Can rotary converter be used? Have 1 Phase Power but have 3 Phase Soft Serve Machines that Need to be Used.?

Question

Hello,

I will be opening a soft serve frozen yogurt shop soon and can only easily find 3 phase water cooled equipment. The issue is my leased space currently only has a 1 phase panel box. The building itself does have 3 phase in the basement but it would require pulling a cable all the way to my unit and changing to a 3 phase panel as well as adding a 3 phase switch in the basement.

Can I purchase a Rotary Phase Converter that would be able to continuously run 4 machines that are 3 phase on my 1 phase panel? I would like to avoid any unnecessary expensive electrical upgrades if there is a conveter I can have installed by a licensed electrician.

Below is a link for the machine I will be using, I will have 4 machines running in the store.

http://www.taylor-company.com/product/s_pdf/s0754.pdf

Thank you,

Felipe

Answer 1

Your machines seem to be nearly 10kW each, (though the data sheet was not entirely clear to me)   for 4 of them you are going to need considerable current on the single phase feed,  (perhaps in excess of 200A) so unless you have a large single phase panel you may have to upgrade the wiring anyway.

Phase converters are available and could be an option, but a 40kW unit could cost in excess of $3000 US before installation, and installation to operate four machines might be costly, as each machine needs individual overload protection so you will essentially be installing a three phase panel anyway. So while a phase converter is possible (you may want to get one designed for CNC equipment as they have better voltage control)  it just might be cheaper to wire for three phase.

Answer 2

rotary converters are expensive, bulky, noisy, hot...

You are lucky you have 3 phase power in the basement, use it, it will be the cheapest path you can take.