john in la
Well-known Member
Was at a friends house today in his shop ie man cave what ever.
Long story shortened.
Since the walls do not have sheetrock I noticed a 110 plug.
It has a wire running from a 110 plug to this 110 plug to a 220 plug.
I asked what is this.
He said the 110 window A/C unit kept tripping the breaker so another friend installed a different plug for him.
So I looked it over.
He has a 14 gauge wire running to the shed for a 110 plug and a couple of pull string lights.
It has a hot neutral and ground.
He has a 10 gauge wire running to a 220 plug I think he uses for a air compressor.
It has 2 hots and a ground.
Both these wires run back to a mobile home electric pole with proper breakers.
So far so good.
Now it gets interesting.
The 110 A/C was tripping the 15 amp breaker with the 14 gauge wire.
So they installed a new 110 plug.
They ran a 12 gauge wire from this plug and tapped into one leg of the 220 plug.
They then ran a 12 gauge wire and tapped it into the 14 gauge neutral wire.
I do have to applaud them though as they did use a neutral wire rather than a ground wire.
So tell me the good bad and ugly of this setup.
Way I see it the breaker on the 220 wire may have a hard time tripping if this A/C unit has a problem.
But mostly I would be afraid of using a 14 gauge neutral wire on a A/C that most likely needs 12 gauge wire and a 20 amp breaker.
Long story shortened.
Since the walls do not have sheetrock I noticed a 110 plug.
It has a wire running from a 110 plug to this 110 plug to a 220 plug.
I asked what is this.
He said the 110 window A/C unit kept tripping the breaker so another friend installed a different plug for him.
So I looked it over.
He has a 14 gauge wire running to the shed for a 110 plug and a couple of pull string lights.
It has a hot neutral and ground.
He has a 10 gauge wire running to a 220 plug I think he uses for a air compressor.
It has 2 hots and a ground.
Both these wires run back to a mobile home electric pole with proper breakers.
So far so good.
Now it gets interesting.
The 110 A/C was tripping the 15 amp breaker with the 14 gauge wire.
So they installed a new 110 plug.
They ran a 12 gauge wire from this plug and tapped into one leg of the 220 plug.
They then ran a 12 gauge wire and tapped it into the 14 gauge neutral wire.
I do have to applaud them though as they did use a neutral wire rather than a ground wire.
So tell me the good bad and ugly of this setup.
Way I see it the breaker on the 220 wire may have a hard time tripping if this A/C unit has a problem.
But mostly I would be afraid of using a 14 gauge neutral wire on a A/C that most likely needs 12 gauge wire and a 20 amp breaker.