# Euro 230 volt outlets wired with US 208 or 230 volts



## John (Jan 22, 2007)

Jerry Revels said:


> What are the issues with wiring a UERO or UK style rreceptacle that requires 1 line / or ungrounded conductor, 1 neutral and a grounding or Earthing conductor with typical US 208 or 230 volt supply with 2 line / or ungrounded conductors and a grounding conductor. The obvious is there is no netural and the device is not being wired as intended and it is not providing polarity. It works because I have seen it in use but the question is:
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> [/LIST]





Jerry Revels said:


> how does it work


It works fine


Jerry Revels said:


> is it a sefety risk and if so why


Depends on who and how the circuits were installed.


Jerry Revels said:


> are there any refferences showing this as a code violation in the NEC.


No, not that I am aware of.


Jerry Revels said:


> Also direct wiring of equipmet such as forced air heaters listed for 230v to ground Euro sytle power.


Only problem is if the circuit the equipment is plugged into/ connected to is GFCI protected. Some European equipment have a higher ground current that will trip a GFCI. A GFCI will trip at about 4-6 mA whereas a RCD will trip at about 30 mA. This is where you might get into some NEC code issues.


And BTW welcome to the forum.:whistling2:


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## RePhase277 (Feb 5, 2008)

The only code issue that I can think of right off hand is that it hasn't been tested and listed by an NRTL, such as UL.

It works because equipment doesn't care if one leg is grounded or not, as long as the potential is there.


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

Most case it useally not a issue however if you have electronic control it may cause some issue due the normal European system are useally on 50 HZ format and USA is on 60 HZ ditto with standard electric clocks.

Most European single phase supply typically are at 230 or 240 volts line to netural but few case you will see 120 or 127 volt line to netural { this is pretty much rare item nowdays }

The other thing with European equiment is colour codes that something you really have to pay attetion where to hook up and what not.

I did mention about almost half dozen legit colour format in resdentail discucssion section { I think it is in panel picture }

Yeah John is right the RCD is set at 30ma for branch circuits but the main switch or what I called "Interrupteur principal" that have 100ma setting the only time we can get lower setting is for pool we go low as 10 ma { heard they are talking about getting this tighen up }

Merci,Marc


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## Toronto Sparky (Apr 12, 2009)

I would think that having 120v to ground on each leg would be unsafe if the outlet is a polarized type.


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