The machine has five wires, three of which are live. I want to wire into a single phase supply using a three prong plug.
It powers a boiler and water pump (for an espresso machine: 220-240V, 50/60Hz, 0.190Mpa/0.65Mpa, 3000W).
The advice I received was to twist the three live wires together and wire them all to the one live prong.
The problem I have is that the the three together is to thick. Is there a way to do this?
Solution: what I found was a connector (not sure what it's called) big enough to take the three wires together with a single wire coming out the other side. Someone else suggested 'wrapping' two of the wires around the third.
Best Answer
You can't just fix this with wiring.
You either need to get 3 phase supplied to your location and wired to the device, or you need a phase converter, such as what these guys sell:
http://www.northamericaphaseconverters.com
A possible alternative might be to use a VFD, such as this one:
http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Drives/GS2_%28115_-z-230-z-460-z-_575_VAC_V-z-Hz_Control%29/GS2_Drive_Units_%28115_-z-230-z-460-z-_575_VAC%29/GS2-11P0
In either case, I would seek advice from the device manufacture's tech lines to confirm it's suitable for your application. These devices are generally expected to be connected to a motor, and you have a heater - that is an electrically significant difference.
Also note that I doubt the 3 phase is just powering the boiler. I don't know coffee, really, but I thought high-end espresso machines were pump driven - the pump will be 3 phase too I suspect.