Who's rewired their house for this hobby?

[Noel Chiappa]

    > From: Todd Killingsworth

    > I realized that old machines took lots of power. But do the collectors
    > here wire up their homes and keep machines there? 

Heh, about to join this crew! I'm having the electricians in to put in a
whole separate subsidiary panel (the existing ones are all pretty full), and
run outlets from that (with those Hubble locking 3-pin sockets).

    > my wife thinks I'm completely certifiable.

That's not the important question, which is 'is she tolerant of your
insanity'? :-)


    > Todd Goodman

    > My wife thinks I'm certifiable as well since there couldn't possibly be
    > anyone else in the world interested in this "junk."

So subscribe her to CCTalk... :-)

    > Oh, and also that I'm a "semi-hoarder."

Duhhh!


    > From: Chuck Guzis

    > Where you get into the exotica is 3-phase service. There, you need a
    > cooperating utility and a deep pocketbook. Be prepared to be turned
    > down flat by your utility with the excuse that "We don't distribute 3
    > phase in your area".

Or they will try and give you what my house has (it came that way, the
previous owner was a serious woodworking guy), which is 400A 3-phase service -
but it's not really 3 phase. The area has two-phase service, and they hung a
small transformer on the pole outside my house and wired it up to produce 3
phases that _will_ run a three-phase motor - but the third phase is like 170V
to neutral, not 120V. (I forget the details, a foreman explained it to me
once, but I've since forgotten.) So things that try and take three phases and
power a bunch of 120V things, with some on each phase, won't work.

	Noel