Re-wiring british kitchen to american voltage

Hi All,

I think finally we might be able to move home to England (I am married to an american). We wanted to know if anyone has tried to have a room in their home like the kitchen rewired to american voltage and how much it might cost, we are hoping to bring the fridge, washing maching and drier, bread machine and a few other things.

We are also talking about shipping one of our cars over too, would you recommend this or would it be cheap to buy a new one in England?

Anyone have any advice for us?

Thanks

I wouldn't bother just sell everything and buy new stuff here.............buy the time and effort and money..believe us we know about builders and such......it would be cheaper to buy new..American washers and dryers just won't fit in any of the houses here.......unless you are buying a substanial size house over here......American fridges are becoming popular here as well..but as before they just won't fit in most houses...

hope this helps........

I'm no electrician but don't think its feasable,not even sure if it would be legal,think of when you move on and someone else moves into the property.Anyway whiteware is not expensive right now,probably cost more to have yours shipped over.

Dave

I agree, don't bring any electrials over (I brought smaller things with me, like lamps that I really loved and thought I would have them re-wired, its not worth the cost....they are still packed away in the loft).......bring everything else!

Not to be pesimistic, but can you imagine if you checked everything out, made sure it would all work, priced rewiring, etc.  Only to ship the stuff over and have some tiny thing screw everything up?  Like what if you find out afterall the it's going to be twice as expensive than you were previously quoted?  Or that it's not legal to rewire or to use the appliances (I dunno about this but it seems iffy)

If anything goes wrong (which a lot can), you'll have all of these foreign appliances in a country where you can't get any money for them and have no use for them whatsoever.  Not to mention the added loss in shipping costs.  Better to have the money in hand (even if it's much less than you paid for them) to put toward appliances that you know for sure will work.  It seems too risky to me and much much too expensive and time consuming.  (I'm a finance major so I have money issues on the brain half the time ) 

We are also talking about shipping one of our cars over too, would you recommend this or would it be cheap to buy a new one in England?

I'm not an expert but these are issues running through my head about shipping a car. 

Emission standards in the US are different than those in the UK.  It might cost a bunch to get the car in a state that would statisfy the requirements for UK standards.  This would be something I would check.  I know that US cars are sold in the UK, but I would check into if they have the same engines etc.  I'm guessing they are different in that sense.

Also, US vehicles are much worse for gas mileage especially since most are automatic - if they even take the same gas that is in the UK, I'm not sure of that either.  With the higher gas prices in the UK, I certainly wouldn't want to be driving around my Chevy Malibu that gets 22 MPG in the city.  I'd want a smaller car that could get somewhere up in the 30s or higher.  The savings alone in gas would probably be worth selling your car in the US, therefore not paying for shipping costs (I can't imagine how high these would be!) and just buying a new car in the UK.    

It is quite possible from a electrical point of view to install a large transformer and run 120V to NEMA outlets.   I have precisely this arrangement to run all my 120V technical equipment.  

To do this for high-power kitchen appliances, however, is unlikely to be a viable proposition.     Big transformers are expensive, and by the time you add the labor costs you could probably have bought at least a new washer and dryer over here.    

Also to consider is that it is not just the voltages which are different, but also the supply frequency (60Hz U.S.,  50Hz U.K.).   This isn't generally a problem for small motors (electric carving knife, can opener, etc.) but when you start getting to the larger motors in washers and refrigerators, it can become more significant and result in the motors running less efficiently.    I wouldn't recommend it.     (Yes, frequency converters are available too, but you really don't want to see the price tag for one big enough to run this lot!   )

You'd also have a hard time finding a British electrician who would be willing to do the work, as most are not familiar with American electrical standards and will not install anything outside the standard to which U.K. wiring is normally carried out anyway, although there is no law against it.   (If you were renting a house, I doubt whether the landlord would be happy with the idea either.)

The dryer would also need special wiring, as American dryers have a 3- or 4-wire hookup and run on both 120 and 240V power.  They also use different grounding (earthing) arrangements, so there would be added complications with which, again, many U.K. electricians would not be familiar.  

My advice on the fridge, washer, and dryer is to forget it and buy replacements over here, for both technical reasons and the practicalities (size etc.) mentioned by others.  

If you really have a lot of lower-power gadgets you're attached to, then installing 120V power for those is more practical, although still likely to be more expensive than buying 240V replacements over here.

I'm not an expert but these are issues running through my head about shipping a car. 

Emission standards in the US are different than those in the UK.  It might cost a bunch to get the car in a state that would statisfy the requirements for UK standards.  This would be something I would check. 

You shouldn't have any problems with emissions, as U.S. requirements have generally been stricter than British.   

Vehicles under a certain age (I think it's 10 years) now have to have a "single-vehicle approval" certificate, which I understand can cause problems.  I'm  more an old-car fan, so I've never had any personal experience of this.

There is still some sort of vehicle inspection to get through anyway.   Lights often cause problems.  You would need to have the headlights changed for driving on the left -- Easy enough for the standard-size lamps on older vehicles, but can become expensive on late-model cars with those weird shaped headlights.

There's something of a gray area on other lighting requirements,  and some inspectors will complain about lack of rear fog lights, red turn signals on the rear, and even amber parking lights.    It can be something of a lottery as to who you get on an inspection and the way he interprets the rules.

yeah I wouldn't bother going through all that trouble as for the reasons stated above it could be an awful cost to do so , may still end up ruining your American equipment and it can be hard to sell your house afterwards because of that not to mention you're gonna have to find a house that has the room to fit American sized Appliances ...If you were going to move to an country where household appliances were hard to come by I can see the point but household appliances here are accessable and work just as well...it seems a huge expense and headache..IMHO

if they even take the same gas that is in the UK, I'm not sure of that either. 

Unless you have an older car which was not designed for unleaded gasoline and/or has a very high compression engine, you shouldn't have any problems with gas straight from the pumps.

Standard unleaded fuel is sold as 95 octane, but is measured a slightly different way than in the States.     British 95 octane is roughly equivalent to 90 or 91 American.

We had a discussion about this a while ago -- Scroll to about halfway down the thread:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=16732.0;all

Thanks Paul    

We are also talking about shipping one of our cars over too, would you recommend this or would it be cheap to buy a new one in England?

I completely understand your ideas regarding the cars. There are several things you need to consider before shipping.
1. Car Insurance in the UK will be expensive as the car is not known to their rating statics and it is a left had drive car (Automatically Higher Costs)
2. Parts: Being an American Car, parts will probably have to be imported and this means you will be waiting weeks for needed repairs. (Including Oil Filters)
3. Parking: American cars are more difficult in tight places such as London and may not fit in the standard British garage.
4. Fuel Mileage: Cars here get better mileage, no way around it. Your fuel costs are going to be outrageous.
5. Fuel Costs: Petrol (Unleaded) is currently 0.95p a liter.
US to UK Liter vs.Gallon is 4.5 UK Liters to a US Gallon. (I believe so or close to?)
0.95p equals $1.59 USD times 4.5 equals: $7.15 USD a gallon!
Last - 6. MOT: A required inspection process that must be completed before getting it registered, this can be very costly and is required annually.

We bought a KIA Picanto for 5500.00 pounds = $10250.00 dollars with a three year unlimited mileage warranty and absolutely love it. When we move back to the states, we plan on bringing it with us and keeping it as KIA is really great in the states.

Hope this helps, we almost brought our cars and ended up selling them.

Take care

1. Car Insurance in the UK will be expensive as the car is not known to their rating statics and it is a left had drive car (Automatically Higher Costs)

Some insurance companies just do not want to know you if you have an American vehicle, or they'll quote such an exorbitant price that nobody in their right mind would accept it.   (I remember one from about 13 years ago, quoted me £850 on a '72 Pontiac    -- In the end I got cover for under £110.)

The advice about shopping around for the best rates just applies even more than usual, and you need to go the specialist insurers for the best deals (the same type of brokers that deal with kit cars, homebrew vehicles, etc.)

2. Parts: Being an American Car, parts will probably have to be imported and this means you will be waiting weeks for needed repairs. (Including Oil Filters)

Don't expect your local motor accessory shop or Halfords to be any help whatsoever, but there are a good few American spares companies that keep a wide range of general service parts -- Oil and air filters, brake pads, PCV valves, rotors, etc. -- and will get them to you within a couple of days.   

http://www.yanktanks.co.uk/carpartsales/partsUK.htm

(I've used Peter Cooper a lot in the past and found him to be very helpful.)

On the subject of Importing vs. Purchasing Here.

One thought did come to mind that would make bringing an American car over and having everything go well.
- If the car was originally manufactured in the UK or EU, such as a Mini or a Honda Civic SI, then getting parts and repairs would be very simple. You just need to deal with the car insurance of it being a Left Handed vehicle.
Other cars like Jaguar, certain Volvo's, BMW's, etc.. Can be serviced here as long as the exact model car is available for sale.
Products like Ford F-150's and GM Cars is where you could run into a problem.

Personally, I would have bought a Mini and brought it over. The costs of a Mini here are almost 40% higher for the same car, when you consider pounds vs. dollars.

One thing to remember, you MUST own the car for at least six months prior to bringing it over or be subject to VAT (Sales Tax) of 17.5%..

Hope this helps..

If the car was originally manufactured in the UK or EU, such as a Mini or a Honda Civic SI, then getting parts and repairs would be very simple.

Just be aware that there are still variations between markets which means that some parts are not interchangeable:  Engine emission controls, for example.