240V adapter cord?

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ExHempKnight

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My brew cart has a NEMA 14-30 (L-shaped neutral blade) plug. I will eventually have a corresponding outlet in my basement brewing area, but in the meantime, I would like to plug it into my range outlet in the kitchen.

The problem with this, is that the range outlet is a NEMA 14-50 (straight neutral blade).

My idea is to buy a 4-wire range cord, a NEMA 14-30 outlet, an outlet box, and cover. I would wire the range cord to the NEMA 14-30 outlet in the outlet box, pop the cover on, plug my brew cart into it, and plug the other end of the adapter into my range outlet.

I know the amp rating is different (30 vs. 50). I'll be plugging a 30A appliance into a 50A receptacle. However, the brew cart power cord has it's own inline 30A GFCI.

Any problems with any of that?
 
Disclaimer first: This stuff can kill you make sure you're comfortable and know what your doing before you go f'ing with electricity, it can mess your day up.
Sounds like a reasonable solution, your rig will only pull 30a of the 50a available so no worries there, think of it like plugging a 115watt lamp into a 15a recepticle, the lamp is only going to pull 1a of the available 15 regardless.

Mostly the reason they have these different outlets is so you don't go the other way and plug a 50a appliance into a 30a circuit, which would blow the breaker, or worse, burn up the wires in the wall if the breaker was faulty.

Another, less complicated maybe and less costly defiantly, solution would be to just swap the plug on your brew stand with the appropriate one to plug into the 50a circuit.

Rav
 
Actually, I had a better idea, which will help in the portability aspect of the brew cart:

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That way I can plug into 3 different types of 4-wire 220V outlets: NEMA 14-30, 14-50, and a 30-amp 4-prong twist lock.
 
I do tend to do that from time to time.

Not that I plan on bringing my brew cart to a lot of places other than my basement, but it would be nice to have the outlet flexibility if I choose to do so... Instead of going to a friend's house to brew and ending up with, "ah ****... we can't brew today, you don't have the right outlet."

I'll be able to plug into a range outlet, a dryer outlet, or a twist-lock. And any other 220v outlet configurations that will work (just have to make the appropriate adapter).

More work? Yes. More expensive? Yes. But I'm strangely okay with all that lol.
 
I typically over engineer and think everything, so I understand where you are coming from. I say do it whatever way you are comfortable with.
 
Now I need to research if it's possible to adapt it to 3-wire as well. That would be most awesome.
 
I do need the neutral. Only my heating element is 220... Everything else (PID, mill, vent, 2 pumps) are 110.

I know it can be done, but I would either not have a ground, or lose the functionality of the GFCI when in a 3-wire configuration.
 
you gone pass the neutral of your rig thru the ground of the receptacle? Not a good ideal on rig with water in it.

Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, if you need the neutral, using a three prong outlet is not an option. I was just pointing out that you'll probably run into a lot of houses where that's the only type outlet available - that's the case with my house, and why I designed my system to not need the neutral on the 240 volt connection.
 
I know the amp rating is different (30 vs. 50). I'll be plugging a 30A appliance into a 50A receptacle. However, the brew cart power cord has it's own inline 30A GFCI.

Any problems with any of that?

Yeah, there might be a problem. I didn't think the inline GFI's had over-current breakers in them... just GFI circuits.

It might be RATED for 30A, and not actually providing 30A breaker functionality.



As for your general problem of the L vs | shaped ground prong...

the plug I bought to install on my rig's power cord was rated for 50A, and was configurable. It came with two different ground prongs in the box, one of each shape. I had the option of making it look like a 14-30 or a 14-50.

If you have one of those types of plugs, then you could pretty easily just swap the ground prong with 5 minutes of time and a screwdriver if you ever have to plug into the other kind of outlet.

I'm ore curious about whether your inline GFI actually contains a 30A breaker or is just rated for 30A.
 
I'm using the same power cable as kal: THIS one. It doesn't have a changeable neutral prong. Not sure if it's a circuit breaker/GFI, or just a GFI.
 
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