230V vs 220V

[Allison]

My house was rewired over twenty-three years ago in 1991. Now, I'm told that the new dryer I want to buy from Lowe's needs a 230 volt or was it watts. That means what I thought was standard, 220v, is no longer standard. What happened?

 

[JohnKay]

Allison, you really need to start a new thread of your own, but with electrics, please tell us if you are not in the UK as standards and regulations vary.

 

[Ian]

Hi Allison, I've moved your post to a new thread as John suggested .

 

[Arouse1973]

My house was rewired over twenty-three years ago in 1991. Now, I'm told that the new dryer I want to buy from Lowe's needs a 230 volt or was it watts. That means what I thought was standard, 220v, is no longer standard. What happened?

Hello, I guess your in the US as Lowe's appears to be a US appliance distributor. Nothing physical has changed to the mains voltage it has stayed the same. All that happened is a standardisation with the EU in the 90's, this meant you in the US had a tighter tolerance placed on the mains supply.

The new tolerance for you is +6% -10%, so your mains is still 220V but is labelled as 230V +6% -10% so at 220V it falls within it's new spec. It was just a paperwork fudge so we all use the same initial a.c voltage even if it's not actually the same. That's the EU for you.
Adam

 

[JohnKay]

I've not heard of Lowe's, so if US, what's all this about the EU. The supply in the US is 120 volts 60Hz. Unless Allison gets back to us, we don't know where these figures of 230/220 come from.

 

[Arouse1973]

Yes John your right. It's strange that the items listed on the Californian website have the spec 220/230, I guess this is so they will work in the majority of the world and need to be set to 110 for US. Maybe she lives in Australia, I didn't think of that.
Cheers
Adam

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

In both Canada and the US your house gets roughly 110/220V or 120/240V from your electrical service provided. North American appliances will work on either as one may move from one location to another and take the appliances with you. Most appliances operate on the lower 110 or 120 Volts with the Oven and Dryer working on the higher voltages.

Your house will most likely have the correct incoming voltage so you shouldn't worry about that. Older high voltage appliances were hard wired into the walls rather than plugged in. If you already have a dryer, you may need to install an outlet if the old one was hardwired. If you are adding a dryer where there was none, you will need to add a dedicated circuit from your circuit breaker/fuse box to the location of the dryer. The plugs are often different for different amperages so it may not be the same as the oven. Make sure you check this. If in doubt, call an electrician to ensure your wiring can handle the load without risk of a fire.

 

[Kiwi]

This site explains how houses in the USA are wired to give their mixed voltages(110/220v).
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/hsehld.html

A bit different to how houses are wired in countries with just 230v.

 

[WyrTwister]

My house was rewired over twenty-three years ago in 1991. Now, I'm told that the new dryer I want to buy from Lowe's needs a 230 volt or was it watts. That means what I thought was standard, 220v, is no longer standard. What happened?

Should work fine .

And you really do not know what your voltage TRULY is unless you use a meter and measure it . And it probably will vary slightly the next day if you measure it again . Particularly at a different time of day .

Most electrical equipment will tolerate + - 10% .

God bless
Wyr