]

Jep, messed that up!

Sorry for that, ment what you said, just being dumb.
But any way, even with 2 hots, he still has the same problem...

 

[cfz2882]

the north American market dryer could be modified to work on a European 220v circuit if a step-down transformer of enough capacity to run a ~1/4 HP motor is connected to power the motor/controls side of the dryer,~5.5 amps- though transformer might need to be oversized to start the "split phase"motor reliably.Motor and timer will run a little slower on 50HZ,but that probably won't cause any trouble.

 

[gorenje]

@ cfz2882 : Excuse me for my stupidity. I don't have a good knowledge about electricity. But if the dryer is in some way "already" 220 V which transformer would it fit?
A 380 V transformer to 220V?

OMG what a pity!
Now I understand why no one bought it.

 

[henene4]

Well, no...

.. we talk about 220V to 115V. This dryers timer is running at 115V but the heater can handle somewhat between 208V and 240V. So your heater is despite a bigger fuse that would be needen (30A probably) not the problem. But your timer can't handle this power. Further, this cord has 3 wires (I got it right now...) plus a grounding, a normal EU 220V socket has only 2 conectors plus grounding.

 

[gorenje]

...aha ok, now it's clear

 

[combo52]

North American GE Dryer

If this is really a US style dryer it would need to be modified in several ways to run in your country.

This dryer is designed to run on 120-208 or 120-240 volt power @ 60 Hz. To use on straight 200-240 volt power you would need a transformer for the main drive motor, it runs on 120 and the timer motor would also need to run on this transformer or you could use a resister to drop the voltage to around 120.

The biggest problem is if you have 50 HZ power is the drum will turn TOO SLOWLY and the clothing will just ball up and not dry well at all. The motor pulley is not replaceable on this dryer, but there may be a way to cut off the end of the motors shaft and get a bigger 50HZ pulley and attach it, otherwise I would not even brother with this dryer.

These GE dryers are only average at best among US dryers in durability, but this again would be the least of your problems for the light use you would give it, but when compared to European dryers it will still seem very durable.

 

[foraloysius]

"but when compared to European dryers it will still seem very durable."

Must be based on your experience in a secret life in Europe as a repairman...

 

[vacbear58]

Electrical supply

I have seen these in the UK (I appreciate that this is not a European version) and in every case they have ALWAYS required a 30amp or 32amp supply when single phase.

 

[hoover1100]

It would need a fairly hefty power supply

Since I believe the heaters alone on these things pull 5.2kwh.

Might be best to get it checked/installed by a qualified electrician, no offence intended to anyone, but U.S. electrical safety regulations seem pretty lax compared to ours.

 

[gorenje]

Thank you "combo52"

I give up! Sadly!
It looked like a mirage when I saw it, and in fact has become a mirage.

I'm not a technician able to do such radical changes to it. So I will be using my "old" Bosch...