Hot water heater on 208 vac?

I've got a 240 v. electric water heater and a need for a 208 v (single-phase) one.

What's the down-side of using this heater on 208 vac? Is lower temperature all I have to be concerned about?

FBt

Reply to
Esther & Fester Bestertester
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Water heaters are normally thermostatically controlled. The downside is that it will run at 75% of rated power, and therefore take 33% longer to get up to temperature. The upside is that the electrical parts will probably last longer than they would at 240V.

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Andrew Gabriel
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Andrew Gabriel

Another thing to check is that there isn't any other type of load other than the heater. For example, if there's a relay/contactor anywhere performing the high current switching, or a timeswitch, these items may not work properly on reduced voltage.

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Andrew Gabriel
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Andrew Gabriel

No, with less power it will take longer to recover so your available gallons/liters of hot water at a given temperature over a given period of time will be much less.

Just swap the element assembly out, it's usually not a big deal-- they are maintenance items.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Spehro Pefhany

Slower heating more like,

If the themostat still works the final temperature will be the same.

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   Jasen
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jasen

But since the heating is proportional to power and voltage squared, you only have 2/3 of the heating, NOT 240/208ths.

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Many thanks,

Don Lancaster                          voice phone: (928)428-4073
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Don Lancaster

--------------- So it takes 33% longer to heat a given tankful of water. If demand is high, this can be a problem. Otherwise it may not be. Dealers choice- rate of heating vs cost of replacing the element.

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Don Kelly dhky@shawcross.ca
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Don Kelly

For the last 14 years my (240v) HW system has run on voltages from around 205 to

220 due to a lousy elecricity supply - 1st HW heater lasted 9 years, (bad water too) and the replacement is still going strong.

David - who gets really annoyed when the volts drop so low his microwave can hardly boil water

Esther & Fester Bestertester wrote:

Reply to
quietguy

"quietguy" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com...

You could add a boost transformer for the microwave - 240 to 24.

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Homer J Simpson

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Joe Leikhim K4SAT
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**THE-RFI-EMI-GUY**

Thanks for the warning, but it is to do with the external supply - 400+ metres from the tranny to my house results in a big drop when any heavy loads are on. I've been complaining for years but their solution is for me to pay for a new pole nearer to the house on which they will mount the tranny - but I will not wear that so I am still working on them to do it FOC

David - who doesn't give up too easy

**THE-RFI-EMI-GUY** wrote:

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quietguy

? "quietguy" ?????? ??? ?????? news: snipped-for-privacy@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com...

metres from

Yes, but is 400 m too far away?

220 volts->max.1km (low voltage) 15kV->max 60 km (medium voltage) 150 kV->max 220 km?(high voltage) 400 kV->max 500 km?(extra high voltage) There are also power limitations-due to wire gauge (in LV) and in MV,in HV there are propagation and stability isssues.Has your utility checked your neutral connection?

I've been

nearer to

so I am

-- Tzortzakakis Dimitrios major in electrical engineering mechanized infantry reservist dimtzort AT otenet DOT gr

>
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Tzortzakakis Dimitrios

| Thanks for the warning, but it is to do with the external supply - 400+ metres from | the tranny to my house results in a big drop when any heavy loads are on. I've been | complaining for years but their solution is for me to pay for a new pole nearer to | the house on which they will mount the tranny - but I will not wear that so I am | still working on them to do it FOC

Add a 2nd tranny at the original pole and wire in series to get double the voltage. Add a dry tranny at the house to drop the voltage back down to normal. You'll get 1/4 the voltage drop that way. Just make sure the service drop wires can handle the double voltage (most can go to 600V).

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phil-news-nospam

metres from

I've been

nearer to

am

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Joe Leikhim K4SAT
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**THE-RFI-EMI-GUY**

metres from

Gad!

I thought I had a long run (440') but you have me beat by a factor of three.

(BTW: I never had problems with "droop" yet the power company (after several failures of the underground feed) installed a new drop with much larger cables. (Don't know the numbers.)

Reply to
John Gilmer

Thanks for the ideas but i am not prepared to pay to have this fixed - I didn't choose to have the xformer where it is, and I didn't select the wire gauge etc. As southern elect made those (wrong) choices I reckon they can damn well fix it at their cost

David

snipped-for-privacy@ipal.net wrote:

metres from

I've been

nearer to

I am

Reply to
quietguy

Well no. I have a pole near the house, another pole about 30 metres away which houses the elec meters etc, then the line goes from that pole 400metres to a xformer on a pole near the roadway.

I had the line from the meter-containing-pole to the house upgraded when I installed an offpeak HWS, and had a new switchboard etc installed at that time

David

Nope - the line just comes from the pole near the road to my house.

David

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quietguy
070109000203000206030903 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Can't they >**THE-RFI-EMI-GUY** wrote:

houses the elec meters

the roadway.

installed an offpeak HWS, and

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Joe Leikhim K4SAT
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**THE-RFI-EMI-GUY**

Yep, if I remember correctly (and there is lots of doubt about that these days) one electricity guy suggested that some time ago - but said I would have to pay for the new poles - bugger that I reckon

David

PS: I do however wonder about the wisdom of extending high voltage lines across a farm - even with the 240v lines some guys kill themselves when they forget to check overhead when using tip trucks, augers etc.

But perhaps it wouldn't be any more of a hazard - any views on this?

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quietguy

"quietguy" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com...

IIRC they have to be run higher by code.

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Homer J Simpson

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