![]() ![]() You can have a great wood shop and do wonderful work without 240V circuits. That will not affect how well it cuts through that nice piece of maple that you’ve been saving. ![]() There is no practical benefit to rewiring your 120V contractor saw to run on 240 volts. Whether it’s 120 volts or 240 volts, it’s horsepower that counts. (Don’t get me started on hand held routers that supposedly produce 3 horsepower!) The Bottom Line Other examples of this would be stationary power tools with more than a 1.75 horsepower motor. Examples of this would be an electric range or an electric dryer. Typically, 240-volts is used if a particular load requires more power than a 20-amp, 115-volt circuit can provide. That same motor wired for 220V would only draw 12.5 amps and could run with smaller and less expensive wires.Ī 120V circuit in most American homes are rated at either 15 or 20 amps. That would require relatively large and expensive wires from the breaker box to the receptacle. A 3 hp motor wired for 110 volts might draw 25 amps. Electric wire is rated for the maximum amperage that it will carry. It’s also about industry standards and costs. Great question! It goes back to amperage. If 120v isn’t better than 240v, and vice versa, why are there two options? Hypothetically, a similar 115V motor that produces 3 horsepower would draw up to 25.6 amps. This particular motor is designed to only run on 230 volts. It produces 3 horsepower, and it draws up to 12.8 amps. This is the nameplate on the motor in my table saw, and it’s an example of a typical 230V motor. You can also see that running it on double the voltage decreases the amperage by exactly 50%. You can see that it produces 1-1/2 horsepower regardless of the voltage that it is wired to run on. Some motors, like this one on my Delta belt sander, can run on either 120 or 240 volts. Therefore, a 240-volt motor that produces 1200 watts of power will draw 5 amps. So, a 120-volt motor that draws 10 amps will produce 1200 watts of power.If you want more details, read on! Motors, Volts, Amps, and PowerĪn electric motor produces “power,” and that power does the “work.” At its most basic level, power is expressed like this: If you just want to know how voltage affects you in your wood shop, and you don’t care about the “why,” then skip the next two sections and go right to the bottom line. If you want more detail, the next two sections will help to explain this. This is fundamental, and it is one of the few things that you need to know about the differences between these two. To put it simply, there is no practical difference between a motor that is wired for 120 volts and the same motor that is wired for 240 volts. One might be better for a particular application, but neither is “better.” Neither 120 nor 240 is “better” than the other, and neither is more efficient than the other. It produces 1-1/2 horsepower, and it draws up to 14 amps. This motor on my drum sander is an example of a typical 115V motor. Likewise, motors that say 220, 230, or 240 volts should all perform just fine. Unless something is drastically wrong with either the power available in your shop or the motor itself, then motors that say 110, 115, or 120 volts will all run perfectly fine. The motors in your shop probably have all sorts of different voltage numbers on them, but it’s not a big deal. For this article, I refer to 120 volts and 240 volts, but the information applies equally to 110V, 115V, 220V, and 230V motors. Likewise, think of 220, 230, and 240 volts as being interchangeable. For practical purposes, the average woodworker should think of 110, 115, and 120 volts as all being interchangeable. But, with a few rare exceptions, the electric companies supply high-quality electric power to their customers. These are nominal numbers, and the actual voltage varies somewhat. The first thing you need to know is that household voltage in the US and Canada is supplied at about 120/240 volts. I see lots of different voltage numbers, what’s the deal? My intention is only to offer sound, practical advice as it applies to the average home wood shop. ![]() This article is not about industrial applications, three-phase power, line losses, motor efficiency, or any minute differences between these two options. The reason for this is that electricity can be a very, very complicated subject! Fortunately, for woodworkers, it doesn’t have to be complicated at all. There is a lot of confusion around the pros and cons between 120 volts and 240 volts in the wood shop. ![]()
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