Yet another "wiring a motor" thread

[ron_m80]

Well of course when you change the question from "make my motor run" to "I don't want to melt wires and start a fire" everything gets more complicated.

Call an electrician if that is the concern, which you should have clearly stated earlier.

 

[hickman1]

Well I'll toss in my 2 cents here, seeing that I am a qualified electrician. To keep it simple, go with the 110/115VAC hookup, you need to make sure your wiring from the breaker to the receptacle is at least #12, preferably #10 awg due to the amp draw. The wiring of the motor is the simple part, there should be a diagram on the motor itself that says low voltage/ high voltage, each wire will have an identifier printed on it, or in the case of higher end motors have a small tag, follow the connection diagram on the motor and you will be fine. I would strongly suggest installing a GFCI breaker in the panel to give you some protection while using your grinder, it is not only smart, it will bring that circuit up to code.

If you do decide to go with 220V, and intend to use the existing circuit wiring, make 100% certain that there is nothing else running on that circuit, ie. lights in the garage, etc. I would also recommend using a 2 pole switch rated for 220v, or a small contactor to turn the grinder on and off. Shoot, make your electrician friend a nice knife and let him do the grunt work for you, if I was in Wa. instead of La. I'd swap some electrical work for a nice blade...

 

[Core Knife Co.]

Well of course when you change the question from "make my motor run" to "I don't want to melt wires and start a fire" everything gets more complicated.

Call an electrician if that is the concern, which you should have clearly stated earlier.

Ron, you've been a great help and really had me looking for information that I didn't know I needed to be looking for. As a matter of fact, it was you who had me identify the fact that I only had a 5/15 breaker. It was this comment you made that pushed me in the direction of calling for help. "-NEMA Plug 5-15P (will work but it is not technically the correct plug as it is only rated for 15 amps)".

Once I knew that I had to pay someone to have a 5-20 installed, I thought I might as well go ahead and go with 220.

 

[tattooedfreak]

Core, I don't mean to hijack your thread but I have a similar question. I recently bought a new house and the previous owner had their own ceramic shop, I bought a 1hp motor a few months ago at my old house but it would trip the breaker at 115 and I couldn't upgrade the panel at the time. However, here I have a dedicated 220 outlet that she ran her kiln on, so I am going to rewire my motor for 220. The main issue is that since she ran a kiln, the outlet is the multi prong type (dryer, stove etc), can I just buy a dryer cord/plug and wire it to the motor and as well, can I wire a switch inline? I don't want to swap out the outlet as I plan on getting an oven of my own.

 

[duffy99]

You can buy a plug adapter that makes your 220v plug into one that fits the dryer female receptacle from home depot etc . Or you can use the dryer cord 10/3 and just cap the white and go black /black , white to red ( your 2 hots for 220v )and ground to ground . This isn't up to code I'm sure but works , the adapter is easier then going 3 to 4 and leaving off a wire. You can get a breaker box from home depot too for your on/ off switch if you can't find a 2 pole 220v switch . It just goes between the motor and the outlet so you don't have to constantly unplug it. This is what I have it's fuse less and 60 amp but after being sold the wrong thing twice I went with the higher amp one .

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/120-240v-60-amp-general-duty-1-phase-outdoor-switch/941185 it's a bit overkill , their is the dryer prong adapter thingy too just look on the site.

Using a 10/3 cord and leaving off a wire is not recommended and maybe not safe and I take not responsibility for anything , just stating it can be done .

 

[1066vik]

Once I knew that I had to pay someone to have a 5-20 installed, I thought I might as well go ahead and go with 220.

good call -- having your electrician buddy run a dedicated 220v circuit for the grinder will let you run it "cooler".
Think of electricity like a garden hose. Watts are gallons per minute, amps are water pressure, and volts are pipe diameter.
if you need a certain flow to run your lawn sprinklers, you can do it with 1/2" hose at 50 PSI or 3/4" hose at 25 PSI -- both give the same flow, but the larger diameter hose running at a lower pressure is less likely to fatigue and pop a hole, so you have a wider safety margin for surges in water pressure and when someone flushes a toilet in the house the short drop in pressure doesn't kill your sprinkler for those couple of seconds.
Current (amps) cause heat in the wire. less heat = less wire fatigue = less likelihood of a fire. (huge simplification, but that's a large part of why a lot of commercial equipment runs at 480 volts)
Think of a car battery - 12V, 600 amps -- you want excitement, drop a wrench across the terminals and within seconds it will be red hot and curling itself into a pretzel.

If there's room in your electrical panel, adding a 20A 220V breaker and wiring a wall receptacle for it should take less than $30 in materials and an hour or so of your friend's time. Best of luck and congrats on getting the grinder done.

 

[ERIK KNIVES]

+1 and nice explanation.

 

[Battle Creek Knives]

If there's room in your electrical panel, adding a 20A 220V breaker and wiring a wall receptacle for it should take less than $30 in materials and an hour or so of your friend's time.

whats he gonna do with the other 45 minutes

this is the way I'd roll and you can do it yourself no prob, and technically do not have to change the recept but you probably should label it 220.. as stated before this is not code and should have gfci and only 2 plugs per breaker in the garage..

my motor is rated for 220 also, I opted to simply just plug it in (110)and start grinding, its a mess I have wire nuts and romex hanging out of my switch box.. but its running so I haven't cared (at the moment)