Anyone hear of a 120V clothes dryer? (2023 Update)

You are ignoring the obvious: americans aren't europeans. How are your devices "rated"? What criteria are they using? Or, are you just reporting "personal observations"?

If the latter, then I should instrument my refrigerator and see how it performs given OUR usage patterns, etc. So far, I've just quoted you what the gummit CLAIMS various models consume.

No, the old refrigerator consumes just as much energy as it did, previously. You've added another consumer so your household is now wasting more electricity than previously. It may be keeping more stuff *cool* but that's not the same problem that it was addressing previously.

A 20A breaker can pass far more then 20A before it trips. Load is limited by the appliance under normal circumstances.

Personal observation of a number of fridge freezers, rating plates & run habits. The number given was just way off. Really that's all there is to it.

US washing machines use many times as much energy as ours, so perhaps your fridges really are that abysmal. I find that hard to believe but maybe so. US cars certainly are abominations in energy efficiency terms.

Energy efficiency is result over energy use. Twice the work with maybe 1.5x the energy is more efficient. It's very simple.

I bought some plug in 240 volt appliances and the delivery company would only install new cords on them. They would not reuse the old ones.

Around here there is a 'white goods tax' that is suppose to go toward the land fill fees for the large appliances.

That seems to be just for the land fill and not does not cover the cost of the store removing your appliance if you do not want it.

I don't think styrofoam starts to "crumble" after 25 years of being effectively sealed inside a closed container like a refrigerator cabinet. Even if it did, there is no air to pass through since it is sealed. The problem is that 25 year old refrigerators had less insulation to start with because they were maximizing interior space for the limited exterior space.

I've never seen a fridge that addresses the butter issue adequately. Butter is comfortably soft at a pretty narrow range of temperature and the only way to get that in a fridge is to heat a small space electrically. I've not seen that done, but maybe some of the high end units do that.

Lol! I had never seen a dryer on a 120V circuit and wondered if that was possible. I wasn't thinking about a gas dryer which is what this one is. There's a propane tank about 20 feet away behind a pillar. They mostly use rubber tubing with a copper section where it goes through a wall.

So mystery solved, now I'm sure everyone will quit posting to this thread, lol!

So by mentioning solar generation you were making an extremely subtle comment about politicians? I totally missed that. ;)

That's funny. I was told in commercial settings it is mandatory, but that was a long time ago and the person telling me may not have been reliable. The context was when I was measuring the voltage on outlets in a lab space. I would measure 120V on a single socket, but it I measured across the pair of sockets I could get 240V where I was expecting zero. Each socket on the outlet pair was on a different side of the 240V line. I guess that helped to balance the loads, so that justifies mandatory.

I guess no one cares about your kitchen loads being balanced.

So, you still haven't explained the difference in usage patterns or an understanding of how the US numbers are computed.

And we still end up spending LESS than you. Amusing, eh? :>

For cooking the temperature doesn't matter, use something like "Lurpak spreadable" for putting on bread, butter with 20% added vegetable oil to make the consistency perfect at fridge temperature

That doesn't happen in the US. I can't recall ever seeing a fuse on a lamp or anything like a circuit breaker. A slight short in the cord or a partial short in the light bulb can result in an excessive current flowing the lamp line cord is not designed for.

Am 07.10.21 um 00:04 schrieb Rick C:

Oh, that is taken care of by extra-soft wonder butter. They just emulgate some extra water into it.

We have a TV show here where a food technologist rebuilds all those wonderful new food products, before your eyes. Top ingredient is water, aroma and binders. And palm butter. Vegan Cheese! Eeeek!

Gerhard

I've never seen a product that was butter with 20% vegetable oil. In the US they sell margarine with some percentage of added water, 40% comes to mind. It is terrible for cooking and not really good for spreading on toast either. Hard to melt actually.

Looks like that stuff is not so different. "But we know you like to have your Lurpak® ready straight from the fridge! So to make it spreadable, we add rapeseed oil and some water", "Lurpak Spreadable contains 64% butter". No details on just how much water.

lurpak spreadable here is 80% butter, other cheaper brands vary down to 50%, since they are all 80% fat no more water than regular butter

Seems they sell different formulations in different localities. But 80% fat is not 80% butter. I suppose they add the water because of the added fat. Since they don't seem to sell it here, it doesn't really matter. I prefer eating butter anyway, the good stuff!

A combination 120/240 outlet used to be common in commercial buildings. These were in hallways and other common areas for floor scrubbers and buffers. This way, it didn't matter what they, or a contractor used. They just plugged it into the matching half of the outlet. I first became aware of these on a service call to a high school. They had a basketball game that evening, and the scoreboard was dead. No something that were serviced, but we agreed to see if it was something simple. I noticed a brand new outled, under the scoreboard. Some 'genius' had replaced a damaged outlet with a standard duplex outlet. White on one side, Red and Black on the other. They hadn't removed the break away link on the line side, so they destroyed a 20V 20 A breaker when it was turned back on. I didn't have time to locate the proper outlet, so I removed the link. Then I replaced the bad breaker. (The panel had one or more spares for 'Futures' or repairs.) I turned the new breaker on, and the scoreboard came to life. I told the principal what I'd found, and left a note for the head of their maintenance department to replace it ASAP with the proper style. No one admitted to doing the botched work, but I think it was their coach.

That is because you guys live with your heads stuck in the sand, heading for disaster. Of course that is a way of living, but it is not something we prefer here.

When reading about "no more taxes" and then about major problems with infrastructure maintenance requiring trillions in new debts, I can only smile.

But of course it is a bit sad that nothing is done to get the USA down from the #1 energy consuming (wasting) position in the world.

There has been an item on the "Technology Connections" Youtube channel about that (like there have been items about other topics discussed here!) and indeed it is an oversight in the electrical code.

In the UK those superior plugs they have there include a fuse which can be adapted to the rating of the equipment and cord. So a short would at least blow that fuse when it does not trip the breaker.

But we do not have that here on the continent either. General outlets are fused at up to 16A but you can also have 10A when desired. (not commonly used anymore)

Of course with 230V we have twice the power @16A than a 115V circuit would have, so it isn't really an issue. And for higher-power equipment (in the home, usually only an electrical stove) there are different outlets/plugs which can have higher fuse ratings, but where you would not plug in standard cords so easily.

I often read "but our 115V system is safer than your 230V" but that only relates to shock hazards (and of course I have had multiple shocks from 230V and still survive, it is not that usual to hear from death by accidental electrocution from the mains here). The other side of the equation is the current, and having lower current for the average appliance means less risk of fire due to bad contact in the wiring. Electrical fires are much more common than electrocution.

No, it is because our form of gummit allows "enough" of the pols to interfere witht he desires of a majority of the citizenry. Even a large percentage of conservatives believe in global warming. Farmers (typically from red states) see it as a direct threat to their future livelihoods. Yet, the pols THEY elect want to ACT as otherwise.

Perhaps we should institute a monarchy or some other form of gummit -- and HOPE that those at the top believe these things? Or not?

Eventually, consequences will filter down to affect all. Despite the wishes of a few. Then, "something" will change.

There;'s absolutely nothing to stop europeans from imposing extremely high import duties on american goods to reflect their perceived cost of our practices. Why don't they? Perhaps out of fear of losing access to the american market? Perhaps out of fear of losing military protection?

Isn't that even more hypocritical?

What sort of people would settle a space that is below sea level? How forward thinking is that (even in the absence of projected sea level rise)?

Again, folks won't care -- until THEIR bridge falls down. Did you notice the condominium complex in Florida that collapsed a while back? Because the *residents* didn't want to pay for their own needed repairs?

Who's going to do it? Why haven't they? See above. Sad that those folks (with 90+% of the world's population) don't have the stomach to do anything about it...

except whine.