Question on Amps
 

I may be buying an air compressor that the specs say is 200V, 3 phase and 91.3 amps AC.

I have a silk screen dryer already wired for 3 phase on a 2 pole 80 amp breaker.

Question: Can the compressor be wired into the dryer circuit?

I will hire a professional electrician to install this but need to know if they can share the circuit even if there's some kind of master control box that allows only one to operate at any given time.

Alternatively, given the 3 pole 100 amp outside breaker, can a new breaker be installed in the box inside to support this air compressor?


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Old breaker before I installed a new one
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I'm no 'lectrician, but how do you get 3-phase from 2 poles?
You got a converter box wired in?

That I can't tell you, an electrician installed everything. I know when I bought the dryer it was spec'd as 3 phase.

By code you probably can't share the load. Different device needs its own breaker.

Unless you install a 100Amp plug and use them one at a time....or a pair of motor starters/contactors with a selector switch enabling only device one at a time.

But my table saw is on the same circuit as my oven...

91A 3ph... must be some bigazz compressor. I'd say it needs it's own 100A breaker and circuit.

The real issue is do I have 480V coming into my outside breaker. Have a call into my e- company.

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My company has one of those in the parking garage running something. I'm always amazed at how quiet they are. Then I wish REAL hard my loud POS Craftsman would just die so I can justify something new:)

Turns out I only have 120/208 running into my box and a transformer to get to 480 would be $15K. So while I can get this $23,000 compressor for $800, I will pass.

you have stated several different specs.
what is the compressor voltage, 208 3 phase?
you also mentioned 480v?? then you mentioned 208 into the building.
if that 100 amp breaker is in your box then you have 3 phase coming in as oppsed to 208 single phase. (or 240 single phase).
if you need more power coming into the building talk to the power compnany. (the engineer). if it is an upgrade in service they "should" do it for free. thats how i got the power to my house moved from above ground to below ground. because i added power to my garage they considered that an upgrade and they payed for the new service to my house.

$800 for a compressor and $1000-2 for an electricin to do some panel work and pull wire

Why not buy it and put it on Craigslist?

Update on this. I am buying it. BUT, there is some discrepancy on what this needs for power. I filled out a web-form on the IR site, gave them the serial number and asked for a call back to find out exactly what this particular unit needs. I downloaded the operation manual and it is rated for 200V all the way to 575V. This machine has been connected to 480, I know that.

The minimum fuse rating required at 200V is 125A using 3 gauge wire. All I know is I have a 3 pole 100A breaker outside. I don't know anything about this stuff, will obvious hire an electrician to install. If I can get it to work I'll be thrilled. If I can't, I'll just resell it.

200v???
i am not an electrician but an electronics tech. i have never seen anything run on 200v. 208 yes. look and see if the motor can be wired for different voltage.

125amp service is not very much.
you need to see what your meter base is rated for. most are 200amp. here is what i think may be your worse case situation.
you will need to up your meter base to a 400amp box and the power company may need to upgrade their service to you. like i said earlier, they may do that for FREE!!!!
then you will need to upgrade your electrical panel. OR put in a new disconnect along with the meter base and put in a seperate electrical panel. i dont think that will be a problem having 2 electrical panels in a shop. if you have a disconnect after teh meter base you can feed the existing panel and the new panel.
this is all really easy stuff if you can get the power company to up your service..if needed.

i did all this myself. i put in a new meter base at my house with a disconnect (code), one for the house and one for the garage. then put in another panel in the garage.
just contact the people ther about pulling a permit and just play dumb and ask him questions. makes them feel good plus you do things the way they want and no problems.

Here is my house. 400amp meter base and 2 200 amp disconnects.
the meter base was free and the disconnects are about 125.
you can do this in a few hours then have the power turned on to the shop. Then you can wire in the new electrical panel.


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Impressive work on the installation!

Here is a page from the manual on electrical requirements. This won't be plug and play, but I think I can get it to work.

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I'm not a electrician but, looks like at 230v you will need 125A breaker to get that 30hp motor to run, you need to check what voltage the motor or motors in the unit are (does it have a built in air dryer?) If your voltage is not the same you will usually require a transformer, the controls would be set up to use that voltage.

Also do you need this much air probably about 40cfm at 100psi? I think these units are set up to run constantly and blow off excess air.

A separate dryer is coming with it as well as a control box.

Reading up on these, they are typically dual set-up at the factory, you just need to rearrange some wiring internally to match your voltage. IR recommends an electrician do this.

I have an email into IR with the serial number to see exactly what my unit is.

Given what you currently have when you start the compressor up you would be able to sharpen your knives off of the meter because it will be spinning so fast. ;-)

What is the maintenance history of the compressor. I used to have some IR 200 HP units and the maintenance is very important on them.

Dave

Dave, I am going over an entire history tomorrow. It is at a company that does Navy munitions so I expect it to have a good history.

Are you sure this is a 30hp unit? If it is it will be 3 phase, you can possibly mount on a smaller motor and spin it slower unless you need that much air flow, I glanced on the IR site and that unit with 30hp is 92cfm to 125cfm.

Yes, it's a UP6-30-125. The 30 is the hp.