Adding Garage Heater 30AMP 240V

[CJW]

My panel is full, but I have a 50 AMP 240V Breaker feeding a metal outlet box that I use for my welder. My welder only needs 20 AMP 240V, so could I split the circuit by simply using wire nuts and connecting a 10/3 wire for 30AMP 240V that would feed the heater to the 6/3 wire coming from the 50 AMP breaker and dog tailing a 12/3 wire for 20AMP 240V to feed the welder??

 

[pattenp]

No you can't. You can replace the 50A outlet with a small sub panel and have a 30A breaker and a 20A breaker for the two outlets.

 

[G_P]

The breaker protects the wiring. Putting 10ga wire on a 50a breaker could easily cause a fire as 10ga not capable of carrying 50a.

Is there any way you can use some tandem breakers on some of the existing 120v circuits to free up some space in the panel?