My old house has a 50 amp and a 30 amp, the 50 amp is a 10-50r. And the 30 amp was the weird round three-pronged with a hooked indexing plug twist lock. The 30 amp was in the garage for the dryer and the 50 amp was for an old electric range that went to the kitchen. The 50 amp line was located severed and new outlet installed passing code to buy the house. The newer four-wire ones as explained earlier in the post take the load off the ground wire I believe and maintain it on the neutral balancing between the two load lines... I thinkThat's odd. My dryer plug has 4 wires. Two hots, a neutral and a ground. The 240 in the shop tho has only 2 hots and a neutral/ground.
Years ago I ran a 14/3 - 240 line to my basement grow room then split it into 2 - 120 duplex plugs in one box with each hot having a 15A breaker. One side is for an HID light up to 1000W and something light like a 12" oscillating fan and the other for my 6" inline exhaust fan and maybe an aerator pump or the 9W light mover. Both plugs share the neutral and there is a ground. Zero problems with it.
Powering your grow with a 50 amp dryer outlet.
- Thread starter Dogg1
- Start date
OneHitDone
Well-Known Member
240V Doesn't use a neutral.
I believe the extra ground in the 4 wire plug is a designated chassis/enclosure ground for the appliance.
The engineer seemed happy. The real issue was the dedicated ground circuit for the house outlets. Jesus Christ what a s*** show. All in the name of safety we called in Old pro sparky, now the cell phones and laptops charge happily!
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
That's funny. The 4 wire 240 line I installed has a white for neutral I tied into the neutral line in my panel, a bare copper wire hooked to ground and two hot leads I connected via 15 amp breakers.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
Here's how I ran mine.
I put a dedicated 14-50r outside next to my RV trailer (with a 50 amp breaker in the main panel thats only a few ft away just for it), which I also use for welding sometimes..
Chopped the female end off this 50 amp 250v RV cord:
..and wired it right into the 70 amp "load center" box with 2 breaker spots as my sub panel, up inside the RV. The cord has made it through almost 10 seasons now laying outside between the receptacle on a post and the trailer with no problem. Hail, snow, ice, sun.. Still looks new. I can move my trailer anywhere and just unravel the cord and plug in.
Anyway, one of hot leads goes to each breaker for 120v. I used dual breakers, so I have 4 different 120v circuits to work with (2 on each leg), being careful not to overload one side more than the other, etc. Like the OP, I don't need anywhere near the full 50a for the grow, but sometimes I do run extra tools on the side and whatnot.
I did not use the bonding screw to connect the neutral and ground bus bar.
OneHitDone
Well-Known Member
Meaning the current is not being carried over the white wire.