elctric appliances from US

[ghost]

just to nitpick-

American 220 is not "2 phase".

2 phase is something completely different, a very wacky flavor of electrical service that was used before the second world war in Buffalo NY, and around Philly.

American power is either single phase, or 3 phase, which is an industrial type not used in household appliances.

American dryers simply have some circuits that are 110, and some that are 220, and, since American power is two 110 volt hot wires, which add up to 220, while Argentine is one 220 volt hot, its a bit trickier to split up the power.
You can use a transformer for the 110 circuits of a dryer, but you have to know what you are doing, to go inside the dryer and rewire it accordingly.

Probably cheaper and easier to buy a dryer here, or, just do like the locals do, and hang a rack from the ceiling...

Note that currently all new American buildings get in fact 240 volts split in two 120 between neutral and hot wire. Major appliances, such as virtually all drying machines and ovens, are now connected to 240 volts. Mind, Americans who have European equipment shouldn't connect it to these outlets. Although it may work on some appliances, it will definitely not be the case for all of your equipment. The reason for this is that in the US 240 V is two-phase, whereas in Europe it is single phase.

Roughly speaking, to operate a particular appliance requires a particular amount of POWER, which (at least for resistive loads) is current times voltage. If you double the voltage, you draw half the current to achieve the same power. The primary advantage of lower current is that you lose less power in the wires feeding current to the appliance (or you can use smaller, cheaper wires for the same power loss rating). On the other hand, the higher voltage is somewhat more dangerous if accidentally touched or if there is an accidental short circuit. Some experienced electricians are relatively casual about touching 110 V circuits, but all respect 230 V. (This constitutes a "don't-try-this-at-home thing, though--it's quite possible to get a fatal shock or start a fire with 110 V!) Current trends are toward the use of even lower voltages (24 V, 12 V, 5 V, 3.3 V...) for any devices which don't draw much total power to increase safety. Power is rarely distributed at these lower voltages; rather it is converted from 110 V or 230 V by a transformer at the earliest opportunity. Even in North America, 220-240 V is commonly used in residential appliances for
most high-power electrical appliances (ovens, furnaces, dryers, large motors, etc.) so that the supply current and supply wire size can be smaller. Higher power industrial applications often use 480 V or more. And, of course, transmission lines use progressively higher voltages as the distance and total power go up (22,000 V for local distribution to 1,000,000 V for long distance lines).

 

[clooz]

... Some experienced electricians are relatively casual about touching 110 V circuits, but all respect 230 V.

Very true. For the rest of us we have to pick a simple safety guideline to tell kids, drunks and the distracted.

For us, 15 V is safe. But 17 V will cause harm under the wrong conditions

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html

There low-voltage high-current sources around the hi-tech home.

 

[Ries]

Once again, and nothing to do with dryers.

US power is NOT 2 phase.

2 phase has a very specific meaning-
see this article-
http://www.3phasepower.org/2phasesystems.htm
or this one-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-phase_electric_power

Residential US power is SINGLE PHASE.
220 volts US SINGLE PHASE POWER is delivered differently than european SINGLE PHASE POWER. In the USA, we do indeed use 2 hot wires, rather than one, to deliver 220/240. But that doesnt change the fact that its all single phase.

While I am not a licensed electrician, I have wired a LOT of buildings, including at least 4 different 3 phase industrial shops- I am a welder and machinist, I routinely hook up 3 phase power to my machines, and currently have two buildings with 200 amps of 3 phase.

I knows the difference between argentine power, and US power, as I have wired, and troubleshot, circuits in my residences in both places.

I would agree with the basic premise, Argentine power is enough different from US power that its not worth importing larger US appliances.

But it aint 2 phase. The correct term would be "split phase".
Sorry, but this is a particular bug in my bonnet.