220v Extension Cord for New G1023SL

[Hank Keller]

I'm taking delivery of my new grizzly this wednesday and in preparation have purchased 22 feet of 4 wire 10 gage water resistant wire along with a plug and socket. Will the 10 gage wire be okay?

Next thing to get is the mobile stand at the woodcraft store during my trip up to detroit this weekend.

Thanks.

[Hoa Dinh]

First off, I'd just skip the extension cord. I'd rather replace the supplied cord with a longer one. It is cleaner, safer, and probably cheaper (1 long cord + a plug vs a short cord + a plug + a socket).

You don't need 4-wire cord because there is no neutral. There are only 3: hot, hot, and ground. For 3 HP motor, 10-gauge is more than sufficient.

IIRC, the plug in the photo is for 120V, 20A plug. I think 240V, 20A plugs have two horizontal bars, not one horizontal and one vertical (I'm writing this totally based on memory. There is a good chance that I'm wrong here).

Edited to add: I was wrong about the plug (I warned you, right?). The plug and socket in question are 250V, 20A. The plug with two horizontal bars is 250V, 15A. Mike Cutler has the correct answer.

[Joe Mioux]

Do you really need a 20 foot 220v extension cord? And I would think that 4 wire is unnecessary.

Someone, here, will give you the proper answer, but I would think that you might be better off with half that length for your saw.

Just my uneducated .01

Joe

[Rick Christopherson]

All of the above comments are correct, including the comment on the plugs you bought. It is OK to use the 4-wire cord, but you just won't use one of the conductors.

Unless you have a specific reason for wanting an extension cord (like for swapping with other tools) I would replace the factory cord with the new cord you bought. In any event, I would not use the 120 volt cord caps, otherwise you could accidently plug the saw into a 120 volt outlet.

New Edit: My mistake. I don't use this forum enough to realize the pictures are just thumbnails that can be enlarged. As soon as I clicked on it, I realized the two cord caps are the correct NEMA 6-20's.

[Mike Cutler]

Hank. That length of cable will do very nicely. Use it as an extension cord, or lug it and replace the cord that came on the saw. Don't worry about the extra conductor. It's not hurting anything, it's just there
Make sure you get the right the plugs and sockets. I'd recomend twist lock plugs. a little more positive engagement.

[CPeter James]

I use L-6 20 twist lock plugs and type "J" cordage. As others said, the extra wire is ok but the wrong plugs a a no, no. I burned up a Milwaukee 1/2" corded drill many years ago while installing some equipment in a new restaurant. I plugged it into a "normal' wall outlet that some numb electrician had wired for 240V and since he did not have the correct plug, just used what he could find. That drill cost $130, 30 years ago and I was P....d! I have standardized on the L-6 20 for all of my 240V stuff and use 20amp breakers with no problem. I have a PM66 3 hp, a Jet 15" planner with a 3 hp motor, and several other things that have smaller motors, 2 or 1 1/2 hp.

CPeter

[Casey Hand]

3 hp motor should be around 15 amps; at ~20 ft 14 gauge is actually heavy enough. 12 is good for 20 amps up to 50 ft and would be what I'd recommend (I run a 3 hp Unisaw and shaper off of 50ft with no noticable difference than if it's plugged right in). 3 conductor is all you need, hots are interchangable. 10-4 will of certainly be fine, provided the plugs are meant to take that large of an OD jacket, could be a real snug fit. Those are the appropriate plugs, have fun getting it in 'em

[Gary Curtis]

I just got a General TS with a 5hp motor. I asked my building contractor to wire my shop for big stuff. Plug access was a problem, and I had on hand a 3 wire "borg" 220 extension cord. It is 12 feet long, with molded male/female 20-amp (rating) plugs. But it is only 12-gauge wire.

I turns out I didn't need it. But 20 amps is certainly big enough hardware for a 3 hp motor. And I agree with the fellow who said "Replace your cord with a longer one, rather than an extension cord". I wouldn't feel comfortable with an extension cord less than 10-gauge, especially if you wanted a 20-foot run.

Gary Curtis

[Mike Cutler]

Are we saying that the plug and receptacle in Hank's picture is incorrect for this application.?

That plug and receptacle in Hank's picture are a 250/20amp plug and receptacle, if I'm not mistaken.

A 120/20amp gives you the horizontal/vertical to the left of a vertical with the ground pin at the bottom. The 220/20amp gives you a horizontal/vertical to the left of a horizontal, with ground at the bottom. They look like the correct plug, and receptacle for the rated application. I would still use twist locks though.

I hope I'm not wrong here, because I have those same plugs and receptacles connected to 5 machines.

Hoa. I believe that two horizontal bars is a 250/15 amp plug/receptacle.

[Rob Russell]

The plug and connector body that Hank has are a mating 6-20P and 6-20C. Those are rated for 20A @ 250V. I can clearly read the lettering on the plug, at least on my computer and that's without going to a NEMA configuration chart. According to what I could find for specs on 10/4 SJOOW, that's about the largest diameter you can fit into the Cooper plugs/connectors.

There is one other option you have for wiring your saw. Use all 4 conductors and put a 3-pole/4-wire grounding plug on your extension cord (2 hots, "neutral" and grounding). Wire in a 3-pole/4-wire grounding receptacle on your wall to plug this into. The plug/receptacles would be 14-20R/P for straight-bladed or L14-20R/P for twist-locks.

Mount a 4 11/16" x 4 11/16" x 2 1/8" deep box on your saw. Buy the cover to mount 2 devices. Install (1) receptacle to match whatever plug is on your G1023SL and (1) 20A/125V duplex receptacle. Use the 2 hots and grounding conductor to feed the 240v receptacle for the saw. Use all 4 conductors and split-wire the 120v receptacle. This would give you a convenient receptacle on your saw to plug in things like a router if you build in a router table to the saw's extension table. Just a thought. If any of the above doesn't make sense - holler.

Rob

[tod evans]

rob, did i read this correctly? are you suggesting pulling a 120v line from one leg of a 220v feed?

[Michael Adelong]

I actually got lucky when changing the 240v outlet in my basement from a range plug to a 220v 15A circuit.

I looked at the BORG for about 2 weeks. They all sell the 240v 15A plug (ground +2 horizontal blades), but they never seem to have the 220/15a outlets. After about 3 weeks of looking, I found 2 of these combination outlets on the bargain table at the BORG close to my office. Looks like I got a great deal, too. Only paid $2 each. I installed 2 of them in one double gang box. Now I have 2 115v and 2 220v 15A circuits in the same box. I highly recommend them for the convenience of running only 1 conduit, and 1 set of boxes around the shop. I didn't look to see if there is a 20A or 30A version of them.

Internally, those outlets are wired exactly as Rob described. The neutral and one of the hots go to the 115v outlet, and the other hot only goes to the 220v outlet. I wish they had 10 of these on that bargain table. I'd love to have 220 and 110 in every outlet in my shop.

For my tools, I have been doing is buying the yellow heavy duty extension cords (12 gauge) from the BORG and cutting the ends off. I then hard wire one end to the tool, and put a plug on the other. Fast and easy. When I priced it out, buying the extension cord & plug was cheaper than the piece parts to build what Hank is building now. I also like the bright yellow color and the fact that the extension cords flex much better than the black rubber coated wire.

Michael

[Mike Cutler]

rob, did i read this correctly? are you suggesting pulling a 120v line from one leg of a 220v feed?

Tod. That was one of the suggestions that I was going to make. It's actually done quite alot. There is even a special receptacle to accomplish this. all of the splitting is done inside.
There are many houses in New England where 220 was pulled up into the attic,or top floor, and split in half to provide 115 throughout the top floor. You do have to be careful about balancing out the loads, and not challenging the ampacity of the neutral return.

Additionally there is a breaker available, I know it as an "laundry breaker". It is 3 mini breakers that occupy the space of a single 220 breaker. It has a 220 breaker, and two 115 breakers seperated out in the molded case. It is used for laundry room applications. 220 for the dryer, 115 for the washer, and 115 for the dedicated convenience receptacle.

[tod evans]

not being an `lectrition i`ve always been told not to pull 110 off of a 220 line? so i just don`t do it unless it`s a jobsite temporary deal. i just wondered if doing this was within code? tod

[Mike Cutler]

Tod. I'm not a liscensed electrician either. I just make the power.
I can't speak to the code, we do have some liscenses here on the board though, but electrically speaking 115 is being pulled off a 220 feed in the breaker panel. All of your 115 breakers are split off of one leg of the 220 with a common neutral return, so to speak. You do have to be careful about the neutral return. It has to be sized large enough to handle the currents.
Code wise though, we'll have to let the experts chime in.