Conv to 220?

I have a Dewalt 746 table saw that can be converted to 220. In the kitchen above my workshop there is an outlet that was for the electric stove that used to be there (now gas). Two questions:

  1. If the outlet is 40 amps, can a table saw that uses much less amps be run off of it?

Plug looks like: \ / |

  1. Is it worth converting the saw to 220?

Thanks,

Dave

Reply to
very_dirty_dave
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  1. Yes although the matching plug is somewhat of a pita on a smaller device there's nothing unsafe. Remember, the circuit protection is to protect the fixed wiring, not the device plugged into it.

Also, how are you going to get from the location in the kitchen to the shop? Would seem potentially simpler to run a 220 circuit in the shop where I would presume the distribution panel is in the basement, anyway.

  1. I run everything I can on 220 just to cut down the higher amperage a
110 draws. The actual difference in efficiency is small...
Reply to
Duane Bozarth

The kitchen is directly above the workshop and the outlet is mounted to a joist below the kitchen (of ceiling of the shop) directly above the table saw. There was a hole in the kitchen floor behind the stove where the stove plug was passed through. I used this hole to run the gas line through. I did this some time ago. I could never figure out why, with natural gas run to the house, the dryer and stover were electric (water heater was gas).

Dave

Reply to
very_dirty_dave

Electric dryers and stoves are cheaper than gas. Jim

Reply to
Jim

Cheaper to buy, yes, but usually more expensive to operate.

Reply to
Doug Miller

I'd then make a pigtail to plug into the existing outlet and make it long enough to reach a convenient location to plug in the saw on the other end with a 20A connector.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

I wouldn't. I would just pay an electrician to take the cover off the outlet plate, remove the outlet, then extend conduit to install a new box and outlet with the correct plug right next to the saw.

Reply to
woodworker88

That must be why in the 3 years that I converted from an electric range to natural gas, that I paid for the new gas range range with the savings. It may be different in some areas, but here? Gas costs about 25% per BTU of that in electrical equivalent.

Reply to
Robatoy

That's the right way.

Reply to
Robatoy

That would work, but doesn't need an electrician necessarily, either...

Primaryy reason I wouldn't bother is there is no reason to have the heavy wire required for the 40A circuit to go to a second box and it wouldn't be code to put extend less than a 40A outlet on that circuit as a fixed component. Of course, could go back and replace the 40A breaker w/ smaller, but that adds even more unnecessary expense...

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

  1. You will definitely notice the difference. My 746 struggled to cut 6/4 hardwood on 110V and would occasionally pop a breaker. On 220, with the same blade, it is like a different saw. Faster start-up, and no sign of bog unless I feed too fast.
Reply to
gw

The people who build the houses are more interested in the cost to buy rather than the cost to operate. As an aside, I have never owned an electric dryer because they cost more to operate. Jim

Reply to
Jim

Not if you have time-of-use electricity billing and use it during off-peak times...

Reply to
Dave Hinz

But not everyone is able to schedule doing his laundry at 2:30am...

Reply to
Doug Miller

Whatever you do, if toller posts any sort of recommendation, run, don't walk away from it.

Reply to
LRod

Listen to LRod; he knows everything.

Reply to
toller

Yes, but. I would put in a more appropriately sized breaker and the appropriate connector. And remember, that third wire *is not* an equipment ground, but the neutral.

Probably.

Reply to
Wes Stewart

Uh, how do you figure that? While the stove *may* have used the third wire as a neutral (under an NEC exception for many years), the circuit and outlet have no way of knowing what's plugged into it, and the third wire is connected to the ground bus back at the panel. Even if it's tied to the "neutral" bus, unless the panel is a sub-panel, the neutral and ground busses are tied together anyway.

No, with no stove (or dryer) connected, that third wire is definitely an equipment ground.

Or were you just funnin' us?

Yeah, especially if the 120V line he's plugged into is the least bit wimpy.

Reply to
LRod

You're being too hard on him, LRod. He's actually answered a couple of electrical questions correctly in a.h.r. the last few days... by waiting to see what I, or Tom Horne, or a few others, respond, and then posting a "me too".

Reply to
Doug Miller

It already *has* an "appropriately sized breaker" (presuming the stove installation was Code-compliant). The breaker is there to protect the wiring and the receptacle, not the device that's plugged in.

It may not be possible to install "the appropriate connector", as the wiring for a Code-compliant 40A circuit is certainly at least #8, possibly as large as #6 - and the "appropriate" 20- or 30-amp receptacle is unlikely to be rated for use with wires that large.

It's a neutral in a 240V electric range circuit only because electric ranges contain both 120V and 240V equipment, and the 120V control circuits need the neutral. If you connect a pure 240V load such as a 240V motor to this circuit, there is no neutral, and the third wire is the equipment ground.

Reply to
Doug Miller

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