What You Might Want to Know About Electricity Before You Talk to Your Electrician

Most commercial restaurant appliances, including our commercial espresso machines, run at higher
voltages (208 Volts to 240 Volts) than we are accustomed to using for our home appliances, with the
exception of our clothes dryers, and sometimes our stoves and/or ovens. If you are opening a coffee
shop, you will be buying equipment and acting as a "go between" between your electrician, and the
dealer of your equipment (hopefully, TheCoffeeBrewers).
And keep in mind that if you deal with TheCoffeeBrewers, we will be happy to talk directly to your
electrician for you if you would like.
When you speak to many other dealers, you will be told that you need 220 Volts or 240 Volts or 208
Volts, or even 230 Volts. Not only that, but you will be told that it has to be "single phase" voltage, or
that it has to be "two phase" voltage. Many dealers will give you conflicting accounts of what's required.
This probably isn't intentional, but it can get very confusing to someone who isn't quite familiar with
electricity.
The truth is that many dealers don't understand anything about electricity, and don't want to admit this
to their customers. So instead, they will repeat some credible sounding nonsense that they've heard, re-
read the spec-sheet to you (as if you can't read it yourself), and tell you to "go talk to your electrician"
(as if you might not be quite smart enough to understand what they don't understand).
The electricity that you will need to understand is very simple. The purpose of this article is to demystify
it for you so that you can talk directly to your electrician, and be comfortable with what needs to be
done. (And most importantly, so that you will not waste your time talking to dealers who might not be
quite smart enough to understand this stuff.)

Alternating Current

This is the most difficult section in this article, since it brings in a small amount of Physics. And you don't
really need to understand this part anyway, so don't despair if you find it confusing.
The most common way that electricity is generated is by rotating a circular coil of wire about an axis
through the coil's diameter so that the rotation is perpendicular to a strong magnetic field. This is done
with turbine engines, or flowing water, or windmills.
According to Maxwell's equations, a current will be induced in the coil of wire as it rotates. The size of the
current is proportional to the number of loops in the coil, and also to the rate at which the magnetic field
is changing. (This is why the coil has to be spun - so that the magnetic field is constantly changing.) The
figure below depicts this.
As should be clear in the drawing, when the coil is perpendicular to the magnetic field, the maximum
amount of magnetic flux is passing through it. When the coil is perpendicular to the magnetic field, the
maximum amount of surface area (inside the coil) is exposed to those magnetic field lines.
When the coil rotates to an upright position, no magnetic field lines go through it. As the coil rotates, the
current oscillates between its maximum value and zero. Note also that when the coil is face up, the
induced current will be moving in the opposite direction as when the coil is face down. This means that
on every half rotation, the current will change from positive to negative, and back again on the next half
rotation.
In fact, the magnitude of the induced current will oscillate as a sinusoidal wave as shown in the figure
below. This figure shows two common voltages that we are familiar with in our households, and in office
buildings. The large sinusoid shows "240 Volts Alternating Current," and the small sinusoid represents
"120 Volts Alternating Current."
Power is transmitted from power plants at tens of thousands of Volts (up to four hundred-thousand Volts)
along special cables to local distribution centers. It is much more efficient to transmit power at extremely
high voltage, because it takes much less current to do so. As we will discuss below, "Ohm's Law" dictates
that the higher the voltage, the lower the current, hence the less Voltage will be lost.
It is far too dangerous to transmit power at tens of thousands of Volts through residential neighborhoods
on telephone poles. Generally, there will be a power distribution station somewhere near you, and power
will be sent into your neighborhood at 7.5 Kilovolts (7,500 Volts).
If you look up to the top of the telephone pole near your home, you will see a large can-shaped gadget
with wires going into it. This is a "stepdown transformer." What it does is to take energy from the 7.5
Kilovolt power, and step it down to the 120 Volts and 240 Volts that runs into your house. (You would not
want 7.5 Kilovolts running into your house, just as you would not want a hundred-thousand volts running
down your street.) Transformers are basically two intertwined coils of wire. The coils are made so that
the ratio of the number of loops in the two coils creates the "stepdown" in Voltage.

Hertz, Building Ground, and Wires

Looking back at the figure above, note that an entire "cycle" of the Voltage wave (starting at 0, going all
the way positive, then back through 0, then all the way negative, and back to 0) as taking 1/60-th of a
second. This waveform is said to be a "60 Hertz" Voltage waveform. "60 Hertz" means that the waveform
repeats 60 times per second. This is why the length of one cycle is 1/60-th of a second.
And of course the reason that the waveform is 60 Hertz is because the coils of the generator (at the
power plant) are spun at this rate. This is the standard frequency used for power distribution in the
United States. In Europe (where many of the commercial espresso machines are made), the standard
frequency is 50 Hertz.
This difference in frequency can make a difference in fine electronic appliances that use small voltages
and electronic filters to process things like audio and video signals. For the most part, motors and heaters
(as are used in restaurant appliances) do not care too much what the frequency is, as long as it's in this
general range. So what works in Europe will work here - provided that the voltage is in the right range.
Note that there is a "Common" signal shown in the figure in green. "Common" is the reference point for
the voltage, and it is the return path for the current that will flow through appliances attached to the
sinusoidal voltages. Nominally, "Common" should be at 0 Volts, which is why it is the reference point for
the power line. Because "Common" it is nominally 0 Volts, it is sometimes casually referred to as
"Ground," although it is not the same Ground as the building Ground (which is the real Ground).
Unlike the real Ground, the "Common" ground is an active part of the circuit, and it will have current
flowing in it when an appliance is running. Every electrical plug will have at least two prongs, and usually
three (and sometimes more). The first two are the "Hot" prong (120 Volts in the U.S.) and the "Common"
prong (which is the returning path for the current flowing into the "hot" prong). A third prong (in all NSF-
certified equipment) will be the building ground.
The building ground is not part of any circuit. It is wired to a metal electrode that is driven deep into the
actual ground so that it makes good contact with the cold damp Earth. Within an appliance, the building
ground is connected to the appliance chassis, and to all metal parts that a person could touch.
This keeps the chassis at "ground potential," which is the voltage that the people standing around the
appliance should be at. After all, the people are standing on the ground (unless there is a carpet, in
which case you can build up some charge, and get a "shock" when you touch the appliance). If anything
goes wrong inside of the appliance, and the live voltage somehow gets connected to the chassis (usually
because of a worn wire), the appliance will short-circuit the live current directly to the Earth, and a
circuit-breaker will trip. No one who touches the appliance will be hurt.
If you open up the outer insulation on a power cord, you will find two or more insulated wires (that is,
wires with plastic coatings) inside of it, and a single bare (uninsulated) copper wire. The bare wire is the
building ground (real ground). It is always safe to touch. Among the insulated wires, there will be a white
one, a black one, and if there are more wires, these should be colored too. If there are exactly three
wires, the third one is usually red.
The white wire is the "Common" return. It should be at or near 0 volts, but it may have current flowing in
it. The colored ones all can have high voltage in them. You should not touch them unless you know that
they are not connected to anything, or unless you know that the circuit breaker has been turned off at
the main panel.

Voltage, Current, Ohm's Law, and Real Wires

We've used "voltage" and "current" somewhat interchangeably above for ease of exposition. They are
different things, but they manifest as one another in simple circuits, so are sometimes naturally discussed
in this way.
The Voltage associated with an electron is its potential energy, whether or not it is actually moving
(flowing). Voltage is denoted "V," and is measured in "Volts." It is exactly analagous to the potential
energy of a drop of water. If the drop of water happens to be at the top of a waterfall, its potential
energy is very large, because it can fall and exert force. If it is at the bottom of the waterfall, its potential
energy is zero, although it is the same drop of water. Note that the potential energy depends only on the
position of the drop of water, and not on whether it is in motion. The drop of water does not change
when you change its position; only its potential energy changes.
Electrical Current is the rate at which electrons flow past a reference point (e.g., into your espresso
machine). Current is denoted "I," and is measured in "Amperes" (sometimes just called "Amps"). Current
is exactly analagous (again) to the rate at which water flows over the waterfall. In fact, a flowing stream
of water is called a "current."
The power is the energy that is used up over time (power is the time-integral of energy), and is equal to
the amount of electrons that flow times the potential energy of those electrons (which manifest as
energy and make your appliance work). Power is denoted "P," and is measured in "Watts." Very simply,
Power is given by P = IV. We'll say a little more about this later.
The medium through which electricity (or water) flows will resist that flow to a greater or lesser extent,
depending on what the medium is. The amount of resistance is literally called "Resistance," is denoted
"R," and is measured in "Ohms." For example, a narrow pipe will "resist" the flow of water more than a
wide pipe, which will resist the flow of water more than a waterfall. If you try to push too much water
through a narrow pipe too quickly, it will burst.
Most equipment (like espresso machines) have lots of resistance. Sometimes the resistance of an
appliance is called the "impedance." (Impedance is a slightly more complicated construct that we will not
deconstruct here.) Wires are made to have small resistances, since the purpose of wires is to deliver
current (electrical flow) without depleting the voltage (potential energy) of the electrons in the flow. The
resistance of wire will be specified in "milliohms per foot" (a milliohm is 1/1000 of an Ohm). To get the
total resistance, you have to multiply this number by the length of the wire (in feet).
In fact, the energy lost within an appliance (or in a given length of wire) is determined by the Voltage,
the Current, and the Resistance of that appliance (or length of wire) in accordance with "Ohm's Law."
Ohm's Law states that: V = IR.
This means that the voltage across the appliance (which is the voltage difference between the electrical
input ("Hot") and electrical output ("Common") of the appliance) is proportional to both the magnitude of
the current flow, and the resistance of the appliance (or wire).
Any real wire has resistance. And a power line can run hundreds of feet from the transformer (up on the
telephone pole, or in the ground on your street) to your house or building. The figure below shows what
happens because of the resistance in the wire. The standard voltages used in the United States are 120
Volts and 240 Volts. The higher voltage, 240 Volts, is used for large appliances, like commercial espresso
machines.

Because wire has resistance, and because it may run hundreds of feet, some of the voltage is lost in the
wire by the current flow (as it flows to where it is needed) in accordance with Ohm's Law. Fat wire
(having a lower "gauge" number) has less resistance than thin wire. Wires that have to handle large
currents will be fat so as to mimimize voltage losses. Like the pipe that will burst if too much water is run
through it too quickly, a wire will burn itself up if too much electrical current is run through it. Bigger
wires are needed for larger currents.
Electricians decide what gauge of wire is required for a circuit depending on the peak amount of current
that the devices on that circuit can draw, and on the length of the wire. They are allowed a maximum of
an 8% voltage drop in the wire, after which they are required to use a heavier (and more expensive, and
harder to work with) gauge of wire.
If the electrician uses a wire that is too thin for the amount of current needed at a given distance, not
only will there be a large voltage drop in the wire (and the attached appliances may not work the way
they should), but you can literally burn up the wire, and maybe start a fire. Have you ever picked up an
extension cord with too many things plugged into it that felt hot?
In the figure above, the nominal 240 Volts and 120 Volts are the outputs of the transformer out on the
street. By the time these voltages get to your building, go through the electrical panel, then get back
upstairs and through the walls to your espresso machine, they could have lost as much as 8% of the
voltage. Therefore equipment that is specified at 240 Volts should be expected to work at 220 Volts.
Similarly, lights and appliances that are specified as using 120 Volts should be expected to work at 110
Volts.
So when some appliance specifications say "240 Volts," and other appliance specifications say "220
Volts," they are not referring to different power requirements. They are just making different
assumptions about where the equipment is plugged in relative to the transformer. In practice, the
equipment should work anywhere in the 220Volt - 240Volt range, since the manufacturer can't know the
actual voltage at the socket into which you are going to plug the appliance.
Note that in Europe, a new standard that many countries (including Italy) are using is 230 Volts at 50
Hertz. We've already explained that the "50 Hertz" piece of it does not matter to the appliances that we
are concerned with. In Europe, the 230 Volt appliances must also work with an 8% line loss, so they
must work all the way down to 212 Volts. Therefore, they will also work in the 220 Volt - 240 Volt range.
Running a little bit hot at 240 Volts won't hurt them.
So if you see an appliance specified at "230 Volts at 50 Hertz" there is no need to worry. The
specifications were written for the European market, but the appliance will work just fine in the U.S. The
only difference is that the power and/or current will be a little different than what the specification says.
Remember, the specification is telling you the power (Watts) and current (Amps) assuming that the
appliance is running at 230 Volts. At 240 Volts, either the power will go up in proportion to 240/230
(which is 4%), or the current will go down in the same proportion, or a little of each will happen.

Standard Two Phase Power, and 240 Volts AC

So far, we have implicitly been discussing "single phase" power. That is to say, we talked about a single
sinusoid of 240 Volts (or of 120 Volts), having a "Hot" voltage wire (or terminal) and a "Common" return
wire (or terminal). In fact, the power coming out of the stepdown transformer on the telephone pole near
your building has three different wires, but they are not 120 Volts, 240 Volts, and Common. Instead, they
are two different "phases" of 120 Volts, and a Common return.
The figure below shows what is actually coming into your building. It is a first 120 Volt AC power line
(shown in Blue), a second 120 Volt AC power line (shown in Red) that is running ½ of a cycle behind the
Blue power line, and a Common return shared by the two AC signals. This is called "two phase power,"
because there are two "phases," which (in this case) are 180 degrees apart. Another way to think about
this is that Phase 2 arrives ½ of 1/60-th of a second (which is 1/120-th of a second) after Phase 1.
In the main electrical panel in your building (where all of the circuit breakers are), Phase 1 and Phase 2
"zig zag" down the panel so that in each bank of circuit breakers (the left side, and the right side), every
other breaker is powered by the same phase (that is, adjacent breakers are powered by different
phases). The breaker outputs run to the various circuits in your house and building, and all share the
"Common" return.
It is interesting (although not important to us) to note that if the current drawn in each phase is the
same, then since they are exactly out of phase, the current flowing in the Common return will be zero. In
fact, two-phase power was conceived partly for this reason, to save on the cost of the wires.
Each single circuit-breaker in the panel controls an independent (from the other breakers) 120 Volt AC
circuit. The fact that half of your outlets are on one phase, and half on another doesn't matter, as long as
you don't connect the two phases together. Each circuit breaker is designed to "trip" when a specified
current limit is exceeded, which disconnects the circuit from the voltage source. If you look at the circuit
breakers in your main panel, you will see numbers on them like "15" and "20." These numbers specify
the amount of current (in number of Amperes) that will trip the circuit breaker.
The reason that you want a circuit breaker that will trip at a given threshold is that if something goes
wrong in an appliance (e.g., it gets dropped into a sink full of water, or someone sticks a screwdriver into
it and accidentally touches the live voltage), the circuit-breaker will immediately trip, thereby shutting off
the power so that no one gets seriously hurt, and so that the wiring in your walls does not get damaged.
In all of the discussion and figures above, we spoke about 240 Volts as if it worked the same as 120
Volts. Specifically, we spoke about a "Hot" line (120 Volts or 240 Volts) and a "Common" line (which is 0
Volts). While each of the 120 Volt phases work this way, 240 Volts is different.
To deliver 240 Volt power to an appliance like a commercial espresso machine, we connect the "Hot"
terminal of the appliance to one 120 Volt phase, and we connect the "Common" terminal of the appliance
to the other 120 Volt phase. What the appliance "sees" is then the voltage difference between the two
phases, as shown in the figure below.
Note that if you subtract the Red curve (Phase 1) from the Blue curve (Phase 2), you get the 240 Volt
waveform shown in Black. There is no "0 Volt Common" return for the circuit using this waveform. (More
accurately, the return is a "Hot" 120 Volt AC waveform.) From outside the appliance, we happen to know
that we have hooked 120 Volts AC to the "Common ground" terminal of the appliance, but the appliance
(which only "sees" the voltage across its two power terminals) can't tell the difference between this two-
phase hookup and the kind of single phase 240 Volt hookup that we had been (hypothetically) discussing
earlier. The appliance has no way of "knowing" that its common terminal is not sitting still at ground
potential (0 Volts).
And by the way, if we return the discussion to the basement, the reason that the two phases are "zig-
zagged" back and forth down the center of your main electrical panel is exactly so that any two adjacent
slots in the panel will be on different phases. This allows you to put in a 240 Volt circuit breaker. A 240
Volt circuit breaker is twice the width of a 120 Volt circuit breaker because it occupies two (adjacent)
slots in the panel. This gives the 240 Volt breaker access to both phases, which it needs for 240 Volts.
When we connect 240 Volts to an appliance in this way, we know that the "Common" terminal on the
appliance is moving up and down with 120 Volt amplitude at 60 Hertz, but the appliance doesn't know
this. As far as the appliance concerned, its "Common" terminal is standing still at 0 Volts. This makes the
other terminal (to which we've connected the other phase of the 120 Volt line) "look like" it is connected
to a 240 Volt AC power line. Basically, we have "faked the appliance out."
Because the 240 Volt AC difference is generated from two 120 Volt "phases," some people will call this
"240 Volt two-phase power." This is meaningless. From the point of view of the appliance, the appliance
"sees" the power as a single phase 240 Volt signal. Don't get hung up on how many "phases" a
commercial espresso machine uses. From the point of view of the espresso machine, it is one phase.
That the single phase 240 Volt waveform happens to be generated by the transposition of two 120 Volt
phases doesn't matter to the appliance. This is simply our standard way of providing 240 Volts, and the
machine can't tell the difference.
The plug for a 240 Volt appliance can have 3 or 4 prongs. If the appliance only uses 240 Volts internally,
it will only have 3 prongs. Two of the prongs are "Hot" (the two phases), and one is the building ground.
There is no "Common" return.
However, in many appliances, the motors and heaters use 240 Volts, but the control functions (e.g.,
microprocessors) run on DC voltage that is generated from 120 Volts AC. In this case, the appliance will
use the phase going to its "Hot" terminal as the 120 Volt AC input, and will regulate this down to a few
DC volts relative to the 0 Volt "Common" ground. These appliances will have plugs with a fourth prong
which is the "Common" line.

Three Phase Power and 208 Volts AC

Some industrial facilities (and also some rural areas) have "three phase power" instead of two phase
power. Three phase power is exactly like two phase power, except that there are three phases instead of
two, and the three phases are 1/3 of a cycle apart instead of ½ of a cycle apart. At 60 Hertz, this means
that the voltage waveforms can be thought of as being "delayed from each other" by 1/3 of 1/60-th of a
second. In Trigonometry, we would say that they were "120 degrees out of phase" from each other as
shown in the figure below.

Three phase power is generally used in applications where large electrical motors need to be driven.
Three phase power is particularly efficient for driving large motors. This is irrelevant to commercial
kitchen appliances, but if the building that you are in has three phase power (which is possible but
unlikely), you need to understand it too.
The way that high voltage is derived from three phases is exactly the way it was derived from two
phases. That is, two (out of three) of the phases are connected across the appliance. It does not matter
which two. The third phase is unused, and just like for 240 Volts, the "Common" return is not used.
For the two phase system, the two phases are exactly out of phase (shifted by 180 degrees), so that the
magnitude of the waveform becomes twice that of the phases: 2 X 120 Volts = 240 Volts. But in a three
phase system, things don't work out quite as nicely.
The two selected phases are only 1/3 of the way out of phase (shifted by 120 degrees), so their "peaks"
do not line up. The magnitude of the resulting waveform is then only 1.73 (which is the square root of 3)
larger than the magnitudes of the phases: 1.73 X 120 Volts = 208 Volts. This is shown in the figure
below.
Note that 208 Volts AC looks and behaves exactly like 240 Volts AC. It is just smaller. Most (but not all)
240 Volt appliances will work at 208 Volts, but you will not get the same performance out of them. If the
manufacturer specifically mentions 208 Volts as an operating point (as does FAEMA), the equipment will
certainly work. Note that machines that are built for the European market in which the standard voltage
is 230 Volts must work at 212 Volts to allow for an 8% line loss.
While going down to 208 Volts is not too big of a stretch from 212 Volts, remember that we need to allow
for an 8% line loss in the 208 Volt system as well. The real voltage could be as low as 191 Volts.
Except for manufacturers of large electrical motors, when 208 Volts is mentioned in the specifications, it
is not that they are advocating 208 Volts as a "best" operating point. They are merely assuring you that if
you have three phase power, the appliance will work. For commercial espresso machines, the difference
is that the power will be lower (than what is specified for 240 Volt operation), and it will take the boiler
longer to warm up in the morning.

Plugs for High Voltage Appliances

Standard 120 Volt household appliances (by and large) all have the same standard plugs on the ends of
their power cords, and those plugs can be plugged into any standard household outlet. This is not true of
high voltage commercial appliances. There are different kinds of plugs and different kinds of outlets for
high voltage, and they are not compatible.
You must have a plug on the end of your power cord that fits the outlet. For this reason, many
commercial appliances are shipped without a plug at the end of the power cord. The person doing the
installation first looks at the outlet, and then provides a compatible plug which they put on the end of the
power cord as part of the installation procedure.
The main reason for having different plugs is to ensure that the appliance does not exceed the current
limit of the wiring in the wall. For high voltage outlets, there are 20 Ampere sockets, 30 Ampere sockets
(these are what you will likely see), and various others.
If your appliance will draw 25 Amperes (and you should look at the specification), you would not want to
plug it into a 20 Ampere circuit, because you will trip the circuit breaker (if you are lucky) or worse. The
good news is that you will not be able to plug it into a 20 Ampere circuit because the 30 Ampere plug on
your appliance will not fit into a 20 Ampere outlet.
Make sure that the circuit that your electrician installs will comfortably handle the current that your
appliance will pull. By "comfortably" we mean that you should leave a little headroom. If your appliance
will draw 18 or 19 Amperes, don't try to "squeak by" with a 20 Ampere circuit. Put in a 30 Ampere circuit
or you will wind up tripping the circuit breaker occasionally.
You don't need to over-think this when having your electrician install a new circuit. For commercial
espresso machines, 1-group machines will draw about 15 Amperes, and can work on a 20 Ampere circuit.
2-group machines will draw close to 20 Amperes, and should not be put on a 20 Ampere circuit. 3-group
and 4-group machines will draw current in the mid-20s (of Amperes). Therefore, you can get by with a
20 Ampere circuit only for 1-group machines. All other machines will need 30 Ampere service.
When in doubt, have the electrician put in a 30 Ampere circuit. But be careful. If you intend to plug other
appliances into this same circuit, you need to add up the currents from all of the appliances, and put in a
circuit that can handle the total current.
Another reason (other than current) that you might have different kinds of plugs is that some plugs have
a "key" (one prong with a different shape) if there are two "Hot" inputs and a "Common" input. This is to
make sure that the "Common" input gets connected correctly, because the machine will know the
difference.
And a final reason is that some plugs are made to "lock" into their socket with a slight twist after the plug
is inserted. This will prevent the plug from being dislodged accidentally. Some zoning boards will require
this as a "safety feature." They are concerned that if someone trips over the cord, the plug will get pulled
out, and there could be a small spark (like miniature lightning) that would cause any nearby volatile
gasses to explode.
In the first place, there will be plenty of equipment in a professional kitchen that will make volatile gasses
explode just by using the equipment the way it is intend to be used. Spurious sparks will be the least of
the problems in a professional kitchen. This "safety requirement" is just a rule that makes sure that if
someone accidentally trips over the cord, the cord will hold firm so that they go down hard.

A Final Word About Power

When we had discussed power earlier, we had said that P = IV. If you look at some of the specifications
of our commercial espresso machines (in which all three numbers are given), you will see that this
equation doesn't seem to hold. (That is, if you plug in the value of V and the value of I, you will get a
different number for P than the one in the specification.)
There are a few reasons for this that we'll touch on very briefly. The numbers in the specifications are the
ones that you should use.
First, this is AC power. Since the 240 Volt voltage waveform is a sinusoid, it is not constantly at 240 Volts.
To calculate power, we are really interested in the area under the curve, and not in the peak of the
curve. We can adjust for this by dividing the peak number by 1.4 (which is the square root of 2).
Second, you are interested the current and the power for different reasons, and the manufacturer tries to
give you the numbers that you probably want. You probably want to know the peak value of the current
(that is, the maximum current that the machine could draw at any instant). This is because you want to
make sure that your wiring will accommodate the peaks.
But you probably don't care about the instantaneous power. Instead, you'd like to know the average
power, because this is what will drive your electric bill. So the two numbers given in the specifications are
not meant to be consistent with each other.
And finally, most appliances appear (to the power delivery circuit) as things that are a little more
complicated than simple resistors. You might recall that in a single instance above, we used the word
"impedance" instead of "resistance," and said that we were not going to discuss it. We will now spend
two paragraphs on it.
Resistance is a real number. In addition to resistance, appliances (and wires) also have capacitive and
inductive elements that behave differently at different frequencies. "Impedance" is a complex number
(having both a resistance, and also a reactive component that is expressed as the imaginary part of the
complex number) that captures these notions. For example, your commercial espresso machine may
have a resistance of 10 Ohms. This means that it "looks like" a 10 Ohm resistor to a DC current. That is,
if we put a constant 240 Volts (DC) across its terminals, it would draw 240 Volts / 10 Ohms = 24
Amperes (DC). But its impedance might be 9.8 + 2i Ohms, where i represents the square root of -1
(which is imaginary).
The effect of the reactive component (2i Ohms in this case) is to put the voltage and the current out of
phase with each other. So when calculating power, you can't simply multiply the amplitudes of the
voltage and current, and divide by the square root of 2. If you really want to know the power, you have
to know the complex impedance, the operating frequency (or the frequency components of waveforms
that are not pure sinusoids - which can be found with Fourier transforms), and the phase shift that the
impedance will induce in the current at the operating frequency (or frequency components). In our
example above, where we posited an espresso machine having an resistance of 10 Ohms, and an
impedance of 9.8 + 2i Ohms, the "imaginary" 2i part is the part that will shift the phase of the current.
And the amount of the shift would be different in Europe (at 50 Hertz) than it would in the U.S. (at 60
Hertz).
If you are running a coffee shop, you really don't need to know this, or worry about it. In fact, your
electrician probably doesn't know this either, and certainly doesn't worry about it. So when you are
talking to him or her, don't bring this up unless you are trying to intimidate them. It will not be
constructive.
Except for the previous few paragraphs, if you've read and (more or less) understood this article, you
should be comfortable looking at the commercial espresso machines specifications, and you should have
no problem speaking with your electrician about what needs to be done. If you have any questions, or if
you'd like us to speak to your electrician too, just drop us a note, or give us a call.