gtslabs wrote:

I have been talking with Duquesne Light in Pittsburgh, PA about getting
3 phase to my commercial property. The field technician thinks I may
be entitled to 3 phase at no cost because of the commercial building.
However since I already have single phase service they "might" put up
the transformers for a 230 3 phase at no cost to me. I would have to
set a pole ~$600 + do the wiring. The only problem is that the 230 3
phase would not have a neutral. I could PAY for 120/208 3 phase but I
don't know the cost of that yet. So this additional service would only
be for 3 phase and I could not tap off to run my 110 outlets. I was
hoping to be able to save money and tie it all together with on bill
instead of having 2 different meters. I don't do a lot of 3 phase work
but it would be nice to have for my occasional need to run my Mill,
lathe, welder, compressor.
They indicated that I could not get 480 3-phase for some reason.
I don't want a huge bill every month and have read other stories where
people were charged a minimum per month for the utility to justify the
cost of installation.

Any thoughts would be appreciated on whether 120/208 would be more cost
effective than 230 3 phase? Most of my equipment is 230/480V



If you already have 240/120 single phase service all the electric co.
does is hang two more pole transformers for the other leg.
They could even get away with one transformer and give you open delta.
240 center tapped delta is what you want. The center tap gives you a
neutral for the single phase 120/240.


John