Micro twin-tubs

[kenmore1978]

3000 watts

Laundress, you might wantt to go ahead and install a 220 volt 30 amp dryer-type outlet for that ironer. Or, you might get away with a 220 volt 20 amp outlet (some room A/C units use this, the outlet has 2 horizontal slots and the ground hole instead of the 2 vertical slots or 1 vertical and one horizontal or T-shaped slot and ground hole 110 volt 15 and 20 amp outlets have)

 

[yaktx]

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.

 

[yaktx]

Here's another silly idea!

International Power Adapter, Plugs, Electrical Outlets - Interpower

If you're in the market for international power adapters, plugs or electrial outlets, be sure to check out the our online catalog.

www.interpower.com

Too bad it's only rated 1250 VA, but that's enough for this washer.

The price list on this site is virtually indecipherable. I'm pretty sure I don't want to know how much this puppy costs anyway.

 

[DADoES]

Another Texan! Welcome to the group!

 

[Designgeek]

Hmm, I guess I won't be messing around with power conversions...

Kirk, interesting infos; your comparisons are a good summary of the differences between the UK machines and the Asian ones. Folks in the UK typically use the auto-rinse/spin function, and I think it's related to the higher spin speeds.

I wonder what the power consumption is, for those 3100-rpm spinners, i.e. how many watts the motor draws. Power consumption on my Danby (Asian-made, 1600-rpm spin) is 100 watts, and the loads come out sufficiently dry that they'll hang-dry on an indoor line in about six hours (overnight when it's cold).

I'm also wondering about comparative water usage for the UK spin/rinse vs. the Asian flow-through rinse in the washtub. The flow-through rinse requires a full washtub, about 15 gallons, but once the rinsewater is going through clean (i.e. without visible suds), it can be used for the subsequent wash load. BTW, don't try the spin/rinse routine in a machine that doesn't have controls set up for it; that means it's not designed for it. I tried it and the motor didn't like it one bit, which got me back to my "soak in minimal water in the washtub, spin out, repeat" routine.

Curiosity is contagious; looks like I'm going to be experimenting some more here over the weekend