Hacker News Reader

The washing section blew me away. I did not know washing machines in NA were not electric. Like what?

Really comprehensive post, great material for exploring cultural differences.

One thing I missed maybe was calendars, that here in Europe the week starts on Monday instead of Sunday.

The 110V AC network does not allow you to easily power a washing machine or an electric water heater, so you need a very unusual three-phase electrical outlet. Most homes therefore have natural gas installations, which involves a fair amount of plumbing and ventilation.

That's why the machines are very different in design between Europe and North America (and the space available).

Miele-Waschmaschinen sind die besten der Welt!

The majority of US homes use a split phase setup. So 240V is readily available and in fact the only way you can run central AC. Nominal voltage of a single phase is 120V. Technology Connections has an entire video about it.

Not sure about the majority of EU homes, but many have 3-phase 480V, 240V is single-phase.

Car chargers, electric stoves and sauna heaters work off 480V when possible.

"Miele, Miele" sprach die Tante, die alle Waschmaschinen kannte.

Having said that, the drum of our Miele dryer disintegrated after ten years, which was a bit disappointing.

There is Miele 'Professional'...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com