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Electrical Wiring

Splitting 320 & adding an outlet

17 years ago

Hi

I have a submersible well pump that runs on 320. I want instell an outlet on the pole next to the fuse box to power a milkhouse heater or a lightbulb in the well pit. It has an old style fuse box with the 2 fuses that look kind of like AA batteries. There are 2 poles in the box. 3 total wires come into the fuse box. 1 goes to each fuse and 1 goes to the center and screws into an alum block.

Questions

1. Can I just run 1 wire from the center alum block and 1 from one side (fuse) out to the new outlet 2 total wires or do I do something different??

2. Will adding this change the power going to the Pump in anyway that could hurt it??

3. Will this be 160V then and will it work with any regular appliance since its not 120??

Appreciate the help.

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Comments (4)

bus_driver
17 years ago
Exactly how was your existing voltage determined?
leadfooter
Original Author
17 years ago
I meant to say 230 sorry about that.
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kurto
17 years ago
By reading your post, I believe you have a "fuse box" that has two hot leads and a ground coming in. This is exactly what is needed for your pump. However, an outlet would need a neutral as well, which you don't appear to have.

Even if you did have a neutral, there are two other problems here. First, if this branch circuit is fused at more than 20A, you can only have a single device on it. Any attempt to put any additional loads on this circuit would be a code violation. Secondly, the fuses and the circuit are probably rated to handle only the pump. Any other load would cause the circuit to fail.

I think it's time to run a new circuit.
DavidR
17 years ago
Theoretically it's a violation to connect anything else to the circuit, and the right thing to do is to install a separate circuit for heat.

However, if all you need is perhaps a 75 watt light bulb, that's a pretty small load. If the present feed has sufficient capacity and the installation is done in a safe manner, I doubt that you'll have any problems. What you want to do is fit a small subpanel at the pumphouse, to feed the existing shutoff for the pump, and a 240 volt, 15 amp receptacle for your lamp. Please read the FAQ on subpanels for more information on how to do this.

You don't have a neutral, so you will need to buy a 240 volt incandescent lamp. You can get one here if your local electrical supply doesn't have them.

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