Wondering if anyone has attempted this. I have a 240 line to my hot water heater in my man cave adjacent to my brewing room. Looking into utilizing a rotary switch that will allow me to temporarily redirect current from water heater to a 240 outlet while brewing. Current would only go to one device at a time. I would have a line coming out of the rotary switch and go directly water heater. Then I would have another line going to a 240 outlet that I would plug my Anvil in for 240v.
You should have a ground fault interrupter in the circuit for your home brewery. I ran a new, separate circuit for my electric brewery with a GFCI at the breaker panel. It pulls about 24 amps when either the HLT or the BK are running, according to the Auber controller - both never run at the same time.
The Anvil Foundry won’t pull many amps on 240V, so there are things you can do. You could have a GFCI at the water heater circuit in the panel, already. Alternatively, if your water heater already has a switch, you can run it off of the water heater circuit and install a GFCI inline. I think that the best solution is a separate circuit that is GFCI protected at the panel (or subpanel).
Brian at Short-Circuited Brewing offers an interesting work around to cutting off the mfg. plug and tying into a 240V outlet with a jumper as well as the inline GFCI:
I have made a GFCI adapter that will plug in at an outlet so I won’t need to install a GFCI breaker. I’m just wondering if there is an available switch similar to what you would see on a boat that you can switch from one battery to another or both. However, obviously this switch would need to be suitable for 240v
I am thinking that this might be part of my solution. I would use this switch to redirect current from water heater while brewing and direct to an alternate line to a 240V outlet. Amazon.com
I just unplug the dryer and plug in my extension cord going to my induction cooktop.
If we’re talking about non-code conforming solutions, had anyone thought about wiring up two plugs that go into two different 120v circuits that are on different sides of the panel?
For reasons I don’t totally understand, I’m told that’s not a good idea.
I would be concerned about making sure that there is GFCI protection, whatever you do. I had an electrician wire my subpanel and outlet connection to make sure the GFCI breaker was working right. It wasn’t beyond my understanding, but my wife convinced me to get a pro involved. At least she can get to sleep at night and it only cost me a few bucks, as I bought all of the material involved.
That switch looks like it would work fine and it is rated for 690V, so it should handle the situation from the 240V aspect.
AFAIAC , neither is your original idea.
The best way to understand it is, split-hots (i.e. 2 120V breakers sharing a common ground in a single circuit) may not trip both breakers if there is a short. At 120V that will hurt you, but probably not kill you. The outcome in the panel is indeterminate which means it is dangerous. At higher voltages this is a good way to get killed.
We have found 2 instances of this being done in my son’s house by previous owners. If someone starts to work on those circuits (i.e. not the guy who installed it wrong) and only kills one breaker, the circuit is still hot and he won’t that until it bites him.
Please don’t violate code when doing electrical work.
Bad outcomes can happen even when everything is done correctly. Doing it wrong intentionally is just asking for trouble.
Paul
Denny can you elaborate?
For anyone who is thinking about using two 120VAC circuits to create a 240VAC circuit, the hot legs are not split between the left and right sides of the distribution panel (a.k.a. breaker box). They are split every other single-pole breaker space on both sides of the distribution panel. That is how a two-space two-pole breaker can provide 240VAC service. On the surface, it is looks like the left-hand side is on one hot leg and the right-hand side is on the other hot leg, but that is not how things work. One needs to find a circuit on an even number 120VAC breaker and a circuit on an odd number 120VAC breaker. The breaker with the lowest amperage sets the amperage limit for the combined circuit.
What Paul said. If it ain’t code, don’t do it.
I’m not an electrician. Just a guy looking for new and novel ways to burn his house down as a way out of the pandemic. Don’t try this at home kids.
I have a gallon gas can 1/2 full and a lighter for ya, whats your location?