Wiring a breaker box

[purpleberry]

Can I wire a breaker box for 220 and 110 off a 6/2 wire? We had to go 75' from the meter and have a open 50amp breaker so so I went with 6/2 copper wire and was going to put 1 30amp for a cap light controler and 1 20 amp for a a/c and fans. we are confused if we need a 4th wire? I figured the 110 plugs coming into the box gets 1 wire on the breaker and the common and ground go to the ground? And the 220 is 2 on the breaker and 1 to the ground? So the 3 wires in 6/2 is all u need to do the job?
Im going to get a book on electrical and school my self but I need to know this before we run the wire 75'. thank you for any help:icon_dizzy:

 

[Swerve]

you need to go one wire(the hot wire) to the breaker, the neutral wire(ie white wire) to the bus bar in the box and the ground wire to the ground for 120v. for 240 you will have 2 hots and a ground. 240 you will have a 2 pole breaker both hot wires go to the terminals of the breaker and the ground wire to the ground.

 

[purpleberry]

So the bus bar and ground are not the same? Where does the ground go?

 

[been]

Live!

 

[Dr.stickerdick]

been, what you are calling ground is really an Equipment BONDING Conductor. Driving a ground rod and connecting to it thinking it will ground and make the system safe could KILL someone. Bonding is what the green or bare wire in a branch circuit does, and this wire needs to end up in the source pannel. Then when there is a short in the circuit the the bonding conductor allows current back to pannel so the breaker instatly sees 6 times the rated value of the breaker and trips or turns off.

 

[purpleberry]

Wow this is a hard question i guess. lol I have 3 wires from the meter box. 1 ground and 2 hots. In the new box i hook the ground to the bus bar and the 2 hots to the breaker bar where they go. Now my 220 goes the breaker and 1 on the grounded bus bar. I also have a 110 breaker in there, 1 wire to it now what do i do with the ground and common? Do both go to the bus bar that is grounded? If so I now know enough to be a dangerous electrian. lol

 

[been]

been, what you are calling ground is really an Equipment BONDING Conductor. Driving a ground rod and connecting to it thinking it will ground and make the system safe could KILL someone. Bonding is what the green or bare wire in a branch circuit does, and this wire needs to end up in the source pannel. Then when there is a short in the circuit the the bonding conductor allows current back to pannel so the breaker instatly sees 6 times the rated value of the breaker and trips or turns off.

Oh shit! I thought an uneven current would trip the breaker automatically but I guess it'd have to be a special type of breaker then?

Anyway I thought I was just talking about that missing 4th wire as opposed to bypassing the breaker box. Whatever though... do it right and stay safe.

 

[purpleberry]

Well I looked in a book at the hardware store and it showed a diagram of a breaker box with 3 wires coming (2 hot 1 ground) and the box had a 110 breaker and a 220, butt it had 2 busses 1 for ground and 1 for common's, butt the 2 busses are grounded to each other. So i see no problem putting my grounds and commons on the 1 bus i have in the box. ?????? If im wrong please tell me. lol

 

[Dr.stickerdick]

IF you are installing a sub pannel then take 2 hots 1 nuteral 1 graound to second pannel. In the sub pannel keep the ground{bonding) and the neutral seperate!! Also that is not 110 and 220 volt breakers they are one or two or three pole breakers NOT referred to as voltages. May seem like a small point but when dealing with electricity you better be right cause failure could be death .... or worse. Peace

 

[purpleberry]

I see this box has 3 prong plug and 220 and 110 outlets, Is the common hooked to the ground inside this box?
Im building a box pretty much like this one and dont see why i would need a 4th wire if they didnt????????

 

[pure arghan]

if you dont know get some one that does

So the bus bar and ground are not the same? Where does the ground go?

im not being smart or having a go but if you dont know the difrance in a live and an earth you should't be working at the the bus bar or any outher part of the board, im not trying to make you look silly or anything but im a spark and have been for 18 years and i know that you should't be working at this level of eletrices, iv seen boys that have worked at this type of work for years and they still can get it wrong, its the small things you need to watch, like how tight you have your conetsions are and so on, i would say to you that you should get some one that is quifided to do your work, i know that that might be hard to get some one you can trust but at the end of the day you will know that it is right, you would't want a fire to start when your out, i hope you never have a fire and you have good cropes, peace :damnhippie:

 

[Sway]

yea man, i agree... my advice, look on craigslist for an electrician who does sidework. i found a great electrician with over 20 years experience, and only paid him 200 bucks to come over and guide me through my subpanel install and make sure everything is safe and completely legit. the electrical was the first thing to be installed, so i told him i was going to be putting in some shop equipment and some welders and such. best money ive ever spent! took less than a day to run all new wire, new breakers, new conduit, new plugs, everything. spent about 500 bucks total with all the electrical equipment. i highly recommend finding a certified electrician off craigslist who is doing sidework because the economy.

 

[Dr.stickerdick]

pure arghan and Sway, I know you are right!! TOOOOO many people think{ foolishly } that "ain't nothing to this electrical stuff" and then don't even know how bad they fucked up cause as long as a light goes on when they turn a switch they belive their work to be correct. Now purpleberry, Code and safety call for drier plugs be 4(four)wire i.e. 2 hots 1 neutral 1 ground . Dangerous people think the neutral and ground are interchageable. Their NOT !!!!!!!!! On ALL sub pannels the neutral and ground{ BOND } can not be as one ! Otherwise there WILL be neutral current on all metal grounded{bonded} peices. A lot of my sparky brothers out there in television land like herb, find one. WE will both sleep better. Peace

 

[zoeronerer]

if you cant find someone take your time read and do as they say. i have wired things i should not have when i was really young.every electrician i knew was a tweaker at the time. buy a book read up on it. go to a do it yourself website. dont guess about anything and make sure your connections are tight as was mentioned. I DONT TRUST ANYONE....if you feel the same way you can do this just go slow. remember its your life on the line and your home. again as was mentioned above its the little things....good luck

 

[purpleberry]

Ill answer my self i guess, it really wasnt a hard question and the reason i found the ground and nuetral shown on the same bus was because im was looking at a main pannel.
The neutral and the ground can only be bonded in one location in a residential service, and that is in the main panel. To run 220 and 110 on a subpannel you will need to run 6/3 wire and issolate the ground and nuetral wires.
Im guessing the eco pannel i showed with 3 wires is not to code and they just stuck the ground and nuetral on the same wire?