Laundry Outlet?

Hey guys,

I am in the early stages of planning my brew rig and would like to be able to run electric, but the only 240V service I have is in the utility room. I brew in the garage and would have to run a 15-25' cable out of the utility room and into the garage to get to where my rig would be set up. Are there any reasons I wouldn't be able to do this to power a rig?

I have a 20' cord on my rig. I think you might lose a little power from the wire resistance, but mine works fine.

With a large enough wire...you could do a 100' cord, electrical guru to aile one please.

No reason it wouldn't work, with proper equipment.

You didn't ask, but here ya go:
With the caveat that I'm not an electrician by trade and everything I say could be wrong, my understanding is that 30A 240V service across that distance would require 10 AWG wire. Some folks recommend 8 AWG to be safe.

I purchased something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003FOBLHY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 and some L14-30 plugs and receptacles, but you might be able to use something else if have different amperage requirements and/or 3-wire service.

I've also seen heavy duty extension cords labelled as Generator Cables, and saw something equivalent to what I made for ~$75 at Lowe's the other day. It looked to be 10AWG, 25ft, with L14-30 plugs.

Don't forget to wire in a spa panel (available at Home Despot or Lowe's) or inline GFCI: http://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/wiring-hot-tub-spa.htm

EDIT Look at what Kal and sweet sounds say.
always go bigger to minimize the voltage drop. cause your paying for the power when it enters your house, the more distance it goes, the larger the voltage drop. I found this http://www.csgnetwork.com/voltagedropcalc.html to calculate the loss. your cord isn't much of a deal unless its over 30 feet ish. but depending on where it is in your house and if they were logical where they have the utility closet vs the meter. Its probably already at least 30 feet but may be up to 100 feet already. Also a larger diameter cord may help decrease the demand placed on it preventing it from over heating. particularly if you have large loads going on for a long time. But as the last post said I wouldn't go without a GFCI.
Good luck and be safe

Look at Kal and sweet sounds below. better advice.
I would also check your circuit breaker, and make sure the total amperage is well under that breakers limit. You may want to buy a slightly bigger breaker for that outlet, as long as your panel is rated for it.

tfrost12 said:

Also a larger diameter cord may help decrease the demand placed on it preventing it from over heating.

Click to expand...

If there is any chance of the wire overheating to the point where it is unsafe then it was not installed correctly. Using a larger wire to make up for an incorrect install is also incorrect and should not be done. Install it correctly, to your national/local code specs and use 10 gauge.

10/3 wire with ground is perfectly adequate for any sort of reasonable distance you'll use in a house.

Using 8 gauge is most certainly not required for the lengths discussed here.

Yes, 8 gauge will cause a slightly lower voltage drop than 10 gauge but it's not an issue. The voltage drop in both cases is normal and expected. Don't worry about it. The extra volt you're losing by using 10 ga instead of 8 ga on a 50 foot run (for example) is irrelevant.

tfrost12 said:

I would also check your circuit breaker, and make sure the total amperage is well under that breakers limit. You may want to buy a slightly bigger breaker for that outlet, as long as your panel is rated for it.

Click to expand...

I think you mean to say "as long as your wire is rated for it". A breaker is used to protect the wire. It is matched for the wire. You should NEVER install a larger breaker without also increasing the wire diameter to match accordingly.

That being said, you'll likely NEVER see (say) 10/3 wire (30A) installed in a wall protected by a 15 or 20A breaker. So while I'm generalizing, cases where you can safely replace a breaker with a larger breaker are slim to none. It should not be done.

It has nothing to do with whether the breaker panel is rated for it.

Kal

Kal,

Thanks much for your post on this matter.

No problems. I originally ignored it too but then came back and posted since it's extremely dangerous/incorrect advice.

Kal

I would look at the wire connecting the outlet to the panel, and use that.

Someone may have already improperly wired a 50 amp breaker to a 10 gauge wire and 30 amp receptacle.

In other words, do you due diligence, and verify that you have the right amperage breaker, connected to the proper gauge wire, to the correct receptacle on the wall, and then use the appropriate connectors and wire to go from there to your brew rig.

While you're at it, replace the breaker feeding that receptacle with a GFCI so you don't have to worry about inline anything. You'll be protected at the panel.

One other thing to look at:
How far is it from your main panel to your brew rig? If you have the space in the panel, you can just install a 50 amp GFCI breaker, to a receptacle right under the panel, and run a longer SJ cable to your brew rig.

If it's over 100' I would use 8 gauge for that run.

SweetSounds said:

I would look at the wire connecting the outlet to the panel, and use that.

Someone may have already improperly wired a 50 amp breaker to a 10 gauge wire and 30 amp receptacle.

In other words, do you due diligence, and verify that you have the right amperage breaker, connected to the proper gauge wire, to the correct receptacle on the wall, and then use the appropriate connectors and wire to go from there to your brew rig.

While you're at it, replace the breaker feeding that receptacle with a GFCI so you don't have to worry about inline anything. You'll be protected at the panel.

One other thing to look at:
How far is it from your main panel to your brew rig? If you have the space in the panel, you can just install a 50 amp GFCI breaker, to a receptacle right under the panel, and run a longer SJ cable to your brew rig.

If it's over 100' I would use 8 gauge for that run.

Click to expand...

This is more towards what I am getting at. Never assume things were done correctly in the first place. I have seen 12awg connected with 30 and 50 amp breakers, or the opposite of 8awg connected with with 25 amp and so on. If it is possible without tearing out drywall, make sure (particularly if your home was a planned development project ex MI homes, Ryan Homes, etc.) the proper breakers were used, and the correct wires were installed. I have seen that at the end of some project electricians run out of their 8 or 10 gauge and size it down because having to buy more comes right out of their pocket. I really like the idea if you know what your doing connect the 50 amp GFCI and make the receptacle underneath the panel so you know exactly what is going on. You could still use a 30 amp to do that as well.

Kal - your right, my advice before was a little off. thank you for correcting me.

SweetSounds said:

If you have the space in the panel, you can just install a 50 amp GFCI breaker, to a receptacle right under the panel, and run a longer SJ cable to your brew rig.

Click to expand...

BINGO! (if the panel isn't already full)

Hello I got kind of the same question. I also am in the early stages of building my system.I was wanting to take the oven 220 plug and disconnect it and use it for the garage. My electrical panel is in the garage and I think it would be easy to just cut the right line to move it. I use gas to cook and do laundry now anyways. I just want to be safe about it.

Do you need to use the slot in the breaker box for the oven, or do you have room for another breaker for the proposed garage line?