220 volts mains

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I want to use a 220 volts 50 Hz washing machine in canada

changing fron 50 Hz to 60 Hz will increase motor from 1500 RPM to 1800 RPM

voltage should be change in the same ratio from 220 volts nominal to 264 volts to maintain magnetic flux level.

so using 240 volts 60Hz main should not be that bad.

What about grounding. In canada the distribution system is basicly a center tap transformer ( Edison System ) so 240 volts is 2-120 volts winding in series and ground is in the center.

In europe they use 3 phase system is it Y connected or delta connected ??? how do they ground the machines ( sheet metal frame)
 
3-phase system in Europe is not 220 V but 380 V. Actually, nowadays it's 230 V and 400 V.

The whole grid is constructed as a 3-phase system, but in houses usually only one of the three live wires (L1, L2 or L3) is used with neutral (N) as the return conductor. Each one of L1...L3 measures 230 V with respect to N.
In Europe there is no need for the split phase system (Edison system) since mains voltage is already at 230 V. The three-phase system is usually only used in commercial buildings for heavy machinery.

You're talking about a 220 V machine, so you're talking about a single phase device. So no worries about delta or Y-connections.
It will have a three-pole plug: L, N and PE (protective earth). A 3-phase connector would have 5 pole plug (L1, L2, L3, N and PE).

Theoretically, you could use both taps of the Edison System (one connected to L and the other to N) and leave the centre tap unconnected (just like a centre tapped transformer of which you only use the "outer" two taps to get the full voltage). PE will need to be connected in the usual way to earth.
It's not really important in which direction. In many European countries (e.g. The Netherlands and Germany which use the CEE7/4 plug, aka "Schuko") a plug can be inserted in the socket in two ways (swapping L and N) without any problems.
If I understand Wikipedia correctly the connection would be according to NEMA6 (hot-hot-ground).
I'm not giving you any guarantees, so consult an electrician before you proceed!

Note on usage of English:
live wire = hot wire
earth = ground

European colour coding system:
live = brown
neutral = blue
protective earth = yellow/green
 
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So you are telling me that the 3 phase system is Y connected 220 / 380 volts 4 wires, each home is connected betwen 1 phase and neutral.

You also indicate that reversing line and neutral should not be a problem, so working from LINE to LINE to get 240 volts from an edison system should work.

I should of course also ground the shell of the machine to earth.

I did have some information but you feed me many details about power distrbution in europe that I did not know and those will be usefull.

Yhank you.
 
So you are telling me that the 3 phase system is Y connected 220 / 380 volts 4 wires, each home is connected betwen 1 phase and neutral.

More or less, yes.

In The Netherlands (NL) all houses have a three-phase fusebox where the power line enters the house. In most older houses and small apartments only one main-fuse is installed and there is a single-phase meter; in modern houses, however, usually all three fuses are installed with a three-phase meter. The subcircuits are spread across these three phases.

In houses with 3-phase connection to the grid the use of heavy equipment, like induction cookers, is possible. These induction cookers often need to be connected to 2 phases with N (2x 230 V, NOT 400 V!), to spread the 7 kW load as a single 230 V circuit is limited to 16 A (3.68 kW) in houses in NL.

Almost all "real" 3-phase (i.e. 400 V) devices are to be found in industrial buildings. 3-phase devices can be connected using Y or delta-connection.
Very heavy electric motors, e.g., present too much of a load for the power grid to be started from stationary in delta-connection. The peak-load would overload the system. To prevent that, it's started in Y connection and switched to delta connection when at speed. This way the starting load (but also starting torque) is limited to 1/3 of what it would have been when started with delta connection.

You also indicate that reversing line and neutral should not be a problem, so working from LINE to LINE to get 240 volts from an edison system should work.

Yes, it's AC, so no polarity to worry about. As I wrote, our sockets allow plugging in two ways. As far as I know there's no regulation that says how to wire L and N in plugs and sockets in NL (maybe there is in countries with plugs that can only be inserted one way, like e.g. the UK).
The connection desribed for the NEMA 6 connector (NEMA connector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) seems to me to be the right way to connect the washing machine as NEMA 6 is meant for the 208V/240V connection to two phase/split-phase electric power. I presume ground = protective earth (connected to the chassis) in this connection.

I should of course also ground the shell of the machine to earth.

Obviously.

I did have some information but you feed me many details about power distrbution in europe that I did not know and those will be usefull.

Well, reading Wikipedia Three-phase electric power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia it doesn't seem that different from US or Canadian systems. Two exceptions: we have no split-phase systems and connection across two phases doesn't happen, with 230 V mains there was no need for that.
As a result equipment comes in just two versions: either 230 V single phase or 400 V three-phase.
 
Interesting. More than one way to skin a cat. It is curious that with a 230V line-neutral supply, there is no polarity on your outlets. It is helpful to know which conductor is the grounded leg for noise/leakage capacitance issues.

I'm jealous that residents even have access to three phase power. What a nice rectifier that would be with minimal filter components.
 
Interesting. More than one way to skin a cat. It is curious that with a 230V line-neutral supply, there is no polarity on your outlets. It is helpful to know which conductor is the grounded leg for noise/leakage capacitance issues.

Hifi magazines adressed this issue. They wrote to connect a device to mains only and measure the AC voltage on the chassis with respect to the earth-pin of the socket with a high input impedance meter (like a digital DMM). Then repeat the measurement with the plug turned 180 degrees. Whichever gives the lowest result is the best way to plug in as less voltage differential equals less leakage current. Mark socket and plug. Do this for all devices seperately before connecting them back together again.

I found that on devices with linear PSU's there's usually a lot more difference than with SMPSs.
To be honest, I never heard any difference between plugging in one way or another.

I'm jealous that residents even have access to three phase power. What a nice rectifier that would be with minimal filter components.

Theoretically, maybe, but I never heard of anyone doing that. Besides, a three-phase socket would probably only be installed near a device like an induction cooker, you won't find it in a living room or study.
 
Hifi magazines adressed this issue. They wrote to connect a device to mains only and measure the AC voltage on the chassis with respect to the earth-pin of the socket with a high input impedance meter (like a digital DMM). Then repeat the measurement with the plug turned 180 degrees. Whichever gives the lowest result is the best way to plug in as less voltage differential equals less leakage current. Mark socket and plug. Do this for all devices seperately before connecting them back together again.

I found that on devices with linear PSU's there's usually a lot more difference than with SMPSs.

That doesn't directly measure leakage current unless you know the impedance of your voltmeter (both R and C)...
If both lines have low pass filters to ground, which are common to all smps to attenuate emi, you will see 1/2 mains with an infinite impedance voltmeter. real life you would see less than that, but not by much.
Any difference is entirely the tolerance on those Y caps. (220nF is 12Kohms at 60hz)

I suspect most linear supplies have no capacitors line to ground (my experience) so all you are measuring is the leakage current on the 60hz main (micro amps), or some impedance network consisting of differential stray capacitance in the transformer. (outer windings farther away from the core than the inner windings)

In a situation where noise on the chassis/ground matters, then the signal should have its own ground, and the two separated.
 
Whichever gives the lowest result is the best way to plug in

O, sure, I can determine which way is the best to wire, but going from outlet to outlet (or house to house) would require one to repeat the measurement. It's nice to have standards for that reason, and polarized plugs.


Besides, a three-phase socket would probably only be installed near a device like an induction cooker, you won't find it in a living room or study.

But if I had three phase run to my house, you would certainly find a circuit run to my audio system. Just keep it quiet ssssshhhhhh......
 
audio fan seems still to be convinced he has a 3 phase machine. He keeps talking about y connected or delta connected. 220 VAC in western hemisphere is single phases, the two hots are opposite polarity 180 deg out of phase, not 120 deg out of phase. The difference between the west and the east is west has a center tap in the 220 single phase, that is used by low current appliances at 110 VAC. There is no such center tap in the eastern hemisphere. With standards creeping from from 110 VAC to 120 VAC for low wattage appliances, that puts the two hot difference at 240VAC in the west, a little hot for an eastern hemisphere appliance. The three phase voltage for a single leg in the western hemisphere is 208AC. In european houses, as I understand it, every low current wall plug has two hots 180 degrees out of phase, plus a safety ground instead of a neutral. He should check the current on his washer after he plugs it in with a clamp on AC ammeter, to ensure he doesn't have too much current. If he does he could buy a 208-220 VAC transformer and run it backwards, but with installation it would probably be cheaper to buy a new washing machine. Note installation in US & Canada is required by code to be done by licensed electricians. Fires resulting from non-licensed installations are not covered by homeowner's insurance. There! Sue the electrician that buys into this project, not me. He has liability insurance for this, I don't.
 
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well, i didn't get that at all.

but whatever the case it don't matter.
what matters is the 208/220/240 volts causing issues. induction motors are rather sensitive about V/hz, and when they are sized only just big enough for the job there are additional issues with starting torque and/or temp rise.

washing machines aren't installed by electricians, so he can always say he didn't know it was a 50Hz machine
 
you don't have three prong outlets over there?
ground should be tied to neutral at the breaker box.

No, we don't. Buildings with only one phase connected will only have sockets like the one in the picture I attached. It shows an earthed version of the Schuko socket in use in NL and Germany. In buildings with three phases connected, chances are you'll also only find these with the possible exception of the kitchen and the room for the washer and dryer.

Older buildings have no earthing in e.g. living rooms and bedrooms (only in "wet" areas). Those rooms have the unearthed version of this socket which is far shallower and without the exposed pins on the sides. As of 1996 all sockets in new houses and must be earthed.
Despite the fact that I live in an old building, even behind unearthed sockets a PE-wire was tucked away, so I only had to change the sockets!

As far as I know PE and N are not cross connected in the fusebox in NL, although they both should carry earth potential (0 V). N comes from the transformer house or distribution point in the street/area. PE is connected to a very long pin (2 - 3 m) which is driven in the ground, usually in the pit where the water meter sits. In the past PE was often connected to water pipes but that's no longer allowed because they're increasingly replaced by plastic pipes.

I attached the picture of the main fuse box of our appartment building. I shouldn't have been able to open it, but the tamper seals were missing.
This shows old style colour coding as the building is from the early 1960's, but you'll get the picture.
As you can see, only L1..L3 and N are present, PE is not. What the miniature copy on the right is for.....??? Beats me, the colours correspond with that of the big one.
 

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In european houses, as I understand it, every low current wall plug has two hots 180 degrees out of phase, plus a safety ground instead of a neutral.

You understand wrong. It's always L, N and PE (Live, Neutral and Protective Earth). We do not have the split single phase system with the 180 degree phase shift, each phase is at 230 V with respect to neutral.

Note installation in US & Canada is required by code to be done by licensed electricians. Fires resulting from non-licensed installations are not covered by homeowner's insurance. There! Sue the electrician that buys into this project, not me. He has liability insurance for this, I don't.

Luckily washing machines and dryers come with the plug attached over here and it's just a matter of plugging it into the socket.
 
Back to your main question.

What I would do is dissassemble it and check if the motor has a 110 tap. Most equipment is designed for 110/220 operation. Depending on what market its headed for determines the final connection. As for the 50/60 Hz problem, its only going to run a little faster on 60 Hz. The fix for this is to order a 60 Hz pulley from the manufacturer and install it.
 
Jitter,if you...

measure between the two 230 splits, do you get 460 or 0?
In the US, washers come with cable attached but dryers do not.
There are two types of dryers in the US- natural gas (110V) and electric (220V).
Gas dryers come with cable attached.
 
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Deutchland Electriche...

You're right! Are those round things circuit breakers or fuses? Kind of a nasty looking box if you ask me. In the US each apartment unit has its own panel of a dozen or so breakers.

I'm an Army Brat who's spent time in Germany and I've actually handled them. The round device is a screw-in outer shell for a tapered, sand-filled cartridge fuse. The red dot in the center of the fuse is an indicator disk that pops out when the fuse is blown.
 
measure between the two 230 splits, do you get 460 or 0?

No, you get 230 V. One is neutral (0 V), the other live (230 V), the exposed pins are PE.

In the US, washers come with cable attached but dryers do not.

Where's the logic in that?

There are two types of dryers in the US- natural gas (110V) and electric (220V).

Here too, but all are 230 V as we only have that one (apart from 400 V).
 

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To me, this connection looks to have been overheated. It might need to be looked at.

The cable ends seem to be soldered on. I think they damaged the insulation while soldering (touched by the soldering iron, perhaps) and tried to cover it up with some of the resin they poured in the bottom (wonder if still do that anno 2010, don't think so).

The slightly darker patches on the blue and white cable are caused by shade as I was illuminating the fusebox with an inspection lamp from aside.
 
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