Phase converter fed by a portable generator?

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mark32

mark32

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Currently in NJ
A potential customer needs to power up three phase freezers on site, which I am led to belive he is selling to buyers of such equipment. He wants to use a standard 7kw 120/240v generator to feed a rotary phase converter. The equipment specs show a mca of 14a on 208v and a mop of 20. I know almost nothing about phase converters, so I'm asking if this is a valid install or a ridiculous install.

Thanks!
 
mark32 said:
A potential customer needs to power up three phase freezers on site, which I am led to belive he is selling to buyers of such equipment. He wants to use a standard 7kw 120/240v generator to feed a rotary phase converter. The equipment specs show a mca of 14a on 208v and a mop of 20. I know almost nothing about phase converters, so I'm asking if this is a valid install or a ridiculous install.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Why buy two pieces of equipment to do the job of one?
If he is using a portable generator, why not just get a 3 phase portable generator? Makes no sense.
If it's because he already has the single phase generator and doesn't want to buy another one, he might be throwing good money after bad. 7kW is roughly 10HP, 14A @ 208V is roughly 5HP, so that should work, except for the losses through the phase converter might end up causing issues with loading on that generator. Then there's the added challenges of making sure that all of the controls and such are only connected to the 2 "real" legs, never the manufacturers leg. By the time he gets through fussing with everything, he would have been better off just selling the single phase genset and buying a 3 phase one in my opinion.
 
Jraef said:
Why buy two pieces of equipment to do the job of one?
If he is using a portable generator, why not just get a 3 phase portable generator? Makes no sense.
If it's because he already has the single phase generator and doesn't want to buy another one, he might be throwing good money after bad. 7kW is roughly 10HP, 14A @ 208V is roughly 5HP, so that should work, except for the losses through the phase converter might end up causing issues with loading on that generator. Then there's the added challenges of making sure that all of the controls and such are only connected to the 2 "real" legs, never the manufacturers leg. By the time he gets through fussing with everything, he would have been better off just selling the single phase genset and buying a 3 phase one in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I agree. I does sound like a very much suboptimal solution.
In fairness, the OP does state that he knows little about phase converters.
 
Thanks guys,

Agreed that the customer's desired arrangement seems odd, hence the reason I wanted to run it past some of my friends here. After a brief online search for small 3 phase generators, I can see why he wanted to go the route he inquired about, what I saw started at $4k plus! And Jraef, your assumption is correct that the customer already owns a standard generator. One thing I didn't consider, or was aware of, is what you said about the equipment's controls not being on the manufactured leg. That would be a problem as the customer himself would be attaching the cord to each unit (Not all units will be the same) before testing, oh boy.
 
mark32 said:
Thanks guys,

Agreed that the customer's desired arrangement seems odd, hence the reason I wanted to run it past some of my friends here. After a brief online search for small 3 phase generators, I can see why he wanted to go the route he inquired about, what I saw started at $4k plus! And Jraef, your assumption is correct that the customer already owns a standard generator. One thing I didn't consider, or was aware of, is what you said about the equipment's controls not being on the manufactured leg. That would be a problem as the customer himself would be attaching the cord to each unit (Not all units will be the same) before testing, oh boy.
Click to expand...

How often do the tests come up? If it isn't very often or a one off, maybe your customer could hire a 3-phase unit.
But I'm curious about something. Three phase freezers on a site that doesn't have a three phase supply?
 
Besoeker said:
How often do the tests come up? If it isn't very often or a one off, maybe your customer could hire a 3-phase unit.
But I'm curious about something. Three phase freezers on a site that doesn't have a three phase supply?
Click to expand...

Thank you Besoeker,

It's funny but all that you have mentioned here came up in our conversation. He will be running/testing these units for a new business he's starting (Selling them I guess) so he'll need it on a monthly basis or so, so renting would only be a short term solution. His concerns about on site power is he doesn't want to roll up somewhere and not have the correct power/receptacle readily available to him. In other words, perhaps a customer doesn't already have such equipment so the proper receptacle may not be available for him to use.

Thanks again!
 
Electric-Light said:
http://www.fabcopower.com/generat/hgen/800piston3PH.htm

He's going to set up a hydraulic pump like the kind on a tow truck. Can't beat the convenience.
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So he has a vehicle that has a hydraulic power unit on it already? Things like tow trucks do because they use hydraulics for the lifts and such. But the only HPU on a standard vehicle is the power steering pump, and it's not going to be able to power an generator like that.
 
mark32 said:
Thank you Besoeker,

It's funny but all that you have mentioned here came up in our conversation. He will be running/testing these units for a new business he's starting (Selling them I guess) so he'll need it on a monthly basis or so, so renting would only be a short term solution. His concerns about on site power is he doesn't want to roll up somewhere and not have the correct power/receptacle readily available to him. In other words, perhaps a customer doesn't already have such equipment so the proper receptacle may not be available for him to use.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...
If it's going to be involved in his making a living, then he's better off biting the bullet and doing it right. Driving out to a potential customer's site to demonstrate his system, only to have the cobbled together generator/phase converter setup go afoul makes it a total waste of time. The first time that happens he could have probably paid for the new correct generator.
 
Jraef said:
So he has a vehicle that has a hydraulic power unit on it already? Things like tow trucks do because they use hydraulics for the lifts and such. But the only HPU on a standard vehicle is the power steering pump, and it's not going to be able to power an generator like that.
Click to expand...

He's going to *have to*. typo.
 
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