Confusion with 208v to my new studio

I thought everything was running fine but by the end of a full cycle it became clear that the dryer motor and the water flush pump in the washer had suffered from the overload and were grinding and malfunctioning - I ordered new ones today.

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This sounds like they where still attached to the supply line that reads 208 volts to common. The simple thing would be to flip your supply leads over so that they are on the opposite sides of the phases and make sure your other circuits that need the 120 volt to common power are also on that line. This should not be much more that moving a few connections around inside your appliances.

tcmtech said:

This sounds like they where still attached to the supply line that reads 208 volts to common. The simple thing would be to flip your supply leads over so that they are on the opposite sides of the phases and make sure your other circuits that need the 120 volt to common power are also on that line. This should not be much more that moving a few connections around inside your appliances.

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Yeah, I don't quite get it because back to the beginning that approach should have worked fine.

Ron

tcmtech said:

This sounds like they where still attached to the supply line that reads 208 volts to common. The simple thing would be to flip your supply leads over so that they are on the opposite sides of the phases and make sure your other circuits that need the 120 volt to common power are also on that line. This should not be much more that moving a few connections around inside your appliances.

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I eliminated any 208v from the system - it's only purpose is to allow the good 120v line to pony up to 240v via opposite phase. The dryer draws all of it's 120v requirements from the "good" side and neutral and the heating element gets the 240 it needs from the pair. The washer now gets it's 120v from a standard outlet on another breaker - which happened to be only a few feet away.

The damage to the motors - dryer motor, water pump motor, and inlet induction motors - was caused by my attempts to operate and then troubleshoot the system with 208v on one side... and then I flipped it to see if I had it reversed since I had no idea what 3 phase or 208 was at the time... and did a bit moree damage to the other half of the appliance. This was days ago, they problems with it today are from the overloading. I've ordered replacement motors for a lot cheaper than I expected on ebay. Live and learn... I should have tested every contact for voltage before connecting it to the appliance rather than just checking 240 across both hot and 120 to one side... I was assuming it must add up because 240 - 120 is not 208 unless your pals call you Gee Dubya,. The ******* leg hides and waits patiently to consume your solenoids and bits. Never forget.

Well in your defense you started with screwed up power distribution. That never should have been setup that way. This is sometimes what you get with backdoor electricians. Hell, hopefully things will work with the new parts.

Ron