Who's rewired their house for this hobby?

Tothwolf tothwolf at concentric.net
Sat Nov 22 18:33:23 CST 2014


On Sat, 22 Nov 2014, Peter Corlett wrote:

> I don't own anything that draws more than 13A, but if I did, I'd hook it 
> into the cooker circuit which is good for 40A (or 9kW).  While it would 
> be somewhat unusual, it is still legal and safe for a DIYer to do that 
> without getting a professional in.  As it happens, I *have* tapped into 
> the cooker circuit, but only because it was the most convenient supply 
> for some white goods and not because I needed the current.
>
> Besides, doesn't the USA also have fairly chunky 220V cooker circuits? 
> I'd just dive in with a reel of twin and earth and be done with it. 
> The only hard bit is to do it in a tidy enough manner to not get a 
> bollocking off the missus.

NEMA 14-30, 240V 30A, 4-wire, clothes dryers
NEMA 14-50, 240V 50A, 4-wire, electric ranges
NEMA 10-30, 240V 30A, 3-wire, clothes dryers
NEMA 10-50, 240V 50A, 3-wire, electric ranges

In the US, with systems installed before 1996, it is common to find NEMA 
10 3-wire devices which lack a ground (earth) pin. As of the 1996 NEC, new 
installations should be using NEMA 14 4-wire devices. With NEMA 10 
devices, the practice was to bond the metal frame of the appliance to the 
neutral wire. These older installations are still allowed for existing 
circuits only (with some very specific restrictions) per 250.60 "Frames of 
Ranges and Clothes Dryers" (1996 NEC), later renumbered to 250.140 in the 
1999 NEC.


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