Advice on multimeter readings

[chopnhack]

I am working with a 240v motor and was wondering if I got this correct:

When measuring the amps the motor is using, I used one of those clamp on meters and placed it around one of the 240v conductors and it read 2.2a. Do I need to multiply by 2 since the other conductor is also carrying nearly as many amps or is it the same since both parts of the split phase end up running back through each others conductors? Electricity can make your head spin in more ways than one :-)

Austin sums it up

[big tim]

No.
Your motor is drawing 2Amp at 240Volt. Power consumption is 2 x 240 = 480Watts.
Cheers,

Tim

[chopnhack]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Tim :-)

[LCHIEN]

current is like water flow. What goes in has to come out or get stored.
For any two-wire powered device the current in one wire is equal and opposite (direction and polarity) to the current in the other wire. If you put the clamp around both wires they would cancel out and read zero.

So you read the current in one way and thats the value you use.

[Stytooner]

And just like water, leaks are bad.
I recently had a coolant pump go out on my milling machine.It went out because it developed a leak and filled with coolant. That could have killed someone. It was one of the older HF solvent tanks that was made out of steel. All the newer ones are plastic. I imagine if I would have touched the tank when powered up, it may have been curtains.
Needless to say, but I installed an American made pump and will be switching to a plastic tank.

On your motor, you probably have a higher inrush current when it starts. There are meters than can check that too. They lock on the highest value.
If the same motor was running on 120 volts, then you could double the value of what you have for 240, but the value of the reading itself is still what you go by for calculating amp draw.

[woodturner]

No.
Your motor is drawing 2Amp at 240Volt. Power consumption is 2 x 240 = 480Watts.

Technically, it's VA for AC power (watts implied "real" power and only resistive loads), and in this case, we are assuming unity power factor.

The other issue is how the meter reads voltage and therefore current. "True RMS" vs "RMS" vs average, etc. He is probably just looking for a "rough" idea of current, though, and if that is the case, it's probably close enough, regardless.

[chopnhack]

Thanks all, I just wanted to be 100% sure. Still working on that in the ceiling air cleaner whirlithingamajig