GreenEnvy22
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- Sep 17, 2015
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Hi all,
I searched but couldn't find an answer to this particular setup, so just want to make sure I can do what I want to do. My boiler is currently two 1500w 120V elements, want to switch to a single 4500 or 5500w 240v element, for a 16 gal boiler.
I have a detached garage, it has a steel jacketed cable coming from the house in an underground metal conduit. There are red, black, white wires in it, no dedicated ground. I'm assuming the steel jacket is ground. Wires are 12 gauge.
It comes into a cutoff panel, see photo with the two red 20A resettable fuses.
In that cutoff panel, there is a ground screw with a white wire attaches to the box and goes upto the garage panel. So ground i think comes across the metal jacket from house, which grounds that whole cutoff box, ground is then brought to the panel via this white wire (and probably also by the steel jacketed cable going to the panel).
The panel is an old SquareD QO loadcenter. There are two free slots right now (though I could gain an extra one by removing the 120V outlet I added last year for brewing)
I don't see anything in either of these two boxes joining neutral to ground (which is good right, that should only happen in house at main panel?). However I do get tone on my multimeter if I test for continuity between a ground and neutral plug (maybe going all the way back to house).
I also do get continuity when I test ground between house outlet and garage outlet.
So my question is, can I add in a two pole 240V (30 or 40 amp) GFCI outlet to this panel safely? I know I'd need to move the one breaker in there over to get a double wide spot.
I'd then install a 240V outlet beside the panel for my boiler. Do I still have the option of a 3 wire or 4 wire setup for that outlet? Was thinking if I do 4 wire, I can then have a junction box on my cart (wood cart holds my boiler and mash tun so I can easily move out of the way when not using), which will also provide 120v (with it's own breaker in the junction box) for my pump. I have an SCR (not PID, just potentiometer for controlling power) for controlling the heating elements now. If I can only do 3-wire, I'd just have a separate power cord coming for the 120V stuff.
Thanks for any input.
I searched but couldn't find an answer to this particular setup, so just want to make sure I can do what I want to do. My boiler is currently two 1500w 120V elements, want to switch to a single 4500 or 5500w 240v element, for a 16 gal boiler.
I have a detached garage, it has a steel jacketed cable coming from the house in an underground metal conduit. There are red, black, white wires in it, no dedicated ground. I'm assuming the steel jacket is ground. Wires are 12 gauge.
It comes into a cutoff panel, see photo with the two red 20A resettable fuses.
In that cutoff panel, there is a ground screw with a white wire attaches to the box and goes upto the garage panel. So ground i think comes across the metal jacket from house, which grounds that whole cutoff box, ground is then brought to the panel via this white wire (and probably also by the steel jacketed cable going to the panel).
The panel is an old SquareD QO loadcenter. There are two free slots right now (though I could gain an extra one by removing the 120V outlet I added last year for brewing)
I don't see anything in either of these two boxes joining neutral to ground (which is good right, that should only happen in house at main panel?). However I do get tone on my multimeter if I test for continuity between a ground and neutral plug (maybe going all the way back to house).
I also do get continuity when I test ground between house outlet and garage outlet.
So my question is, can I add in a two pole 240V (30 or 40 amp) GFCI outlet to this panel safely? I know I'd need to move the one breaker in there over to get a double wide spot.
I'd then install a 240V outlet beside the panel for my boiler. Do I still have the option of a 3 wire or 4 wire setup for that outlet? Was thinking if I do 4 wire, I can then have a junction box on my cart (wood cart holds my boiler and mash tun so I can easily move out of the way when not using), which will also provide 120v (with it's own breaker in the junction box) for my pump. I have an SCR (not PID, just potentiometer for controlling power) for controlling the heating elements now. If I can only do 3-wire, I'd just have a separate power cord coming for the 120V stuff.
Thanks for any input.