hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
Most likely the compressors are the only thing that is three phase. The rest of the fans usually are fractional hp single phase.
Freezer nameplate says 3 phase but service is single phase
- Thread starter Stevenfyeager
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
That’s how I would interpret it. The 3 phase motor is OK with 208V or 230V, but it needs 115V for other things, which they derive from L to N. So if it is a 230V 3 phase service, they are indicating it needs to be a 4 wire 3 phase.
if the condenser is the only 3 phase motor, separate out the wiring for it and add a VFD just to that one motor.
hbiss
EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
- Location
- Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
- Occupation
- EC
Yeah, that's good advice.
There are schematics posted above just in case anybody cares. There are TWO condensers each with a 3 phase compressor. The lights are the only things that connect to neutral, meaning that everything else is 208.
-Hal
Stevenfyeager
Senior Member
- Location
- United States, Indiana
- Occupation
- electrical contractor
Thanks guys, as usual, each time I get into a little commercial job I get in over my head. I knew I was computer illiterate but I didn’t know how much. You guys knew how to look up that sale and how to find out details like the purchase price of $6000, etc. I don’t know how to find that information.
Sounds like I need to have a refrigeration person look at our appliance, and see what he recommends.
Sounds like I need to have a refrigeration person look at our appliance, and see what he recommends.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
I'd say it is giving different current ratings for 208 vs 240 volt input. If it were true dual voltage rating like a 115/230 volt motor commonly is the high volt current rating would be half the current as the low volt rating. It likely also has some 120 volt load within (like at least a light maybe?)
Has not yet been clarified if this is a self contained unit, if so the compressor is possibly three phase? If it is just a display unit that is served by remote compressor, I'd say maybe defrost heaters is the three phase load, worst case there is you probably can reconfigure them for single phase input, total current draw will be more though.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
That is what I assume it means.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
I first thought why didn't they order the correct unit for system available, but now I'm thinking probably is used equipment and nobody knew any better to know about single vs three phase here. See that happen a lot with small operators with only single phase supply that think they got a great buy on some used equipment. Sometimes phase conversion or motor/control replacements can cost as much or more than they paid for the equipment - then they are not so happy anymore.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
From the wiring diagram posted, it appears the fans, lights and defrost heaters are 120 volt. The compressor is three phase.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
not complicated at all, make thermostat (or pressure switch depending on what actually starts it) control a contactor to energize the converter, and put a simple encapsulated on delay timer (maybe $12-15 at some HVAC supply houses) in line with coil for contactor for the compressor.
Possibly better solution since this is not that large of a unit (based on nameplate we have seen being only ~15 amps) is to maybe go with a VFD for conversion equipment.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Yes, I seem to post things before reading all the posts sometimes
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
Yeah, it was a while before I looked at it! LOL!Yes, I seem to post things before reading all the posts sometimes
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
We've pretty much concluded it's wired to run on 3ph, plus there's a separate 1ph circuit.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
I wired one for a Church food pantry a couple of years ago, they moved from a building that had three phase to an ag property that had only single phase. They just changed the compressors. Powered it off one of the hydroponic green houses that I previously wired. That was an interesting job, they used fish poop for fertilizer, and would harvest the fish occasionally.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
I don't necessarily agree there is a separate 1 ph circuit, just that there is mixed line to line and line to neutral loads all on one multiwire circuit. Do need to be careful where you land high leg if you have one so that no 120 volt loads are connected to it.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
Not good to let the magic smoke out! LOL!
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Possibly a better design would have been to install a SDS within the appliance to derive the 120 volts, but then you would need to change taps when changing from 208 to 240 or vice versa to get right voltage there, though it is not as big of a change as connecting the high leg to a 120 volt rated load.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
But you know that would cost the manufacturer $$, which isn’t going to happen! LOL!
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Which I am fine with. Hopefully they make it clear where to land or not land high leg when there is one. I myself will further investigate to make certain in most cases. Often there is a distribution block or similar that isn't too difficult to determine where the 120 volt loads are connected to.
synchro
Senior Member
- Location
- Chicago, IL
- Occupation
- EE
The single phase version of the medium temperature condensing unit FJAM-A150-CFV is offered for sale by a number of online vendors, but its availability would have to be checked. There are a couple of versions of this unit that have different overall form factors.
The single phase compressor for this unit CS10K6E-PFV is available.
The single phase version of the low temperature condensing unit DJAL-020Z-CFV seems to be harder to find, and the few places I found had very exorbitant prices. The single phase compressor ZF08K4E-PFV is available.
These comments are offered as a possible starting point based on some initial searches. But one should dig further into the details before pursuing these suggestions. For example, there's an additional three number suffix on some of these model numbers that could be important for the OP's application.
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