So I’m trying to add a new circuit breaker for a plug because there are multiple outlets on this circuit and when everything is being used the breaker trips
The outlet is a 125/250v 4 wire 3 pole 3 phase grounded outlet that powers up a meat cutting saw.
My question is that do I need 3 breakers to power up this plug or would I be fine with just 2 breakers. Because from what I understand I can get 210 volts phase to phase so I don’t see why I’d need all 4 wires. I think that I’d only need 2 hots and a ground and I should be fine. That would mean that I’d only occupy 3 out of the 4 screws on the plug.
Thank you
Best Answer
It's generally a big problem when a three phase motor loses a phase, the remaining phases will be overloaded trying to make up the slack. There are even monitors / relays to prevent running a motor with a phase lost. So you definitely wouldn't want to try to run the motor with a missing phase.