Heating power in washers ( W = V * A)

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Help me understand : for what I know it' power that counts.

A 1100 W element heats up the same way, regardless it is 110 V / 10 A or 220 V / 5 A

Once in a trade exibition I saw a Filter Flo & atching dryer.
This dryer (note 220 V) a 5600 W heater , that's nearly as double the max available power (3,3 KW) avilable in a average italian household.

Just wonder if this dryer had the same 5600 W power in the US 110 V version and if all electric heated US dryers have such high power coils.
 
double the max available power (3,3 KW) avilable in a averag

Carlo,
3Kw is the standard
4,5Kw is an intemediate power available
6Kw is the power some house have for big charges

Then ENEL provide you with a 10% of plus so 3,3Kw, 5Kw, 6,6Kw

So with a simple 10A on a circuit of 6Kw you can chare up to 6600W

Diomede
 
US electric dryers operate on 220V. We have 30 amp plugs for them, and a pretty typical element size is somewhere around 4500W. 4500W/220V=20.45A. Some areas have 240V instead of 220 (this house has 240) so the current would work out to be about 18A.

Some dryers have bigger elements in them, but the one I've got is a 4500W unit.
 
Diomede, that is very wrong!

A 10 amp circuit can't supply no more than 10 amps of current.
Being as said P= V * I = V^2/R and V = R * I
So at nominal 230V it is 2300 watts of power
at 110V it would be no more than 1100 watts otherwise there is a circuit overheating or thermal switch cut off or fuse blowing.

6600 Watts of power at 230V are 30Amps of current flowing in the wires! Three times what you just said.

As far as I know all american dryers with those big coils run at 220V split phase hot to hot connection, isn't it? with ground and neutral (for the parts needing only 110V).
110V circuits are limited to only either 15 or 20 amperes of current (that is 1650 and 2200W respectively)

Anyway, running an element rated 5600W at 220V (25Amps), with a voltage of 110 produces only P=V^2/R=1400Watts with half current flow.
 
Keep In Mind

At least in North America appliances modern code frowns upon appliances pulling more than 80% max of the ciruct.

Thus from a 20amp/120 (or 110) circut one should not pull the full 2400 watts of power for continous and or long periods, but rather about 1920 watts.

It all comes down to the wiring. If the wiring was sized a grade or two above the circut, one *may* get away with certian things. However, especially in older homes, it is not uncommon to find say a 20amp or even 30 amp fuse but the wiring was left in place for 10amps. Sooner or later pulling too much power for the wires is going to cause them to over heat/melt and cause a fire.
 
no, it is not 10 A, as it is a single phase supply @ 220 V.

In my home we got it to run the old G507 (3300 W) and the W780 (3200 W) in the meanwhile.

A few years ago we had the 780 switched to run with the 2000 W coil only, so in case of need we can run both the W780 and the W844 in the meanwhile with the Favorit (2200 W)

We 've three phase feeds only in commercial/industrial supplies

I read on the german forum of a vintage miele with a monster 6000w coil. The owner wrote it boiled water from tap cold by 5/6 mins
 
the real core of my question was

" If US dryers have a 4500 W coil @ 220 V, why US washers can't have a 2000 W one as -i.e.- the european version of the Duet ?? "

Actually Launderess answered me in the Miele Usa thread (modern board) : 220 V lines aren't so common/allowed everywhere in the US and gas dryers are quite common

IMHO Gas dryers are more energy efficent, it's a pity that here the only household one we had here (miele T478 G) has been discontinued recently (think because of the latest gas safety norms)

Everytime energy changes its form, there is a loss in efficency.
In oil power stations there is : burning --->heat--->steam--->mechanical--->electric. Each step has a loss
So in an electric heated dryer/washer there is a further loss : electric-->heat.
Gas heated machines have just one step gas combustion-->heat

this makes sense why in some commercial laundries not only dryers, but even washer and ironers are gas heated
 
It depends....

220V isn't common for washers simply due to the fact that 120V is the standard voltage here. We have large tank-type water heaters, and usually the hot water is sufficient to launder the clothes without much issue.

Gas dryers are faster to dry, but not necessarily more efficient. It depends heavily on where the gas is coming from, how the electricity was generated, and how the heating medium is being put to use. It was missed in the gas step that the gas had to be refined, pressurized, dried, processed, and transported (all of which are expensive and massive energy wasters).

Commercial laundries use gas simply due to the electrical load. If every dryer was electric, you'd have to have an electrical feed the size of your leg to supply the building with enough power to run all those appliances at once!

In all reality, it depends on where you live what works better. Down here gas actually costs MORE than electricity! Go figure! So it's actually cheaper ( at least in this town ) to run electric appliances instead of gas.

Electric dryers have one additional benefit: No nasty "gas smell" when the clothes are done. I had a gas dryer in my old apartment, and the laundry always emerged with the telltale smell of "gas" in them. I'll never have another gas dryer simply for that reason. Yuck!
 
Carlo,

Running a over 3000 Watts appliance on a 10 Amps connection is dangerous and would lead to a shortage due to overusing the circuit. It could cause a fire in the system, so be careful.

Now to your original question, a 5600 Watts dryer on a 110 Volts circuit is simply impossible. Dryers with such a wattage all run on 220 Volts in the USA. To run such a dryer you would need a 51 Amps circuit. A bigger problems would be wires for so much power. I don't think there are thick enough wires in normal houses to handle that wattage with that voltage. You need thicker wires at 110 Volts than at 220 Volts with 5600 Watts.
 
Diomede, that is very wrong!

SORRY!!! :((
Maths has never been my best LOL!

I meant... with a 6Kw power provided you can charge until 6600W with a minimun of 30A

:)
Diomede
 
Thanks Louis, anyway there's no problem : each appliance of mine is connected to its own 16 A circuit, overpower switch, shortage safety switch (RCD)

Before moving to this home we had its wirings totally remade, even in order to bear those vintage german 3000 W appliances (oven, W , DW) and had a 6KW supply from ENEL (el.co.)

Anyway, as Diomede wrote, if I'd go over the max 6,6 KW available (even just by 10/20 W over), the electric co. power metering device would switch off

Back to the GE dryer I so @ Milan fair 20years ago :
it was too early for dryers here and those 5600W didn't help.
GE now here sells only french door fridges
 
~If US dryers have a 4,500w coil @ 220v, why can't U.S. washers have a 2,000w one as would the European version of the Duet?

They can, but WHY? And what would they plug-in to?
Let me explain.

The typical laundry room here has a 110v 20 amp line for the washer (say 2,200w MAX). If there is no gas line for the dryer the laundry room will have a 220v 30a line for the dryer (say 6,600w max).

The reason we need a special heavy-duty 220 volt line for the dryer is that you can't squeeze enough wattage through a 20a line at 110v to have a fast dryer. This may explain why all of our dryers are typically vented. We don't DO conderser dryer here. If you have to facilitate (and pre-plan) a special electrical line, you would also facilitate venting requirements at the same time.

Stated another way, in 220v lands your clothes dryers are plug-and-play; they can be plugged in anywhere and work. Here we need a special line in that 220v is the exception and used only for high-draw heating appliances, and for space-cooling as well.

So in order to have a 220 washer here:

1- There must be an unused dryer outlet designed for an electric dryer.
2- The washer circuit must be a dedicated / separate 20a line which is then convertible to 220v. It should be noted that when a gas dryer is used, a normal US washer and dryer share a 110v 20a line/circuit.
3- We would have to run a new and separate line.

Culturally speaking, the need for a heater in washers never existed and the need for one is not yet believed to exist. T op-loading US washer were large-capacity, fast, cleaned very well and excelled at mud and grease removal--things which require WATER--and lots of it. Yes front-loaders do remove some stains very well, but --trust me-- when I had to wash moldy and mildewed fabrics that had surived a flood there was no question as to which type of machine got the clothes REALLY fresh and clean. For truly thoroughly filthy clothes you just need water, lots of water, plain and simple.
 
Telltale gas smell? We now have a gas dryer, the only difference i noticed between gas and electric is the speed of drying. I do not detect any smell any different, than laundry dried in our electric dryer for the past 20 years. Can anyone else tell when clothes are dried in gas or electric? alr2903
 
I can smell the gas, or actually the byproducts of combustion only when the door is opened mid-cycle. For me once the cool-down at the end has taken place, there is no noticable difference.

Propane may be worse than natural gas, however.

On some gas-heated machines you can notice the yellowing of the area where the heated air enters the dryer, usually the rear bulkhead "mesh".

If I had to vote, I'd say electric is cleaner overall, with gas being greener (unless your electric is hydro-electric or solar) and a bit gentler in that one of the normal byproducts of gas combustion is water vapor.

CH4 + O2 => Heat + CO2 + H20
 

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