"WConner" wrote in message
news:JMhvf.6482$Yc2.4004@trnddc04...
A son has a garage that is about 25 ft. from his house. Previous owner ran
a direct burial 2-12 w/ground wire to it. It is a 20a 110v circuit. I am
wondering about changing it to 220v by using the ground wire as the
neutral, white wire to one side of the breaker box, black wire to other
then putting down a new ground rod out from the garage and running a new
ground wire from it for ground in the garage making 220v and 110v available
so he can do some modest shop work??

Like everyone else, I would advise you to not be so cheap and do it
properly; not to mention legally.
But, if you put all the 120v stuff on GFCI outlets, I can't see it is
particularly dangerous. The GFCI would prevent ground loops; so the major
problem would be that the neutral is a potential shock hazzard, but I have
legal (well in 1982 when the were installed) "uninsulated neutrals" and they
haven't caused any problems. But of course, my cables say "uninsulated
neutral" all over them, so no one working on them would be surprised; yours
wouldn't.