I rent a council owned industrial unit, I currently have all single phase machines in it (I'm a carpenter/furniture maker). I am pretty clueless when it comes to electrics. I'm looking at a second hand three phase bandsaw. Firstly how do I tell if I have three phase, i'm pretty sure I do, my next door neighbour runs a cnc machine in his. Secondly what would I be looking at appoximately to wire it up?
I rent a council owned industrial unit, well there goes ya profit. I currently have all single phase machines in it (I'm a carpenter/furniture maker). I am pretty clueless when it comes to electrics. Ya don't say.I'm looking at a second hand three phase bandsaw. Firstly how do I tell if I have three phase, it won't work with a 13a plug.i'm pretty sure I do, my next door neighbour runs a cnc machine in his. Secondly what would I be looking at appoximately to wire it up?
I rent a council owned industrial unit, well there goes ya profit. I currently have all single phase machines in it (I'm a carpenter/furniture maker). I am pretty clueless when it comes to electrics. Ya don't say.I'm looking at a second hand three phase bandsaw. Firstly how do I tell if I have three phase, it won't work with a 13a plug.i'm pretty sure I do, my next door neighbour runs a cnc machine in his. Secondly what would I be looking at appoximately to wire it up?
Really how do you work that out? I get a 45ft by 15ft workshop, with a 15ft ceiling height, my own washroom and toilet, 2 parking spaces, a full height roller shutter,an office, and a permanent skip for £60 a week. City centre location in a locked compound. I make the annual rent in two weeks, leaves me the other 50 to make a profit.
As I say mate my knowledge on electrics is shaky to say the least. No point in you pointing out my lack of knowledge when I said that from the outset. How does the three phase single phase thing work then.
Look at your fuseboard. It should have a lbel on it DANGER 400V (or similar). Look at the main switch. If 3-phase it will be very wide (triple pole or triple pole and N). If modern the inside will have coloured sections red/yellow/blue or brown/black/grey adjacent to the breakers. UP
Nice one unphased. If I do have three phase in there what would I be looking at approx to wire it up. Just a ballpark figure. Much appreciated.
Incidentally Leroy surely if something wont work with a 13a plug surely that would indicate that the machine was three phase rather than whether or not I had three phase in my unit? Sounds like you might be the on whos a bit clueless when it comes to electrics. Ya dont say.
It all depends how much the job entails - could be £100 in one site and £800 on another - how much labour involved and so forth - are you within 30 miles of Plymouth!!
The chances are you have a three phase supply to the unit but only a single phase meter. you could check with your electric supplier and see what meter they are charging you for.
find where the mains supply comes into your building, three fuses - three phase, 1 fuse - single phase. if there are three fuses see whats connected to them. photos of fuses / distribution board / meter would help
lamello, have you considered using a phase converter? If you are planning to use more 3 phase machinery in the future you would be better off getting the 3 phase sorted properly but if it's only for one machine a phase converter might work out to be a better option. Cost of phase converters varies according to the power requirements. I think there was a thread discussing these quite recently (for a car lift I think), might be worth looking at.
Lamello Go and look at ya Meter and come back and tell us how many individual cables are going directly in to the Meter. If it's 4 or 5 then it's single phase. If it's 8 or more then it's Three phase. Where U based?