re-wiring Gaggia Coffee Espresso?

All US kitchen outlets (except in really OLD houses) have 220 volts - it's required by code. It's easy to add an outlet with the right socket for 220.

Actually it's rated as 240 volts, but is often higher. It's twice the normal line voltage which while claimed to be 120 volts is usually

127 or so.

It may be a little high for older devices that were designed for 220 volts. Almost all of them have a switch in the back to adjust for various input voltages. Anything made in the last 10-15 years, with the exception of high powered amateur radio amplifers should have no trouble with it.

The U.K. used to be 240 volts, Western Europe used to be 220, now they (the entire E.U.) are 230 volts. Except for the freqency, U.S. 240 volt power works fine.

So while you bought what you think was a 220 volt unit, it probably was made for 230 volts. That way it would work in the E.U. and the rest of the world that used 220 or 240.

Anyone reading this in OZ or S.A.? Do you still use 240 volts?

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm@mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667  Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

Here in the UK we still are 240V (at least here in the city of Bristol anyway)

A helpful quote from Wikipedia:

"Following voltage harmonisation co-ordinated with CENELEC countries, all electricity supply within the EU is now nominally 230 V ± 10% (though some countries have stricter specifications: for example, the UK specifies 230 V +10% ?6%). In practice this means that countries such as the UK that previously supplied 240 V continue to do so, and those that previously supplied 220 V continue to do so."

Richard

Humm, that diagram shows two heating elements, that for 120 volts are wired in parallel. I bet for 240 volts they wire 'em in series, which is what the OP is hinting at.

Wow. You guys are AMAZING!

The wiring schematic is of great help. The tech told me he could not find one and I waited a week while he could not get one sent to him, and you guys direct me to it within a few hours. Sheesh.

I think the tech wanted to replace ALL wires. He said that the 220 wires are thinner and get warm. He also did not seem to know where the refurbisher when wrong, so he wanted to replace everything and wire the way it should be for 110.

What you are saying about the the wiring being "in series" instead of "in parallel" I think would make a lot of sense to the him. He initially thought that somewhere "two wires had been reversed" which lead to a "return of power". I think this meant his testing indicated that heating elements were not receiving all the power. Which sounds like what you are saying.

He further said that the refurbisher seems to have just replaced all the components and then hooked the wiring up as it was, which he said is wrong and again, seems to be what you are diagnosing here.

Thank you for the insight. I have the machine back now. I am plannning on returning it to the original seller. I suspect he does not want to give me my money back. So I guess I should ask him to wire it in parallel instead of in series and I should be good to go.

Thanks again.

-------------= Posted from Ugroups.com =-------------

---= Fast & Free Web Portal to Usenet Newsgroups =---

-------------=

=-------------

I'll take mine with cream and sugar, please :)

Take care.

Ken

In an apartment it's often 208 volts. Since the device has a thermostat, it's probably fine on 240 V in any case.

Maybe my brain is low on caffeine, but I'm having trouble processing this. Tell me where I could find 208, 220, 230, 240 or other similar voltage in my kitchen, please. My house is ten years old.

--
"...global warming is an apocalyptic faith whose preachers demand sacrifices
of others that they find far too painful for themselves."
 -- Andrew Bolt, in Australia's Herald Sun

IF YOU HAVE THE SKILLS, measure from hot to hot at any kitchen outlet. You will find a voltage from 208 to 240 volts. Mine is 241 volts.

BTW, all electric ranges also run on 208/240.

That's a hidden feature of the U.S. electrical system. Almost everywhere, the distribution transformer puts out 240 volts. The secret is that it has a center tap (a connection in the middle of the secondary winding) that is grounded.

So between the wires, it's 240 volts. Between each wire and ground, it's

120 volts. The U.S. standard is to run 240 volts to the main distribution panel in a building and there have one ground. One is used as a neutral, and the other as a saftey ground.

Wires run to outlets are usually three wires, a hot wire connected eventualy to one side of the transformer, a neutral wire, which returns the power to ground, completing the 120 volt circuit, and a smaller saftey ground wire.

For air conditioners, stoves and dryers, there is usually three wires, one to each side of the transformer, and a saftey ground. These outlets are 240 volts.

Often for places where there is a large load expected four wires are run, One to each side of the transformer, an equal sized neutral and a saftey ground. When they are connected to a dual outlet, the hot wires are connected to seperate outlets,they share the neutral and saftey ground. It's not a problem because the neutral does not carry the full load return, only the difference.

If you have an outlet for a stove, an air conditioner, or a dual fed outlet, then it's simple to install a 240 volt outlet for your coffee maker.

The two problems with doing so, is that if the circuit is used for something else, such as a stove or dryer, you may have problems with making coffee while drying your clothes or baking. Nothing dangerous, just the circuit breaker will "pop", turning them off.

The other problem is that since it will now be connected to an counter top outlet as opposed to a semi permanent connection, you will need a 240 volt ground fault interupter (GFI) instead of 2 seperate 120 volt ones.

Any large electrical supply store will have all the needed parts, and any competent electrician will be able to install them.

This of course assumes you have a line like that in your kitchen or can have one run.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm@mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667  Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

First, the only 240 (note: there is *NO* 220 volt service in the USA) in the kitchen is the electric range. The outlets are all 120 volts (there is no such thing as 110, 115 or 117 volt service in the USA).

The range outlet is it. Period. Any house that the normal outlets are wired to 240 volts is miswired, and unsafe.

In my case I have a similar situation. My wife got a rice cooker from overseas that was 220 volts (the standard for that country). I wired a

240 volt outlet to the range (actually mounted on the range, looks factory...) to run her rice cooker. You need a proper 240 volt outlet, which will have *both* blades turned 90 degrees. This prevents you from plugging in any 120 volt applicances into that 240 volt outlet. A plug/outlet with only one 90 degree rotated pin is a 120 volt model (20 amps, where the two parallel pin models are 15 amps.)

The safety ground wire is *required* to be the same gauge as the power conductors. It is never smaller.

Hi...

I'm long long retired, but I suspect that part of the confusion here might be the use of separated kitchen outlets. I *think* (and stand ready to be corrected) that they're now code in all or most parts of Canada.

In case I haven't described clearly enough... a kitchen outlet (where one might be tempted to plug in a toaster/microwave/kettle etc is run with 14/3 - the outlet strap is of course broken, and each "half" uses a separate breaker (but on the same side of the line)

Take care.

Ken

Not just a separate breaker but code requires a separate 'phase' in kitchens so there is 208 or 240 hot to hot.

the stove should be wired for 220VAC and the dryer outlet should also be 220VAC i.e. if the stove has the bigger than normal plug. rw

I'm going to take that as a safety warning.

The voltage between the two hot pins on any given GFI in my kitchen is

0.0 volts. Either hot to either neutral is 122.1 VAC. I don't deal with GFIs a lot, but I don't remember seeing a way to split the hot on a GFI and so don't know how there could be 200+ volts between the hot pins. I do believe that GFIs are required in the kitchen nowadays.

--
"...global warming is an apocalyptic faith whose preachers demand sacrifices
of others that they find far too painful for themselves."
 -- Andrew Bolt, in Australia's Herald Sun
        Martians drive SUVs!

That's exactly what I was thinking. We have a gas range and no 240V range outlet.

--
"...global warming is an apocalyptic faith whose preachers demand sacrifices
of others that they find far too painful for themselves."
 -- Andrew Bolt, in Australia's Herald Sun
        Martians drive SUVs!

Did you measure the right (smaller) pins? Try either pin to ground to find the hot pins.

You should have two GFIs feeding the kitchen. Have they changed the code in your state?

NOT EVERYWHERE. Here it is.

Geoff.

-- Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel snipped-for-privacy@mendelson.com N3OWJ/4X1GM IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 Fax ONLY: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 Visit my 'blog at