220 Volt Question

[jererp]

I think if you are going to the expense of hiring an electrician to run a dedicated 220 circuit, you should price out the additional material cost to upgrade to a 50 or 60 amp sub-panel for your shop.

For those other toys that may come along.

 

[TOOLMASTER]

Code calls for marking the wire most wrap black electrical tape on both ends to show it's hot. Been done that way for years. Now most are going to a 4 wire which is a waste neutral and ground go back to the same place it's to be sure it's grounded.

Todd

yup...many industrial wire jobs use all black wiring...tape up the colors

 

[John Hasler]

yup...many industrial wire jobs use all black wiring...tape up the colors

Anything other than white or green is fine for hot wires in machine wiring. Wire numbers are preferable to colored tape for labeling, though. There are standards for color codes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_wiring#Colour_code but the only one you can rely on completely is green or green-yellow for safety ground (and white for neutral in the USA.)

There are also standards for labeling machine wiring but you can't rely on them.

 

[master53yoda]

That would violate code by making the white wire in the circuit hot. White is, for very good reason, reserved for grounded conductors. Besides, he'll want 120 in the shop for other stuff.

I'm sorry but that isn't accurate by code. The only wire color that CANNOT BE POWEREd IS THE GREEN wire as that is restricted to ground bonding conductors the must either be green or bare in line voltage wiring. The white wire is hot between any switch and the light in normal 110 wiring if the power is brought into the light fixture and a wire run to the switch. If you want you can put a red tape band on the white wire it is common practice to id both power wires but as of 2000 when i retired it wasn't code. The white wire is noramlly neutral but when runnning a dedicated 220v only circuit code allows black white for 220v. bare or green for ground, no 110 volt usage is allowed, this is the type circuit that is run to water heaters all the time. if you are going to use 110 out of the 220 volt circuit it must be a 4 wire circuit bl rd 220 either to wh is 110 bare or green is ground.

I hope this clarifies the code requirements.

Art

I was a building inspector the last 10 years before I retired.

 

[master53yoda]

--Dave----*your neutral and ground only are connected and meet in your main entrance panel ---not anywhere else--an electrical inspector explained that to me, and I haven't forgotten

The reason that the only place that the ground and neutral are connected together is in the main panel is that there is curent flow through the neutral under most loads. The current flow in the neutral reduces the path back to the bonded neutral bar in the panel. When a short in the wiring occurs it is possible that the path through you to the ground that you are standing on is a lower resistance path then the path through the neutral along with the normal load, without the clean ground path back from the case of the electrical appliance to the main panel ground you could recieve an deadly shock.

When running power to a sub-panel you must run a 4 wire circiut and an isolated neutral bar in the sub-panel the neutrals all go the isolated bar and the grounds go to the added bar that is bonded to the panel box. When using a sub-panel you do-not install the bonding strap or screw that ties the neutral bar to the panel box.

In our day of electronic devices a clean bonding path is very important to remove electrical noise form communiction lines, when coaxial or bonded cableing is used it is important to only bond the cable at one end if you bond it at both ends you can get noise induced into the signal.

hope this helps reduce confusion over the ground wire

 

[John Hasler]

I'm sorry but that isn't accurate by code. The only wire color that CANNOT BE POWEREd IS THE GREEN wire as that is restricted to ground bonding conductors the must either be green or bare in line voltage wiring. The white wire is hot between any switch and the light in normal 110 wiring if the power is brought into the light fixture and a wire run to the switch. If you want you can put a red tape band on the white wire it is common practice to id both power wires but as of 2000 when i retired it wasn't code. The white wire is noramlly neutral but when runnning a dedicated 220v only circuit code allows black white for 220v. bare or green for ground, no 110 volt usage is allowed, this is the type circuit that is run to water heaters all the time. if you are going to use 110 out of the 220 volt circuit it must be a 4 wire circuit bl rd 220 either to wh is 110 bare or green is ground.

I hope this clarifies the code requirements.

Art

I was a building inspector the last 10 years before I retired.

It may be sometimes be legal to have white hot but it is always a bad idea. You know that some people are going to blithely assume without checking that white wires are always neutrals. It's a mistake, but they shouldn't die for it. "Permitted by code" is not a synonym for "best practices".

 

[woodrowm]

Good afternoon - Save yourself a lot of trouble and spring for the 220v outlet, I went through the same thing. It cost me $200 and is well worth it.

Thanks,
Woodrow

 

[master53yoda]

i did a little digging to clarify the wire color requiremnts The only wire colr requiremt (in Home wiring) concern grounded conductors

ARTICLE 200 Use and Identification of Grounded Conductors
Section 200.6 Means of Identifying Grounded Conductors (A) Sizes 6 AWG or Smaller
Grounded conductors smaller than 4 AWG are to have an outer finish that is white or gray, or three white stripes along its length.

This marking is only required where a connection is made and the grounded conductor is present. There are no color code requirements for POWERED conductors with the exception the wild or high leg of a delta 3 phase system. These systems are not in common use any longer but THREE PHASE SYSTEMS DERIVED FROM A 3 PHASE CONVERTOR ARE THIS TYPE OF SYSTEM, if you need to pull 110V out of this type of system don't do it uless you really know what you are doing , the voltage to ground on the high leg of a 240 volt delta system is close to 200VAC or line to line in normal residential wiring it is deadly not only to you but any 110Volt device connected to it.

Orange-High Leg Delta
ARTICLE 110 Requirements for Electrical Installations
Section 110.15 High-Leg Marking
High leg delta systems that have the midpoint of one phase grounded are required to have that phase conductor marked with orange tape, orange finish or similar.


Sometimes we condsider what is tradition to be code, such is the case with the white neutral and using it for a power conductor what is noramlly done isn't necessarily code, and the inspector cannot inforce what isn't code.

Art

 

[master53yoda]

some people are going to blithely assume without checking .

If they do that sooner or latter they wil get blown away, anyone that works eletrical needs to use a meter or not touch it,

I have been hit hard twice in my life. Once because I trusted someone else to shut off a 480volt breaker that one blew out a nerve in my left hand from that time on I have had no feeling in 2 fingers. The other time was a home owner that changed a fan motor and shorted out the common terminal to the runn winding leaving the capacitor to take a full charge. I took that arm to arm about 300V that for al practical purposes gave me a hear attack. So don't ever trust that what is there is what you think it is. Even professionals make mistakes we are human after all.


back to the original question. Yes you can modify a 110 volt DEDICATED circuit to 220v buy using a 220 proper rated breaker and 220 volt proper rated recepticle. Please verify that the only resepticle that is feed is the one the you are converting to 220. most 110 volt circuits are not dedicated circuits. If you don't know how to verify that it is a dedicated circuit you really need to use and electrician, electrical mistakes can be deadly or have lifetime concesquences like my fingers.

Art

 

[MICK1958]

I have been a member for a long time, have not posted prior to today.

It seems like the OP has been lost in the "wiring debate" ... Let me say that I am by no means an "expert" but I would bet my next 6 checks that the OP has 220 volts coming into his home.

Secondly, I think he should buy a book at the local big box store or even Amazon and learn how to hook up two circuit breakers from his existing circuit panel. That would be money well spent. (book)

Third, If he has an inadequate circuit box, with the same book he will be able to hook up a sub panel to accommodate his needs. I cannot imagine the cost of the box, wiring, circuit breakers, wall anchors and screws, strain reliefs, staples or even conduit could not cost more than 125 dollars.

This is not brain surgery, It is simple wiring. If he does not have the skills to follow this basic knowledge ... He probably shouldn't be messing around with metal working machines.

I need to emphasize that I am in no way poking fun at anyone. The acquisition of this knowledge about basic wiring will pay dividends to the OP for the rest of his time on this earth.

I do not live in that foreign country (California) but, I would be reasonably sure a local person could help him for a reasonable cost, maybe even a beer.