In alt.engineering.electrical Tzortzakakis Dimitrios wrote:

| Professional washing machines. One of my very first days 'in the field' was
| to connect some of them. They have a large heating element, you can connect
| it single phase, or 3 phase, it just heats up faster (of course) when you
| connect it 3 phase. (they have a single phase motor, so it works also in
| pure 230 V).

If it has 3 elements rated for 230 volts, with 3 separate connections that
would be to three separate phase for a three phase feed, and all connected
to the one phase for a single phase feed, then it should heat up at the same
speed, while drawing three times the current (not accounting for the motor).

I don't know why it should heat up faster in three phase, or why you would
say "of course" about it. I would think it would heat up faster if you took
it over to London and hooked it up to a 240 volt supply.

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