# HELP Required - Iberital Expression



## ifunky_ltd (Oct 16, 2013)

Hello All

I brought an Iberital Expression 3 group over a year ago, gave it a good clean and its been sitting there waiting for me to test. I have just realised that I may not be able to test it because it requires a 3 phase socket.

Can anyone help? I want to be able to test it from home.


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## Pyro (Jun 28, 2014)

Not without a phase converter, which I am guessing since you bought the machine second hand will actually end up costing more than it £500-1000...

Your other option is getting 3 phase wiring which IIRC will end up costing £5000-10000

This is exactly why I don't have a commercial machine on my countertop!


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## jpaul__ (Feb 19, 2016)

what I would think but expressed more eloquently



> Well, you first have to make sure it's possible. You are talking about 3 phase vs. 1 phase, ie. the 380 V is actually 3 individual 240V phases. On some espresso machines the pump is on one phase and the heater on the other two. In all cases I've seen the heater is actually a dual element, each element using one phase of the 380 V. To use it on one phase you will have to operate the heating elements in parallel along with the pump. This is possible, but whether or not it will be practical is a simple matter of mathematics. As an example, if each element or each half of the element draws 1000 watts and the pump draws another 100 watts you will be drawing 2100 watts on one phase. That means it will be drawing 8.75 A, which should not be a problem. If, however, each element draws 2000 watts you will be 17.5 A which is too high for the normal wiring in a normal home and will cause the circuit breaker to blow. In any case you will be putting a heavy load on the phase used and will probably find a loss of 20 or more volts when the heaters are on.


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## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

It's a Spanish machine with typical 4 core wiring. UK Iberital machines are all wired for 230v single phase electrics.

You join the black lead to the brown for the live feed; green is earth; the beige-ish one is neutral.

You'll need a mains supply of 20amps minimum.


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