single phase to three phase converter

grumpyvette

grumpyvette

Administrator
Staff member
many industrial heavy duty welders are set up to use three phase power, something few houses are wired for, most houses have a 220 volt single phase feed, now on occasion you'll get some killer deal on a three phase welder, and those three phase welders won,t sell easily because only industrial customers want them and most want to lease or buy new equipment.
if you get a killer deal on a very expensive welder just add about $1000 to the price and if its still a decent deal you can get a three phase converter to make it usable in some cases.


converter info
http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/ph-conv/ph-conv.html

http://www.phaseconverter.com/

http://www.phaseconverter.com/transformer.html

http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/phase ... erter.html

http://www.lmine.com/Merchant2/merchant ... e_Code=LMS

http://www.threephaseconverter.com/modelpricing.html


its not at all unusually to find great deals on the 300amp-600amp industrial welders most guys think of as too large for general use, but depending on the model, brand, age and price they can be amazing deals at times, used welders, are not necessarily abused or even well used, on occasion you'll find equipment that beem barely used

http://www.weldplus.com/welder-special.htm

http://www.centralmcgowan.com/tabid/61/ ... fault.aspx

http://www4.shopping.com/xPO-Miller-Mil ... tor-907255

http://www.directindustry.com/prod/pana ... 30591.html

http://www.google.com/products?oe=UTF-8 ... &resnum=11

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mig-Welder-Miller-M ... 286.c0.m14
 
Many,but not all three phase welders are also designed to run on single phase 240 volt besides be able to run between 208-480 volt 3 phase with simple internal wiring changes on the transformer.Check the wiring/spec plate on the welder.If the welder is convertible internally to single phase,this may increase the needed amperage to the welder by about 50 percent however.
 
good to know! every time Ive asked they tell me the welder Ive found can,t be converted to single phase(but then, I usually find screaming deals on older 400 amp TIGS ETC. that no one seems to want
 
Sometimes you have to remove a side panel on the welder to see if there's a wiring diagram inside.Yes,bigger 3 phase welders often go cheap and it may be woth the money to use a phase convertor is necessary.I have little experience with phase convertors,I generally do wiring and equipment hookups on 3 phase in commercial and industrial situations which have 3 phase most often.
My understanding of heavy duty industrial welding equipment is they draw X amount of amps at full capacity.When using the same welder for lighter duty car work they should use far less current.
Something to remember;if the welder is drawing let's say 60 amps at times,depending on how the utility service is run in a residential neighbor hood,this may cause your neighbors lights to dim when you're doing serious welding(or using a 10 hp compressor for example).If a person complains to the utility company ,they may snoop around looking for the problem and might whine about a person using large electricial equipment without notifying them first.There can be as many as 4 residences on a shared utility company transformer,be it on a pole or underground.If your house or shop is a distance from the neighbors,then it's more likely you are on your own transformer and won't affect anyone else .This might be less of a problem in hot climates where the utlility company expects high AC unit loads and has done the electrical distrbution accordingly.
 
I doubt thats a concern in MY particular case as Ive got an individual, independent 200 amp feed to BOTH the shop and house, and most of the neighbors are run with independent feeds as were all on 5-10-20 acre lots
 
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