Your maximum continuous load can only be 80% of circuit capacity - or 16 amps.Įven if the circuit was perfect, even if you had no losses, even if your power factor was 100%, your ideal load at 3200VA/208V = 15.38 amps. Now, you're not allowed to run circuit at 100% (or 96% as would be the best case here). Even a power factor of 95% puts you over 20 amps! Even if we assume ideal 208V, you're at 19.2 amps. So your 4000VA into 180 useful volts - you are now at 22.22 amps. VA is the number we have to worry about with breakers and provisioning power. It's probably more like 80% power factor, which means if it's drawing 3200 watts, it's drawing 4000 VA. Is that load really 100% power factor? I kinda doubt it. When you figure the additional losses from turning your building into a giant electromagnet, say your practical voltage is 180V. You're in a large commercial development. There is no (practical) way to make this thing fully de-energize until both plugs are plugged in. Or it can short against equipment, causing arc damage (kind of a big deal in a rental) and potentially starting a fire. You can trip over a cord and pull it out and have it hit you. So that means you can get nailed by it, since one prongy end plugged in will make the other prongy end hot. The reason for that rule is it's possible for one to be plugged in while the other is in your hand. You're violating the "No cable should have two pointy ends" rule. And you are planning to run this circuit near limits. These eddy currents/heating/rattling-vibration problems are much worse at higher currents. That could cause voltage drop at the appliance, which for a switching power supply will cause it to draw even more current. That reduces the chances of fire, but wildly increases the eddy-current losses you're essentially turning the conduit wiring system into a giant electromagnet. And the wires are running through all-metal conduit. You are causing high EMFs, which in turn cause vibration, which causes fatigue and arcing failures, and eddy current heating in anything metallic anywhere near the imbalanced wires. That is because AC creates inductive effects - this is the reason transformers work. Current will be traveling in a big circle.Īnd that's a huge no-no when you are dealing with AC power. Which means not only could they cause the breaker trip, they could be the victim of the above effect. Except you want to tap a circuit that's shared with your neighbor. You insist that nobody will be affected but you. So voltage will be rather wack-a-doodle, and that can cause problems for some machines. But it will be weird, because those appliances (together) will be in series with your machine. So they're going to power back up, even though one of them just tripped the circuit. What does this mean for other appliances still plugged into circuit A? Oh, they're getting power alright, from circuit B through your machine. Now, it's pulling circuit A's voltage toward circuit B's voltage. Power from circuit B is traveling through your machine and ending up on circuit A. Your machine stops working, of course.īut what happens to the other loads on circuit A? They're dead right? No sir, they are not. So your machine is loaded between circuits A and B, and SNAP! Circuit A breaker trips. If a breaker trips, you'll be backfeeding the tripped circuit. The room next to mine is occupied by someone who only has things plugged into the walls in the room, so if our bathroom receptacles are connected It won't matter. The room with my specific panel is locked, but this is one of 3 identical rooms per floor, 4 floors. Help, please :)Įdit 1: are photos of the electrical panel. I'm not an electrical engineer, I'm a mechanical one. The hardware is going to draw something in the neighborhood of 3200w/15a 220v (3200w/30a 110v), so if I combined 2x 110v/20a with a high gauge Y adaptor, I shouldn't have any problem as long as the wiring was correct? Is there a Y adaptor I could buy to combine 2 different phases of 110v to create a 220v power strip? all of the 110v outlets that I have access to are 20a breakers, so would this new 240v line give me 40a (assuming the hardware and wire gauge can handle it)? I have a piece of equipment that requires a 220v connection, and I do not have the ability to run a 220v line from the breaker. Good morning electrical geniuses, here's a problem for you.
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