There are machines that are 3 Phase and those do require 220 not regular house power. Mine are all regular plug ins and even if you buy one with a 3 Phrase motor all you need to do is buy a Servo motor that is regular house current and you are more then ready to go. They even have Servo motors that have the needle down but on the two machines I have that on it needed a special adapter so it would fit on the hand wheel, I'm lucky my cousin made them for me. If you would like pictures I will gladly put some on for you. The Servo motor makes the machines much more controlled. I did use the serger without the Servo for probably 2 years with the regular clutch motor but the difference is night and day for controlling your speed. I also do suggest if possible you buy a Singer as needles, manuals, blades etc are far more readily available. Mine is a Rimoldi and everything except for the knobs is available but manuals are not very good. I do have a 3 thread Singer serger that never lets me down, this was the first machine that started the industrial machine quest for both my cousin and myself. I had the 3 thread first but really wanted a 4 thread because of the double straight stitch. Let me know if you need any assistance as I will be happy to help!