"European" 230 V 1N stepdown transformer

[wilkenhvac]

Im a residential / light commercial HVAC tech. We are working at a facility here in the U.S. that has a production line that was designed and originated from the UK. There were previously Reznor/Nortek duct heaters installed. The power to them and about everything else is 230V 1N the heaters were then controlled by a 0-10vdc signal (not that that matters now)
We are replacing these heaters with what would be known here as a standard type heater I suppose. My controls are just 24v ac So im trying to get from the 230V 1N power to either 120V AC, or to 24VAC The ignition control says it can be either 50 or 60 HZ I suppose if we had to we could just run a dedicated 120v or 208/230v circuit to the new heaters but it would be nice to use the 230V 1N power that is already there from the panels I would have to think that there is a simple step down transformer that could get me to the 24vac? I found a VPL24-2000 transformer online but not sure it that is for the 230V 1N power or for 208/230V AC that we use here in the states? If that vpl24-2000 transformer would work would I just connect the 230V line and the neutral line to one side of the transformer and the other side of my transformer would have a 24V and common output like one you would see in a doorbell type application?

I was searching through this forum and all of you guys are way beyond my electrical knowledge and what it will ever be.

The Nortek heaters from the UK for whatever reason actually had two 230V wires going to them and one neutral (looks like a ground wire) three wires total I do not know why it would have two seperate wires that measure at 230V to the neautral???

here is a pic of what I assume I may need???

 

[ZipZapOuch]

What current rating do you need. A 10:1 stepdown transformer is pretty common.

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/hammond-manufacturing/BF5G/454559

 

[rjenkinsgb]

That VPL24-200 transformer looks fine, that's the type of thing I'd use here in the UK.

I'm not sure why the heaters have two lives, without more info on them. Two elements for different power combinations, or fan and heating element??

Or if the are gas units, a continuous power and a start/stop signal?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I would say not to get too carried away over the 230V spec. - UK mains is actually 240V, and most of mainland Europe is 220V. The 230V is just an equipment specification, intended to ensure that all equipment works properly on either 220V or 240V.

I can only presume the second 230V input was for switching?, or perhaps even one for high, one for low?. It's unusual though, as in the UK if you want higher power you use three phase instead of single phase.

 

[ChrisP58]

What is the power rating of the heater? As a 230 VAC to 24 VAC transformer, the VPL24-2000 is only rated for 50 Watts.

Or you could ignore the secondary winding and connect the two primary windings as an autoformer to feed a 115 Volt heater at 100 Watts.

Or, if there's room for two 115 Volt heating elements of half power each, you can just wire the two heaters in series and run them directly on 230 VAC.

 

[christinescoms]

Im a residential / light commercial HVAC tech. We are working at a facility here in the U.S. that has a production line that was designed and originated from the UK. There were previously Reznor/Nortek duct heaters installed. The power to them and about everything else is 230V 1N the heaters were then controlled by a 0-10vdc signal (not that that matters now)
We are replacing these heaters with what would be known here as a standard type heater I suppose. My controls are just 24v ac So im trying to get from the 230V 1N power to either 120V AC, or to 24VAC The ignition control says it can be either 50 or 60 HZ I suppose if we had to we could just run a dedicated 120v or 208/230v circuit to the new heaters but it would be nice to use the 230V 1N power that is already there from the panels I would have to think that there is a simple step down transformer that could get me to the 24vac? I found a VPL24-2000 transformer online but not sure it that is for the 230V 1N power or for 208/230V AC that we use here in the states? If that vpl24-2000 transformer would work would I just connect the 230V line and the neutral line to one side of the transformer and the other side of my transformer would have a 24V and common output like one you would see in a doorbell type application?

I was searching through this forum and all of you guys are way beyond my electrical knowledge and what it will ever be.

The Nortek heaters from the UK for whatever reason actually had two 230V wires going to them and one neutral (looks like a ground wire) three wires total I do not know why it would have two seperate wires that measure at 230V to the neautral???

here is a pic of what I assume I may need??? Experience coastal living at its finest with apartments for sale in batroun, where every day is a seaside retreat.

We are building a data center and we would like to take advantage of new PDU generation that removes a secondary stage of transformation allowing for 40% less gear. It's a simple concept, our gear is rated 200v to 250v single phase so we just need the voltage output to be in that range. 380v, 400v, or 415v (three phase) run in a line to neutral configuration result in a single phase output of 220v, 230v, or 240v respectively. The PUD is providing us with 5mVa @ 13.2kV. Ideally we would use a 13.2kV / 415Y transformer. A 13.2kV / 380Y and 13.2kV / 400Y transformer would also work.

We have sourced a few used option in the UK and Australia, we are in talks with a company in the USA that will charge us way too much to custom build one, and we have a list of 5 manufactures in China that can build us essentially what ever we need. While I know the UK/Australia/USA companies will be very straight forward, the cost savings and custom flexibility of the Chinese made unit looks very attractive. The company has CE certifications (and a few other that do not apply to the USA), but they do not have a UL listing. From what I have researched, we can have an NTRL work with us though the steps from engineering, to manufacturing, to approving it for just the site we install it on.

Can anyone provide me with any reasons I shouldn't start working towards this? Does anyone have any horror stories of what went wrong on similar projects so I can understand mistakes that were made?

Please keep in mind, the Chinese manufactures we found currently work with a customer of ours in Canada. We know their products are solid. Product quality isn't the concern here, it's the codes and inspectors.

 

[ZipZapOuch]

We are building a data center and we would like to take advantage of new PDU generation that removes a secondary stage of transformation allowing for 40% less gear. It's a simple concept, our gear is rated 200v to 250v single phase so we just need the voltage output to be in that range. 380v, 400v, or 415v (three phase) run in a line to neutral configuration result in a single phase output of 220v, 230v, or 240v respectively. The PUD is providing us with 5mVa @ 13.2kV. Ideally we would use a 13.2kV / 415Y transformer. A 13.2kV / 380Y and 13.2kV / 400Y transformer would also work.

We have sourced a few used option in the UK and Australia, we are in talks with a company in the USA that will charge us way too much to custom build one, and we have a list of 5 manufactures in China that can build us essentially what ever we need. While I know the UK/Australia/USA companies will be very straight forward, the cost savings and custom flexibility of the Chinese made unit looks very attractive. The company has CE certifications (and a few other that do not apply to the USA), but they do not have a UL listing. From what I have researched, we can have an NTRL work with us though the steps from engineering, to manufacturing, to approving it for just the site we install it on.

Can anyone provide me with any reasons I shouldn't start working towards this? Does anyone have any horror stories of what went wrong on similar projects so I can understand mistakes that were made?

Please keep in mind, the Chinese manufactures we found currently work with a customer of ours in Canada. We know their products are solid. Product quality isn't the concern here, it's the codes and inspectors.

My company had a large non-electrical project with a Chinese company (about $700k project that was a modification of something they've made before).
We got into it about half the budget and they suddenly decided they underbid the project and either wanted more money or would stop working. Our lawyers looked into options and we didn't really have any. We took what they had back to the US. My CEO/Founder (who picked the vendor snd negotiated the contract) couldn't find an US company willing to finish it and There were several out-of-spec issues with the work that was done. About a month later, he shut his company down without notice and bought a lumber company in Costa Rica. Done.