Pneumatic Elevator 230V

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mbrooke

Batteries Included
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United States
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Technician
If this is from china, expect 20 different answers.

My honest opinion is that 240 volts and its normal variants will not hurt the elevator.
 

roger

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Location
Fl
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Dennis, coppersmith has a good point about the listing requirement. If the unit and it's electrical components are not listed the inspector should not have signed off on it in NC (I don't know about other states) and if the manufacturer wanted to do business in NC they would comply with what it takes for that to happen.

If it is listed it doesn't seem like it should have been.

§ 66-25. Acceptable listings as to safety of goods. (a) All electrical materials, devices, appliances, and equipment shall be evaluated for safety and suitability for intended use. Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this section, this evaluation shall be conducted in accordance with nationally recognized standards and shall be conducted by a qualified testing laboratory. The Commissioner of Insurance, through the Engineering Division of the Department of Insurance, shall implement the procedures necessary to approve suitable national standards and to approve suitable qualified testing laboratories. The Commissioner may assign his authority to implement the procedures for specific materials, devices, appliances, or equipment to other agencies or bodies when they would be uniquely qualified to implement those procedures. In the event that the Commissioner determines that electrical materials, devices, appliances, or equipment in question cannot be adequately evaluated through the use of approved national standards or by approved qualified testing laboratories, the Engineering Division of the Department of Insurance shall specify any alternative evaluations which safety requires. The Engineering Division of the Department of Insurance shall keep in file, where practical, copies of all approved national standards and resumes of approved qualified testing laboratories.

Roger
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
We have motors rated to operate on a range of 208v to 240v. How can anyone build a motor rated for 220v that can not handle being powered by 230v?
 

winnie

Senior Member
Location
Springfield, MA, USA
Occupation
Electric motor research
We have motors rated to operate on a range of 208v to 240v. How can anyone build a motor rated for 220v that can not handle being powered by 230v?

Easy. You design the motor to handle a supply voltage range of 190-250V. You design the warranty to handle a supply voltage range of 218-222V. 80% of your customers use a nominal 240V supply, 20% use a 208V supply. 90% of your customers have no problem with the install, and 10% of your customers find out they have invalidated their warranty. :)
 

texie

Senior Member
Location
Fort Collins, Colorado
Occupation
Electrician, Contractor, Inspector
As stated by others, I think this is total nonsense and I would challenge the manufacturer on this.
Dennis indicated in his OP that they want him to install a buck/boost transformer. If their 220 volt requirement is so important I don't see how a buck/boost is going to solve it as the output voltage will vary with the normal voltage tolerance of the POCO. The only way to get an exact voltage would be with an active voltage regulator which is totally unreasonable for a load like this.
And like Coppersmith, I would be curious of any listing and if so what the NRTL take is on this. If I was the owner I would never accept this nonsense.
 
We have motors rated to operate on a range of 208v to 240v. How can anyone build a motor rated for 220v that can not handle being powered by 230v?

Why would someone design an elevator using equipment as unforgiving as what appears to have been used. One voltage spike and the motor would be toast and occupants trapped.


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Dennis Alwon

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Chapel Hill, NC
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Retired Electrical Contractor
Why would someone design an elevator using equipment as unforgiving as what appears to have been used. One voltage spike and the motor would be toast and occupants trapped.


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That was my point.. It is ridiculous to use a motor such as this.

Unfortunately I wasn't there but I have to assume it was listed as they are doing business in this country. I am sure the issue of listing would have come up.

I would hope that my guys would have said something if it wasn't listed
 

Dennis Alwon

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Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
I am also suspicious because now they are saying 220v when last year they said 230v.... We did get 230v at the trany when the showed us how to hook it up. LOL
 

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
Did the customer actually encounter a problem w/ the motor at 240v? You mentioned it was being serviced; was that in relation to a motor problem or some other issue?
 

Dennis Alwon

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Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
According to the contractor they went out there because the motherboard got fried. Obviously it wasn't because of the missing trany otherwise they would have tried to bill us. The tech guy notice the trany wasn't there. The didn't bill us for the trany either-- obviously they figured it in the price but never supplied it.
 

winnie

Senior Member
Location
Springfield, MA, USA
Occupation
Electric motor research
Pondering the other side of the coin...I wonder if they actually have fewer service calls with the tranny in place, and if the real benefit is that the tranny acts as a line reactor insulating the control board from transients.

In other words, they were having problems. Someone looked at the spec for the motor or control board and noticed that it said '230V' with no understanding of proper voltage tolerances. So they started including the buck transformer with their hardware. When the problems got better they assumed that their presumed cause was thus proven.

-Jon
 
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