What you don't understand is that the amount of power sent to a motor is Volts * amps. A motor needs a certain amount of power to run. If you halve the voltage, to get the same power to it, you must then DOUBLE the current. One big reason why people tend to use the higher voltage option on a motor is that you can run smaller wires to it because the amount of current going through them is half of what is required at 120vac. Especially if the supply wires are too small, this makes their resistance higher at load, and they will heat up as well as the motor.
First of all, thanks for the 3 replies since my last long-winded post.
Jim -
Not sure if you were talking to me or to DonL, but I think it must be me since it seems you agree with his claim that I'm doubling the current. If you
were talking to me, I did know that P = IE (and I think that might have been the "formula" (I should have said "equation") that DonL had intended to put in his prior post but then removed from the post because (he claims) I was "confused enough already." Assuming he had the equation correct, that logic escapes me. But most of what he's said here doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Of course, he acknowledges that he's "just a old fart" (shouldn't that be
an old fart?) who has been know to have his head up his ass, so perhaps that's why he seems a tad confused himself, not to mention a tad too confrontational and unhelpful for my tastes. But perhaps he has "issues."
I'm thinking he removed the equation because he didn't get it quite right.
I'm also familiar with Ohm's law, E = IR (or V = IR), where E is energy and V is Voltage and they are interchangeable (or so I'm led to believe)
But, as I said, I'm no electrician (or electrical engineer). I'm sure I had this stuff in college and probably also in high school, but there's been a lotta water under the bridge since then.
Long story short (tho' likely not short enough) I think I agree with LLigetfa in that because my situation involves an electrical motor, basic Ohm's law isn't really applicable here. Perhaps ironically so, DonL also made reference to that fact in what appears to be his opposition to LLigetfa's contention that he (DonL) was incorrect in his assertion that I'm doubling the current. See:
Yesterday at 9:15 PM
I've already learned a lot from this discussion (and probably also have a lot of misconceptions as well, but that's part of the learning process, after all) but the bottom line for me is that everyone seems to agree that running the motor powered by 115 volts (or 110, if you prefer) when wired for 230 volts (or 220 if you prefer) is not a good idea and could burn the motor out.
So I'm thinking that what I should do -- or try -- is run the motor with 115 volts, wired for 115 volts, but do so via a good old-fashioned rheostat such that I'm running it on less voltage and thus slowing it down that way.
No one has given me feedback yet on that idea but I'm thinking that this approach -- if it works at all -- would have less likelihood of damaging the motor. The way I'm doing it now appears to have the very real probability that I'll burn the windings in the 230 volt circuit and/or fry the motor.
To DonL: In answer to your question (
I would like to know how you are going from 120v to 240v to wash clothes ?) ...
I simply rewired the motor back to 115 volts and ran it normally. As I said previously, the motor can be wired for either 115 or 230 and it just involves switching each of 2 wires from one terminal to another. I think this is a fairly common thing with these motors.
I
could add a great big "DUH!" but I'll cut you some slack since you're just an old fart with your head -- at least at times -- up your ass.
Also, your suggestion that I just fix my well problem is, of course, the best solution. I already knew that (duh!) but my reasons for doing what I'm doing are irrelevant to this discussion. So let's try to keep the discussion on topic.
Why can't we all just get along?
If anyone does have a suggestion as to how I might solve the basic problem by some means other than pumping the water more gently by slowing my pump down, please chime in. I don't think controlling the flow with a valve, as has been suggested, is going to work. I considered a centering gizmo, which is actually commercially available, but I think that would just move / vibrate / stir things up as is apparently going on now. I think the commercially available (stainless steel) gizmo is intended for use with an in-well pump, so adapting it for use with my jet pump could be difficult.
The only real solution(s) I can come up with is to get casing in the well, or try to center the foot valve in the well by dumb luck (which seems unlikely without straightening the poly pipes), or go to an in-well pump (which could have the same problem I'm having now and probably would), or fine tune the venturi/nozzle combo to produce much slower, gentler pumping when running the pump normally. That last one would involve pulling the pipes out of the well and putting them back in, probably many times, before I got the combo right -- if ever.
So I'm not liking that idea much.