My Old Tools
Well-known member
I feed mine into a small 3 phase breaker panel as well. I use a breaker in the single phase panel to feed the 3 phase panel and RPC. When the RPC is off, nothing is hot.
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3 phase electric
- Thread starter lukedwag
- Start date
I feed mine into a small 3 phase breaker panel as well. I use a breaker in the single phase panel to feed the 3 phase panel and RPC. When the RPC is off, nothing is hot.
bloomingtonmike
Well-known member
Same here. 20hp RPC and 3 phase panels. 1050 CNC knee mill and 2.2kw spindled CNC router and 1236 CNC lathe all run off VFDs off single phase 220. My fun stuff is still single phase. 3 phase rpc install is for a future wide belt sander and larger fun and my current shaper, jointer, and dust collection.
As someone has already said...if you don't ask, you won't know. A few years ago while I was still planning my shop/barn build, the local electric company sent out letters indicating they wanted to move the poles from behind our house, to the street. The reason for the letter was that they needed all the land owners to sign a right-of-way agreement letting them clear part of the road frontage and install poles.
My neighbor and I came up with a plan. He wanted the power company to bury the lines across the end of his property, because that's actually the end of the runway for his small planes. I wanted them to run 3-phase power to my barn. We told the power company that we would get all the ROW's signed if they would give us the buried line at his place, and 3-phase at my place. Sure enough, they agreed.
They eventually ran new poles down the road frontage, then set a pole about 50' from my barn. They ran 3-phase from the street to the pole (about 300ft) then hung a standard residential 240 single-phase transformer on the pole. They buried the lines to my house and I ran conduit underground to my barn. I had an electrician set up a 3-phase meter box connected to a trough on the inside of the barn. The interesting thing is that a single-phase meter works just fine on a three-phase meter box. On the inside there is a single phase panel, and a space for the 3-phase panel.
When I have the 3-phase connected they will set a new transformer on a pad at the base of the pole. At that point they will disconnect the run from the single-phase transformer to the barn. They will then run wires from the 3-phase transformer to a new 3-phase meter, and tap two of the legs in the trough to feed the single-phase panel (along with the ground, of course).
The planner gave me a ballpark figure to expect for having the 3-phase transformer set, and the line run, but I don't recall exactly what it was. Having the line pulled wasn't much at all, and I want to say something like $5K for the transformer, but he also said something about them letting you pay that off over a set period of time without interest. I'm going to have to call their new business folks to get exact quotes, but it seemed reasonable all things considered.
I plan to run a mill, lathe, surface grinder, drill press, bandsaw, large compressor, and likely a few other toys as well.
My neighbor and I came up with a plan. He wanted the power company to bury the lines across the end of his property, because that's actually the end of the runway for his small planes. I wanted them to run 3-phase power to my barn. We told the power company that we would get all the ROW's signed if they would give us the buried line at his place, and 3-phase at my place. Sure enough, they agreed.
They eventually ran new poles down the road frontage, then set a pole about 50' from my barn. They ran 3-phase from the street to the pole (about 300ft) then hung a standard residential 240 single-phase transformer on the pole. They buried the lines to my house and I ran conduit underground to my barn. I had an electrician set up a 3-phase meter box connected to a trough on the inside of the barn. The interesting thing is that a single-phase meter works just fine on a three-phase meter box. On the inside there is a single phase panel, and a space for the 3-phase panel.
When I have the 3-phase connected they will set a new transformer on a pad at the base of the pole. At that point they will disconnect the run from the single-phase transformer to the barn. They will then run wires from the 3-phase transformer to a new 3-phase meter, and tap two of the legs in the trough to feed the single-phase panel (along with the ground, of course).
The planner gave me a ballpark figure to expect for having the 3-phase transformer set, and the line run, but I don't recall exactly what it was. Having the line pulled wasn't much at all, and I want to say something like $5K for the transformer, but he also said something about them letting you pay that off over a set period of time without interest. I'm going to have to call their new business folks to get exact quotes, but it seemed reasonable all things considered.
I plan to run a mill, lathe, surface grinder, drill press, bandsaw, large compressor, and likely a few other toys as well.
sberry
Banned
There are 2 parts to this question. 1 involves 3 ph cost and how many guys have it and the other is that he is in the planning stage and worried about running out of "juice" which doesn't give any info on the intended use. I almost bet the investment cost at 4N has would make this prohibitive for most people and he has extremely sophisticated machines most guys will never see let alone own.
sberry
Banned
At one point I could have stood 3, would have really liked it for irrigation in the 75 hp range and probably would have collected some more big tools but today I am a lot simpler and really don't use anything that can't be ran single and would over heat a number 10 wire.
If I was going down that road would have went in to the industrial park in town where power was almost unlimited, was on triple class A road vs being in the pucker brush down 2 miles of dirt and the same from 3 ph.
If I was going down that road would have went in to the industrial park in town where power was almost unlimited, was on triple class A road vs being in the pucker brush down 2 miles of dirt and the same from 3 ph.
nsula_country
Well-known member
Grew up on a farm. Had 200A 3P at barn and grandparents house. Father had 400A 3P at shop with a 200A 1P feed for house off of the 400A service. 240 Delta.
When grinding feed with a 30 HP hammer mill, if grandmother had stove on, on top of other domestic loads, it could pop a 200A fuse! Hammer mill had a very large start current. Lots of mass to get moving. Their house had 3P electric heat and 3P AC.
Not practical for most people though. With advances in VFD's it's almost not needed outside of an Industrial or Commercial application. About the only thing a VFD cannot do is power a 3P welder.
CT
When grinding feed with a 30 HP hammer mill, if grandmother had stove on, on top of other domestic loads, it could pop a 200A fuse! Hammer mill had a very large start current. Lots of mass to get moving. Their house had 3P electric heat and 3P AC.
Not practical for most people though. With advances in VFD's it's almost not needed outside of an Industrial or Commercial application. About the only thing a VFD cannot do is power a 3P welder.
CT