30 amp dryer outlet, electrian help needed

bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by zeropercentthc
Is it okay to use one neutral wire for two separate circuits? And one ground for two circuits? What sort of timers would you use?
sleeperls93 said:
Yes it is!!! 100%
Click to expand...
I've argued with electrical inspectors about this but apparently they strongly believe that only one common is needed.
 
sleeperls93

sleeperls93

Active Member
bird mcbride said:
Originally Posted by zeropercentthc
Is it okay to use one neutral wire for two separate circuits? And one ground for two circuits? What sort of timers would you use?


I've argued with electrical inspectors about this but apparently they strongly believe that only one common is needed.
Click to expand...
what do you mean?? you cant share the neutral of a 220 volt line with a 110 line, no, but you can share the neutral if your using 2 110 lines...
 
bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
sleeperls93 said:
what do you mean?? you cant share the neutral of a 220 volt line with a 110 line, no, but you can share the neutral if your using 2 110 lines...
Click to expand...
That's why there is only one common in three strand wire. One common being shared by both phases is considered acceptable within its own circuit.
 
sleeperls93

sleeperls93

Active Member
Your also going to need 4 20amp duplex outlets... you have to bridge 2 duplex outlets together; you do this by wiring a very short piece of 12 gauge wire, you install a black wire from each brass(hot) screw connecting both outlets, do the same foor the neutral using a piece of white wire, and the grounds using a piece of bare wire... You then connect the black lead(hot) wire to any of the brass screws available, and then comnect the neutral wire to the silver screw of the outlet....
 
sleeperls93

sleeperls93

Active Member
bird mcbride said:
That's why there is only one common in three strand wire. One common being shared by both phases is considered acceptable within its own circuit.
Click to expand...
Oh I see, your calling the neutral the common, lol... and yes it is acceptable....that's what I was telling zero...
 
sleeperls93

sleeperls93

Active Member
ahh, but dont forget you still have to wire in the lead wire for your new quad box, which should be insalled with your quad outlets already... that lead wire is simple going to connect to the available red wire lead and the neutral can go to any silver screw(neutral side) of any outlet, and make sure you tie in that bare copper tightly with the rest fo the grounds... and this should complete your 2 quad set-up... 8 total outlets..
 
sleeperls93

sleeperls93

Active Member
bird mcbride said:
I find a dryer cord and I tie and lug all of my connections. I have used one strand of 10/2 wire to run three 1000w/240vac/hps.
Click to expand...
This seems close to overload, you have to be using a 30amp breaker; just make sure you make your splices inside a box, using wirenuts and then put a blank cover on it.. you dont want those splices floating around...
 
kingme

kingme

Active Member
sleeperls93 said:
I could help a little bit; first of all if its an electrical dryer circuit, it has to be 30amps, and if its 30 amps, it has to be a #10/3 awg, should be romex if its a house. If it was me, what i would do is the following...
-turn off the 240 volt 30 amp breaker in the main panel
-remove the dryer outlet from the box that its installed on
-now you have the availability of two circuits in the box, I would run a quad outlet from each circuit, giving you four outlets per circuit..
-now that you have tour outlets done; go to the main panel, remove that 220 30 amp breaker, and install 2 2o amp single breakers, bring the black wire to one of the breakers nad the red wire to the other breaker, you could use 30amp breakers thanks to that fat 10-3 wire... This would be cheaper then that buying that controller andyou coul keep it 120..... and yeah, this is how I make my living...
Click to expand...
Ok dont quit your day job but your wrong. You need a neutral for this to work so that 10-3 can only be a single 20 amp circuit.
 
bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
Let's not forget, there's a breaker in the main breaker box and they make receptacles with built in breakers. As long as the circuit is plugged in and not hardwired you will not have to call for an electrical inspection. To me it's no different than making an extension cord. There are breakers that can be plugged into the wall circuit as well. I would lug my wire inside my ballast boxes. Lug and tape to connect to the dryer cord. Make sure you twist your wires before you lug them and tape them. I stagger my connections and after they are good I put a final wrapping of electrical tape over the cable and I will use the wire coating to cover it as much as possible. At least three layers of tape back and forth.
 
kingme

kingme

Active Member
zeropercentthc said:
Is it okay to use one neutral wire for two separate circuits? And one ground for two circuits? What sort of timers would you use?
Click to expand...
You can do this but each have to be on a different phase. Phase a and phase b. Also they have to be on a simultaneous trip breaker. for example a 2-pole breaker.
 
kingme

kingme

Active Member
sleeperls93 said:
This seems close to overload, you have to be using a 30amp breaker; just make sure you make your splices inside a box, using wirenuts and then put a blank cover on it.. you dont want those splices floating around...
Click to expand...
You can not put those lights on a 30 amp breaker, it is not rated for it. Dont give advice that will cause a fire.
 
kingme

kingme

Active Member
did you guys see the topic "30 amp dryer outlet, electrian help needed" it didnt say hay guess and give me answers that i wouldnt know the difference on. Listen electricity is not somthing you want to rig. It will kill you, it will start a fire, and it will change your life. Im a union electrician, with over 15 yrs of experience. I went to school for 5 years for electrical.
 
bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
kingme said:
did you guys see the topic "30 amp dryer outlet, electrian help needed" it didnt say hay guess and give me answers that i wouldnt know the difference on. Listen electricity is not somthing you want to rig. It will kill you, it will start a fire, and it will change your life. Im a union electrician, with over 15 yrs of experience. I went to school for 5 years for electrical.
Click to expand...
3000w=30amps/120vac...........3000w=15amps/240vac.......you must have a power wheel.
 
sleeperls93

sleeperls93

Active Member
kingme said:
You can not put those lights on a 30 amp breaker, it is not rated for it. Dont give advice that will cause a fire.
Click to expand...
So your more experienced; bu he said he was using a 10-2 homerun, that's a big enough wire for a 30 amp breaker... doesn' i depend on how many amps is the ballast rated at? if it's a20 amp ballast, by all means, a 20 amp breaker is needed; I know how serious this shit is! I doidn't think I was giving bad advice... I would never recommend doing or will I evre do any shady splices like that...
 
sleeperls93

sleeperls93

Active Member
I'm not a union electrician, but i am licensed and my father and myself run our own company, any doubts I may have, my father knows everything residential and commercial... I have about 7 years experience, my father has 35 years experience...lately most of our work has been residential, mostly new construction.... I'm not here tom give bad advice...but I'm also human...
 
bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
sleeperls93 said:
So your more experienced; bu he said he was using a 10-2 homerun, that's a big enough wire for a 30 amp breaker... doesn' i depend on how many amps is the ballast rated at, if it's a20 amp ballast, by all means, a 20 amp breaker is needed; I know how serious this shit is! I doidn't think I was giving bad advice... I would never recommend doing or will I evre do any shady splices like that...
Click to expand...
If you don't feel safe about it, clamp em together in your timer box, you can get an industrial unit,($100).
 
kingme

kingme

Active Member
bird mcbride said:
3000w=30amps/120vac...........3000w=15amps/240vac.......you must have a power wheel.
Click to expand...

lol 120 volt is commercial use only 3 phase 208. but if in fact you had 120 it would be 25 amps. 3000watts on a 240 would be 12.5 amps.
Now lets go beyond your understanding. Now since this light is going to run a continous load of more then 4 hrs. You will have to figure it as 125%.
so x being the amount of amps you are going to run has to be (x (*)times 125%. Now im also sure you were aware of any given circuit you are not allowed to excede 80% of the circuits rating. so a 20amp circuit can not excede 16 amps at any time. okay? ".......you must have a power wheel"
No its ohms law you should pick it up.
.
 
kingme

kingme

Active Member
sleeperls93 said:
So your more experienced; bu he said he was using a 10-2 homerun, that's a big enough wire for a 30 amp breaker... doesn' i depend on how many amps is the ballast rated at? if it's a20 amp ballast, by all means, a 20 amp breaker is needed; I know how serious this shit is! I doidn't think I was giving bad advice... I would never recommend doing or will I evre do any shady splices like that...
Click to expand...
a light for residential can not be placed on a 30 amp breaker unless its rated for it. These 1000 watt lts we use do not cut it. It will cause a fire if somthing were to fail. Trust me when i say this that the circuit breaker is our only line of defense. I did not mean to insult anyone here or make enemies but, Electricity is so dangerous and i dont want to see somone read this shit a year from now and think they can do it. And you all know that people will take some of these words as gold. I dont want to see somone loose a child or loose a father because somone gave bad advice on electricity.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top