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Electrical Project Questions

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
I have a project I'm looking for input on.

I want to put a 50 amp 240V outlet in my garage. At the most it would be 20 feet from the panel but I'd probably just stick it right beside the panel to minimize the amount of drywall I'd have to disturb.

I have an unused 50 amp circuit that is used for a stove in our basement (we never use it - house came with a basement suite). I want to put in a switch that allows me to route power from one outlet or the other.

Any recommendations on switches and how best to do this so it looks like it was done properly (i.e. up to code). I'd love recommendations to good electrical sites and actual products. My googling wasn't very fruitful.

One other question too: My electrical panel has a slight humm to it. How concerned do I need to be about that? I'm thinking that it means one of the breakers is wonky (technical term) but I'm not sure if it is something that needs immediate attention - actually it's been humming for a year so it doesn't seem to be an urgent issue (but I could be wrong).:eek:
 

OhioTC18

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
PB,
You pose an interesting question. I could probably come up with a switch that will connect power to one outlet, then the other when needed, but I'm sure the price might be a killer. You'd need a 50A 2 pole double throw switch. It might be half as large as your panel. My thought would be to use the 50A breaker to feed BOTH outlets and just use one at a time. That's just a thought.

The humming in the panel? Sounds like a breaker supplying a load almost to the tripping point. Or you have a bad one.
 

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
How would he get the two wires under the lugs on the breakers? I thought that the lugs were sized in a way that would prevent this for the very reason that they wouldn't want one 50 amp breaker feeding two 50 amp circuits?
 

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
GOLD Site Supporter
Don't know about your splitting a breaker, but I've noticed that all of the new arc fault detect breakers required for bedrooms seem to hum. I'm not sure the difference between the ground fault breakers and the arc fault breakers, but the arc fault ones seem to hum.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
Hmmm . . . I was thinking of just intercepting the outgoing wires from the breaker and installing some form of switch between the two outlets.

My thought was to get a small panel and just have the 50 amp circuit feed that panel and then have two breakers in the panel. It would of course leave the opportunity that I could turn them both on by accident but it is unlikely that I would do that. I don't see me doing much welding while having a large dinner party (the only reason we ever use the downstairs stove). In fact the stove is currently un-plugged because we have small kids that like to turn knobs.

I was really hoping that there was a simple switch for this sort of thing but I don't know enough about the electrical industries terminology to get any good hits of google.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
I've got to play around with the panel and see what could be causing the hum. I seem to remember that it was one breaker. It was just one of those things that I noticed today while poking around the panel.

Thanks again everyone. (Now that Big Dog has changed his avatar I have to post electrical questions to see the good avatars!):whistle:
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
Wow - just searching on "50A 2 pole double throw switch" shows some really expensive stuff.

Maybe I'll just disconnect the stove outlet completely and re-route a new plug for the welder.
 

OhioTC18

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Junkman said:
How would he get the two wires under the lugs on the breakers? I thought that the lugs were sized in a way that would prevent this for the very reason that they wouldn't want one 50 amp breaker feeding two 50 amp circuits?

You're right Junk, they do make it just the right size for a reason. But he could always splice the wires in the panel using split bolts (aka kearnys).
 

OkeeDon

New member
How far away from your welding location is the stove outlet? I realize they're in two different locations, but what I was wondering was if there was some way you could rig a heavy duty "extension cord" that would plug into the stove outlet and run the welder. Years ago, I wanted a 220v window AC unit in my garage, and was not using the dryer outlet (we had a gas dryer). So, I rigged the appropriate size Romex with a plug on one end and an outlet on the other for the AC unit, and ran it along the baseboard from the laundry to the garage. Probably not the safest thing in the world, but I was the only one with access to it, and it worked for the 4 years I had it hooked up. The best thing about it was that it guaranteed only one appliance at a time could use the circuit.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
OkeeDon said:
How far away from your welding location is the stove outlet? I realize they're in two different locations, but what I was wondering was if there was some way you could rig a heavy duty "extension cord" that would plug into the stove outlet and run the welder. Years ago, I wanted a 220v window AC unit in my garage, and was not using the dryer outlet (we had a gas dryer). So, I rigged the appropriate size Romex with a plug on one end and an outlet on the other for the AC unit, and ran it along the baseboard from the laundry to the garage. Probably not the safest thing in the world, but I was the only one with access to it, and it worked for the 4 years I had it hooked up. The best thing about it was that it guaranteed only one appliance at a time could use the circuit.


That's a good idea! It's actually only about 10 feet through the wall to the garage from where the stove is and I could probably hide the wire behind the cabinetry. Now my wheels are turning!

Anyone have any huge safety concerns about this plan that I'm not seeing?
 

OkeeDon

New member
I'm one of those kids born in the '40's (1940, to be exact) discussed in one of the recent posts about how we were raised, and lived, in a dangerous manner. I survived. I survived my "unsafe" romex extension cord.

However, in this day of Safety Nazis and litigation, I'll deny I ever told you that. If someone thinks this is the electrical equivalent of drilling a hole in a ROPS, then consider running the wire in a pvc tube or similar. I believe the fancy name is a "chase".
 

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
PBinWA said:
Anyone have any huge safety concerns about this plan that I'm not seeing?

The only safety concern that I would have is if there were a small child that could get close to the plug. With the long tangs on the plug end, if the child were to get it apart partially, they could get a finger in there with disastrous results. Other than that, I can't see any problems. I have a very heavy gauge stranded copper wire extension cord that came with the used welder that I purchased. When I finish wiring the garage, I intend to have at least one of all the common higher amperage/voltage receptacles along side of the electrical panel. Junk.....
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
PB,

A place that sells either RV or generator accessories may have one pre-made.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
Thanks again everyone. I strongly believe in the PONS theory and suspect only one of my children to be a likely victim. If they are dumb enough to crawl in behind the stove and fiddle with the outlet then they deserve what they get and so does their mother and I for not supervising them better.

I think the wire would be hidden away enough that the kids wouldn't be able to get to it and I'd probably just unplug it when not in use as I think I'll have to pull the stove out a little to plug it in unless I can find a low-profile plug.

Brian - I noticed the other day that Walmart even carries long extension cords for generators. Considering how many RV's are camped out in some Walmart's it should not be surprising that they have RV supplies.
 

beds

New member
I'd be concerned about the gage of the wire you make the extension cord out of. I ran a bunch of 10 gage 3-wire to a new stove location (because that's what I had used for a dryer). Upon inspection, they said I needed 8. PITA! Dang safety Nazis is right.
 

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
beds said:
.................Upon inspection, they said I needed 8. PITA! Dang safety Nazis is right.

Wouldn't both me one bit if you burn your house down because of being either cheap or stupid. That is what an inspection is for..... your safety, not theirs... ;)
 

beds

New member
I agree it's my own stupidity for assuming instead of looking up the code. Never assume it makes an ass out of u and me. And if it wasn't important to me, I wouldn't have had it inspected.
 

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
Damn you............stop agreeing with me and being nice. I am trying to start a fight here since the forums have been so quiet with Boob on vacation. What do I have to do....... come over to your house and change the wire to a inferior wire myself????? Now, stop being the nice guy and start throwing some stones, that is, if you have any.....:yum: :mad: ;) :yum: ;) :weneedpic

PS....... did I mention the Civility Rule??
 

beds

New member
Junkman said:
WWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooOOOOOOOooooooooSSSSSSSSSssssssssss:tiphat:

I thought that was subtly humorous in an ironic way. Which may be why it was lost...:rolleyes:
 
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