oven with phase converter

[chet86]

can I use a 220 v 3 ph. oven with a phase converter?

chet86

[SteveM]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why would an oven have "phase"?

That sounds like a 3-phase light bulb.

Steve

[hammermill]

chances are the oven is all electric and can be run in single phase, many are duel application

if the blower motor is 3 phase it may need a small converter/drive for the motor and you can run the elements in single phase

if the blowers are 3 phase and heat is gas see above

in reality you need to pony up a lot more info on the oven in question?

[steamin10]

Just so, many resistive loads, and inductive loads can easily be run single phase.

I purchased a transformer type welder, and Redline wired it for single phase 220. This is a 550 amp DC/AC machine with 100% duty cycle. On high heat it would draw nearly 90 amps off the line, but what power compared to a Crapman or similar hobby machine. Even the red machine wire welders are only 30% duty at higher range. Admittedly power wasteful, it serves when called upon, with stellar performance, compared to my other buzz box and wire machines.

What you are suggesting seems like charging batteries to run a converter to run a refridgerator. OK, it works , but why go to the trouble?

[hammermill]

more years than I want to remember a new broadcast station built a mountain top transmission site and we installed 3 roto phase units to feed the transformers for the transmitters. each drew 200amps single phase 24/7 the third unit was a back-up to be switched in while the others were undergoing maintance.

so in that regard it is possible, per say to answer the original question. if the oven presents pure resistive loads, I cant offer a clear answer beyond conversion/reconfiguration

[Harold_V]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why would an oven have "phase"?

That sounds like a 3-phase light bulb.

Steve

Wattage is a constant, so the amperage of the source would be much higher if it was single phase. By using three phase power, the overall load is shared by three phases, lowering the amperage (per phase), as well as the wire size requirements. By using all three legs it helps keep the load on the source balanced.

To put this in perspective, consider the size of the service that would be required to operate a three phase 75 horse motor with a converter. A 240 volt 400 amp service, three phase, would be adequate, while it would require no less than a 1,000 amp service, single phase, to accomplish the same task. Wire size now becomes critical, and expensive, as would the panels.

I own a McEngleven heat treat oven that is wired three phase. Not uncommon at all in industry.

Harold

[scmods]

Chet,

Like others have said, it depends on the fuel source. Or really not so much. There's an operational difference between heating and motors as far as electric is concerned. While the motor uses an interaction between the phases of the electric waves to initiate and sustain motion, the resistance in an electric heater is not constrained to such relationships. The resistance heating coil only "cares" about voltage and available current. Simple reconfiguration of the coil arrangement and contactor connections is all that is necessary. The coils become three parallel single phase coils. Fans and control circuits may be either 3 phase or single phase, depending on power requirements.

As Harold says, there will be a significant increase in current draw, as the total load is not divided by three, as it is in the 3 phase configuration. Since there's no free lunch, the power has to come from somewhere, and some power requirements can be quite severe. We used to joke about the bulk of the heat coming from the bearings in the meter.

Using a converter to power the whole thing is just wasting money.

Bill Walck

[Pipescs]

Do you happen to have a schematic of the oven you are intending to run?