Can I convert 115V to 220?

What kind of place do you have (residential? commercial? industrial?). Where are you? There's usually 240 or 208 lurking somewhere in US and Canadian buildings.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Sure you can step up the voltage to anything you want but it is going to cost plenty. First off you are going to have to buy a transformer, and then since you are asking this question, you will probably need an electrician to hook it up. Next you are going to have an efficiency loss so you will pay for extra power every time you run your machine. Notwithstanding the power loss in converting 110 to 220 you have to have 60 amps at 110 to give you 30 amps at 220. This will require bigger wires and you are back to calling the electrician.

I would just call the electrician now and get a safe and professional installation. It won't cost all that much anyway.

The odds are very good that your shop (201 East 35th Street · New York, NY) has a 120V/240V single phase power feed - having only 120V available is very rare. Although IIRC there are places in the NYC area that still have two-phase power and other real oddities...

Look in the power panel and see if there are any breakers with two handles tied together for the water heater, air conditioning, or air compressor. If there are, you do. Or call ConEd and ask what they're feeding you (at least when the lights are on... ;-) they should have it in their records.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money before you relocate, you can have them put in a 30A 240V breaker and a wall receptacle right below the panel, you can leave it when you go. Then you can make up a heavy extension cord to where the shrink-wrap machine will be sitting. (Be sure to unplug and store the cord when not in use.)

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Could you just use a small generator temporarily. A 5000 watt generator only costs about $500 at Costco.

That should be able to power your machine.

If he needs single phase..Ive got some pretty decent large transformers available.

Gunner

"The British attitude is to treat society like a game preserve where a certain percentage of the 'antelope' are expected to be eaten by the "lions". Christopher Morton

You have to realize that if you double the voltage with a transformer, you halve the amps at the output. Most 110V outlets are rated at 15A, or if you are lucky, at 20A. This means that you will only have 7.5A or 10A at the output of the transformer -- assuming that you can find one big enough.

Now -- most houses actually have 220 brought into the house, and half of the loads are run from one side, and half from the other. So you might be able to add a 30A 220V circuit breaker in your service panel, and wire it to a proper outlet. (Or have an electrician do it, to be on the safe side.) There was an thread here about a month ago about some product which really plugged into two different outlets around the house until you found a pair which would give 220V between them -- but those will give you no more current than your circuit breakers are set for, which are most likely 15A, unless there is some heavy wiring there.

You can check whether you have an electric clothes dryer. If you do, it is almost certainly plugged into a 220V outlet -- but it probably will only be 20A, not 30A, unless you are very lucky.

So -- your choices are:

1) Get someone to wire it properly with a new breaker (assuming that your house is not one of the very few very old ones with only 110 brought in).

2) Do it yourself -- but from the way you asked the question, I suspect that this is not a good idea. If you knew how to do this safely, you would not need to ask the question.)

3) Get a heavy-duty gas powered emergency generator with 220V 30A output. Beware that this will probably be a rather expensive way to go -- gasoline costs more than electricity --and that many of these generators are not designed for a long service life.

4) Move to the bigger space *now*.

Good Luck, DoN.

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Yes, I'm sure that you do -- but does he have a 60A 120V outlet to plug it into? He'll need 60A at 110V to get 30A at 220V. As Rodger Shoaf said in what I snipped.

snipped-for-privacy@philbarone.com (Phil Barone) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

Phil, You should have 220V available in your place. The question is whether your breaker/fuse box has enough free slots to install the needed circuit protection. You will need 2 open. You will need either 1) a 30A double breaker, or 2) a 30A double fuse holder. Instead of a regular plug, I suggest an industrial twist-lock plug. I suggest using 10-3 w/ground wire to the plug as opposed to 10-2 w/ground. Not sure if you will need 10-3, but most likely you will since there are heating elements on the machine. Use SO cord from the machine to the plug. This is a stranded wire, abrasion resistant heavily insulated, heavy duty cord, again in 10 gauge for the current carrying capacity required.

Phil

You are a metalworking master! Your web site is very nice and no doubt your metalworking is superior! I have great admiration for musical instrument metal workers.

All you need to do is call an electrician. Tell him where you want the 220V and it will be a simple job for him. No transformer needed. He simply runs some new wires from your breaker panel.

Best of luck to you in your endeavors. Lane

PS To the rest of the NG, check out