The two double breakers (one taking up slots 5 & 7, the other in slots 11 & 13) are for 220V. Usually those are for your dryer, stove or air conditioner. If one is not being used for anything, it could certainly be used for your jointer. They're both off in your pic, so I have to wonder what they are supposed to be for.

You also have empty slots, so could add another breaker and run new wire for your jointer it they are in use.

 

They aren't in use. This panel is only for my shop and I powered them off because one was for a lift that is no longer there (previous owner) and the other is just bare wires running to a closet.

 

Electric panels usually have two parallel rows of tabs that run from the main breaker (or lugs in a sub panel). The breakers have slots that fit over these tabs. A breaker that contacts only one tab is "single pole" and provides 120 volts. A breaker that contacts a tab from each row is "double pole" and provides 240 volts.

 

Looks like a double pole 220v breaker to me. You have two bus bars in the center and that sucker should cross both of them. Did you say bare wires? I'd get an electrician out there to look at all of it.

 

I talked to my electrician friend and bought what I need to make it work. I will need to replace the breaker with a double pole 20 amp but that's no big deal. The existing wires are fine, but just were coiled up in a closet. I noticed that when we first bought the house and turned the breaker off to them. I'll wire them into the outlet I just bought and replace the breaker and I should be good to go.

 

Curious as to why you will downsize the breaker instead of just using the 30A ones that are already there.

Cheers,
Brad

 

Because the Jointer is rated for 15 amps. According to my friend the electrician you should never oversize your breakers. It risks a panel fire. The 20 will allow it to pull a little extra at startup like they tend to do but be in the proper range.

 

curious how a bigger breaker, with proper gauge wire, and something pulling less on it (the 15amps you mentioned) would risk a panel fire?

With that thinking, you risk panel fires on anything in your house not pulling available amps; lights, your alarm clock, cable box, etc etc.

Unless my logic is flawed, which i'm open to being shown.

Ev

 

I think his point is that the breaker won't trip if the machine pulls more than it is supposed to because some sort of failure. I guess that would be more likely to cause a fire on the machine itself. I probably just misunderstood

 

According to my friend the electrician you should never oversize your breakers. It risks a panel fire.

If the existing 30amp circuits were wired correctly (ie: proper size wire), then downsizing your breaker gives you no benefit at all, and will actually limit future use if you want to plug in something bigger down the road.

The breaker is not there to protect the machine (or whatever you plug into the outlet)... it's there to protect the wires in the wall. Otherwise, like Ev said, you should downsize all those 15A wall outlet circuits that only have a 1 amp desk lamp or .5 amp alarm clock plugged in.

Cheers,
Brad

 

You may be right but if the electrician says it's not a good idea, then I'm going to take his word for it. I can easily put the bigger breaker back in someday if I need to.

 

What certification does your electrician have? He should know better as Mr. Unix said.

Hmmm, I don't have much confidence in your 'electrician friend.'

I do RV park electrical setup for the pedestals and also RV electrical work.

At an RV park each pedestal is set up at the main panel with a 50 amp 2P2T breaker. From there it travels to the pedestal where, (normally), there is a 50 amp, 30 amp and 20 amp breaker and receptacle.

Dallas

 

Ok I see your point. To be fair I went back an reread exactly what he said. Here it is verbatim:

Me: My jointer plug says 15 amp and the breaker is 30 so is that ok?

Him: Some people would hook it up . but your wire to your jointer is probably good for 20 amps not a good idea to put it on a 30 amp . never good to over size breaker. fire Hazzard.

 

^ That makes it sound like the wire that was run from the breaker isn't rated for 30amp, so he's suggesting you go down to 20amp to get in the proper range of what the wiring is rated for. I 100% agree if that's the situation. Possible he also meant the power cable for the jointer too, not sure given the context exactly, but either way it sounds like he's suggesting to downsize breaker to get under the safe amperage of the wires in question.

 

I think he was referring to the wire connected to the jointer. The wires from the box are beefy as all get out.

 

Either way, the context provided makes it more clear what he meant, I think.

 

I talked to my electrician friend and bought what I need to make it work. I will need to replace the breaker with a double pole 20 amp but that s no big deal. The existing wires are fine, but just were coiled up in a closet. I noticed that when we first bought the house and turned the breaker off to them. I ll wire them into the outlet I just bought and replace the breaker and I should be good to go.

- Shane

Smartest thing you did all week!!

 

The jointer's plug/cord doesn't really come into the equation, so long as you've got the proper wire coming from the breaker box. If it's 10AWG wire, leave the 30amp breaker on there. If it's 12AWG wire, switch the breaker to a 20amp one.

 

One thing that's being missed is what type of outlet is on the 30A circuit. I hope it's a 30A rated outlet, if so then the jointer is not going to plug into it. You can't change the outlet to a 20A outlet without changing the breaker to a 20A. So to keep the 30A outlet you either change the plug on the jointer to 30A or use an adapter, both of which I don't recommend.

 

He's almost certainly going to have to change the plug on the jointer anyway, so he might as well just stick a 30A plug on it to match the breaker/receptacle.

 

He s almost certainly going to have to change the plug on the jointer anyway, so he might as well just stick a 30A plug on it to match the breaker/receptacle.

- jonah

He doesn't have to change the plug on the jointer and shouldn't. The correct thing to do is to downsize the breaker to 20A and install the proper 20A outlet to match the factory plug on the jointer.

 

He s almost certainly going to have to change the plug on the jointer anyway, so he might as well just stick a 30A plug on it to match the breaker/receptacle.

- jonah

He doesn t have to change the plug on the jointer and shouldn t. The correct thing to do is to downsize the breaker to 20A and install the proper 20A outlet to match the factory plug on the jointer.

- WhyMe

But, then again, a 20 amp receptacle will not accept anything more than 12 gauge wire.
Also, according to NEC, IIRC, a 30 amp circuit may be carried on a 12 gauge wire if it is less than forty feet. I may be wrong, it has been awhile since I checked the book.

 

He s almost certainly going to have to change the plug on the jointer anyway, so he might as well just stick a 30A plug on it to match the breaker/receptacle.

- jonah

He doesn t have to change the plug on the jointer and shouldn t. The correct thing to do is to downsize the breaker to 20A and install the proper 20A outlet to match the factory plug on the jointer.

- WhyMe

That's a correct thing to do. Another is to match the plug to the existing outlet and to leave the breaker alone. That's also significantly cheaper than buying a new breaker and receptacle.

 

But, then again, a 20 amp receptacle will not accept anything more than 12 gauge wire.
Also, according to NEC, IIRC, a 30 amp circuit may be carried on a 12 gauge wire if it is less than forty feet. I may be wrong, it has been awhile since I checked the book.

- Dallas

#12 pigtails can be used to fit 20A outlet. 30A circuit needs #10. No forty foot or less allowance.

 

Use the #10. It's the largest size you can land on a recepts screws last I checked.

Buy 2pole 20a breaker and 20a 250v recept.

Work some wood.