Would European 230 Volts 50 Hz appliances work on 120 Volts in the US or Canada or other countries using similar 60 Hz household AC electrical power mains supplies?

Answer 1

In general the answer has to be: "Not if they have been designed to run only on the higher voltage."

Some appliances, such as electric shavers, etc., have been designed to run safely on different supply voltages. If that is the case the appliance's rating plate will state the range of suitable voltages.

A licensed electrician or professional electrical engineer would be able to consider whether or not a particular 230 Volt 50 Hz appliance could be modified safely to run at the lower voltage but it won't usually be worth the cost of doing the work because, in many cases where the power needed is low, such as (say) less than 30 Watts, a cheap and simple "International Travel Adapter" is all that is needed to make it work.

But bear in mind that the mains frequency in Europe and other 230 Volt areas is 50 Hz (Cycles per second) compared to 60 Hz in US, Canada and other 120 Volt areas. Some 50 Hz appliances will work fine but others with simple motors will run too fast on the higher frequency of 60 Hz.

It is not possible to use a standard kind of International Travel Adapter for high-powered appliances such as electric kettles because the current they take is much too high. 230 Volt appliances having powers from (say) 100 Watts to 2000 Watts (2kW), or more, would need an expensive item called a "Transformer" or "Auto-transformer" to enable them to be used on a 120 Volt supply. Such Transformers are much bigger and heavier than an International Travel Adapter and much more expensive - they can cost from US$100 upwards, even second-hand, depending on the power to be converted. So most folks would just buy a 120 Volt appliance locally in the 120 Volt area. After all, a cheap electric kettle can cost less than US$20 and a really fancy one can be bought for under US$100.

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This is from a different user: SOME small low-wattage appliances or electronics items have built-in converter circuitry with semiconductors, transformers and resistors, etc. inside them. This is why you can plug such low-wattage appliances or electronics items into your wall and not have them "fry"... The built in converter circuitry converts the supply voltage to the right level.

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From Briank101:

Several appliances such as European electric kettles can be easily and cheaply (if done DIY) connected to the US 240 volt supply. I have done this successfully and safely. It has been absolutely worth it. One just needs to purchase a long extension lead that has a receptacle that matches the plug on the kettle (Buy this in the same country where the kettle was bought). You will cut the 3 pin plug off the extension lead and leave the rest of the extension lead intact. You will wirestrip the cut end to wire it into the 240 volt supply. As long as the ground within the European appliance is not in any way connected to the neutral within the European appliance, it appears that this method is doable. It is extremely important that the European ground or earth conductor is connected to the US ground conductor. Very importantly, the European Neutral conductor is not connected to the US neutral conductor, it is however connected to one of the live US phases and the European Live conductor is connect to the other live US phase within the US 240 Volt outlet (The US uses a split phase). The voltage between the 2 US live conductors is 240 Volts, which will now be the voltage supplied between the European Live and Neutral conductors. The American neutral conductor is not used in this configuration and must be isolated in this specific setup. Do not attempt this if there is any doubt in your electrical capabilities. I have connected a European 3300 watt electric jug kettle to my US 240 volt supply this way and it has been one of the most satisfying mini projects that I have performed. I can boil 2 cups of water in about a minute. It would take almost 3 minutes in 1250 watt American kettle. If your kitchen is located above or near a 240 volt outlet, it is a really straight forward job to run wiring to it.

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Comment from Martinel:

Maybe this is getting to be like a discussion page but I think it's very important to say this: be very careful to ensure you know the risks you are taking because your existing 60 Hz 240 volt branch circuit would typically be protected by a breaker specified for a dryer, a water heater or a similar powerful heating device. That breaker could be for 30 amps, 40 amps or more.

Two pole 15 and 20 amp breakers are commonly used on 240 volt receptacles along with two pole 30 and 40 for higher current draw appliances. There are no code regulations stating that a dedicated two pole 240 amp receptical can not be installed as a kitchen counter receptical. See related links below to see the NEMA chart, by looking at it you can see the wide variety of devices that can be used on different voltages. You can see that there are recepticals designed for lower amperage applications that have different pin configurations from the 120 volt recepticals. A NEMA 6-15P (250V ~) is the plug in end and a NEMA 6-15R (250V ~) would be the receptical wall device. Likewise a NEMA 6-20P (250V ~) and NEMA 6-20R (250V ~) would be used for a higher current.

I know exactly how great the performance of a such a kettle is! If you are someone technical enough to really know what you are doing I'm not saying you should not do what you have described at all. But I am saying it would be best practice to say - as part of your instructions to the general public here - that it is necessary to install a separate 240 volt branch circuit protected by a 16 amp (or max 20 amp) breaker and having a socket outlet that is different in size and shape to the one you have on your existing 30 amp or higher branch circuit.

The European 3300 watt kettle takes a bit less than 14 amps so your standard US 240 volt circuit will not be properly "breaker protected" for the kettle. In mainland Europe such a kettle would be plugged into a branch circuit protected by a 16 amp breaker. In the UK and Eire (Republic of Ireland) such a kettle would be plugged into a socket connected to a ring main protected by a 32 amp breaker but the kettle's own plug would always have a 13 amp fuse in it. In fact kettles are normally sold in the UK and Eire with a maximum power of 3000 watts, not 3300, because that only takes 13 amps at 230 volts.

Also it is important to give advice to the end-user never ever to change the plug on the cord of the kettle to a type that can be plugged into a dryer or other higher amperage 240 volt outlet. If they do that, and something goes wrong with the kettle itself, its cord or its plug, there could be a significant fire risk if one of those items should ever get a fault condition which is not a simple short but one that is just a higher-than-normal current draw. That kind of fault condition often happens with an electric kettle because of all the handling it gets and the facts that it has to keep being filled with fresh water and when its boils it emits lots of steam, so the environments they are located in can be quite damp. If such a fault condition occurs, which is not uncommon, then the part that has the fault could easily catch on fire because the too-high-amperage circuit breaker would not necessarily shut off the power. If the kettle was unattended, a house fire could be started.

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As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

Before you do any work yourself,

on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,

always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

Answer 2

It depends on the appliance; some motors rely on the mains frequency of 50Hz to operate at the correct speed so changing to 60Hz might cause problems. It's probably best to check the manufacturer's website for the appliance's specifications; that should say the range of mains voltages/frequencies supported. For more information see the answer to the Related Questionshown below. == ==

Answer 3

Newer electronic adapters accept a wide input of voltages and support 50 or 60hz. Try to get that information from the adapter, if it has written "90-240V, 50-60hz". If you are not sure, ask an electrician since otherwise it could fail and destroy your electronics.

Answer 4

Of course. The value of a mains supply of 230 V is a nominal ('named') value; it's allowed to vary by between +10% and -6%. 240 V is well within this range.