220 V power supply and how to wire

[Vic100]

Good Day Everyone,

I have a CNC machine which works on 220 v however the place I would like to use it doesn't have 220 V and they are not willing to put it in, that is the problem.

At first I thought, to taking two 120 V plugs on different wall circuits and wire them into the 220 V supply of the CNC. Thank God I researched it, as the two 120 V lines would be out of phase and I don't want to think what might of happened (research pays).

I found out that the CNC machine has an inverter which takes the two 120v line from the power panel and brings them in phase so the CNC can operate safely. I was thinking, what if you took the two 120v line from separate circuits wall plugs and ran them to the inverter, would that operate the CNC safely? Before you jump on me, I will do this only with a lot of research, I don't want to blow up myself and the CNC machine, are there any electrical experts out there that would know the answer?

Thank you for the help,
Vic100

 

[Martin W]

I would bring 220 volts right from the panel. Is this a three phase machine? How many amps does it draw? What is the distance for the size of wire?You are going to want a dedicated circuit for this. My advice is to hire an electrician. It will not cost very much.
Cheers
Martin

 

[rgray]

Every place has 220 volt as far as I know.
Is there a clothes dryer, or oven in the place? It would be unusual to find them in 110 volt.
Lots of little gotchas when your unsure what your doing with A/C wiring. It's really not hard but it's that one little mistake that can be costly.
Find an electrician to at least to get an opinion from about your project.

 

[JPigg55]

At first I thought, to taking two 120 V plugs on different wall circuits and wire them into the 220 V supply of the CNC. Thank God I researched it, as the two 120 V lines would be out of phase and I don't want to think what might of happened (research pays).
Vic100

220v is nothing more than two 110v lines that ARE out of phase.
If you indeed just have 110v (which I doubt), using 2 different 110v lines/plugs won't work because there isn't any phase difference.
The way single phase electricity is normally wired in to a structure is with two 110v supply lines that are out of phase which allows one leg to act as the neutral wire for the other. This is why 220v loads don't require a neutral/ground line like 110v circuits do.
In your main breaker box, it will be split into 2 different sides. When you look at the bus bars that the breakers attach to you will see that every other connection point on one side is supplied by the other bus bar. That's why a 110v breaker attaches to a single post while a 220v breaker attaches to 2 post, one supplied from each side.
You can power a 220v from 2 different 110v lines as long as they are supplied from opposite sides of your breaker box. It's not a good idea as you now have 2 different breakers for interrupting the supply and a fault on one could only trip the single breaker leaving it still potentially live.
What you definitely don't want to do is supply it with 2 lines from the same side (in phase) lines.

 

[markba633csi]

We assume Canada has the same electrical distribution system as US, 220 volts with centertap neutral
mark

 

[pontiac428]

If you are trying to connect a North American 220v appliance, you can tap the panel or use the clothes dryer outlet. North American 220v is 220v between phases and 110v to ground from each phase. If you are using a European appliance, you need to be sure it is double-insulated (most are), but some appliances need to see 220v to ground. If it is a double-insulated European appliance, you would ground the chassis and not connect the neutral phase. I do this all the time because I have a lot of Euro stuff. The simpler the appliance is, the more likely it will work, but check it out carefully before plugging in.

 

[JimDawson]

I would bring 220 volts right from the panel. Is this a three phase machine? How many amps does it draw? What is the distance for the size of wire?You are going to want a dedicated circuit for this. My advice is to hire an electrician. It will not cost very much.
Cheers
Martin

Yup, what Martin said.

 

[RJSakowski]

If you pull 120 volts from two different circuits, you will either have 240 volts if the are out of phase or 0 volts if they are in phase. If you have 0 volts, no harm will come to the machine, it simply won't do anything. If I were setting this up, I would get a small load center from a hardware store and use two breakers with a lower trip current than your breakers in the main load center. The two breakers should be tied together so that if one trips, it will trip the other. Usually, this is a simple accessory pin available from the breaker manufacturer. Breaker meant for 240 volt circuits come pre-tied.

Sometimes, a duplex outlet will be split so that each socket can be powered by a different circuit. In that case it is convenient to run two different phases to the outlet via a 3 conductor w/ ground cable. If you check the hot sides of the two sockets, this would read 240 volts. That would be convenient for your purpose.

While all this is possible, if you are not totally confident in working with electrical power, you should consider alternatives. Household electrical power can be dangerous to self and property, even fatal. Additionally, in a household setting, you would definitely have a non compliant setup. If other people are around, precautions should be taken to safeguard them.