vintagecorvette

Nothing personal to anyone on this board. But I personlly would check with an electrician.

ANY ELECTRICIANS HERE?

They are now kidding when they say electricity kills. I am an Adventurous man, but have you seen what happens when that Sh*t fries. My father had a house that the tenant turned into a grow op. It was a disaster just waiting to burn up.　

ハい。チョっと飲み過ぎ

I may have ventured too far off topic. it is just that safety is #1.

oWEN

chris ritchie

Yes, you're right. If your dryer outlet is 30 amps, a 40-50 amp stove will trip it. You're nuts if you're thinking of changing the breaker.

DO NOT SCREW AROUND WITH 220 VOLTS. IT CAN KILL YOU. YOU TOUCH IT, IT'LL THROW YOU ACROSS THE ROOM, AND YOU'LL BE DEAD BEFORE YOU HIT THE FLOOR.

wmf62

the breaker is sized so that ALL the burners and oven elements can be on at the same time. you might get away with a 30A breaker if the only thing you are using is one element in the oven.

Ohms Law: amps x volts = watts

find out the wattage of the oven element and plug the values into the formula and see what amp draw you get.
Bill

bweaver999

While I am not a certified electrician, I can tell you that the wire size is critical with the breaker size. It is specified at a certain length / gauge for current draw (amps). In most homes, a 14GA wire will support a 15A breaker. 12GA will support 20A. For a 30 amp circuit, needs 10GA. These will fit most cases up to about a 100 foot run. Longer runs require a larger gauge (smaller number) wire.

I don't know for sure what gauge a 50A circuit requires, likely a 6GA wire. Drawing too much current on a small gauge wire will cause the wire to get hot and possibly cause a fire. That's why you can not simply change the breaker. The idea is, the breaker will trip before the wires get hot and start a fire.

You should check with a licensed electrician to see what is needed and get a price. Then check with the landlord to see if he is okay if you have the electrician do this.

If you have a gas water heater, is the dryer really electric? I ran a 30A 220 line to my gas dryer, it needs 220 to run the motor.

knight37128

I've been known to do electrical work before.

The breaker will trip as soon as it is grounded (unless it is a really old house). It will not kill you unless you are standing in a cast iron tub full of water.

This is not rocket science.

Get a extension cord for 220 volts with the same plug as your dryer plugs into. Simple. They make them. I have one on my wielder.

If you are scared of electricity then hire an electrician.

Mikey65

That's what i was planning.. I was going to make a cord 30ft long to run from the dryer outlet to the oven in the garage. I have to change the plug to do this to a 4 prong one with the one L shaped prong too. I know I will have to check the wattage of the heating element.. but what are the chances I get away with this without tripping the breaker?

wmf62

like i said, do the math....
Bill

knight37128

You will know as soon as you turn the oven on. The most draw will be when you turn it on.

I don't think you will draw more than 25 Amps with just the oven.

My house has the oven on a 30 Amp and the range (they are seperate) is on another 30 Amp.

stingrayl76

A 6000 watts oven will pull ~28 amps. Then you have to take into account the added resistance from the 30 ft of wire from the dryer outlet to the oven, plus the resistance length of the wire from the outlet to the breaker panel. I think you will be real close to tripping a 30 amp breaker.

That being said, I have been in the land-lording business for over 30 years and if indeed you are leasing your residence, I don't think I would care for this happening in one of my properties. If you are leasing, check your lease. There are usually clauses in the lease that prohibit such modifications to the property without the landlords written permission and once you are in violation of the lease terms, you are subject to eviction.

Whatever you do, be safe.
Dave

ctjackster

yeah, I do a lot of wiring too, just take your time, follow code (if possible) and know what you are doing - and test the circuit you are working on twice to make sure it is, in fact, not hot (throw the main if working on the panel).

As for your custom 220 extension cord, just make sure you use a very low gauge wire, you won't find a proper 220 cord in a 30 foot length at Home Depot or anywhere, you will have to buy some Romex @ 10/3 (perhaps you could use 12/3 for your purpose) to create your "extension cord."

A 220V circuit uses two hots, no common. The feed into your house is 220v, along with a ground. The 110V throughout your house is created by taking only half of the 220V by running one leg of it to ground. [This is why the common and ground attach to the same bus at the main panel.]

rgs

I'm an electrical engineer, and taught for 10 years National Electrical Code (NEC) classes.

30 amp extension cord for this application should be 10 gauge minimum.

The 3 wire 220Vac system is created from 2 110Vac 180 degrees out of phase referenced to a neutral, not ground. The 4 wire system includes a ground.

Code and electrical basics. An overcurrent protection device, fuse or breaker, is sized to protect the wiring attached to it, not the final load. For example, a typical household outlet is rated at 15Amp. Depending on the length of the run, typically 14 gauge wire is used. Now lets look at a desktop calculator plugged into the outlet. Under normal conditions it will draw less than an amp. Far less than what the wire is capable of and less than the rating of the breaker. Now if a short is developed in the calculator, the wire and the breaker are capable of increasing the current draw up to 15 amps. They will handle this load fine, but the calculator is probably smoking. Now instead of the calculator, lets plug in a power outlet with a heat gun that pulls 10 amp and a flood lamp that pulls 5.1 amps, a total of 15.1 amps. The overcurrent protection device, typically a circuit breaker, will detect that an excessive current is present, and after some delay, will open the circuit. At no time was either the heat gun or the lamp in danger of burning up, but the wiring in the wall was running overcurrent. That is where the breaker performed it's job and shut down the circuit.

Not all circuit breakers operate the same speed. Only ground fault circuit interrupter (GFI) breakers operate quickly. Others require heating up a bi-metalic strip hot enough to sense overcurrent, which takes time. Never bank on a circuit breaker for personal safety. You'll be dead wrong. I'm not aware of any manufacturer making ground fault breakers for 220Vac circuits, although 2 110Vac GFI's could be used to create one

As for your situation, I see nothing wrong electrically with using a properly made extension cord, unplugging the dryer and plugging in the range. The rating of the range is on a plate on the back. This is based upon a full load draw, with all burners on high. Assuming this has heating elements on the top which would not be used, the elements in the oven should draw less than 30 amps. Also, you're not broiling a steak or boiling water on the top. Take out the unused elements to prevent accidentally turning them on. This will also limit the draw the oven pulls. I took them off my oven for these reasons.

As for doing it in a rental, I've always held the belief of doing things on the up and up. Not only would I consult my lease, I'd take it a step further and contact the landlord. Explain to him what you're wanting to do, the precautions you're taking, and how it is no more damgerous, and in many ways less, than painting with a spray can. If he still says no, don't do it.

Good Luck

wmf62

well said...
Bill

ctjackster

so, are you saying I provided inaccurate advice? I can't tell from your post, perhaps all that learnin you have put the message out of reach for me . . . .

make the "extension cord" out of 10/3 Romex - will get him there, I think.


ps - I wired a 3,000 sf addition (including kitchen and W-D room with 220 circuits in each) and I passed my electrical inspection with flying colors . . . (ok, he called out some fire block issues in some of my wire run holes into the basement, but the wiring was all done right)

kbuhagiar

A lot of people (especially us car folk) do not always differentiate between a neutral and a ground. Altought they are connected together at the service entrance, a neutral provides a dedicated return path for a circuit, whereas a ground is a connection to earth. Theoretically you could complete a circuit through ground, but you would also energize the entire path back to ground, creating a shock hazard (ask me how I know).

rgs

Yes, that was the point along with using a minimum of 10 gauge, not 12 gauge wire.

63 340HP

Never trust a circuit breaker, as they are intended to protect wire from burning, not people from electric shock.

A preferred extension cable choice is "SO" cable. This is flexible stranded multiconductor jacketed cable. It is much easier to work with and coil than solid wire NM (Romex), and it's rated for the movement and environment (heat) typical of an extension cord. Most large hardware stores have SO cable if you ask for it.

If you look around the shop (garage) and recognize a welder or other 220v appliances it's a good idea to buy and build an extension cable for the greatest Amp draw for the collective variety of tools (50A uses #6, etc.). Buy the cable once. Make the ends with the proper connector for the Amp rating of the wire & breaker (which ever is lower), and make adaptors for the lower Amp appliance final connection.