UKviaLA

Thank you so much, Chisel. I am not keen on using a transformer so I guess I need to sell my Kitchenaid Mixer and hopefully buy a new one.
Anything else electrical we'll be selling and buying once we've moved.
I appreciate you taking the time to answer.

chisel

If you have one, I'd give it a go - KitchenAids are notoriously expensive, no matter where you buy them and our US one worked fine in the UK above first gear with a transformer - just make sure to take a long extension cable (like one of those orange thick construction ones) and plug your standard US surge protector into it. If money isn't of a concern, then maybe best just get a new one, but my gut would be to try it.

That said, you know your needs way better than a forum of randos, so take with appropriate grain of salt haha

ckusa

We brought over a number of UK-voltage items - since these were part of the household 'baggage'. The HiFi (Nad amp/deck/tuner) are run through a transformer - no problem. We also have a 240V supply (all/most US homes actually have 240V which is split into 2x120V) which we use for a UK kettle, (clothes) iron and toaster. (The 240V kettle is a godsend TBH!). To put things in perspective, our cooker top is a Schott Cermaic top - 240V - as is the oven, a Bosch (240V). The AC unit is a Worester-Bosch (240V)... . you get the picture!
Most electronic devices are now dual (multi) volatge anyway - we have a few 13-amp extension leads with US plugs which means we can just use the UK plugs on those devices.

chisel

Now that is interesting; I wasn't aware (Although am thoroughly not surprised) that mains are 2x120v here in North America (I probably should have been a sparky, haha). How would you "reintegrate" those two separate outlets into one that you could use with a lead? Did you hire someone to do or do it yourself or....?

ckusa

First, the usual caveat and disclaimer - I'm not an electrician, etc ,etc, and the usual (extreme) caution needs to be taken... .
Yes, the power supply into US homes is (usually) 240V and is split at the main distribution board into 2x120V (the distribution board will have an 'A' and 'B' side: A-B is 240V, A-neutral/Earth and B-neutral/Earth is 120V). Things like your tumble dryer will be 240V - and have that large odd-shaped plug (and probably any electric cooker too). We had a few 240V cable runs put in, primarily for underfloor heating, and of course for larger appliances like the cooker, hob and AC unit. I would defer from offering advice that it can be done, but I have run 240V to a UK 13Amp socket for the kettle, toaster and iron - these are all resitive loads and should not be a problem.
(There will be those who will throw their hands up in horror though... but... US plugs don't have fuses... wiring cannot be over-rated... sockets/recepticals don't have switches... and other oddities)

Pulaski

"You" have run, or you had it run for you? ...... I am intrigued what you did, if you did indeed do it yourself, despite being a self-disclosed non-electrician. As your description of US domestic power supplies is at very least economic with the truth, but I think betrays a significant lack of understanding of US electrical power wiring - so I sincerely hope that you did find an electrician to do the wiring work for you.

For anyone interested, the power supplied to a US home arrives at the breaker (fuse) box as two, out of phase, 120v supplies, which can then be used for certain types of appliance designed to run on 240v supplies in the US (or Canada). This "two 120v supplies" is maintained through the breaker box and all the way to each 240v appliance, such as a clothes dryer or electric stove (cooker), which is why electric stoves and (modern) clothes dryers have four pin plugs - there are the usual ground and neutral pins, but two live pins, each with 120v. The result of this is that you cannot just stick a US 240v plug onto a British device and run it off US 240v supply. I suspect that what has been done is that the neutral wire has been connected to one of the live supplies, which will give 240v across the two live pins, and this should work just fine given that many modern electrical devices, (TVs and hifi components, and computers, periferals, and gaming consoles etc.) use a live and neutral with no ground wire connection. This is comparable to the wiring on older US clothes dryers, which use three pins - two lives and a neutral, with no ground connection. .... I am not convinced that this is totally safe, but it is still common in the US and doesn't appear to be a major cause of concern, either through deaths or house fires. A few years ago new neighbor asked if I could help him by replacing a 4 pin dryer socket with an old-style three pin socket so that he could plug in his three pin dryer cord - I respectfully declined and countered with an offer to put a 4 pin cord on his dryer, which he accepted. He watched me with amazement as hooked up the live and netral wires, then connected the ground wire to the frame of his dryer using a self-tapping screw.

hutchison

things that run off step down transformers in the U.K, for example led lighting , small portable low voltage devices, if you like them, are worth bringing in my opinion. you can buy the US equivalent transformer over here pretty easily, and sometimes you cannot match the quality without paying $$$.



I finally (after 4 years) got around to buying a 120-24VAC 60Hz transformer for a set of Konsts*** xmas LED lights which ran on 240-24vac 50Hz in the U.K.
reason: the set I had brought in U.S at Home D***** had failed on more than 1/2" of the led string , and they only got used over 2 xmas periods.

I thought I would gamble on +10HZ, the transformer was $19, I would rather buy a transformer than purchase another set of junk.
the lights powered up fine, lasted through the xmas period (5 weeks of timed use), I am sure they will be fine again next year.

not quite sure if its brighter, or faster cycling, either way, its not on fire (exterior lights) . There is a control PCB in between the PS and the Lights, that may help buffer any difference.

anything I can revive from the U.K house is a WIN for the morale

PetrifiedExPat

Sell all of your c#$p and buy stuff over here.

PetrifiedExPat

Is it still true that transformers invalidate home insurance?

hutchison

Have no Idea, since you 'know its true' go and check your information source

PetrifiedExPat

I think I will leave you to do it, in the hope you post something useful.

hutchison

wait.. you made a claim, so please substantiate , the floor is yours

PetrifiedExPat

It is common sense. Nice shades, good luck with your dice roll

Pulaski

My understanding of English grammar and syntax is that all PEP did was ask a question, and made no claim to have any current knowledge, which appears to be why he asked the question.

hutchison

'is it still true'

says that this person has known at some previous time that it was true.