240V Plug Adapter Question

Bühlmann

Bühlmann

North Lake Forge
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
475
I just took delivery of a Jen-Ken VAB-21. It has a NEMA 6-30P plug. My shop is wired with NEMA 6-50R receptacles. Is there any risks or problems with using an adapter vs. swapping out to a 6-30R receptacle at the outlet closest to where the kiln will live?
 
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Everything get sorted out with the shipping fiasco?

That seemed pretty quick, I hope it went well.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
Everything get sorted out with the shipping fiasco?

That seemed pretty quick, I hope it went well.
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Yes. Jen @ Jen-Ken was on the ball & made the repair a priority. They buried in orders, building each kiln to order and in batches by model, but they were able to replace the damaged banding & bricks and get it back on a truck in less than week. I hope to fire it up either tomorrow or Sunday. I'm pretty excited!
 
Bühlmann said:
Yes. Jen @ Jen-Ken was on the ball & made the repair a priority. They buried in orders, building each kiln to order and in batches by model, but they were able to replace the damaged banding & bricks and get it back on a truck in less than week. I hope to fire it up either tomorrow or Sunday. I'm pretty excited!
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That's Super Awesome!!!
I'm excited for you too. haha Please keep us posted. and if you run out of steel to treat? ;P
 
Don’t save money on electrical. Some good advice here. Later, you will forget what you did…so, do it right 😁👍
 
LCoop said:
Probably cheaper to change out the receptacle. Then change the existing breaker from a 50amp double pole to a 30 amp double pole.
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I get changing out the receptacle..... But I think you should leave the breaker alone.
(I'm not an electrician)

The breaker isn't there to protect your equipment, it's to protect the conductor/wires in your wall.

It's ok having stronger rated wiring and breakers than the receptacle (outlet)

NOT the other way around! :)
 
Crag the Brewer said:
I get changing out the receptacle..... But I think you should leave the breaker alone.
(I'm not an electrician)

The breaker isn't there to protect your equipment, it's to protect the conductor/wires in your wall.

It's ok having stronger rated wiring and breakers than the receptacle (outlet)

NOT the other way around! :)
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If you swap your 50A receptacle for a 30A without changing the breaker too, you will have a receptacle only rated for 30A but with 50A of overcurrent protection. Your receptacle would burn before the breaker trips.


Bühlmann said:
Ok. That's what I am concerned about. Thank you!
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If you change the 50A outlet to a 30A, you will need to change the breaker to a 30A.
 
Oops, I missed that.
sailfish was right and Loop and I were wrong - you should change the plug/cord.


Incorrect post removed.
 
I agree that replacing the 50 amp recept with a 30 amp recept and leaving the 50 amp breaker in place isn't code complaint. With a 30 amp recept you can't pull more than 30 amps so the recept would be ok with the oven only. The problem would be if somebody cut a 50 amp plug off a 50 amp load and put a 30 amp plug on. That would be pulling 50 amps thru the 30 amp recept which would overhead the recept without tripping the breaker and be bad. That's what the code is trying to prevent.

A properly designed 50 to 30 amp adapter would have 50 amp internals to prevent that from happening. I'm sure a Chinese designed 50 to 30 amp adapter built by the lowest bidder in China would be built that way.😀
 
WOW. A breaker is designed to protect your wiring, your house or shop from having a catastrophic failure due to a direct fault current CAUSED by your appliance. Its not meant to protect or save your appliance. Your appliance any appliance is tested by UL to be able to handle a certain load under laboratory tests for the amperage it's tested at. If your appliance is rated for 30 amps and you supply it with a breaker of 50 amps that's a HUGE difference no matter the wire size. With that same reasoning I could run 100 amps to a receptacle to a standard house hold toaster and I should be fine as long as I'm only connecting a toaster that draws only 15 amp. TRUST me the difference of a direct current fault is HUGELY different from a 100 amp breaker to a 15 amp breaker. Just as it is from 50 amp to 30 amp.

As far as buying some Chinese adapter that does this that is not UL rated you MAY be perfectly fine. Trust me if you ever have a fire and your insurance adjuster sees only the bare metal contacts after the rubber burns away from the adapter to your appliance you will never get your insurance money even if it had nothing to do with the fire. I've seen this personally when a home burns down and the plastic electrical box burns away around a junction and all that's left is wires looking like it was a flying splice. Try explaining that to your insurance adjuster it was done correctly but all they see is a "flying" splice. Been there done that. If a insurance adjuster or fire marshal can't determine the cause of the fire 90% of the time they blame faulty wiring.

No Stacy I am not wrong. The correct way is to change the receptacle to 30 amp and change the breaker from 50 to 30. IF you want to keep the 50amp receptacle make a pigtail that plugs into the 50amp receptacle that goes to a fused disconnect with a 30 amp receptacle.

I hate to say this but most folks have no clue how much of a arc flash is produced from a 20 amp direct fault. I recommend do a search arc fault currents and arc flash. I don't recommend but you can do a home test. You can easily test your self with a full face shield, tested insulated gloves, arc flash clothing or totally cotton clothes, No polyester clothing or poly blend clothing. A direct ground fault from a 20 amp direct fault is IMPRESSIVE. Now consider 50 amps. The molten copper spray that hits you is or should be scary. Again do not do this at home test, just google arc flash.
 
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