• Beware of Counterfeit Woodturning Tools (click here for details)
  • Johnathan Silwones is starting a new AAW chapter, Southern Alleghenies Woodturners, in Johnstown, PA. (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Paul May for "Checkerboard (ver 3.0)" being selected as Turning of the Week for March 25, 2024 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

220 vs 110 volt wiring

Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Messages
21
Likes
0
Just had my new lathe delivered and it can be wired for 110 or 220. I will be putting this in a previously unused area of my basement. Since I am going to have to put new wiring in anyway, what if any advantages does the 220 have. Its a 1hp motor regardless of the voltage.
Thanks,
Richard
 
Joined
Mar 1, 2006
Messages
38
Likes
0
Location
Lexington, KY
220 = more water

Richard---

I remember asking my father that very same question when I was young. Let's see if I can explain it.

Your motor is developing 1HP. In order to do that, it has to draw a certain amount of electricity (measured in W, or Watts). Now I have no idea what the Wattage of your 1HP motor is, so I'll just use 1100W as a guide.

According to classical electronics (assuming total power transfer without a reactive load, for those of you out there who pay attention to such), the power (in watts) delivered by a source is equal to the product of its voltage (in Volts, V) and its amperage (in Amperes, or Amps, A). Therefore, if you have a 110V source providing 10A, you have (110*10)W, or 1100W.

Now, let us take that same concept with 220V. If you have a 220V source providing 5A, you have (220*5)W, or 1100W.

The difference?

Wires and outlets are rated not only by voltage, but by amperage. As a general rule, the thicker the wire, the more amperage it can sustain. Here's why:

Resistance is measured in Ohms, and is defined as the quotient of the voltage drop across an element divided by the current through it. It is a fact of life that only superconductors are lossless, and anything else will have some sort of electrical resistance. Standard conducting wires will have lower resistance if they are thicker (imagine a water pipe: water flows more easily in a 2" pipe than a 1" pipe). Let us make an example using 100' of copper wire (larger gauge numbers are thinner wires)

12 gauge: 0.187 ohms (pretty standard for in-wall wiring)
18 gauge: 0.751 ohms (pretty standard for VCR's, etc)

Now---it is another fact of electronics that the power dissipated (in Watts) by a resistor is equal to the square of the current flowing through it (in Amps) multiplied by the resistance of the resistor (in Ohms). In any resistive element (wire, resistor, light bulb, etc), this results in heat. Using this equation, we discover:

1100W load, 110V source:
12 gauge wire: 18.7W
18 gauge wire: 75.1W

1100W load, 220V source:
12 gauge wire: 4.7W
18 gauge wire: 18.8W

So what does this mean?

Basically, if you have a device that can be wired for both 110V and 220V, and is wired for 110V, you will need thicker, heavier wire than if the item is wired for 220V.

I would recommend that you check the power requirements of your lathe. If you need more than 10A at 110V to power the sucker, I would encourage you to wire it for 220. Besides, having a 220 run to your (I almost typed shack---can you tell I'm also a radio amateur?) shop may prove handy should you discover you need a piece of equipment that requires 220V.

Good luck, and I hope it helped,

Henry C. Gernhardt, III
 
Joined
Apr 15, 2005
Messages
33
Likes
0
Location
McDonough GA
220 Saves on the Electrical bill too

If you wire the lathe for 110 V the current you current draw on one leg of your power service will be twice what would be used if it was wired for 220 V. The more 110V loads you have on one leg of the center taped 220 V feeder to the house the more money you give away to the power company for evergy you didn't use.

For example a refrigerator and a freezer should not be on the same 110 V side. If these two devices were on opposite sides of your feed you wouldn't be as likely to waste energy.

For example: if one leg of you electrical service drew 55A and the other leg only drew 30A the power company charges you for 55A x 220V or 12.1 KWH. If the loads were balanced at 42A X 220V the power company would charge you for only 9.24 KWH usage.

If you draw 15 amps on a 110 V circuit and nothing on the other leg, the power company will still charge you for the amount of killowatts used on the peak side of your service. Wiring a 220 V circuit also splits the load on the wire servicing this brance circuit. Your branch breakers and wire can be smaller size breaker and wire which will save in the cost of installation. Cost somewhat offset by a more expensive recepticle.

Configuring the lathe for 220 V service will balance the load across both sides of your power service. The breakers and wiring will be cooler since you are running less current through any single device.

The same peak wattage demand holds true for single phase vs 3 phase commercial service. But the up front cost of 3 phase in a residental area and power panel changes greatly outway the bennifits. That is why you will see phace convertors on the market. SOrry fot the engineering rambling.

John Taylor
 
Joined
May 30, 2005
Messages
278
Likes
0
Location
SW Wisconsin
One big advantage of 220 wiring is that if you should decide to up-grade your lathe, you'll already have the required 220 circuit in place.

In either case, you'll probably want a separate 110 circuit for accessories (lights, grinder, power sanding, etc.)
 
Back
Top