Motor currents in 430.250?

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Does anyone have any insight into why the motor currents listed in NEC 430.250 are what they are? Is this due to efficiency assumptions? I've computed based on the listed 208v currents below. Just curious.. thanks for any insight.


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Barney B

Senior Member
Location
Hurst, TX
Occupation
Electrical Instructor/Trainer
When a new motor is installed in a new building, it is specified by an engineer who wants to protect (or create) a good reputation, so it's going to be a really good motor. When that motor fails, years later, the replacement is selected at the discretion of good old Joe The Maintenance Man. JTMM's selection criteria are very different from the engineer's. First, Production wants that machine back up TODAY, so the replacement must be available locally, and from a vendor with whom JTMM already has an account. Second, the cost of the replacement motor will come out of JTMM's budget which is never enough to cover real costs, so it must be cheap. This means that if we are lucky, the replacement motor will be of the correct horsepower, rated for the correct voltage, and fit in the hole where the original motor sat. Thus, we design motor circuits for the worst possible motor JTMM might drag home in his little red wagon.
 
Location
TX, USA
It appears that your calculations do not take power factor into account?
To make sure I understand what you mean here.. you are referring to column D where I've multiplied the HP value by 745.7, which I think you are indicating should be in units of watts, instead of volt-amperes. As such, my computation of the efficiency is comparing VA to W, instead of VA to (W/PF).
 
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