Is 220 over 12 gauge wire ever legit ? I had a live 220 plug (per the
tester) in the garage of a house I recently bought, one of those with
weird prongs but not anywhere near the size of a dryer plug. It had
about 4 extra miles of wire that led to a junction box that connected
to a switch that also had some 3-way component to it. I ripped it all
out cause it was ridiculous and served no purpose.

Of course, that's why they make those "weird" outlets. Compressors, air
conditioners, shop equipment, large portable heaters, and lots of other
things use 20 amp 240 volts


wrote in message
ups.com...
Is 220 over 12 gauge wire ever legit ? I had a live 220 plug (per the
tester) in the garage of a house I recently bought, one of those with
weird prongs but not anywhere near the size of a dryer plug. It had
about 4 extra miles of wire that led to a junction box that connected
to a switch that also had some 3-way component to it. I ripped it all
out cause it was ridiculous and served no purpose.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Is 220 over 12 gauge wire ever legit ? I had a live 220 plug (per the
tester) in the garage of a house I recently bought, one of those with
weird prongs but not anywhere near the size of a dryer plug. It had
about 4 extra miles of wire that led to a junction box that connected
to a switch that also had some 3-way component to it. I ripped it all
out cause it was ridiculous and served no purpose.

Ripping it out was the right thing to do. 4 miles of wire just won't work!

In article . com, wrote:
Is 220 over 12 gauge wire ever legit ?

Of course it is. For residential wiring applications, wire size depends only
on the current (amperage) and not the voltage. 12ga wire can be used for
either 15 or 20 amp circuits, at either 120V or 240V.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Doug Miller wrote:
In article . com, wrote:
Is 220 over 12 gauge wire ever legit ?

Of course it is. For residential wiring applications, wire size depends only
on the current (amperage) and not the voltage. 12ga wire can be used for
either 15 or 20 amp circuits, at either 120V or 240V.
.....

Or even, w/ most cable, 408/440V.

For OP, as someone else noted, wire size is for the ampacity, not
voltage. It is the insulating quality that determines the voltage
rating, not the size of the wire. Virtually any cable manufactured
since Romex was invented will be rated for at _least_ 600V (which, if
you'll look, you'll probably find stamped on the jacket of the wire you
removed).

BTW, the extra length, while perhaps not the neatest installation,
probably also had absolutely no bearing on the adequacy of the previous
installation. Sounds like it might have been a temporary and the
person used the remainder of a roll of wire rather than to whack it up.
Think about how long the wiring is in the rest of the house and it
probably won't be such a revelation...

(BTW, Doug, I'm not preaching at you here, but just convenient spot to
amplify for OP, who hopefully will come back...)

Thanks all, I learned something today. The rest of the install was so
messed up that even if I had a need for 220 out there, I would have
wanted to redo it. My inspector missed the extra several feet of
wiring just tucked into the eaves. And the use of a light switch above
the garage door (7' off the floor) to somehow control the outside
lights, though I'm not sure how.

Also, if you're taking notes, running romex on top of a board in your
garage eaves and holding it in place by laying a piece of drywall on
it, is not the best way to secure it.

When amateur electricians get inventive we do some crazy things.

There's no problem with the extra wiring or the switch above the door.
That's why it was "missed" because it's not a problem.

--
Steve Barker


wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks all, I learned something today. The rest of the install was so
messed up that even if I had a need for 220 out there, I would have
wanted to redo it. My inspector missed the extra several feet of
wiring just tucked into the eaves. And the use of a light switch above
the garage door (7' off the floor) to somehow control the outside
lights, though I'm not sure how.

Also, if you're taking notes, running romex on top of a board in your
garage eaves and holding it in place by laying a piece of drywall on
it, is not the best way to secure it.

When amateur electricians get inventive we do some crazy things.

wrote:
Thanks all, I learned something today. The rest of the install was so
messed up that even if I had a need for 220 out there, I would have
wanted to redo it. My inspector missed the extra several feet of
wiring just tucked into the eaves. And the use of a light switch above
the garage door (7' off the floor) to somehow control the outside
lights, though I'm not sure how.

Also, if you're taking notes, running romex on top of a board in your
garage eaves and holding it in place by laying a piece of drywall on
it, is not the best way to secure it.

When amateur electricians get inventive we do some crazy things.

Nothing you've described so far comes even close to "crazy" in the
sense of being any safety hazard whatsoever. I'd suspect from the
sounds of it the previous owner probably had a reason for the switch
being where it was, and as for a few extra feet of wire coiled up in an
eave space and the wire tucked up out of the way, as previously noted,
it was in all likelihood done that way on purpose w/ the idea of being
able to move the outlet at some future time. I've many such similar
"features" in shop/barn/shed areas as we speak (although I will admit I
don't have anything being held anywhere by a piece of drywall ) ,
but doesn't sound like the situation you describe would be any worse if
the wire were simply laying there. If there's no access, I don't
believe there's any code requirement that the wire be fastened.

Not that neatness isn't a desirable trait and is quite important for a
whole-house installation and has advantages even in adding a branch
circuit, lack of it doesn't by and in of itself, constitute a hazard.

On 18 Dec 2006 20:15:37 -0800, wrote:

Thanks all, I learned something today. The rest of the install was so
messed up that even if I had a need for 220 out there, I would have
wanted to redo it. My inspector missed the extra several feet of
wiring just tucked into the eaves. And the use of a light switch above
the garage door (7' off the floor) to somehow control the outside
lights, though I'm not sure how.

Maybe he didn't want his kids or an intruder turning off the lights.
Or maybe he just didn't want to run more wire to put the swich closer.
One could use a 3 foot stick, maybe with a hook on the end, to flip
the switch up and down.

I put a light over my work bench and a switch for it on the wall in
the middle of the bench. Now I have an excerize device in the middle
of the room and it's inconvenient to go around it all the time to turn
the light off. So I use a 3 foot stick.