So it's not like the one you have thorough your nose.

You and your, not meant in the personal sense.

Ok for what its worth a UK approved ring main cable can carry 27 amps

a US/Canadian cable can carry 40amps

a quick look on paper make it look like the Us/Canadian system to be safer.

But do a little math…

The US/Canadian safe system load is a total of 40amps or 110v x 40amps = 4.4kw

The UK safe system load, because it’s a ring main can handle 2x27amps = 54 amps or 12.9kw
and we put a 30amp fuse in line just to be safe!

That's the point.... you loose one side of the ring and you can have potentially 30A going through a 27A rated wire with no trip... this is why BS 1363 specifies an in-plug fuse.

It gets worse with the spur, because the spur is always one piece of wire (path), not two.

Correctly fused Canadian/US radial circuits will always trip below the rated spec of the wire.

(sorry to drag this out....LOL)

Question for MikeUK / Niel, it looks like you know your stuff, when I finally land in Toronto can you recomend:

1. A good quality sparky that is going to know their stuff, or what do I look for to find a good one.

2. Can you recomend some reading books or guides, websites etc, with the standards and guidelines CA follows.

3. I'm in to HiFi and here in the UK I have my house setup for clean power (if you have time please take a quick look at this, as this is how my house is configured) Russ Andrews do a PDF called "The Power and the Glory" and it explains about mains wiring. Russ Andrews UK

4. Would I be able to find anyone that would do a hybrid 110 and 230 system? or is it not allowed (again I have some hifi stuff that I could bring with me)

5. So once I have a house I firstly want it striped out and started again. Would this be a good idea?

When I have been out in Canada I notice that when high load things such as Kettles are on the lights dimm a bit or if you have too many items on you can trip the system, if the house is re done with modern standards can this help stop this sort of thing.

R

Just a quick question how did you manage to run your 240V tools, with the 2 phases you can't link them together as they will create a short. do you run them through some form of transformer Mike??????

You run one 120V line as "live", and one 120line as the "neutral", although in reality they are both hot. The two 120s are out of phase.

A good electrician wont do it as its not to code

If you dont know how to do this, dont try and learn it from books, its not worth the risk.

Rewiring would be extremely expensive, I would think its better, more cost effective and more transportable from house to house to just use a big torroidal ferroresonant power conditioner like a Sola or a Topaz ...or both, where ever you think you need them.

Ultimately if you overload any curcuit, it will trip. If you turn on a heavy load other things on that circuit will brown out. Rewiring wont help, the code is the same, its just an inherent property of 110V supply, there is less power in reserve...thats what makes it inherently safer.

Thanks Ian, doing that is also quite dangerous unless the equipqment is class 2 or double insulated because you are putting 110V on a neutral which in some cases could be bonded to the earth or case of the equipment.

Definately not something i would recommend anyone do. 1 for the safety issues, 2 it would probably invalidate any house insurance you may have if there was a fire or worse

steve

Why would you lose one side of the ring ?

even if you did the equivalent in Canada is to lose your whole circuit!

Ok

1. If you want a good sparky ask around, personal recommendations are always best.


2. If you don’t know what your doing don’t do it

3. Most of that Hi Fi bull is expensive junk, if you think that stuff works Then there’s no way I’m telling you how to re-wire anything because you just don’t have a clue about electricity.
for what it worth a simple surge block with the highest number ‘joules’ absorbed is what you need… buy at any decent hardware store (avoid the models at “ audio” stores they’re just way over priced for what they are)

Rant time:

Right! Special mains cables do nothing as far as altering your sound, its for emptying the wallets of ignorant people! most mains noise is simply canceled out in the transformer in your amp any residuals will be absorbed by the large electrolytic capacitors that follow the rectifier. The grade of copper will do nothing here, standing waves is just bullshit, and the type of insulation is good to at least 1kv to be legal so again B.S. a few good VDR’s and capacitors is all that’s needed and if you bought good HiFi equipment its already inside
Why these people mange to make a living at this is beyond me..

P.S. my background is mainly Physics and I also build my own audio equipment!!!!


4. Hybrid again if you don’t already know don’t bother

5. No

Lights dim because at 110v the amp load is twice that of the UK and the circuits also mixed, we get more mains spikes here because we get more electrical storms so Surge protectors are a must.

[QUOTE=MikeUK;4543025]Ok



3. Most of that Hi Fi bull is expensive junk, if you think that stuff works Then there’s no way I’m telling you how to re-wire anything because you just don’t have a clue about electricity.
for what it worth a simple surge block with the highest number ‘joules’ absorbed is what you need… buy at any decent hardware store (avoid the models at “ audio” stores they’re just way over priced for what they are)

Mike - as you know what you are on about (I don't know anything about electricity ), I brought over my Hi Fi but have never unpacked it due to the issues discussed here. However, can I get a step up transformer and if so what specification does it need? I'm talking about a deck, amp, CD player and DAC. Or, should I just chuck it all away and buy here?

Thanks in advance

The deck may have issues running from a transformer due to the frequency difference messing with motor speeds...probably run fast. AFAIK the rest should be OK on a transformer. If it specifies 50/60Hz on the plate it should be fine, if it doesnt it will probably still be OK as most of the timing on a DAC / CD player is based on crystal oscilators which rely on resonance rather than the incoming AC frequency.

Transformer hum will probably be the biggest anoyance but its easy enough to hide it in the basement and run extension cables if its too annoying. Or just crank her up

Add up the total watts for all the components, double it, and get a transformer rated for that. (thats the number on the back panel, not the alleged power output of the amp)

Many thanks. I'll have to give it a go with the deck and see what happens.

[QUOTE=MCrocker;4543300] Like iaink says... count up the watts (volts x amps or VA) the equipment uses and buy a transformer for twice that value

As for the deck check for speed adjustment some decks can run on both freq 50hz and 60hz but not many, if in doubt post the model type up and we can do a search

but don't plug anything in if your not sure.

ps. if the equipment states only 50hz ie does not state 50-60hz you are at risk of some or all of it failing (In my estimation the risk is small, but then I don't know what your equipment is.)


Most of My HiFi system is running off a transformer without any issues (has been now for about 5 years)