480V 1Ph 3-wire water heater!

B

bhawghead

Member
Location
Panama City, Fl
Occupation
Automation Technician
Hello, new guy here, one of our engineers recently purchased an 80gal. water heater for a temporary project and it is 480V 1Ph 3-wire, and our facilities tech. has wired it to a 480V 3ph disconnect. I am not involved with the project, but I just thought this to be a rather odd wiring for a water heater and it doesn't seem correct to be wired to a 3ph disconnect. Been reading posts from this site off and on for reference purposes and just thought I would get your professional opinion.
 
I guess my only concern would be how he wired it thru the 30A Hubbell plug(2 hots and a ground) I know basically this is the same principal as 240V, with 2 hots and a ground, but the engineer is saying he should have put in a transformer.......the facilities tech told him no, and wired it up to the disconnect using So cord and a 30A Hubbell plug. I agree with the Tech our engineer doesn't seem to be understanding. I think I should have explained this better in my original post.
 
Yes, thank you. I understand this, our Tech understands this, our engineer unfortunately does not! I have tried to explain this to him but I'm not getting thru.
 
Most of the manufacturer catalogs I have don't even show a single pole 480v fusible or non-fusible disconnect and some note to use a 3 pole in lieu of a 2 pole.
 
UL tests multi-pole breakers and fusible disconnects using the possible combinations of pole configurations. This is why manufacturers rarely offer 'heavy duty' 480V switches with less than 3 poles. The little potential sales volume does not make up for the cost of additional testing and inventory control.
 
I agree with the others but its always helpful if you can post a photo of the nameplate so we can be sure.
 
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