diy heat treat oven

[Cushing H.]

Maybe it is my home and shop, but I have no 15 amp circuits. Everything is wired with 12 gouge and larger wires.

OUr house has lots of 15amp circuits. 20 amp only goes to the kitchen, the small space I call my shop, and another room where we had plans to maybe locate exercise equipment. Notably - the garage is on a 15 amp circuit (which causes problems for me if I ever get going on heat treating). We renovated some of those spaces something like 17 years ago. Maybe standards have changed in the intervening 15-17 years???

 

[Natlek]

You really have a problem with electricity. Who knows how much it would cost you to switch to 220/380 ?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Our house was built in 1990. The shop was built by me last year. Maybe it was just the builders' choice.

 

[A.McPherson]

You really have a problem with electricity. Who knows how much it would cost you to switch to 220/380 ?

For the whole country? Hundreds of billions of dollars, plus the cost of all the appliances, computers, tvs, etc...

 

[Nick Curtis]

Maybe it is my home and shop, but I have no 15 amp circuits. Everything is wired with 12 gouge and larger wires.

I wish more places were built like that! Current standards are 15A in houses and 20A in Commercial. In fact, you can't use the quick stab in wire receptacles with 12g wire. Most tract homes will be mostly 15a circuits. whether you had them upgrade or someone else did, it was a good move.

Either way, OP, you are probably best off if you can ensure you are using a 20A circuit by checking the breaker size DON'T CHANGE IT IF ITS NOT, and then look at the wire running to the receptacle if its visible. Yellow jacket Romex is 12g (what you want) White jacket is 14g (only good for 15a). This only applies to relatively new wiring, as 12g used to be white as well and you could have cloth of some kind depending on the age of your house. Chances are you are best off running a dedicated circuit. 240v will work so much better for this application anyways.