More European Appliances in the US??


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Thread Number: 11002
More European Appliances in the US??

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Post# 199264 3/24/2007 at 04:51 (6,235 days old) by washboy2005 (UK)
Checkrate/Likes While having a browse through US ebay, having a look at what washers were about, saw something that caught my eye.... An Indesit!! I had no idea Indesit were sold in the US, I reckon the machine in the listing is 240V or whatever it is over here, so surely it would not run over in US?? Link Below to the Indesit CLICK HERE TO GO TO washboy2005's LINK on eBay

Post# 199265 , Reply# 1 3/24/2007 at 04:57 (6,235 days old) by washboy2005 (UK)
Checkrate/Likes *And an Old Ariston.....* Here is an old Ariston Washer Dryer sold under the name Equator?? I thought Equator over there were Servis machines? LOL Easily confused.... Although these Ariston machines were very well built!, My Dad has one and its washed well for him with no problems for about 8 years now! Link Below :-D CLICK HERE TO GO TO washboy2005's LINK on eBay

Post# 199266 , Reply# 2 3/24/2007 at 05:01 (6,235 days old) by washboy2005 (UK)
Checkrate/Likes *And Last one for now.....* Another Washer Dryer combo unit that appears to be an old Indesit too. This and the Ariston in above post are made by the same people, I think.... someone correct me if I'm wrong. These machines again were very well built.... Way better than the Indesit Company could churn out nowadays me thinks! Just some random Interest LOL Dan CLICK HERE TO GO TO washboy2005's LINK on eBay

Post# 199268 , Reply# 3 3/24/2007 at 06:14 (6,234 days old) by mrx ()
Checkrate/Likes It would possibly be quite happy on a US dryer supply, although the 60hz is not really ideal European machines are designed to run on 230V +/- 10% at 50Hz. (207 - 253V) They're also designed so that polarity is not an issue. i.e. the normal European grounded plug is fully invertable i.e. you can connect it either way. Thus, polarity is random. Because of this, the machines are designed so that they function perfectly in either polarity. This means, that on a US supply with 2 hots, the machine should still function perfectly safely. Just remember the colour code when fitting a US plug EU code: Blue - Neutral Brown - Live/Hot Green & Yellow striped cable - Ground (Earth) It's worth noting that there are (or at least were until releatively recently) a few pockets in europe where you could still find supplies that provided 2 X 127V hots rather than 220V hot and a 0V neutral. The difference between those 2 hot cables was 220V. Pre 1950s, some european countries had a mixture of 127V and 220V appliances, much the same as the US has now only at 50Hz. In the 1950s, everything was standardised to 220V 50Hz. In some older installations, this was achieved simply by installing new outlets and providing them all with 2 X hot wires. Thus, polarity didn't matter at all. All appliances, including lamps etc, were designed to operate safely in this environment. There was a further harmonisation in the early 1990s which is still on-going to bring the UK, Malta and Cyprus into line with the rest of Europe. The UK, Malta and Cyprus used a slightly higher nominal voltage : 240V 50Hz Rest of Europe (including the Rep. of Ireland) used 220V 50Hz So, they set the EU-wide nominal voltage as 230V 50Hz and all appliances were manufactured to this specification. 220V and 240V supplies are within their designed tollerances. However, EU supplies are being moved closer to 230V 50Hz. It's more significant that the UK drops its voltage to 230V as 240V supplies when they peak / spike can go outside the 230V +/-10% range!! In general it has meant that surge protectors are a little more warrented in the UK, Malta and Cyprus than elsewhere in the EU. Although, in my experience, no where in Northern Europe has voltages as unstable as I have noticed in parts of North America. We had regular brownouts and spikes in urban Boston that toasted some IT equipment. I have never experienced anything like that in Europe. The only problem I think you could have in the US is that the supplies in your homes are 240V and I am not sure what the allowed range of voltages is i.e. you could end up with a peak voltage of >250V which could be outside the tollerance of a normal European appliance and could damage sensitive circuitry. You could end up shortening the life of the appliance, particularly the programmer.

Post# 199269 , Reply# 4 3/24/2007 at 06:20 (6,234 days old) by mrx ()
Checkrate/Likes Oh one other thing: Circuit protection / fusing: European appliances are designed to be connected to a circuit protected by a 16Amp breaker. It's quite dangerous to connect them directly to a heavy US dryer circuit as the cables etc would not be designed to cope with a 40+A fault and would quite likely catch fire should something short circuit. Thus, it's advisable to connect them only to an appropriately rated 220V circuit!!

Post# 199288 , Reply# 5 3/24/2007 at 09:59 (6,234 days old) by seamusuk (Dover Kent UK)
Checkrate/Likes *The Indesit....* Is a current UK model and it has European energy ratings - I have absolutly no idea how it ended up in the US lol!!!. Yes it will PROBABLY! run from a 220V dryer outlet but as MrX pointed out the frequency etc could be a problem. The main problem though is service and parts- both of which will be pretty much impossible to find!! Seamus

Post# 199290 , Reply# 6 3/24/2007 at 10:05 (6,234 days old) by seamusuk (Dover Kent UK)
Checkrate/Likes *Here it is...* Link to the UK site CLICK HERE TO GO TO seamusuk's LINK

Post# 199319 , Reply# 7 3/24/2007 at 12:30 (6,234 days old) by petek (Ontari ari ari O )
Checkrate/Likes I've never seen an Indesit here in Canada. Equators were sold in some of the larger kitchen and appliance showrooms over the last few years and I noticed that The Bay (dept store) now carries an Ariston washer and dryer set along with Miele, which also used to be the sole domain of those big showroom type stores or small independents catering to the tonier mucky muks. Probably the growth in upscale condo's especially in the bigger cities is the reason we're finally seeing more and more of the smaller euro machines.

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