On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 15:54:32 -0500, Nate Nagel
wrote:

On 11/04/2013 03:05 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 09:17:59 -0500, Nate Nagel
wrote:

On 11/03/2013 06:35 PM, Pete C. wrote:

wrote:

On Sun, 03 Nov 2013 15:56:54 -0500, "Pete C."
wrote:


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.

--
Jeff

No different than the 18ga zip cord from your table lamp to the 15A
receptacle possibly on a 20A circuit - the breaker will never trip. The
circuit breaker in the panel is sized to protect the circuit wiring,
*not* the appliance that may be plugged into the receptacle.

Wrong! Code doesn't cover your "18ga zip cord"; beyond its scope. The
outlet is part of the "wiring". It *is* covered by the fire code.

If I put a 50A plug on the cordset to my A/C and plug it into that 50A
circuit it's entirely to code. The permanent wiring and receptacle are
appropriately protected by their 50A breaker, and the cordset to my A/C
is protected by it's internal circuit breaker. There is no code
requirement that an appliance must utilize the full Ampacity of the
circuit it's plugged into.


No, it's still not compliant because you used 14/2 between the range
recep and the new recep. By code it should be a minimum 8AWG.

nate
Except tou cannot legally (or practically) connect a 15 amp
receptacle to an 8 guage wire.


that's correct, it would also need to be a 50A receptacle. You actually
*could* connect a 15A recep to 8AWG wire though - but only if the
circuit were protected by a 15A breaker. You couldn't physically do it
though, you'd have to pigtail the 8AWG to 12AWG or 14AWG in the box.

You might even want to do this in certain circumstances, e.g. wanting to
provide a receptacle in a very far away outbuilding but not wanting to
pay for another service, panel, meter, etc.

nate
Used panels and disconnects are so cheap it doesn't make sense to do
it that way in the real world though. Heck, even a 2 circuit
disconnect NEW is cheap enough to run the heavy wire to the
disconnect, properly protected for the 15 or 20 amp circuit you want
to connect to it, making a code compliant installation. Run the cable
off a double 30 amp breaker or fuse block in the main panel to protect
the cable, and then fuse or breaker the disconnect for the POU load..

Other than a "lug" connector it is pretty difficult to make a good
connection between a 8AWG and a 14 AWG connector. Dad used to use
Burndy connectors for that. (split copper bolt and nut) KS15 or
ks17/ks17-3 wrapped with tape when he needed to connect widely
disparate wires. ALso work good to extend service wires when
installing a new panel where the old wire is too short. (different
sizes for different cables, of course)