Pizza Oven 240 vs 208

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Buck Parrish

Buck Parrish

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A pizza oven with a name plate 29 amps 208 v. How long do you think it will last on 240 v ? It does have a motor to move it from front to back.
 
If the heating elements are not rated 240 I do not give them long and I would not hook it up.

The elements will get much hotter at 240 if designed for 208.
 
How long will it last is anyones guess. I have 240 volts supplying a single phase, 208 volt, fan driven space heater in my garage that I've used occasionally for the past 5 years and it's still working. :cool:
 
infinity said:
How long will it last is anyones guess. I have 240 volts supplying a single phase, 208 volt, fan driven space heater in my garage that I've used occasionally for the past 5 years and it's still working. :cool:
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How long, and what gauge, is the garage's feeder? ;)
 
Buck Parrish said:
Does the fan go faster?
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The fan will not run faster, the speed of AC motors has to do with frequency not voltage.

It would be the heat running so much hotter than designed that would worry me.

As far as Infinity and his garage ........ well there are a lot of things I would do at my own house I would not do for a customer.:smile: Supplying a 208 appliance with 240 is a violation and not something I would do for a customer.
 
A 1KW 208 heater will produce 1.3KW at 240. The oven would heat up quicker, but once it gets up to temp it would start cycling the heaters say a duty cycle of 40% instead of 50% to maintain the same temp. The heaters would have a reduced life, but that might mean they still run for forever.

I've seen many companies do this with heaters. Very common for American manufacturers to get in European equipment with 400V heaters and run them 480V. Not saying it is code, but common.

If the equipment has motors on it, the motors windings are designed for 208 then they will likely run hotter because the electrical field generated starts to collapse.

The difference between the nominal is 15 percent, I forget the range utility companies aim for, but I think it is 10 percent.

Good luck, Steve
 
the Volt/Hertz ration of the motor when running at the higher voltage changes, the magnetizing current drawn by the motor goes up also which increases heating
 
The oven would heat up quicker, but once it gets up to temp it would start cycling the heaters say a duty cycle of 40% instead of 50% to maintain the same temp.
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Your assuming a standard oven, the OP mentioned a motor a couple of times which makes me think pizza oven with conveyor. In this type of oven the heat stays on all the time and the pizza is run through on the belt.

If this is the case it may work fine ....... or it may produce a pizza cooked on the outside but not on the inside ..... or a hi temp safety stat may cycle on and off which is not a good thing ........ or the outer case may get hotter then designed or safe. My point is we do not know, it was not listed for this use at a higher voltage.



I've seen many companies do this with heaters. Very common for American manufacturers to get in European equipment with 400V heaters and run them 480V. Not saying it is code, but common.
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Yeah, as you know manufacturers can do a lot as they have there designs tested and listed for the purpose. :smile:

The difference between the nominal is 15 percent, I forget the range utility companies aim for, but I think it is 10 percent.
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Roughly 6% over,

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but if you running at 15% over to start with that could shoot you into 21% over if the power company ends up running at the top end.

I would not violate 110.4 for a customer. :smile:
 
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iwire said:
As far as Infinity and his garage ........ well there are a lot of things I would do at my own house I would not do for a customer.:smile: Supplying a 208 appliance with 240 is a violation and not something I would do for a customer.
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I agree, I wouldn't hook this up for a client. The heater was almost brand new and the price was right, free, right out of the dumpster. Seems that someone used for one winter to heat a material locker. Spring came and out it went. I figured that since it was in my own garage I can deal with it if went up in smoke. Although it gets very intermittent use it's still going. :cool:
 
infinity said:
I agree, I wouldn't hook this up for a client. The heater was almost brand new and the price was right, free, right out of the dumpster. Seems that someone used for one winter to heat a material locker. Spring came and out it went. I figured that since it was in my own garage I can deal with it if went up in smoke. Although it gets very intermittent use it's still going. :cool:
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Exactly how I would deal with it as well. I know a few garages with 277 volt lighting running at 240, not exactly the same but what we do at home is often different then what we would charge for. :smile:
 
I would hook it up! There are many appliances like this. Now, if it was a printer i would recommend a buck/boost transformer. I don't think the motor,nor the elements will know the difference while operating at a higher voltage and lower current draw! MY$.02.
 
I would hook it up after explaining the situation to the owner! There are many appliances like this. Now, if it was a printer i would recommend a buck/boost transformer. I don't think the motor,nor the elements will know the difference in a pizza oven while operating at a higher voltage and lower current draw! MY$.02.

PS: I came across some great 175 watt MH fixtures that came out of a basketball court. Very expensive-heavy glass-designed for the purpose. One day, i had nothing to do and decided i'd hang them in the stock area of my warehouse thinking the whole time they had multi-tap ballasts! Now, i have half the original fixtures in the dumpster and the MH fixtures hanging nicely from chains, when i find out they were straight 277 volt fixtures. My shop's service was a delta, so i took that lighting circuit and put it on the highleg. Twelve years ago --no proplems.
 
charlietuna said:
I would hook it up after explaining the situation to the owner!
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So as an EC you would intentionally ignore 110.4?

That surprises me, yes there are thousands of appliances that can be run on either 208 or 240 without any issues and they are labeled that way.

This appliance is labeled 208, I would not supply it 240.
 
iwire said:
If this is the case it may work fine ....... or it may produce a pizza cooked on the outside but not on the inside ..... or a hi temp safety stat may cycle on and off which is not a good thing ........ or the outer case may get hotter then designed or safe. My point is we do not know, it was not listed for this use at a higher voltage.
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So you're not going to hook up a man's pizza oven because the pie may come out too crispy? :grin:
 
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