On 11/03/2013 10:23 AM, woodchucker wrote:
On 11/2/2013 12:26 PM, Stormin Mormon wrote:
On 11/2/2013 10:43 AM, wrote:

Have you seen air conditioners plugged into 50A circuits? I didn't
think so.

Yes, actually, I have. I did so, once. No, thinking about it, twice.
Would you like to hear the details?

I would.

Twenty or so years ago, I heard of apartment complex that was pitching
out a load of old 220 VAC air conditioners. I asked, and was given them.
Hauled a bunch, and stored them behind a friend's house. Find out these
don't sell very well. That summer was hot, and humid. A couple of the
LDS missionaries were really miserable in the heat. I tapped a wire off
their 50 amp range socket, to power the wall AC which I put in the
window. Ran a 14-2 WG wire from his range socket, and put the necessary
socket on the end of that. Did a similar thing for another friend, who
was not LDS. I'm sure it's not to code, but it did make for some more
comfortable people. These have long since been taken apart, and you
can't prove a thing!

Definetly not to code. That 14-2 wire is 15 amp, your 50amp range means
that the breaker would never trip.


Easier and safer if they already have dedicated circuits for window
shakers (common in some older houses; I had one at the window in the
hallway upstairs at my last house) is to just replace the 15 or 20A
single breaker with a two pole, move the wiring to the new two pole
breaker (white "neutral" is now a hot leg, put a ring of tape around
each end) and replace the 120VAC recep with the appropriate 240VAC
recep. done and done, easy, and like I said, safe (and to code.)

nate

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