3 prong 50 amp plug to 4 prong 50 amp ????
We lost a good camping friend last night to a sudden heart attack and will be going up to their place to help out with the family/wake/funeral. He has a 3 prong 50 amp outlet on side of garage which ...
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msmith1199,
Electricity must travel in a complete circuit. The ground wire SHOULD NOT be part of that circuit. The neutral is part of the circuit. (One of those three wires coming into your home that Ivylog mentions is the neutral, the two hots are the other two. Together, they form a complete circuit for the electricity to travel.) Since the ground wire, under proper conditions, has no electric potential across it, there will be no current through it.
SHOULD there be a fault at the appliance end, the ground wire is there to safely conduct that current to a good ground in the breaker panel so that the errant current DOES NOT flow through the operator. Once current flows through the ground wire, there WILL BE a voltage drop across it (Ohm's Law). That's why any other appliance connected to that ground on that branch is now a hazard, because the ground potential on that branch has been elevated.
Not sure if that helps at all. Hopefully it'll clear things up a bit.
The problem with this is that the neutral in this other circuit is probably 14, possibly 12 gauge and it should be 6 gauge for most 50A circuits. Therefore, you're still dealing with an undersized conductor, but it does at least keep the ground circuit intact.
~Rick
Electricity must travel in a complete circuit. The ground wire SHOULD NOT be part of that circuit. The neutral is part of the circuit. (One of those three wires coming into your home that Ivylog mentions is the neutral, the two hots are the other two. Together, they form a complete circuit for the electricity to travel.) Since the ground wire, under proper conditions, has no electric potential across it, there will be no current through it.
SHOULD there be a fault at the appliance end, the ground wire is there to safely conduct that current to a good ground in the breaker panel so that the errant current DOES NOT flow through the operator. Once current flows through the ground wire, there WILL BE a voltage drop across it (Ohm's Law). That's why any other appliance connected to that ground on that branch is now a hazard, because the ground potential on that branch has been elevated.
Not sure if that helps at all. Hopefully it'll clear things up a bit.
Ivylog wrote:
I guess you could run a neutral wire out of the 4 outlet box and plug it into your standard three prong 120V outlet so the neutral is still separated (until it gets to the circuit breaker) box if this will make things right.
The problem with this is that the neutral in this other circuit is probably 14, possibly 12 gauge and it should be 6 gauge for most 50A circuits. Therefore, you're still dealing with an undersized conductor, but it does at least keep the ground circuit intact.
~Rick
