installing a 220v outlet?

[nmscout]

Well I just bought my welder (lincoln power mig 215) and according to lincoln I need a 50-60 amp outlet. I did not know I would need this much so I planned on using an extension cord from the dryer outlet. How hard is it to install an outlet? Thanks.

[kc_chevota]

installing an outlet is not that hard but if your electricaly changled hire an electrican or find a friend. btw i run a 25 ft ext cord on my welder so i can move around the shop just make shure its heavy enugh (sp)

[tippy99888]

Its not hard, but there are rules that need to be followed. Need a little more info to give you a better answer. Distance from panel, run on block wall, ..the more info you give, the easier it will be to give you the right answer.

[u2slow]

You *could* run it off your dryer outlet (30A).... but you'll trip the breaker when you turn it up too far. ;)

[oilinjector]

Where is your elec. panel? If its in the garage, it will be easy to run wire off a 50 amp fuse to a flush wall plug. Look around your garage walls for a cover plate that may have some stubbed heavy gage wire in it . I had a box with 6 gage alluminum wire already to go. Just had to hook it up at main box in basement with 30amp 240v breaker{i have a 210 unit}. I also made a 50ft ext with 3 wire 10 gage SOO wire to move around in garage. jp

[a2b]

ya i read about how to do it but i still had a friend electrician come and check my house out. the box was on the opposite side of the property so we had to bury lines and then we made a subpanel. then i we put a 220 outlet right there on the wall, then i made a 40' ext chord out of 8 guage romex

[lil-bronc]

There are rules when running electrical outlets. Curtain Amps require certain wire gage. I ran a 50 Amp 220 V breaker with 8 gagte wire. The current dryer has 30 Amp 10 gage wire. This could case to a faulty breaker and burn through the wire.

I did it a couple of times before wiring a completely new circuit and I could see the burn marks in the old wires. Just grab an UGLY electrical book and/or find a friend.

Make sure the circuit is off before doning anything crazy. Make sure all connections ar nice and tight. When turining the circuit back on stand away from the breaker and turn on. Then find a friend to plug in the welder. And if nothgin bad happens then you are a genious. Just joking... Ask a frined or someone local on the board to help..

[Hanr3]

Makes one heck of a spark, and sounds like a gun going off.

It's one thing to short out a 15 amp circuit. However it is totally different to short out 220, let alone with a 50 amp breaker. :mad3: :nuke: :rasta:

Find someone who knows what they are doing.
220 is not something for the inexperienced.
110 yea, but not 220. 110 will bite, but 220 will kick with attitude.

[PAToyota]

There really isn't any great mystery to 220V over 110V -- you're just using both hots instead of only one side. Nice thing about 220V is that it is automatically balanced. Don't have to worry about whether your compressor, welder, and lighting are all on one leg and what happens when you are using them all at once. Main thing is to get the wires sized correctly. Here is a good voltage drop calculator:
http://www.elec-toolbox.com/calculators/voltdrop.htm

[u2slow]

Non-electricians can do decent wiring. You just have to read and think a little bit, and not be an ass about it :D My best recommendation for the novice is to work on things dead. (I hope I didn't really need to say that!)

To make a dryer/welder extension cord, get a dryer plug (usually a 14-30P) and a welder receptacle (usually 6-50R) and some #10, 3-wire (black, white, green) extension cord. #10 is good for 30 amps... so your 30A dryer breaker will protect it. The white & black in the cord will be your two hots. The 'W' terminal on the dryer plug will not get a wire attached to it.

Wiring diagrams:
http://www.levitonhelpdesk.com/catalog/images/wd1430.jpg http://www.levitonhelpdesk.com/catalog/images/wd650r.jpg

Some PDFs with the plug/receptacle types:
http://www.levitonhelpdesk.com/catalog/pdf/D503H13.PDF
http://www.levitonhelpdesk.com/catalog/pdf/L504D_0008.PDF

[Gummi Bear]

Holy cow!

I've never seen so much wacky advice from so many unknowing sources in one thread before. :flipoff2:


Electricity is serious business, and it can hurt you bad. I've lost more than one friend to bad decision making while working with electricity, and I nearly lost my own life to it at one time.

If you have no idea what you are doing with it, hire an electrician. It's not something that you as a inexperienced homeowner should delve into with just the advice and expertise of a bunch of strangers on the interweb. Books are misleading, and often give bad advice on wiring technique. Get some help. Mistakes with electrical wiring, can cost lives.

Now, that being said, the information that U2 posted, is correct.

I'd still urge you to hire the help of a professional electrician. The nuts and bolts of electrical work aren't particularly difficult to grasp, but all of the exceptions and wheretofors are confusing, and can be dangerous if you use an item in the wrong application, or do not install it correctly.

[Goat]

On a 240v 50amp line do you use a double pole breaker that has 25amps at each pole or 50amps at each pole?

Some told me that on 240v lines, the two hots split the load equally in terms of amperage. Meaning L1 delivers 25amps and L2 delivers 25amps to a 50amp load. This doesn't sound right to me...I just can't figure out why. Anyone want to set me straight?

[u2slow]

For a 240V/50A circuit - say for a welder, you use a 2-pole 50A breaker. ;)

[Gummi Bear]

On a 240v 50amp line do you use a double pole breaker that has 25amps at each pole or 50amps at each pole?

Some told me that on 240v lines, the two hots split the load equally in terms of amperage. Meaning L1 delivers 25amps and L2 delivers 25amps to a 50amp load. This doesn't sound right to me...I just can't figure out why. Anyone want to set me straight?

U2's short answer is correct, here's why:

Electricity travels in a sine wave. Single phase, that most folks deal with in their home environment @120V is simply a wave, with peaks and troughs, the 120V measurement is taken from the average height of the peak and troughs. 240V is tapped 180* opposite of each other in a transformer, meaning that the sine waves are exactly opposite each other, leaving the valleys in the sine wave smaller than the 120V. You'll notice that single phase motors have a capacitor, this is to aid in the startup, and helps fill those voids even more during it's most difficult time.

3 phase power, 480V, 208V, 240V, and 'dead leg' systems add a third leg to that transformer tap, and they are 270* apart from each other. Imagine that same sine wave again, and lay the waves exactly 1/3 over one another, notice that the troughs and peaks are almost solid? That is what makes 3 phase power so efficient. :smokin:

To restate what U2 said, you protect each leg at the desired amperage. A piece of equipment that calls for 50A MOCP (Maximum Over Current Protection), will need a breaker that is rated at 50A per phase (a 2P 50A breaker in this instance) Check your owner's manual and the nameplate on a piece of equipment to get the recommended overcurrent protection size.

[hotwired]

U2's short answer is correct, here's why:

Electricity travels in a sine wave. Single phase, that most folks deal with in their home environment @120V is simply a wave, with peaks and troughs, the 120V measurement is taken from the average height of the peak and troughs. 240V is tapped 180* opposite of each other in a transformer, meaning that the sine waves are exactly opposite each other, leaving the valleys in the sine wave smaller than the 120V. You'll notice that single phase motors have a capacitor, this is to aid in the startup, and helps fill those voids even more during it's most difficult time.

Yup, that's a simple answer alright :rolleyes: How's this instead, on a 110V circuit your current feeds from your hot wire through your load to a common. For 220V one hot wire feeds through the load to the other hot wire, the load is not split (that's where the 180 degree out of phase thing comes in). So if there's 50 amps feeding through one hot wire it has to go through the other to complete the circuit, so each side has to have a 50 amp breaker on it.
If it's still not clear, please get a friend who understand, or hire an electrician.