Using UK major appliances in the USA

Apr 09, 2005 2 Replies

My wife moved here from the UK... she brought with her a unit called a "hostess trolley" it is used to keep food warm before serving. She loves it but it's a 220/240 volt unit.



We've tried running it with a converter and that didn't work.



We've re-wired it for a 220 volt US plug and that didn't work.



So, it must be a problem with 60 / 50 hertz.



Anybody have an idea about what else we could try to make it work in the States?



Bob



Describe the failure mode. If it's merely a thermostat & heater, a simple converter should work. If there's a motor in it (e.g. a clock), the motor might run at the wrong speed.

Are you sure the converter was of sufficient capacity? A heater can take a lot of power, and trip protection circuits in the converter.

Presumably you plugged it in to a 220 volt single phase source? Did it fail the same way? Are you sure you wired it correctly?

Usually the transition this direction is easier, because 60 Hz requires less iron in transformers, which is the real issue in many (most?) cases.

It's possible the device has circuitry specifically designed to preclude that, but unlikely.

The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to minimize spam. Our true address is of the form che...@prodigy.net.

Nope, just voltage. AFAIK there's no motors etc in those. You have 220 in your home - it's just a matter of providing it where you need it for the trolley. It's already in your kitchen - all those twin outlets have 220 from hot to hot.

N

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