Can you wire a second 240V receptacle into an existing 240V circuit?

[Firethorn]

What did you wrap it with?

Electric wrap.  It's like electrical tape without the adhesive.  Sticks to itself like that crinkle wrap that people sometimes use instead of ace bandages today.

I did one line at a time, not touching the lead, doing my best not to ground myself just in case.  By only doing one line, I only had to really worry about 120V, not 240V as with both.

[Tallpine]

When I had to fix the meter socket at our old house, the "switch" that power company used to turn off the service was a pair of bolt cutters. 

Then they spliced it back together (hot!).  This while standing on the roof of my carport.

[Matthew Carberry]

When I had to fix the meter socket at our old house, the "switch" that power company used to turn off the service was a pair of bolt cutters. 

Then they spliced it back together (hot!).  This while standing on the roof of my carport.

Well yeah.  They're professional union electricians.

They're the only ones professional enough to use bolt cutters... <ZAP>

[Firethorn]

When I had to fix the meter socket at our old house, the "switch" that power company used to turn off the service was a pair of bolt cutters. 

Then they spliced it back together (hot!).  This while standing on the roof of my carport.

 

I think I like my electrical wrap better...

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i shut off an underground 200 amp service with a digging bar once. made an impression

[Nick1911]

240v 9-ft South Bend lathe in garage, tied to 240v clothes dryer outlet on other side of garage wall? 

(Not saying I have or haven't done this...)

Thanks Gewehr.  Now I have precise-timekeeping AND Lathe envy. 

(On a side note, how the heck did you move that thing into your garage?  I moved my mill with an engine hoist, but I haven't figured out how to move a big, old, American lathe into a residential garage...)

[ilbob]

I don't get all freaked out by working near hot leads anymore (if I have to) but I don't know I'd want to try to unhook a main power cable.

What did you wrap it with?

You probably should get freaked out by working on live equipment. A fair number of electricians die every year from doing just that and presumably they know what they are doing.

[Firethorn]

You probably should get freaked out by working on live equipment. A fair number of electricians die every year from doing just that and presumably they know what they are doing.

I know about electricity, I actually have some training on the stuff.  Just not a professional electrician.

What probably gets the electricians killed is complacancy.  I was very attentive when I was moving those wires.  Any other work I turn the bloody juice off for.

[Leatherneck]

Live box freaks me out. And mine at the cottage just got the underground service today, says Leatherness. (She's spending the week at the river "to keep an eye on things" Uh, Huh.)

The HVAC guys still have four 220V breakers to install, but all my wiring in the box is done. Just imagining myself slowly sparkling into oblivion, attached to that unfused 300+ Amp service gives me shudders. Fear transcends apprehension.

TC

[Nick1911]

Live box freaks me out. And mine at the cottage just got the underground service today, says Leatherness. (She's spending the week at the river "to keep an eye on things" Uh, Huh.)

The HVAC guys still have four 220V breakers to install, but all my wiring in the box is done. Just imagining myself slowly sparkling into oblivion, attached to that unfused 300+ Amp service gives me shudders. Fear transcends apprehension.

TC

I'm sure it's fused somewhere 

That said, the resistance of your body is probably low enough to make your blood boil, but still far too high to trip a breaker at a substation. 

[Azrael256]

What probably gets the electricians killed is complacancy.

Yup.  I had to coordinate quite a bit of electrical work at a previous job.  All the electricians told me that almost every shock they had received came from not checking every wire every time.  That, and coworkers playing pranks.  Evidently 120 is funny to electricians.

Rule #1 - Always treat the wire as loade... er... live, until you have inspected it for ammu... er... current.

[AmbulanceDriver]

*heh* reminds me of when I was just a high school geek.  Was helping a guy out one day, he was rewiring an office and asked me to come give him a hand with gutting out the old stuff.  No problem, says I....

We get there, and most of the work was already done.  Just needed some old conduit cut out for where it was gonna go in the new locations.  I asked him 3 times if the breakers were all off.   "Oh yeah.  Everythings off."

So he hands me a hacksaw and I start to saw on this one conduit.  I get about three quarters of the way through when "BANG!"  flash of light in the conduit, and the hacksaw blade now has a chunk missing out of it.

I look at him.  Show him the hacksaw.  "Everything's off, huh?"

He's lucky I didn't chase after him with that hacksaw......

[280plus]

That's ok, my old friend Bill was a plant electrician. Wired one leg of three phase to ground in a disconnect box. My other friend Lester turned it on and the thing blew up in his face. He was real mad at Bill but he didn't get hurt. The next day Bill was working in the bricking dept. 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

its not usually the shock that hurts ya  its the fall off the ladder

[Matthew Carberry]

I don't get all freaked out by working near hot leads anymore (if I have to) but I don't know I'd want to try to unhook a main power cable.

What did you wrap it with?

You probably should get freaked out by working on live equipment. A fair number of electricians die every year from doing just that and presumably they know what they are doing.

What firethorn said.  I just get very careful.

Like explosives, if you are fearful as opposed to cautious, they'll bite you.

[280plus]

Can you wire a second 240V receptacle into an existing 240V circuit?

Yes, but only by the light of the moon on the fifth of June. 

[Firethorn]

So he hands me a hacksaw and I start to saw on this one conduit.  I get about three quarters of the way through when "BANG!"  flash of light in the conduit, and the hacksaw blade now has a chunk missing out of it.

As a teen I was moving into my new bedroom, that the previous owner of the house had slopped paint all over the outlets.  Obvious fire hazard, so I get mom to get me the necessary replacement outlets and covers (less than $6, not a big deal).

I flip the breaker off, tell mom I'm changing the outlets.

I'm working on the second outlet, turning the screwdriver.  Have a nice grip on the outlet with the neutral and ground connected, working on the hot.  Mom goes into the utility room to do some laundry, sees the flipped breaker and flips it on.  Fortuantly when I twitched from the electricity I prompty shorted the outlet back out with the screwdriver.

Then sat there for a minute or two before yelling at mom.

Lockout/Tagout is there for a reason!

[Matthew Carberry]

Live box freaks me out. And mine at the cottage just got the underground service today, says Leatherness. (She's spending the week at the river "to keep an eye on things" Uh, Huh.)

The HVAC guys still have four 220V breakers to install, but all my wiring in the box is done. Just imagining myself slowly sparkling into oblivion, attached to that unfused 300+ Amp service gives me shudders. Fear transcends apprehension.

TC

I'm sure it's fused somewhere 

That said, the resistance of your body is probably low enough to make your blood boil, but still far too high to trip a breaker at a substation. 

Hey, those big substation fuses are expensive.  It's all a cost/benefit thing.