We’re going to move our deionized water system to a new building, and the electrical engineers are asking about power requirements. Not really having any expertise in electrical, I took a photo, which shows the standard 120-volt outlets, 3 of which are occupied by pumps and sensors and UV lights, and then there are two more connections off the upper right hand part of the photo.
One leads to a switch that I think the label is telling me it needs 10 amps at 250 volts, but I’m not really familiar with reading this type of label.
The other leads to a pump, whose label I can’t understand - is it telling me it needs 208 volts? 115 volts? I’m not sure how to read this.
Anyone with good electrical knowledge want to hazard what I should tell the engineers?
Your best bet would be to send those exact pictures to the person requesting the info. That’s exactly the information they’re looking for and them trying to decipher what you attempt to put into words could cause an issue.
Having said that, on regular household 110v (and who calls it 125?) the switch draws 10amps and the pump draws 14amps. They should probably be on their own circuits, use a circuit rated for 30amps or bring 220 to the area. That’ll cut down the amps required by half (kinda).
TL;DR send the pictures to the EE, it’s all they need.
Thanks, Joey P - I’ll send the photos. So the switch is drawing 10 amps at 110v, is the label also saying that it would draw 10 amps at 250 volts? Just asking out of curiosity. And the pump draws 14 amps at 110v. Great - I think I understand what the labels are telling me now.
Crafter Man, the system was installed in the 1990s, so you’re probably right, it likely does not meet current codes. What is a VA requirement?
Yes, that’s what it’s saying. It’s odd since typically if you double the voltage, you halve the amperage. My WAG, is that at 250, it’s only using one of the hot legs, so it’s still technically only using 110, but that’s just a guess.
That’s its rating, not its consumption. That’s the current it can pass through. Being a switch and vacuum or pressure activated it probably draws negligible power. D1-H1SS
Show it to the engineers anyway.
The switch does not “need” any power. My understanding of the label is that it can handle up to 10 amps at up to 250V AC. It can handle up to 480 volts AC, but the current has to be limited to 3 amps. It’s a switch, all it does is turn the power on to another component (perhaps the pump?).
If its plugging into your standard 110 volt circuit, the electric motors must be configured for 110 volts, which is the “low voltage” referred to on the right, where you can see how to wire it in for “low voltage”… what it calls 115 volts, but you call 110 volts.
What you must do is decide what is the maximum load - how much can all this draw if everything is operating at once.
So your lights are actually going to be a few amps, and the electric motor is 14 amps, so would you be able to decide the 20 amps is the max … just round up to the fives… 20, 25, 30, 35…
“A couple 20A circuits should get it done. One might need to be 240, depending on pump wiring.” That’s what I’d tell them, just going by the pictures. Then I’d send the nameplate pictures over just as you’ve done already…
You showed us a picture of the pump label. And a switch. What does the switch turn on? It is too light duty for the pump at 110V. The EE also needs the UV light label. Is this an OEM unit? As in it came as a package deal from some company or was it assembled from various components acquired off the shelf by the installer? If OEM send them the model number or a photo of the spec page from the owners manual. Or you can send them the quantity and sizes of circuit breakers feeding the receptacles and switch. They can duplicate that.
The switch doesn’t turn on the pump - they are two separate lines that come off the outlet box.
I don’t believe so. I could be wrong, but it looks cobbled together with different parts from various manufacturers, and there’s no overarching manufacturer plate. Even a manual may be difficult to find. The system is probably about 30 years old, and I’ve been here for only a few months. Nobody else in the department has a good read or much familiarity with this thing.
It is kind of hard to truly determine what you have.
The pump can operate on 120 or 208 volts. At 120 volts the draw will be 14 Amps, at 208 volts the draw will be 7.0 Amps.
The switch can disconnect 10 amps, and has no draw.
I would run at least 2 120 volt circuits. 1 for the pump and the other for controls and the lights.
Someone is going to have to wire this back up, should be fun.
If I was running it I would run one 20 208 volt circuit for the pump, and use a relay to start and stop the pump, and one 120 volt circuit for the controls and controls.
I wouldn’t touch this one with a ten foot pole. There is too much opportunity for misunderstanding (both ways). Combine that with the confusion induced from erroneous feedback from quasi experts and it’s a recipe for disaster.
My question is why the OP’s EE department is asking an unqualified person for answers that they, (being EE and all) should be providing themselves.