So I've stumbled across the opportunity to get hold of a commercial machine, azkoyen vienna. It needs a 20 amp outlet though, anyone know if I'm going to be able to use this in my house? I'm useless with electrics!!!
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Household Amps?
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Don't expect a sparky to be cheap for 'house work'. A lot of them don't like the small fiddly dirty jobs. The switch board part might be 10 mins, but running the cable would take a fair amount more.
But if you have your heart set on said commercial machine (and the associated design limitations, the electrical isn't that much of a problem.
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As a Licensed sparky myself I'd be getting a few quotes before committing to buy the machine. Depending on the age of your house there may be more than just running a new circuit as you upset the maximum demand of your mains cable running into the house as well. You may or may not have to upgrade your mains cable.
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It seems unlikely that the power would be an insurmountable problem.
Unless the power to the house is marginal do you have the old style ceramic fuse holders or circuit breakers?
An electric HWS or oven would probably use more electricity.
Why would you want a commercial machine for home?
To have a machine suitable for 500+ cups per day for domestic use may be overkill.
Lots of amps means lots of $$$ on the power bill.
Servicing seems likely to be expensive as well.
What is the warm up time on the machine?
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There was a period in early 2000's where Australian Standards changed and allowed "fit for purpose" on consumers mains. It's not uncommon to come across reasonably new houses whose mains are already at capacity hence my warning. Ovens and hot water systems certainly do draw more current but theses were factored in to the electrical design from the beginning.
It's not just "older" houses that need to be careful. I'm happy to share my electrical knowledge within reason on these sorts of topics for everyone here. Am I the only electrician here?
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I am about to graduate as an electrical engineer and agree with your comments.
Considering that most large loads would be factored in with some diversity (kettle, AC etc), a machine that requires a 20A circuit and will be left on for a long period of time is going to present quite a large increase in load.
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Thanks guys! I haven't seen the machine myself, but sounds like it will be getting turfed if I don't take it. Thought it might be fun to bring out every now and again if I have a crowd over, but if it's going to be a big hassle or dangerous I wouldn't bother!
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In that case grab it. For occasional fun and as something to play with you may be able to lower the wattage of the element or potentially disconnect an element if there are multiple. Everybody loves freebies.Originally posted by WillyWill View PostThanks guys! I haven't seen the machine myself, but sounds like it will be getting turfed if I don't take it. Thought it might be fun to bring out every now and again if I have a crowd over, but if it's going to be a big hassle or dangerous I wouldn't bother!
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EDIT: Don't do this please
If your kitchen has double power outlets on the walls, just replace a double outlet with a single 20 amp wall outlet (bigger earth pin). As each outlet is 10 amp, the wiring to the wall outlet will be sized to supply two by 10 amp, 20 amps.
The fusing of a power point is always to protect the wiring to the outlet, as there is no control over what is being plugged into it.
I did this for my 15 amp TIG welder in my workshop.
BTW I am not an electrician, but a ships engineer, no ETO's on out ships, (Electrical technical officers) so we do it all, legally (at sea).
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This is illegal, goes against Australian Standards and you will have nuisance tripping all the time.Originally posted by Andy-Gadget View PostIf your kitchen has double power outlets on the walls, just replace a double outlet with a single 20 amp wall outlet (bigger earth pin). As each outlet is 10 amp, the wiring to the wall outlet will be sized to supply two by 10 amp, 20 amps.
The fusing of a power point is always to protect the wiring to the outlet, as there is no control over what is being plugged into it.
I did this for my 15 amp TIG welder in my workshop.
BTW I am not an electrician, but a ships engineer, no ETO's on out ships, (Electrical technical officers) so we do it all, legally (at sea).
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You've described a 15A socket, on a 20A socket all three pins are larger.Originally posted by Andy-Gadget View PostIf your kitchen has double power outlets on the walls, just replace a double outlet with a single 20 amp wall outlet (bigger earth pin). As each outlet is 10 amp, the wiring to the wall outlet will be sized to supply two by 10 amp, 20 amps.
Furthermore, your average domestic power circuit is rated for 16A and has an appropriate circuit breaker in the board for it, and there's no guarantee (in fact it is very unlikely, unless you specifically specified one socket per breaker when it was wired) that that there is only that one socket in your kitchen on that circuit.
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And...
The fact that you may have a Double 10A GPO fitted, doesn't mean that you can just revert to a Single GPO and then pull 20A. The rated load for all standard 10A Double GPOs is 10Amps total - The wiring supplying the GPO will only be rated for 10A all up.... Please DO NOT provide this kind of recommendation for which you have no qualification; you could cause someone to inadvertently burn their house down, or even kill someone...
Mal. (suitably qualified)
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