220 question

[Kerry Adams]

Good Morning,

I had a 220 outlet put into run my Oneida. I now have a little box heater that runs on 220.
Plugging and unplugging to run each one is a pain! What's the easiest way to fix this? Do they make those little duplex or triplex add ons for 220?

Thanks,
Kerry
Obviously lacking in any electrical knowledge!

[Jeff Dorlan]

Kerry, what is the current draw on each of the devices? You need to know that first.

[Kerry Adams]

Jeff

The draw on the oneida is 23/11.5


The draw on the heater is
16/13.8


Its a 30 Amp switch

Thanks,
Kerry

[Jeff Dorlan]

Kerry, I'm afraid you are too close to capacity. You should be safe and run a seperate circuit. That is the proper thing to do.

[Ed Griner]

I would suggest that you need two separate (220) circuits. Ed

[Kerry Adams]

Yes, I agree! If I don't run them at the same time is there a duplex available so I don't have to keep plugging and unplugging? Its in a lousy location .

Thanks,
Kerry

[Jason Beam]

Personally, I wouldn't even want a plug on the heater. It's safer to hardwire it without a plug.

I'm sure they make duplex plugs for 220, but I would discourage doing so in this application.

Some folks will make their own - i forget what they call 'em. It's basically a quad box with two outlets in the face and a cord that plugs into the outlet. That'd do the job of giving you two outlets ...

BUT ...

Heaters pull full amps most of the time. A plug is a fairly loose friction-fit connection. This means there will be some little arcs between the contact areas. Arcs == Heat == Bad. Space heaters are notorious for burning stuff down and it's very often not the heater itself but the plug and outlet.


All those warnings on a space heater about not leaving them unattended and such are there for very good reason.

For your safety, I strongly suggest having a 2nd circuit installed and have that heater wired in directly with no plug.

[Kerry Adams]

Thanks Jason-I hear your message. My issue is I am in South Carolina and this heater runs for 15 minutes and I am good to go. I insulated my garage and garage door very well and I only have 400 square feet. I only use it three months out of the year, so its in storage most of the year.


Thanks for all your replies! I think I will call the electrician and put in another 220!

Kerry

[Jason Beam]

Kerry,

I'm in a similar boat. I'm in northern california and don't have to run the heater for very long. I had a space heater for a few years and everytime I unplugged the thing it worried me - the whole cord and the plug itself were quite warm. I tried 3 different space heaters and they all did that. Warm wires don't sit well with me :D

Just wanted to share what little info I could about this one. :)

Good luck and be safe! :)

[Roger Frazee]

Hello

Well for what it is worth your oneida sounds like it is the 2 hp gorilla. It simply plugs into a 6-20R receptacle and only requires 12 awg wiring though what you have may actually be larger but I doubt it is over 10 awg. The manufacturer states that the DC needs a dedicated branch circuit to a single receptacle.

I'm not sure what you mean by 30 amp switch but maybe you are speaking about the circuit breaker. This would be normal so the motor will start without nuisance tripping during the inrush current at startup.

The heater appears to be portable cord and plug model needing 13.8 amps ( 3.3 KW) @ 240 volt... assuming it hasn't been modified from a fixed wiring type heater. You would run this heater on a 12 awg 20 amp branch circuit since it is pushing the 15 amp limit ..at least I would....:) even though it probably only requires a 15 amp branch circuit from the factory specifications.

If your existing branch circuit would happen to be 12 awg on a 20 amp double pole I really see no reason that you could not do what you want...considering it's your shop under your control. Technically the oneida guys do not want you sharing the branch circuit at the same time with something else and the electrical codes say you must install according to factory specifications.


If the breaker is 30 amps on 12 awg wiring that's where you are going to get into non-compatibilty with the heater. Motors are one of the few situations where you can breaker 12 awg over 20 amps. But you can't do that for a resistive load like a portable space heater.

Also there are duplex 240 volt 6-20R outlets just for your information.

Anyway if you have 12 awg copper wiring and a double pole 20 amp breaker in the existing branch circuit...I wouldn't lose any sleep doing as you ask.

I also believe that there are situations where it is not feasible to install to the letter of the code or the will of the manufacturer as long as you understand how it can be done without a system error...human error is another subject as to what you operate or plug into the receptacles. Keep the wife out of your shop and kids (unless your supervising) or lock out your tools with a lockable switch on the wall close by the work area..

Just my 2 cents.

[Aaron Berk]

Go buy two 220 receptacles, a 220 plug, a double gang box, a 4ft of 10/3. Wire up your self a little pig tail box. problem solved!

Different subject................. but similar
I have a mobile WVO processing cart that has 220 run to it. My cart plugs into the wall, and then on the cart I drop a leg of the 220 to run 110 to my centrifuge and a courtesy outlet, and the 220 goes to a hot water heating element and 220 courtesy outlet. I will be using that courtesy outlet for my 220 table saw. I did all my own wiring with 10/3 all the way up to the 30 amp breaker, I'm guessing about 50 total ft of wiring between the breaker and courtesy outlet.
And yes, I will never run them all at once.

[Kerry Adams]

Good Morning Roger,


I am the wife!LOL


Thanks,
Kerry

[Roger Frazee]

:o Sorry....as I was saying just keep the 'husband' and kids out of the shop....;)

[Eric Commarato]

Kerry,

Ditch the heater and purchase the radiant heater that mounts on top of a propane tank like you use on your barbque grill. You can get them at Lowes, the tank and heater runs about 90 bucks and you just refill the tank when it runs out, about 18 bucks. Can run the heater continuous for 48 hours on a tank. They have all the safety bells and whistles, just make sure you have some outside air ventillation, and don't use flamables around them, mineral spirits, gasoline, chemicals etc. I think they put out 15,000 BTU's. With natural gas prices dropping, it might be cheaper than electricity.

[Roger Frazee]

:o Sorry....as I was saying just keep the 'husband' and kids out of the shop....;)

You wouldn't happen to have a bass boat would ya?....:)

[Kerry Adams]

Roger,


We did, but high maintenance had us switch it in for a gheenoe.

Kerry

[Roger Frazee]

Roger,


We did, but high maintenance had us switch it in for a gheenoe.

Kerry

Yeah they are expensive to keep up. I had to google gheenoe....:) It was interesting that the guy who started building those things was a design engineer for the Kennedy Space Center. Said he and his wife had to eat a lot of tators before the business got going. He said it was worth it but I'd like to hear the wifes opinion.....:D

[Buck Williams]

You could get a 20 amp double pole, double throw, center off toggle switch, basically looks the same as a simple wall box switch. When the switch is in the center position, it is off. When you flip the toggle up the 2 top screw teminals on the switch can be wired to an outlet for one of your 2 - 220v loads. When you flip the switch down, that would switch the 2 wires connected to the other load. Might be tough to find the switch at a big box store, not sure, an electrical supply house should be able to get you one. Back when electric basesboard heat was common in new construction for apartment buildings, this was a common way to save a few bucks by runnning one 220v circuit for both a baseboard load and an air conditioner. Flip the switch one way in the summer and the other way in the winter. One breaker fed both.