120v And 240v Electrical Help

[Pimp T]

I want to convert 2 wall sockets from a 120v to a 240v its only two wall sockets on the breaker I want to change . Would I need to just switch out the breaker and socket. Or do I need a special breaker box wire and wall sockets?

 

[lollipopman]

New breaker and outlet yes , breaker box no. I'm just not sure of you can take a 2 wire and make it into a 240v , take the black and white make hot and copper to neutral/ground

 

[lollipopman]

Just read yes you can do 220 with 2 wire so just change the breaker and outlet

 

[Pimp T]

thanks brother @lollipopman

 

[PButter]

unless, of course, your room is like most of the us- your wire is too small to adequately handle higher loads associated with bumping your plugs and breaker up to 240v without changing the wires out for higher loads. Don't burn down the house.. change the wire.

 

[Pimp T]

@PButter what I'm trying to do is buy a lumatek ballast that runs two 600w bulbs from one ballast that only runs on 240v instead of buying 2 120v 600w ballast. Will I still need to change the wire?

 

[lollipopman]

@PButter what I'm trying to do is buy a lumatek ballast that runs two 600w bulbs from one ballast that only runs on 240v instead of buying 2 120v 600w ballast. Will I still need to change the wire?

Most likely not, check and see what size you have, but I'm sure you will have 14/2 witch is good for 15 amps , never go over 80% so you have 12 amps to use.. Your ballast will run 6 amps at 220 so you will be fine

 

[PButter]

Lollipop is right on the good info

 

[eighty9concr]

With 240 there is 2 legs of hot as apposed to 120 where there is only 1. Does your outlet have a ground wire on it too? You can use 2 wires + ground to wire 240 but it is not advised. To do it right you would need a double pull breaker, a 240v outlet, and 3 wire (2 hots and a neutral) + ground.

 

[Pimp T]

damn @eighty9concr guess I'm fukd my box only has the white black and ground wire. What exactly is a double pull breaker?

 

[eighty9concr]

Its a 240 breaker. Instead of just a 120 breaker where theres only a spot to put 1 wire, there is a 2 spots to put wires to. It looks like 2 regular 120 breakers combined into one. Each leg carries 120v of power, so a double pull allows for 2 hots to be connected to have 240v. You connect both hot wires to the double pull breaker, the neutral to the neutral bar, and the ground with the rest of the grounds. Usually black and red are used for hot, white for neutral, green/bare copper for ground

 

[eighty9concr]

This is not a job to take lightly, I would recommend hiring an electrician. It docent sound like your too familiar with electrical work and if not done right, a lot of things could go wrong. Not trying to be an asshole or anything, I just hear of bad things happening with people trying to wire up things that don't have a solid electrical knowledge

 

[Pimp T]

I wired my garage so I have a basic understanding just not complete with 240v it would probably be easier to run a new line instead of converting a old one hook in breaker screw in hots to double pole breaker and screw ground to box then screw hots and ground into receptacle

 

[eighty9concr]

Yes it would definitely be easier to run a new surface line in conduit. 240v by code requires 4 wires. 2 hots, a neutral, and a ground

 

[fishwhistle]

Yes it would definitely be easier to run a new surface line in conduit. 240v by code requires 4 wires. 2 hots, a neutral, and a ground

Yes but you dont need it unless your running both 120 and 240,for 240 only two hots and a ground is all thats needed.

 

[Pimp T]

I think I'm ready to go only question now is why my breaker box says its a 100 amp box but I can count about 20o amps in breakers. @eighty9concr @fishwhistle

 

[fishwhistle]

Id have to see it to wager a guess but that doesnt sound right,first thing is figure that out.Are there any open breaker spots in that box?doesnt seem like you could cram that many breakers in a 100 amp box,Are all the breakers hooked up and live?

 

[eighty9concr]

All the breakers are not being maxed out. My house has a 200amp panel and theres more than 200amp worth of breakers in it but my house will never use that much power.

 

[fishwhistle]

Unless you turn everything on at once,lol.

 

[eighty9concr]

haha even at that it might not max out. I would have to plug things in to every outlet, run my washer and dryer, turn the heat on full blast, turn all the lights on, run every appliance in my kitchen, and then it might pop lol. 200 amps is a lot of power