On Wed, 20 Sep 2006 12:43:51 GMT, "Pete C."
wrote:

Vic Dura wrote:

Hello,

The engineers in sci.engr.electrical.sys-protection were useless on
this question, so I thought I would ask it here where the *real*
knowledge is.

The question is regarding the use of 3-phase power. I noticed an
electric pottery kiln the other day that used 3-phase power. It was
about a 6 or 7 kw model. As I understand it, electric kilns are
resistance loads, just like a toaster oven.

I had always thought that 3-phase power was an advantage only for
induction loads, and had no advantage over single-phase for resistance
loads. Is that correct? If so, what would the advantage be for a
3-phase kiln such as those shown at

http://www.skutt.com/products/elec_req.htm ?

Thanks for any enlightenment.
--
To email me directly, remove CLUTTER.

The advantage is lighter gauge supply wire and smaller control
contactors since you are dividing the load across three wires instead of
two with the resulting lower current per wire. You also balance the load
across all three power phases in the building as opposed to
concentrating the load on only two phases. No other particular
advantages.

Pete C.

Exactly.