I am in the process of selecting a farm duty high torque 2 hp electric motor for a small "pilot mill rock "ore" crusher. At my house (garage) I only have 115v outlets. I have a friend that is a licensed electrician and he said he could come out and wire a 230v single phase outlet on a 30 amp breaker so I could use a 230v single phase motor I was interested in using. The motor has a manual overload protection circuit rated at 9.5 amps and rated at 14amps at full load @230V. It gets confusing because some websites selling motors that only show "nameplate amps". Now I also looked at 2 hp, 3 phase motors that the amps run @ 5.6 amps but I don't think that is at "full load" Anyway, if I could get my garage wired for 230v single phase and then use a VFD, is it possible to run a 3 phase motor? And would it be cheaper on my power bill compared to using the single phase motor that I have selected? Thanks for any and all help!

P.S. I cut it twice and it's still too short! LOL

Neither the single phase or three phase is cheaper when both motors are 2 HP. If anything, single phase will run a bit less wattage.

Nameplate amps is Full Load Amps.

Many VFD's allow a 3 phase motor to be used on a single phase system, acts as a phase converter.

There will be additional losses if a VFD is used to power a 3 phase motor on a single phase system.

Stick with your electricians plan.

Hello Tkrussell,

My electrician's plan was to make 230v @ 30 amps available and install a "start stop motor switch" in line and then straight to the single phase,2hp,230v,14 amp. Electric motor (under 8ft.length of power cable). I had a feeling 3 phase power was going to cause a lot of headaches/issues and extra cost but just wanted to make sure I was going to follow the most efficient/cost effective route when selecting the right electric motor for the job...

Thank you for your help!

John

If your home actually had 3phase power, ( which it would not) it is what almost all major industry use. But it can costs 1000's just to get 3 phase ran to a business. The last time I converted a workshop to 3 phase it was almost 10,000 and that was about 15 years ago.

But when running on single phase either of your 2 hp will be about the same cost.