The motor is only going to pull as much current as it needs. Its actually a good thing that it does not pull the full listed current. The FLA is just what its rated to do.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
I think your forgetting that the motor is 230V 1phaseThis quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote
Single phase 120v would be around 17A (3x746=2238W/120= 18.65A)
But what you have is a single phase 230V (2238/230 =9.7A)
Obviously the motor is actually a little more than 3hp (11.7Ax230V=2691W / 746 = 3.6hp)
1hp=746W therefore 3hp = 2238W
At the end of the day your way overthinking this and there is only 3 acceptable ways you could go about wiring this. The only thing that matters is the FLA and the SF(or lack thereof)
1. Go strictly off the motor nameplate and assume its going to pull 11.7A with a SF of 1.15(rule i listed above.) use #14AWG copper with a 2pole 15A breaker into the line side of the motor starter. Set the overloads to 13.45 and use #14 wire to the motor. (2p 15A breaker >> #14 >> Motor Starter >> #14 >> Motor)
2. The other-way is to blindly follow the manual and go with what the manufacture tells you. Since 25A is not a standard breaker size you go to the next size up. Use a 30A breaker and #10Cu to the line side of the motor starter. Overloads still get set to 13.45, and then number #10 into the motor junction box. (2p 30A breaker >> #10 >> motor starter >> #10 >> Motor)
3.. Use a fused disconnect so you can change wire size since it may be impractical to run #10 Wire to the motor. (2p 30A breaker >> #10 >> Fused disconnect@15A >> #14 >> motor starter >> #14 >> Motor)
You already bench tested it and know it only pulls 9A which is well under the rated FLA and well under the 15A #14cu can provide so I would have no problem going with option 1.
*If its a particularly far run you may need to upsize the wire.