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Old 02-27-2008, 11:22 AM   #32
skypilot
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Manhattan
Posts: 1,144
M.O.C. #1846
Don't know 20 amp from 30 amp from 50 amp but I can tell you when the electrician and I pulled wire for my 50 amp plug at home we pulled two hot lines each of which go to the side of a 50 amp circuit breaker (2 of them - one for each line), the other side of the circuit breaker attaches to the silver bars running down the middle of the circuit breaker panel box.. oh yeah, one breaker is on one side of the box, the other on the other side so they are on separate runs from the panel as well; then we also ran a single (heavier guage wire) common wire and a ground wire -- total of 4 wires run in that conduit. When he hooked them up in the recepticle box itself, one hot, the common and the ground also feed a 20 amp circuit so I can run an air compressor or vacumn or light; that hot then ran to one leg of the 50 amp plug.

The other hot line ran to the 30 amp recepticle and then to the 50 amp; also with common and ground running to the 30 amp as well. I can NOT run 30 amp at the same time as 50 amp; and was warned to not run the 20 and 50 at the same time because I could possibly over draw that particular hot line. Since then I've pulled two more wire (in another conduit) and actually had my favorite electrical contractor separate the 20 and 30 amp recepticles off from the 50; each runs back to its own circuit breaker in the panel. All to code (actually over code from what I was last told) but I feel safer given this is at home -- When we split it out we even put a 'fire' pull outside so that the fire department could kill power to the box if need be -- something that code upgraded some time back but local authorities adopted fairly recently or so I was told.

In any case, long winded discussion to your question - sorry for the length -- but wanted to let you know that there are (or should be) two individual hot lines coming in from distinct circuit breakers feeding each of two legs in that 50 amp recepticle...

Oh my stars (cleaned up my H%ly XXXX Batman comment). -- my Big boss looking over my shoulder wondering what I was doing and he just told me his is a single 10 guage wire running from his panel to one leg of his recepticle and then jumpered across to the 2nd leg --- plus a common and ground...His comment was perhaps that is why he keeps tripping the breaker inside when he turns on his AC and Microwave... or both ACs...
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