Cydrome Leader wrote:

James Waldby wrote:
On Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:14:57 -0500, Pete C. wrote:
Jon Anderson wrote:
On 8/8/2011 10:58 PM, David Billington wrote:
Jon Anderson wrote:
On 8/8/2011 6:17 PM, Ned Simmons wrote:
The elements are over $100 each for the 1500.

ooh... looks like I'm shopping for a step down transformer...

Or work out how much wire, such as Kanthal A1, you need and wind your
own, it's quite easy to do.

Outside of the casting it into the walls bit... I've only used this
oven half a dozen times in 10 years. If I have to do without, I'll
certainly survive, and I have no shortage of issues to work out
regarding this move. The oven is a minor bit, but still, one of the
pieces of the puzzle... Swapping for a 220 oven is my easiest option,
but will look into this further.

The voltage converter I was looking at on eBay mentions not using it
for loads generating heat, which I took to mean resistive loads. So I
think I'll look up an electrician friend of a friend and ask about
sizing a step down transformer. Would be nice if I could get something
that would handle 3x my biggest anticipated load, and from that, wire
US outlets for my stuff. I've got a whole box of outlets, switches,
boxes, covers, male and female plugs, etc to take so I can have two
parallel circuits. 110 for my stuff, and the native 220 outlets for
things I'll be buying there.

You *do not* want any "voltage converter", they are only intended for
odd little appliances for travelers. What you need is a proper
continuous duty rated transformer, and 240/480 to 120/240 transformers
are quite common in the US and will do the job if you wire them for 240
in and 240 out. In this configuration they will accept your 240 only
input, and provide a 120/240 center tapped output consistent with US
power. These transformers are commonly used to provide local 120/240
power from 480 feeders in industrial settings, and can be found used
pretty readily in most any size imaginable.

For 1400 watts at 50Hz you need a transformer with a core weighing
75 to 100 pounds (at 60Hz, figure 20VA per pound; 5-10% lower at

Those weights are way high for that size of transformer.

I would agree. I have 1KVA 240/480 to 120/240 transformers that are
probably 10#, 3KVA around 25# and a 5KVA that is probably 50#. All of
these have dual independent winding on both the primary and secondary
sides. On the primary sides it is two 240V windings that can be
connected in parallel for 240V input or series for 480V input. On the
secondary side it is two 120V windings that can be parallel connected
for 120V or series connected for 240V. Series connected gives a center
tap so it's normal 120/240 output. These transformers are *very* common
and readily available used. I think I paid $8ea for the 1KVA, $15 for
the 3KVA and $25 for the 5KVA, all used.