why does an office coffee maker need 2 hots?

amakarevic

i noticed the cord of our office coffee maker is 12/3. it has hot water in addition to 2 warming plates. is it that brewing water takes one hot and and the warmers take another. i just thought that something that small could get away on a single hot.

brric

Is that an SO cord? If so, 12-3 SO has only three conductors, white, black, green.

kbsparky

Flexible cords markings indicate all conductors, including the ground wire.

A cord marked 12/3 would have a black, white, and green conductor.

ONE hot wire, one neutral wire, and one ground wire.

You do have 2 current-carrying conductors. You do not have 2 "hots".

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dmxtothemax

Heating elements usually use a lot of electricity !
A water heating element could easily be 2000w or more !
The two warming plates could easily be 1000w a piece !
Thats 4000w, thats not a small amount of power !
Your more likely to find a 40A outlet at 220v than 120v !

I am only guessing at these figures as I cant see the name plate,
But I think they would be reasonable !

mpoulton

As others have noted, 12/3 flexible cord only has three conductors. But some commercial coffee makers are 120/240V, requiring two hots, neutral, and ground. They often draw more than the 2400W maximum available on a 20A 120V circuit, so they rely on a 15 or 20A 240V circuit for all the heating power, and use 120V for controls. It takes a lot of power to heat water. Even a small home coffee maker is usually over 1000W.

dmxtothemax

Most electric kettles in Australia are 2000 to 2400w.
Havent seen any as small as 1000w.
Unless it is different in the USA !

Protocol.

I think there needs to be a seperation of residential and commercial coffee makers. I see many residential units in small offices. I also have worked on large 5 gallon 3-phase units.

A 12/3 cord is just a regular cord. It shouldn't be 220V. A brand new Bunn VP17-3 is only rated for about 14 A (3 total warming plates). It's a resistive load so it does not need a 20A recept. 1000W is more than hot enough to BOIL a very LARGE pot of water. Those warmers should only be about 100-150W.

The only time you start getting into 220V is into larger or higher volume brewers that require fast boiling. Start seeing more 220V in commercial kitchens + cafe espresso machines.

k_buz

I am currently wiring a brand new Dunkin Donuts and they have two types of regular coffee makers: a single brew with two warming plates and a dual brew with 4 warming plates. The dual brew requires a 50A 120/208 single phase circuit, and the single brew requires a 20A 120/208 circuit.

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Billy_Bob

What does the outlet look like which this plugs into? Various types...
http://www.generatorjoe.net/html/web...quailplug.html

And on the back of the unit should be a "name plate". That should say what voltage and amperage/wattage the unit is. What does that say?