Winkler, Manitoba Canada | Farms With CASE - 6/27/2026 09:14
Expanding and upgrading. Looks like I'll have 5 auger motors and a dryer that will or could be 3ph. Dryer for sure is. I'd like to run the auger motors with speed control. If I did the math correctly I'd need a 150 horsepower phase converter. Question is how could I go about it. 1ph into phase converter then 3ph to vfd's for motors and 3ph to dryer. Or 1ph into converter for dryer and 1ph to 3ph vfd's for the motors. I have asked a few electricians and gotten different answers. Looking for real world advice. I believe the cheapest route is a phase converter with vfd's after it. None of these auger motors will run unless dryer is running. Fans and unloads are additional and can be run single phase although I may run unloads on 1ph to 3ph vfd's.
How large are the 5 auger motors and the dryer motors?
Are you actually planning to run 150 hp, or is that the size of phase converter required to run what you want?
If augers/motors are running continuously we have had very little problem with single phase motors. Start/stop is where single phase has most issues. Single phase motors may not be large enough for your setup though.
Would not be much point in making three phase with a phase converter to run VFD's, when single phase input VFD will do the same thing with less components. As was pointed out by E718, the three phase quality from some phase converters can be a problem for VFDs.
150 hp on single phase power would be about 600 amps on 240 volt service. Derating for motor load would put you at a 800 amp service. Not all utilities would provide that.
Edited by WTW 6/27/2026 16:05
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Powering a grain facility upgrade
