Hot water heater on 208 vac?

Water heaters are normally thermostatically controlled. The downside is that it will run at 75% of rated power, and therefore take 33% longer to get up to temperature. The upside is that the electrical parts will probably last longer than they would at 240V.

Another thing to check is that there isn't any other type of load other than the heater. For example, if there's a relay/contactor anywhere performing the high current switching, or a timeswitch, these items may not work properly on reduced voltage.

No, with less power it will take longer to recover so your available gallons/liters of hot water at a given temperature over a given period of time will be much less.

Just swap the element assembly out, it's usually not a big deal-- they are maintenance items.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Slower heating more like,

If the themostat still works the final temperature will be the same.

But since the heating is proportional to power and voltage squared, you only have 2/3 of the heating, NOT 240/208ths.

--------------- So it takes 33% longer to heat a given tankful of water. If demand is high, this can be a problem. Otherwise it may not be. Dealers choice- rate of heating vs cost of replacing the element.

For the last 14 years my (240v) HW system has run on voltages from around 205 to

220 due to a lousy elecricity supply - 1st HW heater lasted 9 years, (bad water too) and the replacement is still going strong.

David - who gets really annoyed when the volts drop so low his microwave can hardly boil water

Esther & Fester Bestertester wrote:

"quietguy" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com...

You could add a boost transformer for the microwave - 240 to 24.

Thanks for the warning, but it is to do with the external supply - 400+ metres from the tranny to my house results in a big drop when any heavy loads are on. I've been complaining for years but their solution is for me to pay for a new pole nearer to the house on which they will mount the tranny - but I will not wear that so I am still working on them to do it FOC

David - who doesn't give up too easy

**THE-RFI-EMI-GUY** wrote:

? "quietguy" ?????? ??? ?????? news: snipped-for-privacy@REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com...

Yes, but is 400 m too far away?

220 volts->max.1km (low voltage) 15kV->max 60 km (medium voltage) 150 kV->max 220 km?(high voltage) 400 kV->max 500 km?(extra high voltage) There are also power limitations-due to wire gauge (in LV) and in MV,in HV there are propagation and stability isssues.Has your utility checked your neutral connection?

-- Tzortzakakis Dimitrios major in electrical engineering mechanized infantry reservist dimtzort AT otenet DOT gr

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| Thanks for the warning, but it is to do with the external supply - 400+ metres from | the tranny to my house results in a big drop when any heavy loads are on. I've been | complaining for years but their solution is for me to pay for a new pole nearer to | the house on which they will mount the tranny - but I will not wear that so I am | still working on them to do it FOC

Add a 2nd tranny at the original pole and wire in series to get double the voltage. Add a dry tranny at the house to drop the voltage back down to normal. You'll get 1/4 the voltage drop that way. Just make sure the service drop wires can handle the double voltage (most can go to 600V).

Gad!

I thought I had a long run (440') but you have me beat by a factor of three.

(BTW: I never had problems with "droop" yet the power company (after several failures of the underground feed) installed a new drop with much larger cables. (Don't know the numbers.)

Thanks for the ideas but i am not prepared to pay to have this fixed - I didn't choose to have the xformer where it is, and I didn't select the wire gauge etc. As southern elect made those (wrong) choices I reckon they can damn well fix it at their cost

David

snipped-for-privacy@ipal.net wrote:

Well no. I have a pole near the house, another pole about 30 metres away which houses the elec meters etc, then the line goes from that pole 400metres to a xformer on a pole near the roadway.

I had the line from the meter-containing-pole to the house upgraded when I installed an offpeak HWS, and had a new switchboard etc installed at that time

David

Nope - the line just comes from the pole near the road to my house.

David

houses the elec meters

installed an offpeak HWS, and

Yep, if I remember correctly (and there is lots of doubt about that these days) one electricity guy suggested that some time ago - but said I would have to pay for the new poles - bugger that I reckon

David

PS: I do however wonder about the wisdom of extending high voltage lines across a farm - even with the 240v lines some guys kill themselves when they forget to check overhead when using tip trucks, augers etc.

But perhaps it wouldn't be any more of a hazard - any views on this?