Springy6

Following this thread with interest as we're starting the take/don't take process.

I seem to remember someone posting a link to a site where you could check specific electrical items but I haven't been able to find it since it became relevant to us!

Jambodj

I am selling most of my electricals but i am interested to see if anyone has taken any decks/music equipment

I have 2 x Technics 1210's, 2 x Pioneer CDJ 1000's and a Mixer. It is a strange request but anyone have any knowledge of these specific items?

Pulaski

Start with the premise that you're not bringing anything electrical, then consider only those things of high value or great importance. Computers and TVs seem to be where most people's list starts and ends.

zzrmark

Has anyone here had an electrician look into utilising the 240v system that supplies US homes?
Apparently older homes (not sure if this applies to newer properties as my research hasn't extended that far, yet) already utilise 240v in the aircon, water heater, washer/dryer and workshop circuits straight from the service panel and, presumably, if your UK 240v machine, etc is rated for 50/60hz I would have thought this an option?
(I'm still looking into bringing workman's tools/workshop tools IF I can utilise the available supply correctly - as already stated, transformers are a bit hit-and-miss! - my site equipment is pretty much just a case of fitting new plugs but some of the workshop stuff is questionable)

Pulaski

All US homes receive 240v and it is used for the AC, stove, dryer and water heater. In fact the connection to "the street" is two phase-offset 110v supplies, and each is connected to one half of the breaker box. 240v is obtained by tapping into both the left and right side of the breaker box using a "double" breaker.

zzrmark

Yup, that bit I am aware of, it was whether 240v is still routinely utilised in certain circuits at the service panel and just whether a registered electrician would be permitted to, in this case, wire a workshop with a 240v outlet supply

Pulaski

A licensed electrician, or the homeowner, can wire in a 240v supply. I have done it myself for a dryer and a stove, and it is no harder than connecting any other wire to a breaker, except you have two lives (a black and a red), a neutral, and an earth .... though the US seems to see the earth as optional. - Older dryer connections are wired with only three pins - two lives and a neutral! When he moved in, I upgraded a neighbour's dryer to a four pin cable to match the four pin socket, and he watched me with some combination of curiosity and suspicion as I drilled a connection for the earth to the frame of his dryer.

zzrmark

Lol.
I get a (metaphorical) kick every time I plug in a two-pin and see the whole lot arcing merrily!
(Ta for the other info - I have a feeling I'm going to become rather familiar with US electrics when I get here permanently, my good lady is expecting me to build us a shack to live in!)

Bob

Getting someone to do probably isn't a problem.

Getting insurance to cover it, might be. AC and the usual, they expect it, but for other uses like power tools, they might use that as an excuse to void the policy on a claim, so worth getting it in writing that they would cover it.

Sammyantha

Will things like lamps work over there? I have 2 tall lamps which work on dimmers and a few bedside lamps.

Pulaski

You would need 120v bulbs, and virtually all bulbs in the US have an Edison screw fitting, as opposed to the bayonet fitting which is usual in the UK. So, yes you can bring them, but you'll need to replace the bulb holders, and it might be prudent to replace the wire through the lamp and to the socket because a bulb in the US draws twice the current at half the voltage as a bulb of the same power in the UK, though this much less of an issue with CFLs and LEDs which draw very much less power than incandescent bulbs.

Kits/parts to make or convert lamps are certainly available and it wouldn't be too difficult to reengineer most lamps if you know what you're doing, but it might get pricy if you have to pay someone to do it for you.

steveq

You COULD, but I don't think 1/4 of the power would actually work.

steveq

...because technically, and done right, the neutral is at ground potential.....Probably....

steveq

Even in the USA, big shop kit is 220V. My table saw, and planer work fine here...Now I just need to rig a three phase inverter for my bandsaw.

Bob

Which wasn't what I said was the problem.