I'm a serious DIY-er and does little bit electric work on/around my house.
We are getting a new equipments in my garage that requires 220v.
But instead of running a 220v into garage, we got a converter adapter that works with 110v outlet to turn into 220v. But it has to have a 2 110 receptacle that are on 2 different phase.
Does it mean, the both receptacles, need to draw power from the panel each on a different pole?
Best Answer
In the US, most household service is two legs of 120v plus a neutral. You can get 120v between either leg and neutral or 240v. Esteem both legs. In most breaker panels, single-width breakers alternate legs vertically and are opposite legs left and right per row. As you noted, you need to find outlets on breakers on opposite legs.
For example, if the breaker slots are numbered 1-10 on the left and 11-20 on the right, you could use 1&2, 2&7, 3&13 but not 1&3 or 2&11.
Also, these adapters are very dangerous. If you have one 120v plug connected and your 240v load connected but the other plug lose and you tough the prongs on it, you could get shocked. (These devices can be made safe using internal relays but most do not have these.)