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J. Clarke

wrote:
On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 23:21:28 -0600, "Greg O"

Typical residential power in the USA is single phase. If your shop
is in a commercial building you may have three phase. Do you have
any 4 pole outlets mounted anywhere? If you do you probably have
three phase power.
Greg

Actually, you typically have 2 phase power into residence. 120 V on
two legs of a 3 phase system.

The two legs of a residential system are 180 degrees out of phase, the
three legs of a three-phase system are 120 degrees out of phase.

This allows you to run phase to phase
(208V) like on some electric heaters, or 240V (120 x2) for an
electric
stove.

A "208V" electric heater runs on the same voltage as a "240V" electric
stove. If you think otherwise, show us how the two are wired
differently.

Depending on location, you can get the third wire to give
you 3 phase, but be prepared to pay the big bucks.

You're getting 3 additional wires to get 3-phase.

If the shop is 'residential' there will likely only be 2 phase power
and you can confirm this my looking at how many wires enter the mast
just before the meter on the building. 3 wires is 2 phase (2
power-one common)

Pete

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--John
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