Welder question

[Bolted to Floor]

Yea, gotta watch out for those panels. You wind up letting all the smoke out of something. 

[BattlestarGalactic]

Ever here of 208?

Yup, three phase.   We have some stuff at my work that runs on it.  Nothing you would find in a home.

[Falcon67]

Ever here of 208?

I see your 208 and raise you a 277.   

[cjshaker]

Ever here of 208?

Yeah, 208 is a common 3 phase.
Funny how feed lines are a "stated" voltage, compared to what they actually measure. When most of us were kids, everything used to be 110 volts. Now, it's 120 volts, but if you check the actual line voltage, it's often closer to 126+ volts, for purposes of high draw times in this modern age. That's not good for old electrical equipment like radios, fans and such. I have quite a few old devices that were designed for the old 110 systems, and getting near 130 volts is hard on them and can damage stuff that wasn't designed for the higher voltages. I use variacs to keep the voltage down on the older stuff. Makes them less prone to failure and damage. That's probably why my 77 year old General Electric fridge keeps chugging along fine, having never even been worked on.

[cammerfe]

You should check to see if the feed lines are 'Knob and Tube' or Romex. Then go on from there

KS

[BattlestarGalactic]

LOL!!

My g/f's house is 100 yr old and still has knob and tube and 60 amp glass fuse panel.   

[Falcon67]

Scary stuff.  Our first house out here was knob and tube, with Federal Pacific panels on the outside of the house.

[frnkeore]

I don't know when the standard might have changed but, the more modern equipment, is made to operate at a 10% voltage, variance.

Regarding Knob & Tube, it is scarey stuff. I'm originally form The City of Orange, in Orange Co. It was founded, about 1880 and had LOTS of K & T wiring. In the '60's and '70's, there would be around one house burn down per year, because of that wiring, mostly broken wires, in the wall.

For those that don't know what it is, they used to run bare wire, threw the attic and the wall. The knobs where 2 piece insulators, nailed together, with the wire, between them, they then ran to the wall and down threw a ceramic tube to the outlet.

[Bolted to Floor]

I was thinking of a 3 phase High leg panel where 2 phases are 120 to ground, one leg is 208 to ground, and all measure 240 phase to phase. That one leg can get you in trouble.  Its generally B phase, but not always.

Demo is the best thing you can do with knob and tube. If its still in service, its way past its life expectancy!! Was it always installed as bare copper? Some of the houses that I had been through had the old cloth insulation that had rotted off of it.

[cammerfe]

I have found knob-'n'-tube with rubber/woven insulation in a number of houses. My Dad, when I was a little kid (and before I was born), was an electrical contractor. By the time I was old enough to pay attention, he was working with the old original-style Romex, with rubber/woven conductors, some paper, and then woven outer sheathing. By the time I was in high school, He'd become an electrical engineer for FoMoCo and all the wiring we did was for ourselves and families.

Our Church owns the house and property next door and when we updated the kitchen and bathrooms there, we found that the house was originally knob-'n'-tube with some later additions of the original-sort of Romex. The original conductors were insulated, and were in pretty good shape. I put pigtails of modern Romex where it made sense, and put in a couple of new circuits, as necessary, to deal with a dishwasher, etc. We also put in GFCis where they were necessary. If I'd had to pay me for the work I did...

We also put in a new garage at the house, and trenched from the service entrance for the power, both 110 & 220. Then I wired it as a garage SHOULD be done.

KS