Electrical expert needed...

ok guys i figured shit out so hoefully i can UNconfuse everyone lol.... the previous wire that was spliced into the 220 was a 10awg with a ground, make sence? they hooked the 2 powers up to the 220 and the bare wire (ground) was under a screw. i talked to the guy at good ol home depot and ha said i should have a 8 awg wire from the splice to the sub panel ( i bought a 70a 2 space sub panel) so im gonna hook the black and red to the powers and the bare wire im securing under a screw and the neatural im hooking up to this pipe clamp i have and securing that to the cold water pipe, because from what ive been told the neautral is basicaly another ground, please let me know if im wrong on anything ....and the 2 lines running from the sub pane lill hook up how there suppost to, and im running 12 gauge from that (yellow coating).....sound good or am i planning on doin something wrong?

ok guys this is my attempt to make this a little more visual lol drew it up on paint but i think itll help alot...

this is a drawing of where the 2 220 lines are connected together the 220 line on the right is the older style one that has just the 2 wires in it thats why the ground is under the screw....any advice/ input would be great, thanx again guys for the input so far

STOP-STOP-STOP.....GO BACK TO START... --------------------------------------------------------


What you are saying is now contradicting what you first were doing...
I assumed that at least the last Electrician did it right...Sounds like I was wrong...


If you have only 3 10awg wires [black/white/ground] at your outlet location, do not turn it into a sub panel...
And it was hooked to a 60 amp breaker-WTF....
Use this for your circuit guide...
14 awg is legal to 15 amps [only hook to a 15 amp breaker]
12 awg = 20 amp breaker
10 awg = 30 amp breaker [by NEC you can only hook it to a 30 amp breaker] Yes, it can handle loads of up to 40 amps, but that's it..
8 awg = I would only go to 40 amp breaker to be safe...
6 awg = I would only hook to a 50 amp breaker to be safe [bigger wire less resistance, less heat generated]


Size your wire to the proper connected load...


also learn and use ohms law:


watts divided by volts= amps


volts X amps = wattage


watts divided by amps = volts


always add up all your connected load to calculate your total load

amrcngror said:

View attachment 2556235ok guys this is my attempt to make this a little more visual lol drew it up on paint but i think itll help alot...

this is a drawing of where the 2 220 lines are connected together the 220 line on the right is the older style one that has just the 2 wires in it thats why the ground is under the screw....any advice/ input would be great, thanx again guys for the input so far

Click to expand...

where are your ground wires connected in that pic ?
in your 220 in line?

So, if you are saying, that it is an ungrounded, straight, 220, two wire old wire then stop, do not use if this is your input 220 volt line side!

It is only good for straight 220 vac no ground can not be turned into 110 vac and it has no ground.... unsafe... no ground copper bare wire and nutral/white which you need to make 120 vac...

Take your home depot stuff back, and put a blank cover on that sheiot...

Sand4x105 said:

STOP-STOP-STOP.....GO BACK TO START... --------------------------------------------------------


What you are saying is now contradicting what you first were doing...
I assumed that at least the last Electrician did it right...Sounds like I was wrong...


If you have only 3 10awg wires [black/white/ground] at your outlet location, do not turn it into a sub panel...
And it was hooked to a 60 amp breaker-WTF....
Use this for your circuit guide...
14 awg is legal to 15 amps [only hook to a 15 amp breaker]
12 awg = 20 amp breaker
10 awg = 30 amp breaker [by NEC you can only hook it to a 30 amp breaker] Yes, it can handle loads of up to 40 amps, but that's it..
8 awg = I would only go to 40 amp breaker to be safe...
6 awg = I would only hook to a 50 amp breaker to be safe [bigger wire less resistance, less heat generated]


Size your wire to the proper connected load...


also learn and use ohms law:


watts divided by volts= amps


volts X amps = wattage


watts divided by amps = volts


always add up all your connected load to calculate your total load

Click to expand...

ok i said there WAS a 10awg wire hooked up to that spot....now its an 8awg and the breaker i switched to a 40a, like the guy at home depot said too and i explained to him what i had and he said i was going about it right he told me to use the 8awg wire from the splice which i did and to switch the 60a to a 40a which i did......so i dont understand whats wrong????

amrcngror said:

the previous wire that was spliced into the 220 was a 10awg with a ground, make sence?

Click to expand...

No! Nobody knows what "with a ground" or "old style 220v wires" mean. I think it is 2 conductors in a metal jacket where the jacket is ground but you would have to have turned that into neutral to get 120v and that would be dangerously wrong. You need 4 wires to run back to the service panel. You don't connect neutral to a waterpipe and you don't use it as a ground unless you are certain it is properly earthed (no you aren't). 2 hots for 220v, they can share a single neutral for out of phase 120v lines and just run the ground all the way back to the panel. 4 WIRES OR DIE!

Muffy, you know, if it's old school 2 wire MC with the M in the MC as the LOL ground....it is not connected somewhere...
Like Muffy says: 4 wires or die...
Your drawn diagram shows 10 awg 2 conductor without a white or ground....
YOU CAN NOT USE THE GROUND AS YOUR NUETRAL YOU CAN NOT USE YOUR BOX GROUND AS YOUR GROUND IN A 120 VAC HOOK UP... WHEN YOU LOOSE YOUR MAKESHIFT GROUND/NUETRAL YOUR LIGHTS WILL SURGE, THEN BLOW, THEN SMOKE... THEN...

amrcngror said:

View attachment 2556235

Click to expand...

Tell them to put this diagram on your head stone....
Note: You are not allowed by code to grab a neutral/white off your cold water pipe, good place for a ground though...
All ground in the house tied together.... All white/neutral are only allowed to be combined with the hots where they go to the 'field' from the panel...
My worst unexpected shock was when the last electrician tied all the neutral wires together in a j-box... it was a remodel, the owner had to leave his power on, and I was shocked on a neutral back fed from another live circuit left on. The neutral on a 120vac circuit tied to the cold water pipe is the worst idea ever

Go buy new everything and start from scratch. That 10awg sounds sketchy hahaha.

lol yea im gonna just fuckin start over, these fuckin idiots i been talkin too, id like to smackem hard fast and repeadedly...im so pisst right now.....well thanx guys look like i got some plannin to do....i didnt really wanna run new wire from the box back to the room cuz its a long stretch like 40 ft foe sure, but im scratchin this idea and startin over, fuck its gonna be expensive but worth it....Thanx a ton guys i wish one of you lived close so i could have you help me lol....peace for now ill keep you guys updated

Just buy 220v equipment. How many watts do you need?

Muffy said:

Just buy 220v equipment. How many watts do you need?

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yea i actually had my buddy come check out my shit and we found out that the water pipes have a ground grabed to them and run to the ground bar in the main panel and he made a couple adjustments so he said its fine for now until i get my money and then im gonna buy 8 gauge wire to run from the panel all the way back to my sub panel, will be some extra work but thats what i think the best thing i should do....and we also found out its hooked to a 30 amp breaker not a 60 wtf lol i was lookin at the wrong breaker, the 60a one is for my stove lol....but thats what i plan on doin guys, i cant wait for my taxes to come on the 27th so i can fix it right

If it ain't broke don't fix it.