- Q.I am planning to install new
lighting in a warehouse. Are there any advantages,
either in installation costs or in operating costs, to
installing 240-volt lighting fixtures instead of
120-volt?
A.Master electrician Sean
Kenney responds: Since you can install twice
as many lights on a 20-amp 240-volt circuit as on a
20-amp 120-volt circuit, installation costs for
240-volt lighting should be lower. If your building
is large, the savings in labor and materials could
be substantial. Another benefit to 240-volt
lighting is that the load is automatically
balanced; there is no need to balance each 120-volt
leg, as there is with 120-volt lighting.
One drawback to using 240-volt equipment is the
limited availability of replacement ballasts. If
you plan to use HID (high-intensity discharge)
lighting, this is not a concern, since most HID
lights have multi-tap ballasts. But 240-volt
fluorescent ballasts are not widely available and
would have to be obtained at an electrical supply
house.