Can the HF 2hp dust collector (#45378) be switched to 220v?

[Joshua Dinerstein]

I have one of these and have finally moved into the new house. So time to setup the shop. I have been planning out my wiring said shop. I am going to run a few 220v lines as you never know what tools will follow on next (a good band saw, a better table saw, etc...)

So I got to wondering when I read about some bigger motors they can be re-wired to run on 220v rather than 110. Now I am not an electrician but I wanted to know what to plan for. Would rather run it on 220 if possible. Lower amps etc... So I downloaded the manual from the HF website. It is a bit more complete than most of their manuals are but says nothing about this possibility at all.

Does anyone know if it can re-wired to run 220 or is it 110 only and forever?

Thanks!
Joshua

[David Hostetler]

I'm not sure, but I think that you are stuck with 110V on this particular item...

[scott spencer]

I'm not sure, but I think that you are stuck with 110V on this particular item...

I'm not sure either, but have also heard that it's not switchable.

[Jason Beam]

If it can, it'll almost always say it can.

[Steve Clardy]

Pull the motor cover where the wiring goes in. It should show there by the wiring diagram if its a dual voltage motor

[Scott Donley]

Mine is about 2 years old, it can NOT be switched to 220. If yours is newer, maybe they changed something. SEE Steve's post.

[Frank Hagan]

The motor label or on the inside of the wiring access plate will show two wiring diagrams if it is dual voltage (well, its supposed to, but some of the HF stuff doesn't follow all the rules). If its dual voltage the motor label should have two amp ratings ... like 10/5 ... and two voltage ratings, like 120/240.

I would be surprised if it did. Dual voltage motors cost more. The motor is probably really a 1 or 1.5 HP uprate running at 10 to 14 amps on 115v, so there's no advantage to wiring it for 220v. (Well, the only advantage is that you can use smaller wire for the circuit feeding the motor, but there's no energy savings in running this size motor on 115v or 220v; the energy used is exactly the same).

The electricity used can be calculated by the formula Volts x Amps = Watts. Divide by 1000 and you have kilowatt hours, the amount of current used in an hour of use. You probably pay your electric bill by kilowatt hour, so its easy to see what it costs per hour of use.

115 volt motor, times 10 amps equals 1150 watts; divided by 1,000 is 1.15 Kw/hr of use. Same motor on 230 v times the rated amperage of 5 amps equals the same 1150 watts.

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Well darn. It would appear it can not be changed over. As for the amps. Mine pulls pretty darn close to 19 amps on startup. After that I have seen little to no drop. So the reason I wanted to cut over to 220 from 110 was to stop being so doggone high on amps on a 110 line. I am going to have to pull some now higher core wire in order to safely use it. The line currently out to the garage/shop just isn't a heavy enough beast.

Thanks Guys,
Joshua

[Michael Weber]

no expert here but if your running current doesn't drop from your start up current I'd think something was wrong with the motor.

[Joshua Dinerstein]

no expert here but if your running current doesn't drop from your start up current I'd think something was wrong with the motor.
Oh it tripped the breaker immediately! So I have no idea if it would drop or not. My cousin held the break to the on position just long enough to make sure the motor would spin up. But that being dangerous and stupid after about 6 seconds we let it go and it hasn't been run since. It has never actually collected any dust. But now that I am in the new house and running new Power around the new garage shop I am quite excited at the possibilities to get it running again.

Thanks,
Joshua

[Frank Hagan]

Oh it tripped the breaker immediately! So I have no idea if it would drop or not. My cousin held the break to the on position just long enough to make sure the motor would spin up. But that being dangerous and stupid after about 6 seconds we let it go and it hasn't been run since. It has never actually collected any dust. But now that I am in the new house and running new Power around the new garage shop I am quite excited at the possibilities to get it running again.

Thanks,
Joshua

There's a rule of thumb that some of the electricians here may remember ... something like inrush current being 6 to 8 times the label rating. But seeing as you couldn't get past the inrush phase, it looks like either your breaker is too small or failing, or your wire from the breaker to the DC is too small.

If the label amps on the DC are 15 amps, my understanding is that you should have a 20 amp breaker and wire sized appropriately. I could never find support for this in anything official, but I've often heard that you want the breaker size at least 20% above the load on the circuit (15 amps x .20 = 3, 15 + 3 = 18, closest breaker size is 20 amp). Maybe someone will chime in on the actual NEC requirements.

[Jason Hanko]

Joshua,
Just curious about the circuit you were running the HF DC on when it tripped your breaker - was it a 15 or 20a 110 breaker? Have you managed to solve the problem since?
I just picked this unit up a few weeks ago, and it repeatedly trips my 20a breaker on startup. The motor is rated at 15a, so I thought Id be safe with a 20a breaker and 12 guage wire even if there is a higher startup load...guess not. :(

[Ben Martin]

Hmm, mine runs on a 20A circuit with 12ga wire, I have no problems. Even when started and stopping my drill press while it is running...

[Jason Hanko]

Update to my attempted Hijacking of this thread:
Turns out the breaker was bad. Took it back and exchanged it for a new one - Bingo no more tripping problems.
And no, my HF 2HP motor can NOT be switched over to 220v.

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Joshua,
Just curious about the circuit you were running the HF DC on when it tripped your breaker - was it a 15 or 20a 110 breaker? Have you managed to solve the problem since?
I just picked this unit up a few weeks ago, and it repeatedly trips my 20a breaker on startup. The motor is rated at 15a, so I thought Id be safe with a 20a breaker and 12 guage wire even if there is a higher startup load...guess not. :(
It was a 15amp circuit and wire in the last house where it popped the breaker immediately. It was a seriously cheap garage, being new not withstanding. It had 1 single outlet in the whole garage. I tripped it a ton at various times with the lathe, shop vac, lights and other things running.

In the garage of my new house I strung a dedicated 110v 20amp line with 20amp rated wire, 12/3 as that is what I had purchased for the 220v 20amp line I needed for the lathe tho I didn't use all of the wires obviously, out to the plug. It has worked perfectly now every time I turn it on.

The 20amp breaker with the 12 gauge wire was the cure.

Joshua

[Joshua Dinerstein]

110v or not it works so well it is scary. WOW! I am glad I got it done finally and got it up and working!

Joshua