Installing a 220V outlet

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I want to install several 220V outlets when bringing silkscreen in-house.

What's involved in this? Building is currently all 110V.

[charleskieffner]

a qualified IOEW certed commercial electrician!!!!

why???? because it only takes mille-amps to kill you!

you dont usually get a second chance with 220 !!

[Mo_Gearhead]

A commercial building is only 110v? Can't be???

If indeed that's true ...you need to contact the local electric utility. They will have to rewire first (at the transformer), then you will need an electrician ...for internal wiring.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

it's a 2 story building, below me is a wholesale auto parts runner. I just remembered I do have a large HVAC (broken, with 3000 square feet, I use area space heaters for front office, propane contractor heater for workshop in winter), so I must have 220V running from somewhere. All plugs are 110 though.

I suppose I could figure out where the HVAC is running from and go from there. Is it a matter of running the correct wiring from the source? Don't mind buying the right tools to determine what's hot, what's not.

[Dave L]

I havent done 220v but I have wired my basement. Im okay with electric but I left wiring into the panel to my dad, he's an electrician. I would recomend the same, put your outlets where you want them, run the cable to the panel and call an electrician to do the "dangerous" part. Pulling wire sucks and can take time but thats also all the more reason to do it yourself.

[charleskieffner]

yer asking to get lite up lak a xmas tree! jes get a qualified electrician pay the bucks............cuz anythang YOU DO MUST BE CODED! and there is a reason.........safety!

heres a nice lil story.............a unqualified person strings electrical in building. it IS NOT TO CODE!

electrical arcs some sub fridgid night when overloaded. building burns down.

you are sued into stone age and play with toy porsches along bowry(skid road-not skid pad) along with yer grocery cart (w/racing stripes) filled w/all yer worldly possessions!

i deal w/contractors ALL DAY LONG! i wouldnt touch electrical to save my ass! knowing a little and using a volt/ohm meter is a sure way to get a heaping amount of WHOOP ASS legally or electrically!

once agin...........it only takes mille-amps to stop yer heart!

[Mo_Gearhead]

Ok then ...I agree with above post.

Call a certified electrician and sleep well at night.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I agree about the code part, and yes it's foolish to not pay for a professional, I just don't think it's that big of a job (turning things off, hooking things up, turning things on) but will cost thousands anyway, and it's not rocket science.

[hardflex]

You should have 2 live legs and a ground wire coming into your service, if it's Single Phase. From either one of the legs to ground is 110V. Between the 2 legs is 220V

Check that with a Electrical Tester to verify.

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by Dave L

I havent done 220v but I have wired my basement. Im okay with electric but I left wiring into the panel to my dad, he's an electrician. I would recomend the same, put your outlets where you want them, run the cable to the panel and call an electrician to do the "dangerous" part. Pulling wire sucks and can take time but thats also all the more reason to do it yourself.

This is good advice if you haven't done much electrical work. You will save quite a bit of money using this plan.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Exactly - do the rough in and have a licensed electrician make the final connections & call for inspection. Shouldn't be too expensive.

[rick-l]

Where is the fuse box and what does it look like?

[charleskieffner]

heres (2) past electrical stories..........

back in 1972, feb 14, i was talking to my aunt margot in new york city. it was her b-day. about 10 pm at night. i was around 14 yrs old. margot was my "HIP" aunt. where my mom was strict margot was cool. anyway shot the breeze with her about werk. she was the secretary to the head honcho at lockheed aeroplane corp. based at jfk intl aeropuerto. she drove a ghia. she was cool.

anyway she states to me" i'll be right back" and leaves the phone. after some time i mentioned this to my folks and we hung up and tried calling again. no answer. next morning at 5am scottsdale p. d. is at our door telling us we believe margot has died in a fire.

we hop on plane. n.y.f.d. used 12 bottles of oxygen on her to no avail.

cause of fire............electrical. both my mom and aunt were born in that house and EXACTLY 20 years to the ******* DATE.............there was another electrical fire.


now.................fast forward to 2008. back in february i was faced with a huge dilemma on 2 of my backyard outbuildings. both were termite infested/rat infested/rattlesnake infested buildings of substantial size that were 27 years old. and they needed a infusion of cash and labor like nobodys biz.

3 truckloads of crap wasted sun rotted termite food out, and 3 truckloads of lumber put back in ONE BUILDING!

other building had roof collapse from crap roof and 4" of rain. so new roof and new drywall there.

one building had already been stuccoed, other was T-111 siding that the sun had killed. so new T-111. while this "fun with wood" expedition commenced had the fun filled giggles of watching outlets ARC like a MO-FO when any power tool plugged in. as we continued on this got to be a real safety issue.

finally after pouring $2500 of concrete floor in one building, (2) 5' x 9' foot doors for bike/quad access built, i coughed up bucks for an ELECTRICIAN! a real bonifide IOEW union alaskan pipeline electrician who jus so happens to enjoy mass quanities of miller lite like meself.

after explaining my issues...........first words out of his mouth were..........."these buildings are ILLEGAL" ie. RED TAGGED/CONDEMNED/NO OCCUPANCY/NO ******* BUENO!

so............after finding exposed exterior ROMEX, crap outlets, wired wrong outlets/wired wrong lights/bare wires/sunrotted wires/rat chewed wires.............i was facing a wallet meltdown.

my solution as always...............BUY MORE BEER! hit home depot..........buy new light fixtures/new GFI's/new outlets/new switches/new ROMEX/new breakers, and install myself and have pat my ex marine corp IOEW alaskan pipeline electrician do the "HOT WIRE " stunts while i watch mega voltage arcs at night all the while its still 110 degrees out at 9pm at night gulping beers down, being the gopher/wire stringer/outlet installer etc.

thats what the hell i have been doing since february this year. all the while at werk dealing with contractors on a 37 year old flat roof 10,000 sq foot nightmare of a home amongst a million other thangs i do for a living.

dont be cheap with:

roofs
electrical
plumbing

it will bite you in the ass big time..............EVERYTIME!

[imcarthur]

A home is always 120/240V. Each side of your panel + neutral = 120V. Both sides of panel = 240V.

In a light commercial application it will often be 120/208V three phase. One leg (of 3) + neutral = 120V. Two legs = 208V. Industrial is typical 347/600V. Etc etc

But call an electrician if you don't know what you are doing.

Ian

[Pazuzu]

I agree. 110/220 wiring is not hard at all (the concepts are quite simple), but ONLY after you've watched someone go through it. Heck, if you've never pulled wire, you'll quickly learn that paying someone is worth your sanity, because you will never succeed in pulling wire without some basic training.

Find a friend that knows this stuff (if he's a contractor, even better) and shadow him while he works. Ask questions, watch, take notes, and get him to let you help on some basic stuff. After that, you'll be able to wire an entire house (it really is pretty easy...)

[widebody911]

I did my own 220v wiring because I couldn't get any of the 'union' guys to actually show up for the job.

[rick-l]

You might as well plug the right union. It is IBEW not IOEW.

[Andras Nagy]

Do we see a future Darwin winner in the making?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Andras Nagy

Do we see a future Darwin winner in the making?

Says the Audi owner. LOL!


I'm going to get some quotes.

Thom, I remember the thread where you wired in an air conditioner or something like that in your garage. Is that right?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by rick-l

Where is the fuse box and what does it look like?

Fuse box is in the back work room, very accessible. Bottom right 3 are bridged 50A and control the HVAC.