220 volts in your shop for anything besides the air compressor? What was it?
Actually for EVERYTHING but my Skil 100 that runs on 110…
But then I live in France… 220 is everywhere since about 1960 or so…
not yet.
nothing in my micro shed runs 220.
I keep a 20
gal compressor (110) unplugged until it gets low.
most things running
simultaneous would be - clark hitachi, shop vac and 2 (side) lights. never tripped a breaker
Balsa are the light bulbs 220 or are small load things like that stepped down to 110v?
No wonder the french chicks are so happy with those high powered appliances.
Bud, ecxept for air conditioners, I’m wondering about future things like vacuum pumps but all the ones I’ve seen are 110v. I’m just wondering if there is something I haven’t considered. I want to cover all the bases.
As I told you, everything runs on 220 here, light bulbs included.
only halogen spots are stepped down to 12V
Why would you step down light load? Transformers and higher currents only give more losses and extra cost.
Even in the bathroom we have 230V.
BTW: It is actually 230V nowadays.
Interesting. In the states everything is 110v and only high amperage draw units are 220v. (Figures of speech left over from the old days, yes they are acutally 120v-230v now) I have never been to Europe so that’s why I asked. I don’t even know if there is such a thing as a 220v light bulb around here.
sometimes find 380V tri-phase for kitchen/washroom applicances...
Yes, and 380V is also heavily used in many workshops (woodworking machines, for instance…)
Ok, so you use 220v/380v like the way we use 110v/220v. We also have commercial/industrial equipment that takes a three-phase circuit.
It’s cool to find out how stuff in other parts of the world works.
no we never use single phase 400V (formerly 380V), only in three phase.
230V is the phase voltage of the tri-phase system and 400V is the line voltage.
When it’s single phase we call it 230V and when it’s tri phase we call it 400V but there is no transformer needed to switch from 230 to 400. It is just using the three phases. 400V (or 380) does NOT exists single phase (if you connect 2 phases instead of 1phase and neutral, you get 400V but there are no applications for that).
When the phase voltage is 110V the line voltage is 190V (110 * sqrt(3) = 190.52)
So how do you guys get 220V in the shop? By a transformer?
No transformers, just a hot + hot + ground from a double breaker. 110 is hot + neutral + ground from a single breaker. Both coming from the same breaker panel using a 3 wire NMB (romex brand). The wall plugs are a little different for 220 volt power than the 110 volt power plugs.
ah okej.
No like I said we don’t use our 400V that way. We already have 230 so we don’t need higher 
but is you have hot+neutral = 120V, then hot+hot = 208V and not 220V (that’s why I asked about the transformer)
(I asumme you mean phase line when you mean ‘hot’, so the not blue(neutral) or yellow/green(earth) ones’s)
edit: O I see it now, in the US it is 127/220V 
this makes sense to me 
PS: sorry I’m an energy engineer, don’t dislike me for it :s
Ozzy,
Use my Rockwell (now Delta) 10" Unisaw daily - 3 horse, 220, rip fence goes to 52" wide. It’s seen plenty of foam and stringer stock go through.
Delta 4" edge sander. Uses 4" x 132" belts, also 220. Great for truing up templates and flattening ripped blanks when adding stringers. The belt sits vertically with a horizontal table for the work piece. Takes material off faster than wanted if not careful - fingertips too. Use 50 to 220 grit belts.
Just sold a Powermatic shaper, also 220. No practical board uses there that I ever found…
Hope Doc chimes in here. Would love to hear about his shop tools.
Pete
No sweat Hans. Our solid core romex is black = hot, white = neutral, bare copper = ground. A 220 circuit uses the white as another hot wire. Here is a picture it may help show what I mean. This is sub-panel so it is slightly different than a main panel. – In a main panel the neutral = ground also, but in a sub-panel the neutral is a return, and the panel has its own ground rod. If that makes sense.
Thanks Pete. That’s what I’m talking about.
…I thought that almost all the Americas countries use 220V (230) except USA and may be Canada.
You might be right. I don’t know.
I've got a nice big 18000 btu AC (that heats in winter) running on 220v here in sunny Florida...
Cool. I’ve got a couple of 12k heat & cools also. (220’s)
Howzit hans, What kind of electric bills are you guys paying with all that power. Turn on a 220v anything here and the meter just starts spinning lke a top. Aloha,Koua