You cannot take chances with heavy-duty items like heaters. If they malfunction, or if you attach a powerful heater to a weak circuit, you may burn your house to the ground.
How Do I Know How Many Amps My 3 Phase Heater Is?
- If you want to identify the number of amps a 3-phase heater uses, look at the readout. Many 3-phase systems have readouts because they use a lot of power.
- But what if yours doesn’t have one? Most appliances have data plates that reveal the device’s specs. That includes the wattage. If your machine lacks a data plate, look at the manual or any other document that came with the heater.
Average 3-Phase Heater Energy Consumption With Resepect TO kW
| Kilowatts | Amps |
| 1 | 2.92 |
| 5 | 14.58 |
| 5.5 | 16.03 |
| 7.5 | 21.8 |
| 8 | 23.33 |
| 10 | 29.16 |
| 12 | 34.99 |
| 15 | 43.74 |
| 20 | 58.32 |
The table above shows the energy consumption of different 3-phase heaters in amps. However, you cannot take these figures at face value. You can’t expect this data to apply to your situation.
For instance, if you have a 10kW 3-phase heater, don’t expect the appliance to consume 29 amps. That figure is only accurate if you have 220V and a power factor of 0.90. The answers you calculate will change depending on these variables.
Read How Many Amps Does A 3kW Immersion Heater Use?
How To Calculate How Many Amps Can A 3 Phase Heater Draw?
You can use this formula
P = I x V x PF x 1.732 / 1000
to calculate amps 3 phase heater draw. Again, you don’t have to multiply or divide by 1,000. It depends on whether you prefer watts or kilowatts. Either option will work.
Remember that the manufacturer will probably express the heater’s energy consumption in kilowatts. Many homeowners are not familiar with kilowatts. As such, they will choose to convert to watts.
If you understand the formula above, you can calculate the amps of any heater you encounter. However, you need all the other factors in the equation, including the kilowatts, volts, power factor, and constant.
But if these calculations are too confusing to understand, use a calculator.
Many developers have created programs that calculate the wattage and ampacity. You can use these programs for free. They are easily accessible on the internet. But they will only work if you know variables like the voltage and power factor.
If you provide wrong information, these calculators will generate wrong answers. Keep that in mind before you proceed. Do you know the correct voltage? What about the power factor?
Talk to the contractor that installed the heater. Ask them for clarity. They can provide all these variables if you have tried and failed to find them.
Things To Consider While Calculating Amps
Are you trying to calculate the amps? You can’t secure an accurate answer without taking these factors into account:
1). Voltage (120V, 240V, 480V) Matters
You cannot calculate the amps without determining the voltage. You get the power in kilowatts when you multiply the amps by the volts, power factor, and constant.
If you need the amps, you must multiply the volts by the power factor and constant. As you can see, the answer will vary depending on the voltage. The wrong voltage will give you the wrong answer.
Many heaters use 220V, which is why homeowners gravitate toward the figure. But you shouldn’t make any assumptions until you look at the specs. What if your appliance runs on 120V?
2). Power Factor
The power factor compares real power to apparent power. The apparent power is the current flowing in the circuit. It tends to exceed the real power.
When people discuss voltage and current, they are talking about the real power. The amps will change in response to the power factor. The power factor in a 3-phase system falls somewhere between 0 and 1 because the current and voltage are out of phase.
You can only use a power factor of 1 when the current and voltage are in phase.
3). Kilowatts
You can’t calculate the amps if you don’t know the kilowatts. In fact, the kilowatts are the starting point, and you don’t have to calculate this figure. The manufacturer will tell you.
Your only task is to decide whether you prefer kilowatts or watts. If the manufacturer provided watts, but you prefer kilowatts, you can make the conversions yourself.
4). Constant
You don’t have to understand the 1.732 factor. Just know that it appears in the equation, and you cannot calculate the amps without it. As you must know, 1.732 is the square root of 3.
5). Element
Don’t ignore the elements. You should calculate the current per heating element.
What Is The Use Of Knowing The Amps My Heater Is Using?
It is a question of safety. A heavy-duty appliance can burn your house down. For instance, if you have a 50A circuit, you can’t attach a 60A heater. If you do, the 60A heater will pull more electricity than the circuit can handle.
This is where the breaker enters the picture. Some people are not afraid of mismatches like the one above. After all, the breaker will step in and trip. The breaker is connected to the wiring in your home, and it matches the gauge.
For instance, the wires in a 50A circuit can comfortably carry 50 amps without overheating. If you force the cables to carry 60 amps, they will melt, starting a fire.
But if you have a functional breaker, it will trip before the wires can melt. This is a good thing. However, it is also inconvenient. Think about it. Every time you run the 60A heater, the 50A breaker will trip, turning all the power in the house off.
This occurrence will annoy you and the other inhabitants of your home. More importantly, you can’t use that 60A heater. The breaker won’t let you. In other words, you will incur the expense of buying and installing the heater without actually running it.
But what if the breaker fails? The wires will overheat, and everything you own will burn. You can avoid this outcome by identifying the amps of the heater before buying it.
Compare the amps to the circuit size. If the breaker size exceeds the amps of the heater, you can buy the appliance. If the circuit is too small, you can either upgrade the circuit or settle for a heater with fewer amps.