Hi there ,

I have garage heater and it has 2 load wires and a ground the plug is a leviton that has 2 loads /1 neutral and a ground. How do I wire the heater to this plug? Do I wire up the 2 loads and ground and put a marette on the neutral on the power plug ??

This is the heater I have:
6,000W Shop Heater | Princess Auto

this is the plug I have: Norwood | Stove Cord Kit | Home Depot Canada
Thx

 

Your heater requires 25 amps at 240 volts and the cord is a 40 amp 250 volt 4-wire range cord. I wouldn't add a cord at all, but would hardwire the heater to a 40 amp crcuit with a 60 amp fusible disconnect fused at 35 amps. The manual calls for a 35 amp breaker which I doubt you'll find.

 

Thanks for the reply how ever my selection is to use the plug option. Any thoughts on how to wire heater to plug?

 

Connect the ground wire in the heater cord to the ground pin on the plug. Connect the other two wires in the heater cord to the load (hot) pins on the plug. Leave the neutrl pin on the plug empty.

Be sure to use a 40 amp plug and receptacle set with 8 or larger gauge wires to a dedicated double wide double breaker in the panel.

 

great thanks very much Allan for the reply. I was thinking that leaving the neutral wire empty was the way to go but was not 100% My installation is exactly as you've described.

 

Well, it's your heater, but I wouldn't do it that way. One thing that concerns me is that there is no "On - Off" control on the heater. ON and OFF functions are by a circuit breaker within line of sight of the heater. I would prefer to have a disconnect switch at the heater to perform those functions.

 

that sounds very interesting as well, I'm not an electrician or HVAC guy, but perhaps you can explain how this is done? Im interested and want to be safe.

 

The first thing I want to ask is where is the circuit breaker located. The manual clearly states it must be within line-of-sight of the heater. Is your main service panel or even a subpanel for the power source located in your garage?

 

sub panel is in the garage

 

Ok, I didn't know that before. The circuit breaker is your On-Off switch for the heater. I would still hardwire it. Why were you wanting to use a cord? Were you planning on using this as a portable heater?

 

Well, briefly put, if some other device was needed that took a lot a of juice then I could unplug my heater and plug in the other device, well that was my thinking anyway. Also like the idea of being able to unplug something when things go wrong. that being said the sub panel is new idea in the garage I decided this afternoon to go this route and have the panel mounted but no power to it though the power is there in the form a 6/3 gauge cable running off the main panel from the house off a 40 amp breaker.

 

I would increase the breaker to feed the subpanel to 60 amps since you are running 6-3 cable.

 

I can do that s a great idea. This will allow me to add a few lights in there?

 

Yes, you can add lights, receptacles for power tools, a welder and more. Is this an attached garage or a detached garage?

 

It's a detached about 50 feet away from the house. Is GFCI breaker required at the house to feed the sub panel?

 

GFI is not required on the feeder to the outbuilding. It is required for any 15 and 20 amp 120 volt receptacle circuits in the outbuilding.

 

great thank you for the clarification. Are there any special instructions when wiring the 6/3 feeder to the sub panel? I have not done this before I am confident I can do it properly with some guidance.

 

Since the garage is detached, you need a 4-wire feeder to the garage; 2 hots, 1 neutral and 1 ground. When you say 6/3, do you mean 6-3 w/G NM-B cable (aka Romex)? If so, you cannot use NM-B cable outside, underground or even in conduit outside. 6-3 w/G UF-B direct burial cable can be direct buried 24" deep to the garage or it can be pulled into PVC conduit buried 18" deep although pulling UF-B cable in conduit is very difficult and not recommended. I'd use #6 THHN/THWN separate conductors (1 Blk, 1 Red, 1 Wht and 1 #10 Grn) in 1" PVC conduit 18" deep if this were my project. At the garage, buy a 100 amp main breaker NEMA 1 loadcenter and an auxilliary ground bar. The 100 amp breaker will serve as a disconnect, protection will be the 60 amp breaker in the house. Install the ground bar and remove the green bonding screw from the neutral bus and throw it away, the neutral must be isolated from the panel can and grounds. Drive a 8' X 1/2" (or 5/8") ground rod at the garage and connect it to that new ground bar with #6 copper wire, I prefer bare stranded or solid. All the new branch circuit ground wires will terminate on the auxilliary ground bar and the neutral conductors will all terminate on the neutral bus. As has already been mentioned, all new 120 volt 15A & 20A receptacles must be GFCI protected, lighting circuits do not need that protection.

 

Wow that is a lot of very useful information. Thank you very much!!

Bonding screw does not appear to be on the Neutral bus, but was found at the top of the panel? see picture of panel attached.


4-wire feeder yes I have this installed:

Southwire | Underground Electrical Cable – Copper Electrical Wire Gauge 6/3. NMWU 6/3 BLACK - 150M | Home Depot Canada

panel:

Square D CQO116M100C60

Auxiliary ground bar is included but not attached to the panel

 

The cable appears to be correct. Not sure why the picture shows a gray wire in it. As long as the wire is really black not gray that is okay.

 

The stuff I have highlighted blue, is the correct for the neutral bus? If so do I remove the green screw from the neutral bus?

Just a little confused re"Install the ground bar and remove the green bonding screw from the neutral bus and throw it away, the neutral must be isolated from the panel can and grounds."

 

Number 1 is the bonding lug for the equipment grounding conductor in the supply cable.

Number 2 is the equipment ground/neutral bonding screw. Remove it and discard.

Incoming neutral will connect to either A or B to a screw of sufficient size for the conductor. Both A and B are neutral buses.

Incoming (from supply) ground connects to the lug labeled 1.

C and D are equipment grounding buses. Connect the bare copper (or green insulated) conductors of the various branch circuits to these.

 

ok sounds good. I will hook it all up and post back a picture before I put power to it.
You guys are so helpful and patient. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!!

 

Garage side installation from house.

 

All you now is your#6 GEC from the ground rod outside the garage and your good to go.

 

I have additional ground bus that came with the panel do I use that for the grounding rod?

 

A ground rod is 8' long and driven level with the ground outside the garage. It iconnected to either ground bar with a #6 wire.