220v wire colors

[gumbudah]

i need to set up a 220v circuit. Dont recall what the load is but i think 12 gage will work. So i need a ground and two hot legs. Will std romex with black and white conductors work ordo the make special romex with black red and gnd just for 220v applications?

 

[mrb]

i think the red/black romex is a canada thing. in the US you use regular romex and reidentify the white. how do think 12ga is ok when you dont know what the load is?

 

[rlwhitetr3b]

reidentify the whiteQUOTE]

Do you mean marking black with either paint or tape?
That is what I remember from the NEC.

 

[Falcon67]

reidentify the whiteQUOTE]

Do you mean marking black with either paint or tape?
That is what I remember from the NEC.

Yes - I use a Sharpie to color the ends of the white wire on both ends. That's on like a 220 no neutral motor run.

 

[Norcal]

For 220V wire colors, hot is brown & neutral is blue, & it's 50 hertz. If you want color choices for the US market & 240V you can use any color but green, white, gray, or orange , those colors are the only specified colors in the NEC, any other is trade practice for 240V if in conduit trade practice would be black & red, if using a 2 wire NM cable, re-identify the white as black,red, or blue & one is good to go...

 

[tfi racing]

They make romex just for 240V. Red and black conductors.

True,but there is no requirement to use it.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Red shrink tubing.

 

[ranger_dood]

When I wired my stove, the 12/3 romex that I ran had White, Red, Black, and green.

To The OP - you need ground, neutral, and 2 hots. Standard 12/2 romex is not enough... you need 12/3, which has a total of 4 conductors (they don't count ground).

 

[mrbreezeet1]

OP what are we wiring up?
I don't think enough information was given to know if he needs a neutral.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Orange is normally used for 277/480. Never heard you could not use it for anything else?

 

[mrb]

theres something about orange for high leg. most new 277/480 installs are using yellow purple brown

 

[theoldwizard1]

To The OP - you need ground, neutral, and 2 hots. Standard 12/2 romex is not enough... you need 12/3, which has a total of 4 conductors (they don't count ground).

Not true ! There are some, admittedly few, applications where a neutral is not required !!

Your stove requires a neutral because it has some items that run on 120v; timer, light, igniter.

 

[mrb]

what the heck kind of stove is 20 amps 120/240?

 

[Norcal]

Orange is normally used for 277/480. Never heard you could not use it for anything else?

Orange is required for marking the high leg of a 120/240V delta system.

 

[nehog]

what the heck kind of stove is 20 amps 120/240?

(My thoughts too!)


A really itty-bitty stove?

 

[jvitez]

For 220V wire colors, hot is brown & neutral is blue, & it's 50 hertz. If you want color choices for the US market & 240V......

Am I the only the one that found that really funny? Good one Norcal.

 

[gumbudah]

The load is my Ever Eternal EE6503 car lift. On the plate it says 220V 1 ph 60 hz 2.2kw. That means to me a double breaker, and a 10 amp current, so 12 gage should be ok. The lift itself has three conductors, a white black and a white with green. So, I've got it hooked up with the white and black to hot legs and the white/green to ground on a test basis. Seems to work fine.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The load is my Ever Eternal EE6503 car lift. On the plate it says 220V 1 ph 60 hz 2.2kw. That means to me a double breaker, and a 10 amp current, so 12 gage should be ok. The lift itself has three conductors, a white black and a white with green. So, I've got it hooked up with the white and black to hot legs and the white/green to ground on a test basis. Seems to work fine.

Yep, it should work fine !

However, electricians or inspectors looking in your panel box and seeing a white wire hooked to a breaker will certainly pause.

Red shrink tube or red permanent marker.

 

[nehog]

Yep, it should work fine !

However, electricians or inspectors looking in your panel box and seeing a white wire hooked to a breaker will certainly pause.

Red shrink tube or red permanent marker.

Or most inspectors will accept black tube or black marker. Personally I don't recommend tape, as most of the cheap tape we see today falls off after a few months of sitting. If you use 3M tape (I recommend 88 for marking wires, it is thin and doesn't build up too much) it will last longer.

 

[1Garageman]

(My thoughts too!)


A really itty-bitty stove?

I wonder if the stove in our new camper runs off of 120v?

I know that kind of out of wack from the conversation here, but that is the only kind of stove I can possibly think of that would be a 120v.
Camper's a 30amp hookup by the way.

 

[rlitman]

Or most inspectors will accept black tube or black marker. Personally I don't recommend tape, as most of the cheap tape we see today falls off after a few months of sitting. If you use 3M tape (I recommend 88 for marking wires, it is thin and doesn't build up too much) it will last longer.

88 is their thicker tape (my personal choice), and is only in black.
33 is the thinner version of the same (also only in black).
35 is the same as 33, except in colors other than black (if you want to mark in red, green etc.).

 

[eriksalo]

Orange is required for marking the high leg of a 120/240V delta system.

There aren't many high leg delta systems around anymore but Article 110.15 of the 2005 NEC says that the high leg should be orange. Since the modern NEC defines this, you should stay away from Orange.

 

[Norcal]

There aren't many high leg delta systems around anymore but Article 110.15 of the 2005 NEC says that the high leg should be orange. Since the modern NEC defines this, you should stay away from Orange.

You sure of that? PG&E loves 240/120V delta for AG services, there are some PoCo's phasing out those services but there are others where they are quite common.......

 

[mrb]

here in socal you cant get wye service unless you have your own transformer. Everything is 120/240D or 240D and a seperate 1ph 120/240 service.

 

[fefarms]

Here in Portland, Oregon the local utility just loves open-delta three phase. Typically there is a 50 KVA center tapped transformer operating from the primary "A" to ground plus a 5 or 10 KVA transformer from primary "B" to ground. There is no connection to "C".

At the panel you get "3 phase". Phase A and C are 120 volts to ground and phase B is 208 volts to ground. All your single phase loads are connected to phase A and C, with your three phase loads picking up the B phase. It works ok in an environment where the bulk of the loads are single phase, with a modest amount of three phase.

The feeder or service entrance at the panel has to have the b-phase marked with orange tape, and then any 3 phase feeders emerging from the panel also have the b-phase marked with orange.

In this environment it is wise to stay away from orange wires except where needed for the 208 volt b-phase.

 

[Norcal]

Here in Portland, Oregon the local utility just loves open-delta three phase. Typically there is a 50 KVA center tapped transformer operating from the primary "A" to ground plus a 5 or 10 KVA transformer from primary "B" to ground. There is no connection to "C".

At the panel you get "3 phase". Phase A and C are 120 volts to ground and phase B is 208 volts to ground. All your single phase loads are connected to phase A and C, with your three phase loads picking up the B phase. It works ok in an environment where the bulk of the loads are single phase, with a modest amount of three phase.

The feeder or service entrance at the panel has to have the b-phase marked with orange tape, and then any 3 phase feeders emerging from the panel also have the b-phase marked with orange.

In this environment it is wise to stay away from orange wires except where needed for the 208 volt b-phase.

Any breaker connected to the high leg MU$T be rated for 240V, a standard 120/240V slash rated breaker cannot be used as the voltage exceeds the lower of the 2 voltages, 3 pole are rated @ 240V, 2 pole 240V rated are rare & costly, but if one is used a 2 pole breaker can be used on the high leg & any other phase for 240V single phase loads, such as motors & electric resistance heating where no neutral is required.