If you could have 220V for your tank, would you?

[dsaundry]

It would be useful for some of the european equipment...

[Delphinus]

The ballasts I have, at least some of them, are multitap - I could run them on 220, 360 or 480 (or whatever the other voltages are).

But a watt is a watt. I still really don't know if there's a benefit to running one voltage over another.

Moot point anyhow now, looking at Home Depot though my jaw hit the floor when I saw the cost of copper. My plans to string 8 or 10 guage and use 20-amp breakers quickly dissipated. 14 guage and 15A will have to do, and this was already a dismaying cost for 200' of wire. Crazy.

Anyhow, so I more or less decided against running the 220V circuit on the spot then.

PS. Yeah, call the presses, I've been working on the tank project! I'll try updating the build thread soon.

[Monti-Man]

The benefit of running higher voltages is that it draws less amps. And less amps = less heat and less heat is better efficency which translates to better over all power consumption.

[untamed]

I considered it in the design phase. While I thought that I could slightly improve my energy consumption (very, very slightly), I found it difficult to obtain 220V pieces of equipment...so I went with 110V.

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by Monti-Man

The benefit of running higher voltages is that it draws less amps. And less amps = less heat and less heat is better efficency which translates to better over all power consumption.

No, not Less heat. Less copper size required. Heat is Watts. Volts = Amps. Double the voltage, you halve the amps. BUT, the Watts/HEAT is still the same. Now, if you were talking line Loss, then yes, higher voltage, less heat created due to less line loss. But that only comes into play on longer cable runs not typically found in the residential areas

[Delphinus]

How different is 220 from 240? As soon as we get talking about 3 phase and whatnot I kind of zone out because it's over my head. How do you run a 240 circuit?

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

How different is 220 from 240? As soon as we get talking about 3 phase and whatnot I kind of zone out because it's over my head. How do you run a 240 circuit?

It's not different. Voltage varies across the country. 110-120v is normal, and 220-240v is normal ranges. Come call it 110/220 others, like me, call it 120/240. Just habbit. Now, taking as 3 phase power into a panel actually makes 110v and 208v It's hard to explain, but has to do with phase vectors and a bunch of trigonometry.

Just remember, Lower the voltage, the more current is needed for the same Power/Watts.

And FYI, a HP for an electric motor, is equivalent to 746Watts, regardless of voltage. Watts=HP.

So, for a 1HP motor, running at 240v =3.1 amps
same motor running 120V =6.2 amps

It's the same Watts(746) But the current draw on the wires is less.

now, if it was a 10HP, it would be 31amps or 62. THAT'S a large cable size difference.

[mike31154]

So are GFCI receptacles or circuit breakers for 220 easy enough to source? Do they even exist? I'm fairly certain you can't install a conventional GFCI device into a 3 wire circuit, black/red/white/green (green earth wire is not counted). With two hot wires, black and red feeding current through the single white neutral, there's going to be an imbalance, tripping the GFCI. So the next question would be, how comfortable are you hooking up devices near/in the water without GFCI protection?

[REDNECK_REEFER]

If you're gonna run any bulbs that are 400 w or more I would suggest using 240 for your lighting. The coolest thing about the 240 power is that you can buy large scale timers and if you have multiple lighting systems in your fishroom(or living room in my case!) they can all run off of the same timer.
Also you gain the benefit of less heat on your ballsts 'cause they don't have to work as hard to generate the charge.

[Delphinus]

Hmmmm, would the decreased heat really be noticeable? Ie., do they still get hot, just not "as hot" ? Or is it pretty significantly different?

I'd just hate to find out AFTER going through the effort and expense of stringing the wire for 220 (240? whatever it is) that it's a sort of "here's your nickle per month that you save! <pling!>" type situation.

One follow up question for you electricians, what gauge wire does a person need for 240? 8 gauge? 10 gauge? (Distance from panel to room is roughly 50' {including the distance to ceiling and back}, in case that info is necessary to make the determination..)