Wire Size For 30 Amp 240 Volt Circuit
For example plugging a heater rated for 20 amps into a 15 amp circuit wired with 14 gauge wire poses a distinct danger.
Wire size for 30 amp 240 volt circuit. 4 is bigger in size than no. The most common household item that requires a 30 amp circuit is a central air conditioner often people living in rvs use 30 and sometimes 50 amp systems to run all the appliances in the vehicle. Take your instructions or derated amps number and round up to the next larger size of 30 40 or 50. You need to know the length of the wire run and the load current that will be on the circuit.
Aluminum wires come in different types. For a maximum of 30 amps you ll need a wire gauge of 10. 6 is only good up to 40 amp. Wire size chart and maximum amp ratings.
Aluminum wires are rated differently than copper wires. A typical 240 volt 30 amp circuit includes a double pole circuit breaker which has two terminals for the two hot wires. The smaller the number on the wire the larger the wire diameter. Now size your breaker and wires.
A 240 volt 3 wire receptacle has three prongs two hot and one ground to accept a 3 prong plug. Should the circuit breaker fail to operate correctly that heater will draw more current than the wires can safely handle and could heat the wires to the point of melting the insulation around the wires and igniting surrounding materials. Types thwn and rhw are the most commonly used ones. It is harder to make mistakes with the 50 amp 120 240 volt installation but people do screw things up.
Many times the 30 amp 120 volt service is confused with the old 3 wire 120 240 volt appliance service. 40 x 1 25 14 3 50 14 3 67 amps. Even if you purchase the correct tt 30 receptacle it may get wired incorrectly with 2 hot lines. To determine the load add up the wattage of all electrical devices that will be on the circuit and divide this total by the voltage of the circuit usually 120 volts or 240 volts.
To avoid excessive voltage drop select a size wire that will minimize voltage drop. The wire size chart below shows allowable ampacities of insulated conductors rated up to and including 2000 volts 60 c through 90 c 140 f through 194 f not more than three current carrying conductors in raceway cable or earth directly buried based on ambient air temperature of 30 c 86 f. Three pumps of a pump station 30 10 and 1 horsepower are connected to the power source of 460 volts 3 phase. From table 430 150 they draw 40 amps 14 amps and 3 amps respectively.
For every extra 50 feet of cable wire up to 8 normally you upgradeto the next size consult you local codes if your unsure about doubleand triple length runs. So 37 5 becomes 40. For a 50 amp aluminum wire use no 4 awg. That will be the size of your circuit and breaker.
6 is sometimes mandatory for a 200 foot 12 amp run but can be used up to 300 feet on a 12 amp circuit. 30 amp wire size. For instance if the heater was 30 amps multiply that by 1 25 and get 37 5. The minimum wire size for 30a is 10 awg.
The figure we would plug into the calculator would be.