What Wire For 220v Circuit

How to wire a 220 volt appliance circuit.

What wire for 220v circuit. Installing an additional 220 volt circuit should be done according to local and national electrical codes with a permit and be inspected. 220 volt circuits aka 230 volt or 240 volt are used to supply power to appliances which draw high currents such as clothes dryers ranges ovens cook tops heaters air conditioners rotary phase converters and water heaters. Wiring a new 220 outlet is a project that someone who has experience working with electricity can do safely by working carefully and following the proper precautions. A 3 wire 240 volt circuit has two hot wires each supplying 120 volts for a total of 240 and an equipment ground wire.

Then at the outlet remove the 220 v outlet and install a 120 v outlet. The wiring will stay the same as long as you had a 20 amp circuit before and you stick with 20 amps or had a 15 amp circuit and stick with 15 amps in 120 v. Some 220 volt appliances do not require a neutral. The minimum wire size is 10 gauge but appliances that draw 50 amps such as stoves require 8 or 6 gauge wires.

If you don t already have a 220v outlet installed you will need to wire a new one where you want to install the appliance. However the neutral wire is needed if a 220 volt appliance has features that run on 110 volt power such as a clock or a light. A 220 volt circuit doesn t need a neutral wire. Common sizes include 14 12 10 8 6 and 2 gauge wire.

In doing so you will disconnect the white wire from the old breaker and connect it to the common bar. A 120 volt circuit has only one hot wire connected to the breaker plus a neutral wire connected to the neutral bus bar in the service panel. Wire is sized by the american wire gauge awg system. Each of the hot legs acts alternately as the hot and neutral as the electricity changes direction 60 times a second.

Wiring residential homes with 240 volts is a necessity for powering some heating and cooling equipment as well as some large appliances. Most 220 volt appliances have heating elements that are designed to use 220 volts for fast heat production. No matter what appliance you are wiring for any 220 circuit has three elements. Because of the higher voltage 220 volt circuits conduct more current so to prevent overheating you need wires with a larger diameter than you do for 110 volt circuits.

To understand how a 240 volt also known as 220 volt household circuit works you should first know a little bit about how a regular 120 110 volt circuit works if you are at all familiar with residential electrical wiring then you probably already know that in most cases appliances and fixtures connect to three wires. The 220 volt circuits as they were known prior to the 1960s are now commonly known as 240 volt circuits and 110 volt circuits are now 120 volt circuits.