CT 22 plug - or why to clean your garage - which 220v outlet to use

[eightball]

Okay, so here's a good reason to clean your garage - you discover outlets you never knew existed!!

So, got excited because the outlet looked like the plug (without adapter) on my CT22.  I thought my continual trips to the circuit breaker were over!

No such luck turns out the plug is a NEMA 6-20 plug (apparently often used for motel air conditioners - what it's doing in my garage I have no idea).  As far as I can tell this obscure plug does offer 220 and likely a dedicated circuit (though I haven't tested that yet) but on the downside virtually no adapters.

So . . .

I'm thinking of swapping out the outlet for something more useful that I can have a step down adapter for my CT22 so it gets a dedicated circuit.  I currently don't own anything that requires 220v. 

What are people's advice for swapping out this outlet?  Should I ignore the second leg of power and just wire it 120v, label it so I don't forget it could be 220 if needed in the future, and be done with it?

Or is there a better 220v outlet that has readily available adapters that I can use to use it as a 120v circuit for now and a 220v in the future as needed.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Anthony

 

[gkaiseril]

Either get an electrician to split the 220 circuit into 2 110 circuits or do it yourself.

I assume you have the cutoff or fuse box in the garage.

 

[peter halle]

Interesting find!

Hopefully one of electrician friends will pop in. One of the issues in converting down to 120 by ignoring one of the hots and swapping the breaker out to a 120 volt may also be the wire size.

Peter

 

[gkaiseril]

Maybe add a second fuse/distribution box with 2 110 circuits and with circuit breakers and new wiring. One would also might a whole shop lockout.

 

[squarecut]

Your Nema 6-20 receptacle is a 2 wire device rated at 250 volts with a grounding terminal . The grounding terminal is not a neutral. In order to split the existing circuit into two 120 volt circuits as a few posters have suggested the following would have to be in place.

The wiring to the receptacle from your panel would have to be a 3 conductor cable, either armored (BX) or non-metallic (Romex). If it is Romex there will be a 4th bare conductor which is the grounding conductor. If it is armored the metal jacket and a tinned bare wire comprise the grounding conductor.

Because the device is a two wire device I doubt that you will find a third insulated conductor in the receptacle box.

First thing you should do is get a voltage tester & test between the vertical prong & the horizontal prong. You should read anywhere from 240 to 250 volts.
Next, look for  2 pole  20amp circuit breakers  in your panel , flip them off until the outlet is dead. Then you can go about changing the receptacle, circuit breaker and the connections at the panel.

It is important to verify that you have #12awg conductors!

If you are not comfortable going into the electric panel I would strongly advise you to seek help from an electrician!

 

[donwon]

Just for the record, if this was a typical 240 volt circuit you could not split it into two 15 / 20 amp circuits.

Why?  The neutral will not take the load of two circuits in single phase.  Suggest doing one circuit and leave the spare wire.

Good point about checking wire size too!

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Just for the record, if this was a typical 240 volt circuit you could not split it into two 15 / 20 amp circuits.

Why?  The neutral will not take the load of two circuits in single phase.  Suggest doing one circuit and leave the spare wire.

Good point about checking wire size too!

This is not correct. The neutral will carry only the imbalance current of the separate 120 volt circuits.

 

[sgt_rjp]

You'll have to check the cables.  If there is no hidden neutral in there, there is no way to safely change the circuit to 110 without changing the breaker(it may work, but it's not safe, and certainly against code).  Having said that, if you don't want the 220, I would swap the double-pole 20amp breaker with a single pole 20amp(Verify that you've got #12 wire), Move the newly liberated neutral wire(white) wire to the neutral bus bar with the rest of neutral and ground wires.  This should be straight forward, but if you've never done this before, I would recommend shutting off the main before you open the panel.  Make sure all wire and insulation is intact and all connections are solid.

I say that it's fairly straight forward, but if mistakes or accidents happen:  injury, fire, and even death could result.

 

[tjbnwi]

Unless there is a white wire in the outlet, it would be a violation of the NEC  to id. one of the line conductors with white tape. I can't say to would be a code violation, because I do not know where you are located to look up your locations adopted code.

If it is a NEMA 6-20 receptacle, there should be 12 ga. wire to the outlet box to feed the receptacle.

If the neutral is present, it will handle the load of 2 circuits just fine. Again unless properly tied, you may create a code violation. Now all shared circuits must have the neutral tied to the feeders in the panel and use a common handle breaker.

The breaker must be changed, no matter what if you wish to convert this to a 110 volt outlet.

In most of the locations I work, this would all be in EMT. an easy change over.

Hire an electrician.

Tom

 

[gkaiseril]

See Can I convert a 220v stove circuit into two 110v circuits?. Since the circuit comes from a breaker box somewhere, you might be able to convert the single  220v 20 amp circuit breaker to to 2 110v 20amp/15amp circuit breakers and add a neutral white wire if needed. If the garage does not have a kill switch or lockout box, I would look at adding one. It would allow a one kill switch for the garage if needed or for when one is away from home for a long time. I would also look at adding GFCI to the circuit.

If you are unsure or uncomfortable, seek a licensed electrician.

 

[jacko9]

I'm good at woodworking but, I leave the electrical to an electrician.

Jack

 

[batcave]

I advise to keep the 220v plug. Table saws really like them.  [big grin]