Basic appliance question

[Bobobobob]

I am visiting the US from where I live in continental Europe, and have brought my portable espresso pot with me. It heats the water through an internal coil, and has a power cable and standard Continental Europe plug with two pins. I'm using a plug adapter for it to work in the US. Back home it takes about 4 mins to boil, in this apartment it's more like 30 mins. I've tried other adapters, which don't change it. I've tried other plug sockets, and unless its my imagination it seems to take even longer. Other European appliances I'm using in this apartment work as normal, with adapters of course.

Any ideas why it's taking so long to boil? Could it be something to do with different voltages, or the adapter? Any ideas about a solution to make the espresso pot function as normal?

 

[Martaine2005]

Hello Bob,
Are you using 110v in USA for a 240v coffee machine?

Martin

 

[Minder]

Living in an apartment limits a little what you can do, particularly if the electrical panel is not in the apartment, but it most certainly would have a 240v source.
The N.A. system is 120v-0-120v so two adjacent breaker in the panel have 240v across them, If in a convenient location you could wire in a temporary outlet with a 240v outlet style.
But this would depend on a few factors, including how comfortable you would be doing this.
M.

 

[Bobobobob]

The coffee machine is labelled as 220-240v.

Is the US standard 110v? If so, I had no idea.

As you can probably tell I have no electrical engineering skills! And I had no idea that lower voltage causes lower power supply, nor that lower power supply causes lower/slower heat - I thought it was either ON or OFF.

What puzzles me is that my European laptop and European phone seem to charge as per normal. How come?

 

[Martaine2005]

The night you plugged in your coffee machine was probably quite amusing..
All the other residents couldn't watch TV or turn their lights on. They thought they had a black-out!
Your other items are fed by a transformer that can operate on different voltages. Unfortunately for you, the coffee machine is not one of them!
If you read the small print on the adaptor/ transformer it will say 240v or 110-240.

Martin

 

[Minder]

The night you plugged in your coffee machine was probably quite amusing..
All the other residents couldn't watch TV or turn their lights on. They thought they had a black-out!

Martin

??? His current will be less on 120vac.
Thats the reason for the 30min boil time.!
M.

 

[Minder]

Is the US standard 110v? If so, I had no idea.

As you can probably tell I have no electrical engineering skills! And I had no idea that lower voltage causes lower power supply, nor that lower power supply causes lower/slower heat - I thought it was either ON or OFF.

The N.A. system is both 120v and 240v, 240v is mainly confined to large power appliances such as dryers and water heaters, HVAC etc
M.

 

[Martaine2005]

Minder, that was a joke switching off every body elses TVs. I thought that was kind of obvious!!
A typical consumer wont know about the consumer board either!.
And boil time would be much longer on 110v.
I was simply assuming he had a 240v coffee machine and running it on a normal US socket of 110v.
It turns out my asumption was correct.

Martin

 

[Minder]

I was simply assuming he had a 240v coffee machine and running it on a normal US socket of 110v.
Martin

I assumed that also, I don't get the inference of the TV's and lights switching off or a black out?
M.

 

[Martaine2005]

In some comedy films the person plugs in a wrong voltage item.
The hotel goes into black out.
I don't know how to explain that further.

Martin

 

[hevans1944]

The coffee machine is labelled as 220-240v.

Is the US standard 110v? If so, I had no idea.

As you can probably tell I have no electrical engineering skills! And I had no idea that lower voltage causes lower power supply, nor that lower power supply causes lower/slower heat - I thought it was either ON or OFF.

What puzzles me is that my European laptop and European phone seem to charge as per normal. How come?

Power varies as the square of the voltage for a given resistance. So if you plug in 220 V AC appliance on a circuit that only provides 110 V AC, you only get one fourth the power at half of the rated voltage.

Appliances that draw small currents, such as phone chargers and laptops, often have circuits that work from 90 V AC to 240 V AC without using transformers. They rectify the AC line voltage and use that to drive a buck DC-to-DC converter. You could purchase a transformer to convert 110 V AC to 220 VAC but it would have to be pretty hefty to handle your coffee machine heater power requirement. Not to mention a PITA to lug around and expensive to ship back to Europe.

 

[Minder]

But if it were the reverse it may happen, US appliance plugged in to a UK outlet, but in this case the current would be a lot less.!
When I emigrated from UK to Canada I had to get a large transformer for some of the tools I brought with me, until I installed 240v outlets!
M..