I have a space in my garage near my washer and dryer where I would like to place a treadmill. It is a '70's house with basement on one circuit. Am afraid running washer/dryer and treadmill will blow circuit breaker.
Dryer is Gas, but there is a 220v plug right there, and would neccesarilly be on a seperate circuit (right??) Is there some sort of transformer plug type thing that I can plug into 220 v circuit plug, then plug 110v treadmill into that circuit.
I don't want to start running new circuits, which of course would be the correct answer here, just looking for a safe temporary solution.
If your 220v outlet is an older style and only has two hot wires and a ground (usually red, black, and bare/green) you can't create a 110v circuit from it. If your outlet has 2 hot wires (usually red, black), a neutral (white), and a ground (bare/green), you can get 110v from either of the hot wires (black or red) to neutral (white). I'd suggest mounting a new outlet box adjacent to the current box with a 110v duplex outlet, wired as above. BE SURE TO LOCATE AND TURN OFF THE RIGHT CIRCUIT BREAKER BEFORE YOU START.
If you don't completely understand this advice and the risks associated with working on house circuits, don't attempt it.
I should have also mentioned that in order to be safe you should insure that the existing 220v circuit breakers do not exceed the rating of the new outlet - i.e. 15 or 20 amps, depending on what type of 110V outlet you use.
They make 'em for travel use (those wacky Europeans pretty much run everything on 240), but methinks a step-down transformer for a high-current motorized device like a treadmill is going to be a bit on the spendy side.
above over my head, am looking for something I can plug into 220... with a couple of holes on the other side where I can plug in the 110v. If that does not exist I am not going to try to jimmy anything up, I am not qualified to mess with any wires.
Good call...best bet is to plug into the 110 duplex outlet for the washer and if it trips the breaker to use both together, then just don't do that... :)
Before he even gets to that, why not figure out what the load from the washer and the treadmill are together. There may not even be a problem. Or alternatively, don't use the treadmill when the washer is running.
Short of that, I agree that any stepdown device is going to be quite expensive to have enough capacity to run a treadmill. The easy and correct solution is to just run another outlet. Since it's a basement, that should be pretty easy and/or reasonable to have done.
If that dryer outlet has four slots in it it *should* have a neutral wire connected to it, in which case a competent person could verify the presense and size of that neutral lead and then easily make you an adaptor out of a dryer "pigtail cord" a surface mount box with an outlet cover, a cable clamp and a duplex outlet.
Around here at the big-box places I see adapter plugs that plug into a
220 *range* socket and give you a grounded 120 V socket. They are meant for people converting to gas stoves from electric. They do seem to bear the certification authorities' logos, to my mild surprise.
Dryer plugs are slightly different (neutral blade is L-shaped) and I haven't noticed such a device for them, but I haven't looked.
For sure you'd want to have a four-prong circuit (separate ground and neutral) to make anything of it.
If a person know some about wiring, it is possible to get a 110 volt circuit from a 220 volt dryer setup. It might not be legal or to code, but it is quite possible.
Your going to spend more on the transformer and related equipment than running a new circuit.
You COULD, remove the 220v outlet and breaker get a 20 amp breaker and outlet. Change the wiring around so that one of the hots becomes a neutral and you would have an new 120v recpt to code. Better check with a pro in your area if this is possible.
Well, yeah, that should be plan A. Heck, shouldn't even have to calculate -- exercise while running the washer and dryer, and if the breaker trips, then move onto plan B (with the cheapest plan B being "don't run the treadmill while doing the laundry"). If you just gotta run the treadie while doing the laundry, then a 50' high-capacity outdoor extension cord isn't all that expensive.
It probably *does* have a ground, and does *not* have a neutral. This is dangerous, and a good example of why people who "don't know if this is legal or not" should not attempt their own electrical projects.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?
Not correct. A 240V circuit is usually the *ground* and the two hot legs of the *240V* service in the home. Sometimes they have *neutral* as well.
240V circuits that do not need to supply 120V loads (a water heater supply is an example of such a circuit) generally do *not* have a neutral, because they don't need it.
Normally, the neutral is present *only* in 240V circuits that need to supply
120V loads as well, e.g. an electric oven (heating elements are 240V, timer and light are 120V), or an electric dryer (heating elements are 240V, motor probably 120V, timer definitely 120V) -- and only then if the circuit was wired fairly recently. Code *used* to permit using the grounding conductor as the neutral, which isn't really especially safe. It's no longer allowed, but there are a *lot* of dryer and range circuits in existence that don't have a neutral conductor.
And by doing so, you'd probably create a dangerous condition, because that
240V circuit probably doesn't have a neutral, and you'd be using the equipment grounding conductor as the neutral.
If *I* were doing that, I'd make sure I had a neutral first. I'd also make sure I understood the Code, and *why* it disallows some practices.
I can tell. You should not be giving out electrical advice, until you understand the difference between neutral and ground, and how 240V circuits are configured.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?
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