Any benefit in running my bandsaw on 220 instead of 110?

[rudy de haas]

I just texted my friends, who are commercial electricians, set power poles, are certified, own their own Company here, etc, and they both say go with the 220 cause first, less power consumption, the second is "potentially more torque, in the sense of not binding or dragging when cutting through knots or tough lumber..."

Hope that helps

David:

This is wrong with respect to standard power circuits, correct with respect to 3-phase power. A 3 phase motor does have higher torque and lower heat loss etc, Mike's Grizzly band saw does not.

There are technical gains in using 220/240 (most of the time these terms describe the same actual line voltage), but they are generally too small -things like lower power losses due to wire heating, marginally high field densities etc. - to notice without instrumentation. (One exception: if your tools are far from fixed wiring, a 220 cord can be longer with lower power losses than a 120).

Both my planer and my bandsaw came as 110/220 and I opted for 220 for both - but only because wiring my garage for 220 gave me access to higher power tools like the table saw and jointer and I like consistency.