PM 209 owners need help with electrical circuit

[George Panagopoulos]

I am leaning towards buying a Powermatic 209HH Planer. Looking at the manual on-line PM recommends a 60 amp circuit. I have run 5 HP 1 phase motors w/o an issue on 30 amp circuits. Is the manual mistaken?. I want confirmation before I order as I do not want to redo the shop electricals and believe PM is just being conservative or it is a mistake. If someone has this planer and can reply with the circuit that it runs on w/o issue I would much appreciate the assistance. Thanks in advance for your help.

George

[Rick Fisher]

I have the General 330 version of the same machine.. its 5hp.. Mine is running on a 30 amp circuit.. I have heard that question before and think the it had something to do with 60 amp being the biggest circuit.. Either way, the Magnetic starter has a dial which you will probably need to set, it will stop the motor at probably 24 or 25 amps..

[Kevin Presutti]

George,

I emailed them a copy of their own manual and requested an answer regarding the power supply requirements. They said they would respond in a day or two but they did offer up this 800-274-6846 number for those who require immediate assistance. If you do call and get an explanation please post, otherwise if or when they respond to me I will send you the email. This is something I have run into before myself and it irritates me that they can give all the legal mumbo jumbo about the warranty but will not specify in detail the power supply requirement for your signifigant purchase. Good Luck!

[David Castor]

FWIW, the National Electrical Code shows the full load amps for a 230 V 5 hp motor as 28 A. Per the NEC, the feeder to the motor should be sized at least 125% of the motor full load amps. That would be 35 A. So a 35 A breaker would be the minimum size unless the motor is special in some way. The conductor size would be #8 copper, unless the terminations at the planer and breaker are rated for 75 deg C.

30 A is a bit small, but probably would work in practice since the planer is seldom running at max load. However, it might not be in compliance with the NEC requirements. The 60 A requirement seems extremely conservative, unless sized to accommodate additional loads of some kind.

[David Kumm]

When I looked at the PM specs for the 209 hh the motor was listed at 21 amps. Take a look and verify. It is quite common for single phase motors to be rated high in hp relative to their FLA. Most 5 hp single phase motors are a little light in comparison to their three phase counterparts in the HP department. If the motor says 21 amps the 30 amp circuit is generally fine although if running a new circuit, #8 wire is worth the extra expense over #10. Dave

[George Panagopoulos]

I called PM technical service and they were very helpful and knowledgeable. A good experience in today's world. They also emailed me back as i submitted a email question last night to their web site. they said the 5HP motor will draw 28 amps as David mentions above and thus a stretch for my 30amp, 10 gauge wiring. this is more than my 4.8HP minimax motors which draw about 21-22 amps. Not sure I want to push it and not sure I want to rewire the shop. I was on the fence regarding a 15 or 20" planer and this may push me to the 15HH planer.