First post here, I have a practical understanding of basic electronics, but my problem is way out of my depths.
I come from the UK, just moved to Ecuador, and with me I brought a coffee machine (220-240v, 50/60Hz). Knowing it’s possible to have 240v installed in houses over here, we figured it was a good idea. That’s for the future…
Currently staying on my wife’s mother’s house whilst we house hunt. Discovered a 3-prong 250v dryer outlet in the kitchen, so decided to try and make coffee machine work here…
The UK plug is standard type G (earth/ground, neutral and live). Is there any way of fashioning some form of rewiring solution without getting into changing the mains wiring, to make this work?
I’m aware that the three prongs carry two hot wires, and the UK plug only one – any way around this? Similarly, the three prong doesn’t have a dedicated ground, but the coffee machine requires it. Any way around that?
Thanks in advance for help/advice!
Best Answer
The best way to do this is with a step-up transformer (like this one) that is rated to handle the amps your coffee pot needs (most convertors will not handle that much amperage so be sure to double-check).
You can't really adapt a dryer plug to Type G because they get to 240v by using two phases (120v x 2 prongs) and Type G uses a single 240v. Also, UK us 50Hz and Ecuador/US is 60Hz.