Plug a 240V-110V US Dryer in Europe

[Frederic C]

Hello,
I have bought a Whirlpool Dryer in the US, and I have now moved to
Spain. I have brought my dryer with me, thinkiing that as the power
supply is 220V DC with ground here, it would not be a problrm to plug
it.
I realized that I need to bring also 110V to the command circuit of
the dryer, and for this I have a transformer 220V to 110V.
Now my question is: How do I connect the 4 wires coming off my dryer
(ground-green, neutral-white, black and red) to my power supplies
(2-wires 110V, and 2-wires + ground 220V) ?
Thanks for your help.

Frederic Chambon.

 

[Rich Grise]

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 13:58:59 -0700, Frederic C wrote:

Hello,
I have bought a Whirlpool Dryer in the US, and I have now moved to Spain.
I have brought my dryer with me, thinkiing that as the power supply is
220V DC with ground here, it would not be a problrm to plug it.
I realized that I need to bring also 110V to the command circuit of the
dryer, and for this I have a transformer 220V to 110V. Now my question is:
How do I connect the 4 wires coming off my dryer (ground-green,
neutral-white, black and red) to my power supplies (2-wires 110V, and
2-wires + ground 220V) ? Thanks for your help.

You might already be out of luck. It's a little late now to un-ship a
dryer to Spain.

The problem you're going to face is that in the US, the white neutral
is connected to earth ground at the entrance panel, so there should
ideally be no difference of potential at all between the white neutral
and green safety ground. I don't know if that can be reproduced in Spain,
because I don't know how their grounding is arranged, but I'd be surprised
to find out that they ground the center-tap of 220V mains.

So, you could theoretically run it, but probably not safely.

If one side of the 220V mains is grounded, you're shit out of luck.
You have a very expensive piece of potentially lethal surplus.

But don't take my word for it - ask a Spanish electrotechnico - you
might get lucky. And failing that, there's a remote possibility that
the dryer could be modified, but probably not cheaply.

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[John G]

CAUTION Read at bottom
"Frederic C" <cecile.frederic@telefonica.net> wrote in message
news:db3f0fdc.0410301258.3cbabe4@posting.google.com...

Hello,
I have bought a Whirlpool Dryer in the US, and I have now moved to
Spain. I have brought my dryer with me, thinkiing that as the power
supply is 220V DC with ground here, it would not be a problrm to plug
it.
I realized that I need to bring also 110V to the command circuit of
the dryer, and for this I have a transformer 220V to 110V.
Now my question is: How do I connect the 4 wires coming off my dryer
(ground-green, neutral-white, black and red) to my power supplies
(2-wires 110V, and 2-wires + ground 220V) ?
Thanks for your help.

Frederic Chambon.

You say the supply is 220volts D C ????
I doubt this is true but if it is you are in deep deep trouble.
Your US AC dryer will only issue magic smoke on DC.

The power system in Spain was 220/380v 50hz AC many years ago and would
now, at least in principle, be 230/400v 50hz 3 phase MEN that is one
side of the 230 volts or the 3phase centre point (same thing) is
grounded at the building entry.

You need help from a knowledgeable local electrician.
--
John G

Wot's Your Real Problem?

 

[Frederic C]

Thank you Gene,
First of course the 240V is AC, not DC.
I am willing to try your proposal. I do have a power transformer 240V
=> 110V, but how do I know if it is an insulation-transformer ?
If I understand well, I connect the 240V power to black and red, and
the 110V power (coming out of the transformer) to black and white ...
or should it be the red and white ?

Thanks again for your help.
Frederic.


"Gene the Skeptic" <private@email.000> wrote in message news:<468hd.37011$QJ3.16181@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com>...

There are 2 major differences between the European and US electric systems:
(I use here layman language for comprehensibility)
1. The 240V US voltage is obtained by using two 120V voltages, 180 degree
out of phase from each other and connecting the load between them, thus
summing the voltages. In Europe the residential 220V is a single phase; one
terminal is equivalent to the US white wire, the other to the black wire,
only that the voltage is 83% higher.
2. The frequency in US is 60Hz and in Europe is 50Hz. When the same voltage
is applied, this causes AC-motors to overheat, because the an iron core is
designed for 60Hz and will saturate at 50Hz . To avoid the iron core
saturation at 50Hz one has to decrease the voltage to 50/60 x 240= 200V .
Now to your problem. This solution is only HYPOTHETICAL! One could connect
the European 220V to the BLACK and RED and create an "artificial" WHITE
using an insulation-transformer, with the primary connected to the 220V
(BLACK and RED) and the secondary, at 120V, connected one side to BLACK and
the other to WHITE (it must be an insulation transformer, not an
autotransformer for safety reasons). Because I do not know if the
electronics (supplied by the 120V) in the dryer is sensitive to phase
differences between BLACK and RED, I cannot tell you if it will work. What
is left is now the issue with the motor overheating, which perhaps will not
be excessive with just 10% voltage (200V to 220V). If you are willing to
experiment assisted by an electrician that knows the local code...that is
OK, but of course all the cautions and warnings do apply.
Gene
P.S. I appreciate comments from fellow EE's particularly regarding the
safety and the overheating issues.

Original thread:

Hello,
I have bought a Whirlpool Dryer in the US, and I have now moved to
Spain. I have brought my dryer with me, thinkiing that as the power
supply is 220V DC with ground here, it would not be a problrm to plug
it.
I realized that I need to bring also 110V to the command circuit of
the dryer, and for this I have a transformer 220V to 110V.
Now my question is: How do I connect the 4 wires coming off my dryer
(ground-green, neutral-white, black and red) to my power supplies
(2-wires 110V, and 2-wires + ground 220V) ?
Thanks for your help.

Frederic.