220, 221 what ever it takes

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Likely yes.

Unless it is really old or not intended for North America market, it usually is not rated 220 volts though. 230 volts is a common rating for North American marketed products, as well as 240, 208 or 208-240.
 
kwired said:
Likely yes.

Unless it is really old or not intended for North America market, it usually is not rated 220 volts though. 230 volts is a common rating for North American marketed products, as well as 240, 208 or 208-240.
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I thought the same thing, so I searched "220V appliances", and found this right away. Yes, it says 220/240, but that it's listed at 220V struck me as odd.

Anything intended for the North American market (60hz) labelled 220V should work fine on 208 or 240... heater elements are a little less powerful at 208V, a motor made for 220V will run fine on 208-240.

I assume the OP is talking about single phase equipment.

eta: love the title of this thread!

 
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Thanks.
I see stuff rated 220V fairly often.
The latest a garage lift. It is actually 230/220 so maybe not a good example. But can it work on 208?
lift.jpg
 
olc said:
Thanks.
I see stuff rated 220V fairly often.
The latest a garage lift. It is actually 230/220 so maybe not a good example. But can it work on 208?
View attachment 15756
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So do I, if it is not made primarily for North American market. What you have there likely isn't made exclusively for North American market either. Will it work on 208? I would connect it around this area partly because most 208 volt nominal systems here tend to operate around 215 volts. If your 208 volt system ran closer to the -10% of nominal range maybe one should consider a boost transformer.
 
Bowling pinsetter.
PINSETTER.jpg

I was going to ask if anyone outside the USA even bowls but it looks like the manufacturer is German.
The two examples I have included are from the last few months. 220V is common.
 
olc said:
Bowling pinsetter.
View attachment 15830

I was going to ask if anyone outside the USA even bowls but it looks like the manufacturer is German.
The two examples I have included are from the last few months. 220V is common.
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It does mention US voltage of 208 volts though, kind of rare on equipment made to operate on European power systems from what I have seen.

Next comes the inspector that doesn't accept it because it is not listed by a NRTL that is acceptable to the AHJ.
 
As said, the heater elements will not care, but will have to run a little longer at 208V to produce the same heat. The average homeowner would likely never notice.

Small appliance motors are often made with a wider voltage tolerance than necessary, knowing that 208V is fairly common here. So the motor mfrs use a 220V base design with a little more core material so that it can handle the elevated current at 208V as well as the added saturation at 240V, as well as the different speed (less cooling air) at 50Hz when used overseas. It's a deliberate compromise because it's cheaper and simpler than making 3 different motors.

220V is the old voltage standard here in the US, but even though technically it is now 240V, there are still a lot of older existing systems that are really 220V out there. If the mfr put 230V on the nameplate, they would get flooded with calls asking if 220V or 240V is OK. By putting "220/230V" on the nameplate, they eliminate a lot of those calls.
 
My immediate thought on this is tanning beds. And for those, the answer is a resounding no. That is the Wolfe brand. It was one of the first jobs I got directly involved in. They are rated at 220 volts and they clearly state in the instructions that a step down transformer is required to run them from a 240 volt source.
 
olc said:
... The latest a garage lift. It is actually 230/220 ... But can it work on 208?
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A 2-pole, 2800 rev/min motor is a 50Hz motor. (with quite a lot of slip)
At 60 Hz, all other things being equal, that would be 276/264 volts and 3360 rev/min. (20% higher voltage with 20% higher frequency)

Will it work on 208V 60 Hz? I have my doubts. One thing in your favor is that it will run for only 60 seconds at a time; excessive motor current might not raise the motor temperature too much. I would certainly look for a 208V / 60 Hz replacement motor.
 
Sorry, I missed that it was a garage lift and the spec sheet for it.

That motor is a China import model, this is from the spec sheet on it:
"Protection level: IP44 / IP54 / IP55 Cooling method : IC0141 Insulation level: B/F
Rated frequency: 50/60 Hz Rated voltage: 110/220/230/240V Duty/rating: S1"​

So it appears to be suitable for 220V 60Hz according to that, but to be quite honest, my experience with Chinese stuff like this is that they just say whatever they think you want to hear, no skin off their noses because they will not be getting the call on the failed units, and they know it. I would imagine those motors will not last long in many applications, but then again if it's a garage lift application, the duty cycle is so low that it's unlikely the end user will discover the poor quality or misapplication issue for years. How many times per day is it going to operate? 10, 20, 30 even? And for how long, 30 seconds at a time? Saturation and / overloading is not going to make much difference in that application.
 
Years ago, at a former employer, they bought a lathe from a Eastern European country, told the one buying it need to be 480 volts, came in labeled as 440V & the control transformer was 380V, used to blow out the 12V indicator & machine light lamps all the time, same shop bought a CNC machining center from Italy, the CNC controls were 220V, only the maximum allowable voltage was 230V, avail power was 480V only, thank goodness the transformer had taps. To this day I despise European equipment because of those issues and others. 220 volt equipment has no business being imported here IMHO.
 
norcal said:
Years ago, at a former employer, they bought a lathe from a Eastern European country, told the one buying it need to be 480 volts, came in labeled as 440V & the control transformer was 380V, used to blow out the 12V indicator & machine light lamps all the time, same shop bought a CNC machining center from Italy, the CNC controls were 220V, only the maximum allowable voltage was 230V, avail power was 480V only, thank goodness the transformer had taps. To this day I despise European equipment because of those issues and others. 220 volt equipment has no business being imported here IMHO.
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I agree, particularly since 240 volt, 3 phase is not even offered by many poco's anymore and requires odd ball transformers if you have 208 or 480 volts in the building already.
 
peter d said:
I agree, particularly since 240 volt, 3 phase is not even offered by many poco's anymore and requires odd ball transformers if you have 208 or 480 volts in the building already.
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I just connected a new 240 volt three phase service yesterday, they still are very common around here. It was a pole top bank composed of 120/240 single phase transformers. 240 volt three phase from a single core padmount transformer is less common, but they do exist.
 
kwired said:
I just connected a new 240 volt three phase service yesterday, they still are very common around here. It was a pole top bank composed of 120/240 single phase transformers. 240 volt three phase from a single core padmount transformer is less common, but they do exist.
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Ok, I stand corrected. The poco's I deal with and am aware of do not offer any 240 volt delta services anymore. They will allow you to keep an old on in service, but even then, they would greatly appreciate it if you upgraded. :p
 
peter d said:
Ok, I stand corrected. The poco's I deal with and am aware of do not offer any 240 volt delta services anymore. They will allow you to keep an old on in service, but even then, they would greatly appreciate it if you upgraded. :p
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I can understand them not wanting to provide this via a padmount, I believe they are more expensive only because there are not as many produced, making them more of a special order item vs a stocked item. But pole top banks made from single phase units - they already have many units on hand and they are easy to build. The single/limited load applications can also be supplied by open delta configurations saving a little cost on equipment needed.
 
kwired said:
I can understand them not wanting to provide this via a padmount, I believe they are more expensive only because there are not as many produced, making them more of a special order item vs a stocked item. But pole top banks made from single phase units - they already have many units on hand and they are easy to build. The single/limited load applications can also be supplied by open delta configurations saving a little cost on equipment needed.
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Every poco is different. :) Here, they want everything to be wye, end of story. Even the smallest 3-phase load is a wye. We can't get open delta's either, even though they were once common back in the 60's and 70's. I guess it has to do with streamlining inventory and construction practice, which of course has to do with saving money.
 
peter d said:
Every poco is different. :) Here, they want everything to be wye, end of story. Even the smallest 3-phase load is a wye. We can't get open delta's either, even though they were once common back in the 60's and 70's. I guess it has to do with streamlining inventory and construction practice, which of course has to do with saving money.
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Streamlining construction practice I can maybe see, streamlining inventory - they already have 120/240 single phase units in the inventory if they serve customers with 120/240 single phase.
 
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