220 breakers.

[justin1795]

my wife purchased a tanning bed she said it was 220. I looked it up and it has a nema 20r plug. im assuming a hot on 2 sides and 1 ground. says its only 20 amp. our panel is pretty full can I use a double breaker or do I have to use the normal big 220 breaker? can I just run the outlet with 12-2 wire?

 

[G_P]

You have to use a double pole breaker to get 240v. The big wide double breakers catch both incoming hot buss bars so you get 2 totally separate 120v lines that are 180 degrees out of phase with each other. The skinny space saver two in one breakers only catch one buss bar so you can only ever get 120v out of them. Thats why those tiny double breakers have seperate switches. The 240v breakers will have both levers permanently tied together.

You need to base you wire and breaker size on what the bed draws, not the amperage rating of the plug on the end of the cord. There has to be a tag or plate somewhere on the bed that tells the volts and amps it requires.

 

[justin1795]

ok thank you.

 

[pattenp]

If the manufacturer installed plug on the device is a 6-20P then you need a 6-20R outlet and the circuit breaker can be no more than 20 amps. 12-2 wire is correct for the 20A circuit.

 

[Stuff]

You need to check to see if the bed works with voltages higher than 220. Tanning beds can have bulbs that burn out quickly if used at normal residential 240 volt service. Solution is to install a buck/boost transformer to adjust the voltage.

 

[Aceman]

Like Stuff said, check the nameplate to verify the proper voltage first.

 

[Norcal]

You need to check to see if the bed works with voltages higher than 220. Tanning beds can have bulbs that burn out quickly if used at normal residential 240 volt service. Solution is to install a buck/boost transformer to adjust the voltage.

Thank you for mentioning this, I was going to but never did.


Foreign electrical devices get my goat when they are odd voltages like 220, & are not compatible w/ US supply voltages.