I am going to install a lift in my garage that requires 220V. The garage is not wired for that. I understand a little of what's involved. What do I ask for at the hardware store for the wire? I know it'll have 4 wires involved. I plan to run the wire myself through the basement to the breaker box. I am thinking I want a wall mounted recepticle like the one used on the dryer and stove. Is this right? Can one use a single circuit with multple 220V recepticles or should I run a new circuit for each one. I have plenty of room in the box for these connections. I MAY try to hook to the box if after reading around I feel comfortable about that. I've had the breaker box apart to replace a bad breaker but also know and am concerned that there's power there all the time. Thanks for any advice.

I'm usually good at do-it-yourself projects, but this one stopped me cold. I'm trying to replace a 3-way wall switch (two switches control the lights) with a 3-way dimmer switch. The wiring diagram doesn't seem to match with the wires coming out of the wall. There are three switches in the box, one of which is another 3-way dimmer for a different fixture. Even referring to that one didn't help me. The new dimmer switch has a green ground wire (bottom), a brown wire (bottom), a red wire (top), and a black wire (top). The old switch has two black wires on the bottom (marked common with an arrow pointing to each of them). One of these wires goes to another switch next to it, and the other black one goes into the wall. The two other wires on the top are both black, and the screws are all the same color. There are several bare copper wires stranded together in the box that I assume are ground wires, but the existing dimmer switch doesn't even have a wire connected to the green screw. Any help would be appreciated! I'm about to give up and call an electrician (I'm such a failure). If I hook the wires up incorrectly, could I damage something or cause a fire? Or will it just not work? Anne