220v 50 amp circuit split
#1
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220v 50 amp circuit split
okay. Background story. I have a 220v 50amp line installed into the garage for a car charger. runs 5 hours a night @ 40amps. i recently bought a table saw (220v 13amp) and a dust extractor (220v 9amp). i am moving in a year when my wife recovers from her leukemia. I dont want to pay to have two other lines run for a such a short period of time. The cost issue arises because the breaker box is on the opposite side of the house which drives the price up alot. Once i move i will run separate circuits. i made a thing a ma jig and want some opinions See attachments. So the middle box i ran a 220v 50amp cord into it. the other boxes have a 220v 20amp outlet with 12 gauge wires ran into the center box and wire nutted into the cord. no outlet should be able to draw more than 20 amps so combined im at 40 amps. Reality is if the table saw and dust extractor run at the same time it should theoretically max pull 13 + 9 =22amps. Correct? i didnt chain them because then the amps would stack from outlet to outlet and 12 gauge wire wouldnt be enough. My last question would be which wire on the 4 wire cord would you lose? I had bought this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and used it with my table saw for a month or so until the dust extractor came along. When i checked it had the the ground going to the bottom and the white common had dropped off. As you can see from the pics i ran the green wire from the cord to the ground on the outlets and capped off the white wire from the cord.
The reason i went this route rather than hard wiring another outlet of the original was to ensure i cannot have my car charger plugged in with any tool at the same time with a chance of overloading the circuit. if there are any electricians out there what do you think? I haven't tried it out yet.
The reason i went this route rather than hard wiring another outlet of the original was to ensure i cannot have my car charger plugged in with any tool at the same time with a chance of overloading the circuit. if there are any electricians out there what do you think? I haven't tried it out yet.
Last edited by mrjpsmith; 04-12-18 at 08:53 PM. Reason: add words
#2
While it will work, Technically it is illegal as far as I know.
The better solution is to install a sub-panel in the place of existing car charger outlet. Then you can install 1 50A and 2 20A 2 pole breakers inside. Now you don't have to deal with this adapter and your table saw and dust extractor can be plugged in all the time.
Plugging car charger at the same time may trip 50A breaker running to the sub, but this still is legal.
If the electrician pulled 6-3 NM-b you can replace the breaker with 55A or 60A. 6 AWG NM-b is rated for 55A, but you can install a next size up breaker since 55A is usually not available. That way you can get the most out of existing circuit.
The better solution is to install a sub-panel in the place of existing car charger outlet. Then you can install 1 50A and 2 20A 2 pole breakers inside. Now you don't have to deal with this adapter and your table saw and dust extractor can be plugged in all the time.
Plugging car charger at the same time may trip 50A breaker running to the sub, but this still is legal.
If the electrician pulled 6-3 NM-b you can replace the breaker with 55A or 60A. 6 AWG NM-b is rated for 55A, but you can install a next size up breaker since 55A is usually not available. That way you can get the most out of existing circuit.
Last edited by lambition; 04-13-18 at 05:55 AM.
#4
The green wire in the cord is ground and should be connected to the box and the grounds on the outlets. The cord white wire is neutral and is not used for just 240V so it needs to be capped with a wirenut, do not connect it to ground. As said this is not a kosher setup because the tablesaw and dust collector instructions most likely specify to run them on a 20A protected circuit. The little bump in the box with a screw hole is where the ground needs to be bonded to the box. Also the white neutral is for providing 120V that's why it's not needed in your setup. Oh... and normal voltage today in the US is 120V/240V, not 110V/220V.
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The electrician pulled 6 awg thwn. He put a 50amp GFI breaker in the main box. If i install a subpanel then do i replace the main breaker with just a normal 60 amp breaker? i could then reuse the 50 amp in subpanel. thanks in advance
Last edited by mrjpsmith; 04-13-18 at 10:06 AM. Reason: more to say
#11
What you did could be OK if you're able to add 20A fuses or breakers ahead of the 20A receptacles. You can get various kinds of push button breakers or inline fuse holders that could work. Also make sure the metal boxes are connected to the ground wire. As others said a subpanel would also be a good option.
#12
The electrician pulled 6 awg thwn. He put a 50amp GFI breaker in the main box. If i install a subpanel then do i replace the main breaker with just a normal 60 amp breaker? i could then reuse the 50 amp in subpanel. thanks in advance
If you install a sub panel using same breakers as your main, then you can just replace existing breaker with 60A, then reuse old breaker in your sub panel.