3 phase electric questions

[Shanarchy]

I am thinking of moving my shop (same building) to a space that just opened up. There was a letter press printer there for years. It is wired with a box for 120 (for all the regular wall plug ins) and a box for 3 phase with several drops already in. All my equipment is currently single phase. Will my 240 (dryer/compressor/flash) stuff be able to plug into the drops there? What do I need to look for/change? Amp of the circuit breaker? Making sure wiring is that right? Or is 3 Phase a whole different animal and I'd have to put a new box in and have everything re-wired?

[Gilligan]

You will LIKELY have 208v outlets when you tap off of 2 legs of the 3 phase box (3 phase = 3 legs).  This is my current setup now.

I run my dryer as 1 phase (even though it COULD go 3 phase) as it was already wired that way.  Basically it just draws more current because of the 208 vs 220.

this shouldn't be a problem with MOST of your gear, but it is possible to be a problem so you should check with that gear and see.

Dumb loads like dryers and motors will just work harder, more intelligent devices might not just hop over.  But lots of stuff will say 200v-240v and can handle that difference.

But I am also NOT AN EXPERT... someone with much more knowledge could easily post next and say "He's completely wrong" and I wouldn't argue at all.

[Northland]

I am thinking of moving my shop (same building) to a space that just opened up. There was a letter press printer there for years. It is wired with a box for 120 (for all the regular wall plug ins) and a box for 3 phase with several drops already in. All my equipment is currently single phase. Will my 240 (dryer/compressor/flash) stuff be able to plug into the drops there? What do I need to look for/change? Amp of the circuit breaker? Making sure wiring is that right? Or is 3 Phase a whole different animal and I'd have to put a new box in and have everything re-wired?

You need to check the 3 phase circuits or panel with a volt meter to see what you have. It could be 277/480 volt, 120/208 volt or straight 240 volt.

[Binkspot]

Yes like said above you will just need to check the voltage of each leg to ground to see what you have then use two pole breakers to pull single phase if it is 208-240. That building considering the age and former use may be 460 vac or be wired delta with a high or stinger leg. The later is not a big deal as long the high leg is not used to power your equipment. If you are on true 240 now and end up with 208 your amperage will increase a little. Some motors are voltage specific, need to check the data plate. If the voltage is less then the name plate sometimes you can add start and run capacitors to over come the lesser voltage.

That building still has nob and tube wiring in it, pretty rare today. I actually took pictures of it when I was up there, not something you see every day. If you look up in the main halls you can see the four rods and each suite has the feed wire coming off them.

[Shanarchy]

Good memory Brian!

The space that opened up is the first one at the stairs. It would be pretty convenient (there is also a conveyor belt there) and is a little larger than my space. I'm trying to decide if it is worth it or of I should just leave it as is. I'll have to check the circuit box again, but I think it was listed as 480 or 460.

[cbjamel]

Check the electric rates they were paying. Could benot worth it, monthly.
Shane

[Prosperi-Tees]

Check the electric rates they were paying. Could benot worth it, monthly.
Shane

This is good advice. We are on a balanced payment plan and when we moved shops we were shocked that are bill went from $150 a month to over $600! We had to fight the power company to reset the average that the building used previously which was a high production screen printing shop.