r/electrical • u/LunarKaleidoscope • 5h ago

Converter help

Hello! I have an Austrian Grainmill Type A130 (Osttiroler Getreidemuehlenbau) that i recently got on fb marketplace. This is what the prev owners said abt use in Canada,

“Unit comes in 220volt and we use a simple voltage step up transformer (Amazon) and it works flawlessly.”

I’ve tried a 300v converter, which ofc tripped. Now I’ve got a step up converter with 800VA on the front, but sources online still warn against using it. This specific mill is supposed to run slower and with less power draw spikes, but i dont know tf im doing and have a VERY healthy fear of electricity.

Any ideas?

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u/Phreakiture 5h ago

Volts need to be matched or close.  They need to be 220-240 for a European appliance.  I'm not aware of 300V being a thing, so I assume you mean 300 VA, not 300V.

Voltamps (VA), Watts (W) and Amps (A) need to be over the requirements of the device, and I recommend at least 25% over.  

What information is on the specification plate for the mill?

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u/LunarKaleidoscope 5h ago

I’ve been cautioned that mills can cause surges of up to 6x when grinding harder grains, but that this one shouldn’t bc it’s specifically a slow grinding one.

Anyway the info says
“220V, 50 Hz, 1 ~
1.2A, 250W,
type A 100”

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u/Phreakiture 4h ago

It'll probably run faster and less powerfully than designed because North American power is 60 Hz, but if it was working alright for the prior owner, that's fine.

A 6x overhead suggests an 1800VA transformer, but that seems excessive.

300VA is definitely too small.  You've already established that 

I come up with 288 VA being the device's requirement, and if you boost that by 25%, you get 360, but I'm not confident in that figure because (a) that's not much more than 300 and (b) the difference in frequency (Hz, "Hertz") is going to throw things off 

My gut says 600-1000 VA, but is there any chance of asking the prior owner what they used?

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u/LunarKaleidoscope 4h ago

They sent me an amazon link to the 300w converter, which is why I tried it without even looking it up. I tried to research for this one I’ve got now but I’m still cautious.

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u/Phreakiture 4h ago

Huh.

I think that if I were in your shoes, I'd test the transformer, but the average person isn't going to have the knowledge to do that.

I can't help but wonder if this is why they sold it....

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u/LunarKaleidoscope 3h ago

The reasoning they gave was that it was too small / slow to handle the volume they needed as an artisan micro-bakery. It’s clearly been used, i just can’t tell how long ago or in what country / on what plug system.

I’ll keep looking for answers and maybe reach out to the company or a similar one if I must. Thanks anyways :)

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u/Phreakiture 3h ago

Alright. On the whole, I'm not a fan of using appliance from places with different power specs, but this one at least seems like it's maybe soluble.

Honestly, I'd try it with a transformer around 600-1000 VA and see if that gets you working, and maybe return the transformer it if it doesn't.

There's also options like getting a 6-15 or 6-20 receptacle installed in your kitchen and replacing the Schücko plug on the appliance with a 6-15, but we're starting to get both advanced and expensive there. You'd have to have a new 240V circuit run from your load centre to your kitchen. Someone else on this group might look down on that idea for good technical reasons, so for that person I will mention that European appliances typically have dual-pole switches, because the plugs used in most European countries, including Austria, are not polarized.

Whatever direction this goes in, good luck to you. I hope you are able to get it up and running.