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Wiring up new toy; er...tool

Dargo

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
I bought a new Hypertherm Powermax1250 yesterday. This is a fairly large plasma cutter. As per my norm, I've read the owner's manual before opening the box. Now I have a delimma. The manual says that to hook up this plasma cutter to 220 volts (what is it anyway? I've heard 210, 220, 230, 240) I have to "remove" the 4 wire 6 AWG cord that came with the unit and buy a 3 wire 6 AWG cord since I'm not hooking it up to 3 phase. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that there was 4 wire 8 AWG wiring used in my pool house where 220 was to be used. :confused:

Anybody know what I'm talking about? Better yet, anybody know about the 3 wire or 4 wire thing? In my mind, even if I only need 3 wires, couldn't I simply snip off one wire at either end and just use 3 of the wires in the 6 AWG cord that came with the machine??? I know it draws 80 amps, but won't 6 AWG handle that? Somebody hep me peeze....
 
Dargo, I would help you, but I have 3 phase 208 volt wiring. I don't know why.
 
B_Skurka said:
Dargo, I would help you, but I have 3 phase 208 volt wiring. I don't know why.
Click to expand...

Well then, I have about a half a truck of stinking overhead lighting that is 3 phase for ya! Grrr, duh, ouch, crap, big oops...

Well, actually Bristol Myers is supposed to buy it today. What's up with 3 phase overhead lights anyway?!
 
AFAIK, 3 Phase is generally used in "commercial" applications as the current is smoother and provides better power for larger machines. So if you have 3 Phase power in your factory then it would make sense to use 3 phase lights.

But I'm no expert. In fact this wiring stuff always confuses me initially. Must be why I'm a computer programmer and not an hardware engineer. ;)
 
Dargo said:
Well then, I have about a half a truck of stinking overhead lighting that is 3 phase for ya! Grrr, duh, ouch, crap, big oops...

Well, actually Bristol Myers is supposed to buy it today. What's up with 3 phase overhead lights anyway?!
Click to expand...
Hmmm, is that 277v fluorescent? If they're not interested, I might be.
 
I don't know jack about any of that stuff, but what I can tell you is that if you hardwire a light fixture into a building then you have to depreciate it. But if you slap a plug on the end of the wire, install a receptical to plug it in, then you can expense the fixture. Hmmm. Keep that in mind for your commercial property.

Someday I will tell you how I built a 250,000+ cubic foot freezer and never had to pay property tax on it (and yes, it is legal).
 
B_Skurka said:
I don't know jack about any of that stuff, but what I can tell you is that if you hardwire a light fixture into a building then you have to depreciate it. But if you slap a plug on the end of the wire, install a receptical to plug it in, then you can expense the fixture. Hmmm. Keep that in mind for your commercial property.

Someday I will tell you how I built a 250,000+ cubic foot freezer and never had to pay property tax on it (and yes, it is legal).
Click to expand...

I've said this before but I'm going to say it again:

Bob, You are good!
 
Update: I agreed to clear the snow off of his parking lot later today, so I had a licensed electrician come over and wire up my new tool; yeah, it's a tool. ;) Nobody got killed and nothing got destroyed. What a deal! :D
 
Dargo said:
Update: I agreed to clear the snow off of his parking lot later today, so I had a licensed electrician come over and wire up my new tool; yeah, it's a tool. ;) Nobody got killed and nothing got destroyed. What a deal! :D
Click to expand...

Dargo,
Next time you have a question on electric just ask. I actually would have answered sooner but being back to work now, I have limited time to read everything.
The 4-wire cord was probably correct, yes even for 220V single phase. 2 hots, a neutral and a ground.
The most common reference I see is 240V. They are all the same though.
 
Dargo said:
I bought a new Hypertherm Powermax1250 yesterday. This is a fairly large plasma cutter. As per my norm, I've read the owner's manual before opening the box. Now I have a delimma. The manual says that to hook up this plasma cutter to 220 volts (what is it anyway? I've heard 210, 220, 230, 240) I have to "remove" the 4 wire 6 AWG cord that came with the unit and buy a 3 wire 6 AWG cord since I'm not hooking it up to 3 phase. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that there was 4 wire 8 AWG wiring used in my pool house where 220 was to be used. :confused:
Click to expand...

Brent; As usual, Jerry gave you the right answer. FWIW, your wire gauge is usually determined by the amp draw on the appliance, etc. The larger the wire, {smaller number size}, the more amps the wire can safely carry. Also, for long runs, a larger wire will limit voltage drop.
An example. A #10 wire is good for 30 amps. Now if you were to run that wire, say fifty feet, it would be fine. If you were to run that same wire 300 feet, you would suffer line losses due to voltage drop caused by the extra length, then that same 30 amps would have trouble moving that distance and producing more heat, thereby overloading the wire.
Think of wire as a pipe or hose, and voltage as pressure in that. There used to be a common term for electricity, juice, I think that was a way to explain it better to people.
Jerry, please jump in, you can most likely 'splain it better than me.:tiphat::coolshade
 
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