HELP! Food Truck Build

[jtknickerbocker]

Hello everyone!

I am in need of help. I am a chef and have no electrical/engineering experience. I recently purchased a shuttle bus and took it to a builder to turn it into a food truck. We have two prep tables with refrigerators, Cuppone pizza oven, a warmer, and lights, 12,000w generator.

The problem is that the oven requires 8.7kw to operate at 208v. The builder installed a generator that works at 240v and because of this the oven is operating close to 11,000w which puts us over the capacity of our generator with all the other equipment. He is now telling us we can only use one of 2 decks the oven has which would kill the capacity we need. Is there some way to have the 240v converted down to 208v so that it performs at the 8.7kw and allows us to use all of our equipment?

Please advise.

Jared

 

[George Stolz]

Are you sure the oven is truly 208V? Do you have a picture of the nameplate, or a link to the product online?

It sounds like a second generator might be a good option, depending on the particulars.

 

[iwire]

Using electricity to heat things is a very poor choice in a portable situation.

It would be much less costly to have gone with propane heating equipment and use a small generator for just lighting and small appliances.

If it's too late to change, one way to go would be second generator.

Or use a buck boost transformer to drop the voltage down on the oven circuit to 208.

Or call the oven maker and see if they can provide a 240 volt heating element to convert the oven.

 

[iwire]

Are you sure the oven is truly 208V? Do you have a picture of the nameplate, or a link to the product online?

Pretty common for commercial cooking equipment to be rated for 208 only but even if rated 208-240 you can't get around ohms law.

 

[gadfly56]

Pretty common for commercial cooking equipment to be rated for 208 only but even if rated 208-240 you can't get around ohms law.

It looks like the oven is listed for 3-phase operation: "208/220v/3ph".

 

[iwire]

It looks like the oven is listed for 3-phase operation: "208/220v/3ph".

I am not following you.:huh:

My post you quoted would apply to single or three phase.

 

[gadfly56]

I am not following you.:huh:

My post you quoted would apply to single or three phase.

It's not clear in the OP, but I don't think the generator is putting out 3-phase. If the equipment is looking for 3 hots, how do you feed the third leg?

 

[iwire]

I don't see anything here that says the oven is three phase.

But yeah if is that is a problem.

 

[gadfly56]

I don't see anything here that says the oven is three phase.

But yeah if is that is a problem.

I've taken a pretty good look around via Google, and these ovens are advertised in the UK as being single or 3-phase. Nothing indicates whether all models may be wired either way or if you have to specify at the time you order. Not enough information.

 

[Jraef]

Hello everyone!

I am in need of help. I am a chef and have no electrical/engineering experience. I recently purchased a shuttle bus and took it to a builder to turn it into a food truck. We have two prep tables with refrigerators, Cuppone pizza oven, a warmer, and lights, 12,000w generator.

The problem is that the oven requires 8.7kw to operate at 208v. The builder installed a generator that works at 240v and because of this the oven is operating close to 11,000w which puts us over the capacity of our generator with all the other equipment. He is now telling us we can only use one of 2 decks the oven has which would kill the capacity we need. Is there some way to have the 240v converted down to 208v so that it performs at the 8.7kw and allows us to use all of our equipment?

Please advise.

Jared

OK, an electric oven has heater elements that just put out heat and consume power. They have a fixed amount of resistance, so if you lower the voltage, you lower the power they consume, but you ALSO lower the heat they put out. What you have, from looking at the spec sheets, is a 3 deck oven, rated for 11kW total at 230V. When you operate it at 208V, it is DE-RATED to a lower maximum capacity, which ALSO means the heating elements will not get as hot. But on an oven, you are controlling the INTERNAL heat of the oven space. So the only thing that REALLY changes is how LONG the heater elements are going to be on. At 230V, the heater elements would take less time to raise the oven temperature than they would at 208V. Ultimately though, the total heat they make would not really be different.

That said, as a PIZZA oven, you are likely looking at the need to bake from the top down, meaning your heater elements are likely on all the time anyway. So if you are OK with the lower output of the heater elements at 208V, then have an electrician install what's called a "buck-boost" transformer to drop the 240 down to 208V. Or, as was suggested, just have lower wattage 240V rated heater elements installed. Those are your only two choices.