Installing 220 outlet
- Thread starter SagaLore
- Start date
your best bet is to run a new line. 240 volts is achieved by running two seperate 120 volt lines (red, black) and neutral (white) and ground (green/bare)
You need a new line. As Pepsi said, you don't have enough wires, even if they are the correct gauge for what you need (which isn't likely).
hm, any info i can read on installing a 220v outlet? my parents house is oooold and they dont have an outlet for a new dryer.
Well, if you were really careful, technically you could, but it would violate all kinds of codes and could be very dangerous if anybody ever messed around in your breaker box in the future.
But most things that want 220V also want at least 30A as well, so it would be a fairly useless 220V outlet as most residential 110 outlets are only wired for 15A or 20A. But if you already decided to completely blow off codes and safety in setting it up, I see no reason not to put 30A breakers on your 12 or 14 gauge wires to accomodate it.
PLEASE recognize the satire above and don't try this @ home folks.
dude..call an electrician...you're obviously not qualified to do the work nor are you informed on house codes.
-=bmacd=-
-=bmacd=-
Basically, in the US, 220V is achieved by running 2 110V lines that are 180 degrees out of phase (giving a difference of 220V. So you need a special breaker that connects to both of the hot busses. This connects to a 4 conductor cable (red (hot), black (hot), white (neutral), bare (ground)), which connects to the appropriate outlet. You need to size the breaker & wire appropriately for the size of the appliance ... I think electric dryers are ussually 30A.
I suggest going to HD or some improvement store and buying a book for 15-20, they have ones with lots of pics and diagrams that make it pretty simple. If your parents house is really old make sure that theres 220 running into it and if you only have a 60amp service going into it, you might want to uprgrade it, otherwise that doesn't leave much power for the rest of your house. If you have a/c an electric stove and the dryer running, it'll probably blow the main circuit. you could always just make sure you don't use the dryer and a/c at the same time or something to aleviat(s/p) that problem and the cost of a new box.
MikeyIs4Dcats
Lifer
- Nov 5, 2001
- 18,366
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220 is enough to seriously hurt or even kill you. Don't mess with it if you have no clue (as you obviously don't!)
yukichigai
Diamond Member
- Apr 23, 2003
- 6,404
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Like everyone has said you basically need to run two 110v lines of an adequate gauge to the outlet, and put a 40A breaker on the two lines. (Most 40A breakers are actually two breakers in one specifically because that's how the majority of 220v outlets are wired)
In our first house when I was growing up the washer and dryer were actually plugged into an adaptor like you were talking about. (1 220V outlet to 2 110V grounded plugs) However the outlet pair the adaptor was plugged into had separate 110V lines into each individual outlet. In essence the wiring was the same as people have suggested; the only difference is that if my parents hadn't wanted a washer/dryer in there they could have removed the adaptor and plugged normal 110v appliances into the outlets. So yeah, if you do it like that it isn't a violation of safety code or anything. At least not in California.
Of course that house was old. The kitchen had double-capacity non-polarized outlets in some places. (Think two places to plug in stuff in the space of one outlet) A bunch of the other rooms had outlets meant to accomidate normal grounded plugs as well as the peculiar plugs with the sideways prongs. If you looked hard enough you could find just about every possible outlet configuration seen in America in that house.
In our first house when I was growing up the washer and dryer were actually plugged into an adaptor like you were talking about. (1 220V outlet to 2 110V grounded plugs) However the outlet pair the adaptor was plugged into had separate 110V lines into each individual outlet. In essence the wiring was the same as people have suggested; the only difference is that if my parents hadn't wanted a washer/dryer in there they could have removed the adaptor and plugged normal 110v appliances into the outlets. So yeah, if you do it like that it isn't a violation of safety code or anything. At least not in California.
Of course that house was old. The kitchen had double-capacity non-polarized outlets in some places. (Think two places to plug in stuff in the space of one outlet) A bunch of the other rooms had outlets meant to accomidate normal grounded plugs as well as the peculiar plugs with the sideways prongs. If you looked hard enough you could find just about every possible outlet configuration seen in America in that house.
no...don't try it. I exploded a TV this way when I was in HK. I plugged this 110v tv to the 220v outlet. bomb.....the tv was finished. 
yukichigai
Diamond Member
- Apr 23, 2003
- 6,404
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Well if you run both lines into each outlet, yeah. I'm talking if you have one line per outlet, each line being 110v.Originally posted by: DaWhim
no...don't try it. I exploded a TV this way when I was in HK. I plugged this 110v tv to the 220v outlet. bomb.....the tv was finished.
And didn't someone tell you not to do that first? I mean this is the kind of crap you need to know before you go to another country.
Maybe it wasn't a code violation then, but I'm sure it is now. Also, you would have to ensure that the two outlets you were adapting to this purpose were not only on seperate breakers, but on the opposite phases of the incoming power as well.
Originally posted by: yukichigai
Well if you run both lines into each outlet, yeah. I'm talking if you have one line per outlet, each line being 110v.Originally posted by: DaWhim
no...don't try it. I exploded a TV this way when I was in HK. I plugged this 110v tv to the 220v outlet. bomb.....the tv was finished.
And didn't someone tell you not to do that first? I mean this is the kind of crap you need to know before you go to another country.
220V overseas isn't the same as typical 220V residential outlets in the US. Overseas, you're running a 220V difference between hot & neutral. In the US your running a 220V difference between 2 110V hot wires 180 degrees out of phase. Each hot is only 110V relative to neutral.
Originally posted by: yukichigai
Well if you run both lines into each outlet, yeah. I'm talking if you have one line per outlet, each line being 110v.Originally posted by: DaWhim
no...don't try it. I exploded a TV this way when I was in HK. I plugged this 110v tv to the 220v outlet. bomb.....the tv was finished.
And didn't someone tell you not to do that first? I mean this is the kind of crap you need to know before you go to another country.
I lived in hk before. they are always 220v. yea, you will need a converter to do it.
yukichigai
Diamond Member
- Apr 23, 2003
- 6,404
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You sure? I don't see any reason why it would be a code violation if you -- like you said -- ensured the two lines were 180 degrees out of phase from each other. And the adaptor was sufficiently heavy-duty. The outlet too. Otherwise, why the hell does Home Depot sell 220v -> 2x 110v adaptors?
Squisher
Lifer
- Aug 17, 2000
- 21,204
- 66
- 91
I don't see a problem with doing your own electrical work after you become EXTREMELY WELL VERSED IN IT.
The leading cause of death around the home is because of electrical malfunctions and the growth of these malfunctions are being attributed to the growth of the do-it yourself/Homedepot mentality involving electrical work.
Do not do this yourself unless you are willing to take the time to learn how to do it right and then do it that way.
I've probably run 1500 ft of wire (not just elect.) in my 1400 sq. ft. house and feel I am only a novice, but I do it just like you are suppose to and if I have any doubts I get the answers before I proceed.
The leading cause of death around the home is because of electrical malfunctions and the growth of these malfunctions are being attributed to the growth of the do-it yourself/Homedepot mentality involving electrical work.
Do not do this yourself unless you are willing to take the time to learn how to do it right and then do it that way.
I've probably run 1500 ft of wire (not just elect.) in my 1400 sq. ft. house and feel I am only a novice, but I do it just like you are suppose to and if I have any doubts I get the answers before I proceed.
I've never seen the 220V -> 120V adaptors, but that's a pretty simple thing. The plug can only go in one way, hard to screw it up. A 110V -> 220V adaptor is a different story ... I'm not enough of an electrician to know for sure, but if you hook that thing up to outlets that aren't out of phase, you would at least have issues with the thing not working right ... potentially damaging equipment? Have to think about it more.
Also, as I said before, what use is a 20A 220V outlet?
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