Will a 50-Hz Washing Machine Work at 60-Hz?

What does the nameplate say? There should be a small sticker/plate that gives the electrical details, usually on the back of the unit somewhere. The specifications section of the users manual should also tell you that information.

Tom

In addition to the above, how about a telephone call to the manufacturer's helpdesk, perhaps?

Hi,

Your machine will run ,no problem but,as you know the speed if directly proportional to freq the speed of the motor will increase.For 60Hz the voltage needs to be increased to achieve the same efficiency.With increase in load the motor gets overloaded overheated and will burn. So the safe bet is reduce your load on your machine

pugalendhi n

This may or may not be true. My US made front-load washer has a three-phase motor controlled by a VFD, so as long as the VFD control, power supply, and control board are setup to run on 50-60 Hz, you would not notice any difference. But there is not guarantee that will be the case.

Tom

Dear Tom,

Thanks for the information. Highly appreciated.

As earlier commented, going to the manufactures is the only way to know without actually trying it. If it is a modern machine it probably has a program chip which will not let it run on the "wrong" frequency. Even if the PIC chip does let it run then you may after a short while burn out the power supply circuit for the lowvoltage electronics,,,,,,,,the voice of experience.

Chas

So long as voltage is correct then what will happen is the motor will spin faster at the higher frequency (ie: 1450 rpm @50 hz = 1780 rpm @60 hz). This wiltend to overlaod the motor especialy if it was sized "just right for the job" to begin with. The electronics should not care as transformer stepdown voltages are not frequency related.

Hi Mike,

The low voltage power in white goods is often derived from a simple capacitor dropper with a resistor and zener diode. Thus if he puts his 50Hz machine on 60Hz the cap will have 20% lower reactance. This tends to burn out the resistor or the zener.

regards

Chas

I have not seen this circuit, capacitor, resistor, zener diode to go from 120 V ac to say 24 V dc. If you have a simple circuit I would be interested in seeing how it works. I have seen a 3 phase transformer to 3 phase low voltage (19 V ac) then 6 diodes in a multi bridge circuit to get a very stable 24 V dc with low enough ripple that capacitors are not needed. MIKE L.

Hi Mike,

the circuit I have seen used is a low value ceramic capacitor (in the nF range) from line (230V in our case), followed by a lowish value 2W resistor about (100Ω from memory) and then a zener to the neut. The few milliamps needed to run the pic chip and perhaps some transistor drivers for the relays is taken either directly from the zener, suitably smoothed, or via a 78xx regulator.

I have repaired a few where a gen has been "tweaked" to get a bit more power by increasing the revs. Non sine wave inverters and very noisy gen waveforms can also have the same result due to the harmonics present.

The motors don't seem to care too much. We do get problems with 60Hz motors being run on 50Hz where they draw a lot more current and overheat.

My advice to small boat owners and off grid systems is try to find a machine with an old fashioned motor driven programmer. They are getting difficult to find now though.

regards

Chas

See if the specifications tag shows a range. If it is a major brand, then it is probably designed for 60Hz, allowing a drop to 50. If it does not, then it probably will work, though the motor life will be shortened. The electronics, on the other hand, will probably be toasted forthwith.

Your alternative would be to build a dynamo, or buy an electonic converter.

Hi, were you able to get an answer for this? I have exactly the same situation and I am not sure what to do. l appreciate your feedback; thanks

No, your drain-pump will run 20% faster and possibly create more load pressure for itself too (usually centrifugal pumps). It is likely to fail.

Many of these motors are syncronous types so may not be able to pump at the increased speeds and 'slip'

The answer is NO...
This is a very common problem on medium sized yachts, I have lost count of how many people have asked me for help as their washing machine has "broken".
Usually a 50hz washing machine when plugged into a 60hz supply will start its cycle perfectly, and after a while stop and beep an error code at you, you'll be stuck with a washing machine that is full of water because the sump pump isn't working.

This in fact _does_ _not_ _do_ _any_ _harm_... your washing machine is fine, but its common practice on these machines to fit sump pumps that are frequency dependant, so whilst the main motor, and all the other electronics will work at either 50 or 60 Hz, the sump pump simply will not run on the wrong frequency.

Im in the same dilemma, brought in the country a whirpool washing machine with a 50hz frequency. It was running well only that the drain motor would not work. Hope to hear from you bro if you were able to solve your problem. God bless.

I have the same issue too. It's running well. Only the draining pump doesn't work. Please post an update if you were able to solve this issue.

It won't do the washing 20% faster...

Where did all the references to Yachts / Boats get into this thread ?? The guy lived in Dubai where he bought a washing machine using 220v 50 Hz supply.
He now lives in the Phillipines where they use 220v 60 Hz supply.
Ideal would be if he posted a foto of the manufactures Plate on the back of the machine so everybody here could see if the needed info is available or details of the exact name and model of the machine so if somebody is interested enough to look at the online info available.
or the alternative would have been sell the used machine in Dubai and buy a new one in Phillipines ! and save the shipping costs !

If the original poster were the <...somebody...interested enough to look at the online info available...>, then there would be no need to create this thread.

True but obviously he didn't think to do that and it did give us the chance to make our comments.