advice on Phase perfect option

Long story short, I need to move into a building I bought. It has a 200 amp 208 volt 3 phase service. One of my machines is a 50 taper MITS hmc that books at 84 kva. So there goes that service. I put an amp clamp on it and the only time I see much over 40 -50 amps is at spindle start and stop, where I may see anywhere from 80-180, some times 200. Not sure why it varies so much??? Do you think Id be ok running off that 200 amp service?? The rest of my machines are in the 7.5 to 20 hp range, when I put the amp clamp on those I dont see much over 60 amps. These machines I intend to power off of a 200 amp 208 volt single phase service (I have two services in the building, one 3 phase, 1 single phase) and a PT380 phase perfect. Im a one man band so probably wont see more than 2-3 machines running at once at the most. I was going to up grade the service but thats like 3 times the cost of a PT380!! I know there are about a million variables, but does it sound possible??

This is where you need to put on your sales shoes and sweet talk the power company. In most cases, there is enough power on the pole but you need bigger pigs. You won't have issue running the 84kva load on that service. Rates on CNC machines are usually inflated beyond what will really be needed.

You need to explain your sitch to the power company. They usually want to sell power.

The power company was not to bad, but then a license contractor has to go from the pole to the building,CT panel(if over 400 amps),and into your new panel, breakers etc. The contractor and all the goods is what seem to inflate the cost.

cpifer3,

There have been quite a few threads in this forum regarding Phase Perfect converters, with what I would call unanimous recommendations (other than the price).

You probably noticed that all their models will do about a 400% overload for 4 seconds, so startup draw becomes literally a non-issue.

I use a 10hp model in my home shop (runs on a 70A single phase breaker). I run a 15hp Haas, a Mori engine lathe and a Bridgeport off my 10hp model, and have never had a single issue with it in 9 years of use.

PM

From what I've read on this forum, you can't go wrong with a Phase Perfect if that will solve your power needs. It seems to be just about the only machine shop component that you can resell after years of service for most of what you paid for it.