I live in Ireland and I imported a 4 post car lift from the USA.
The motor that drives the hydraulic lift pump has 208 - 230 v on the plate . (220 supply in Ireland )
However when I began to operate the motor when setting up the lift I noticed it was getting very warm .
I asked an electrician to check it for me and he discovered it was drawing 45/46 amps - the plate on the motor said 15.0 -18.0 amps . The rpm on the plate was 3450 .
He had come across this before and figured that while the motor was 60 Hz on the plate the supply was 50Hz - and the maximum achievable revs at 50 Hz was approx 2900 .
For this reason the centrifugal switch was not disconnecting the start up capacitor - causing the high current draw and the heat .
The suppliers have not been able to offer any help - even though they say they supply lifts worldwide and should have encountered this problem elsewhere .
The electrician says he can get around the switching problem by mounting an external electronic timer to disconnect the start up capacitor as he has done this successfully before .
What he's not sure about and would like advice on is :
would there still be a tendency for the motor to overheat due to the Hz difference ?
I operated it a few times before I became aware of the problem - but only for 30 secs or so and it was then drawing 45/46 amps . Would it then be safe to assume that it would operate OK if the start up cap was disconnected as intended ?
I note from the FAQ that there would be a 20% drop in rpm - I am hoping this would not make too much of a difference to the speed of operation .
I don't want to fit electronic timer etc if there is a strong possibility that the motor will still overheat .

Hello dooroy

Welcome to the forum.

You have three issues.
1. The motor operates slower on 50Hz than 60Hz, so the start winding is not being disconnected by the start switch. This will cause the start winding to fail.
2. The motor is designed to operate at 230 V 60Hz and you are operating at 220V 50Hz. This means that the motor will be over fluxed and will over heat. If you want to operate that motor on 50 Hz, you must reduce the voltage by the frequency ratio, so the maximum voltage at 50Hz is 230 x 50 / 60. which is around 195 volts at 50Hz.
3. If you operate a 60Hz motor at 50 Hz with a reduced voltage applied, the KW rating of that motor will be reduced by the frequency reduction.

You would be best to replace the motor with one designed for operation at 220V 50Hz.

Best regards,
Mark.

Thanks Mark - very clear answer , which I have not been able to get elsewhere .
Looks like a replacement motor designed as you say for 230V 50Hz is the most sensible option .
Padraig .