circuit capacity
"IIRC our electrican told us most homes in the United States have outlets whose wiring only allows up to about 3000 watts. Over that and one runs the risk of burning down the house as the wiring simply gets too hot handling such a load."
Less than 3000. 2400 tops for a kitchen or laundry circuit, and in some areas, not more than 1800 watts for outlets elsewhere in the house. I definitely wouldn't connect a step-up transformer to a 120 volt circuit for this much load!
It is much cheaper and safer to install a properly-rated 240V circuit. If you have an electric dryer, you have a circuit that is rated for 7200 watts, or 5760 for continuous use of 3 hours or more. This requires #10 wire. If you have an electric range, it may be on a circuit that is rated for 12,000 watts, or 9600 continuously. This requires #6 wire. Compare this to the much smaller #12 or #14 wire in most household circuits!
I'm not familiar with ironers. The heater and steam boiler are resistive loads which are unaffected by frequency. If the pump is a small one, it may be rated 50/60 Hz.
Is this AEG washer rated 50 Hz only? I'd be interested to know how long it has been running on 60 Hz. I suspect it is less of a problem than the other way around. Also, if it is not running in a hot place, might not kill it.
"IIRC our electrican told us most homes in the United States have outlets whose wiring only allows up to about 3000 watts. Over that and one runs the risk of burning down the house as the wiring simply gets too hot handling such a load."
Less than 3000. 2400 tops for a kitchen or laundry circuit, and in some areas, not more than 1800 watts for outlets elsewhere in the house. I definitely wouldn't connect a step-up transformer to a 120 volt circuit for this much load!
It is much cheaper and safer to install a properly-rated 240V circuit. If you have an electric dryer, you have a circuit that is rated for 7200 watts, or 5760 for continuous use of 3 hours or more. This requires #10 wire. If you have an electric range, it may be on a circuit that is rated for 12,000 watts, or 9600 continuously. This requires #6 wire. Compare this to the much smaller #12 or #14 wire in most household circuits!
I'm not familiar with ironers. The heater and steam boiler are resistive loads which are unaffected by frequency. If the pump is a small one, it may be rated 50/60 Hz.
Is this AEG washer rated 50 Hz only? I'd be interested to know how long it has been running on 60 Hz. I suspect it is less of a problem than the other way around. Also, if it is not running in a hot place, might not kill it.
