Just bought a beautiful Astoria Argenta SAE-2 second hand from a hookah shop that shut down. The machine is in mint condition, but my electrician has run into a snag. The machine has an internal pump and is clearly a 220V machine rated at 19.2A but it looks like the plug was changed to a 125V 20A. The electrician has already installed a 30A 220V plug at our counter, but is concerned that because of the electrical tape plug swap. The Astoria tech support guy said that unless the machine was drastically changed inside (solenoids, pump, heating elements etc, big $$$), the machine wouldn't have worked with that plug.

What should I do!? Change the plug back to a 220V 30A plug? I don't want to blow up my new investment! Thanks everyone in advance, I've learned so much from everyone!

look at the solenoid valve coils
the motor
the heating element
the control box
IF all says 220-230v
then SHOULD BE SAFE to replace the plug but make sure it gets wired correctly (2 hot wires and one neutral and in some cases an extra ground one)

Yeah, Astoria tech support thought that it was very unlikely that all internals were converted to 110, but more likely the stock 220V plug on the machine didn't fit the 220V outlet at the previous shop, and the cheap way to make it work was to run that 125V plug w/ two hots and a neutral. Sound right??

Stefano has good advice. Also, just to be on the safe side, you should check the other end of the cord where it wires into the distribution block inside the machine. Odds are that the previous owner decided to try his luck by using an under-rated receptacle and didn't do anything else, but you should definitely verify this before plugging in.

Absolutely wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A proper 220 volt circuit has two hots and a GROUND. Don't confuse neutral and ground, you could be in for a big surprise. If you needed a neutral you would need four wires,(four wire three pole) two hots, neutral and ground.
Duke the Electrician

Don't worry, I'm not touching the electrical, only my licensed electrician so I'm sure he wouldn't make that mistake. He just doesn't have the espresso machine know-how so that's why I turned to y'all.

duke-one wrote:Absolutely wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A proper 220 volt circuit has two hots and a GROUND. Don't confuse neutral and ground, you could be in for a big surprise. If you needed a neutral you would need four wires, two hots, neutral and ground.
Duke the Electrician

who's the one absolutely wrong?
we mentions the 2 hot, neutral and ground
and yes some machines will have 4 wires from the main box to plug some will have only 3

The L5-20 twist lock cord cap shown is two wire three pole 125 volt class. The only proper use of that is one hot one neutral and a ground, period. If the machine is 220 volt with a three wire cord then it is two hots and a ground (but not that plug). Mixing up the proper use of ground and neutral is hazardous. Neutral is a current carrying grounded conductor, not a grounding conductor.

If it's a newly run, dedicated circuit, the neutral and ground are indistinguishable from each other as they both run to the ground bus.

You don't know what you are talking about. Neutral and ground may go to the same place only in a panel. Outside of that they are separate and not to be interchanged. You'll kill someone doing it your way.
KDM