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running original Vitodens 200 on 240VAC

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zac_2
zac_2 Member Posts: 32
in THE MAIN WALL
I've had my Vitodens 200 for nearly 8 years now and was curious as to how much power it was using the other day so I put my Envi power monitor on it and was shocked to discover that it was drawing 190 watts even when not firing, over 200 when actively heating. I was suspicious of the external power module that steps the voltage up from 120 to 230 so I bypassed the power module altogether & fed the boiler 240V directly. It seems to be running quite happily and is now using only 60 watts!

Has anyone else attempted this? The only reason I can see for the power module is purely for the convenience of running the boiler from a standard NA 120V 15A circuit. I do know the original Vitodens is designed around 50Hz, do you think 60Hz will bother it? Any other possible pitfalls I have overlooked?

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  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,479
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    That voltage step down must be blazing hot if it is eating 140 watts, anything above 7% loss is suspect. Is this a step-up transformer? If the step=up is electronic it might be doing something to the waveform the power monitor doesn't like and the reading might be bogus.

    Running 50 hz equipment on 60 hz usually is not a problem.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
    zac_2
  • zac_2
    zac_2 Member Posts: 32
    edited January 2015
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    The power module's transformer was stepping up from 120v to 230v and was hot every time I felt it, definitely 100+ watts of heat coming off of it. I had the power monitor's clamps on the power feeding the module, do you think it could possibly back-feed? I also put the clamps back on the breaker panel main feed where they usually reside and my overall consumption seems to have fallen a significant amount.
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,479
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    The only thing I can think of is that transformer is meant for 100vac, not 120vac; that means you might be getting close to saturation and the thing will cook. A conservative transformer will take that in stride but a transformer designed on the edge (to save money) won't.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge

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