I'd like to add a heat lamp in my pump house, it's a 120 volt 250 watt heat lamp, the 1 hp pump is wired for 240 volts going to it from a 30-amp double pole breaker, 2-120 volt white wires and a black ground wire attached to the pump frame but the pump is not grounded just attached to a 2" PVC outer well pipe? So is there a good way to hook a 120 volt light up to this without running another 120 volt circuit to the pump? I've seen it done a lot but I know just enough about wiring to know I need advice on this. And yeah I could hire an electrician but if it's very simple I think I can do it. Thanks
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OT: Safe way to add a 120 volt heat lamp to a 240 volt water pump circuit?
- Thread starter Cuda
- Start date
- Replies 66
- Views 21,268
Here are a couple of ideas:
Buy a 220V bulb, wire between hot legs.
Buy two 125W heat lamps, wire in series between hot legs.
Wire a 220-120 step down transformer, power from there.
Wire from hot leg to pump ground - while this will work there are good reasons not to do it.
Buy a 220V bulb, wire between hot legs.
Buy two 125W heat lamps, wire in series between hot legs.
Wire a 220-120 step down transformer, power from there.
Wire from hot leg to pump ground - while this will work there are good reasons not to do it.
Lakeside53
Stainless
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2007
- Location
- Woodinville, WA
Skip the lamp if its just for heat - put a 240 volt 250 (or whatever) watt heater though it's own fuse or breakers.
And.. no matter what you read in the internet, don't wire a 120 volt bulb from a hot line to ground. Sure it will work, but you or someone else might die.
And.. no matter what you read in the internet, don't wire a 120 volt bulb from a hot line to ground. Sure it will work, but you or someone else might die.
moonlight machine
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2007
- Location
- marysville ohio
White wires - 240v? White is supposed to be neutral, not hot. Black for ground? your kidding, right? Black is never used for ground on a 120 / 240 volt AC circuit. Green is always ground. Sounds like this thing was wired by an amature. I would be careful, you never know what else is screwed up, it may be lethal.
anoldcrank
Banned
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2014
- Location
- Saint Louis
This is funny. I have the exact same problem. Went to put a light on the pump and found there is only 240 there.
Ok, it's been awhile since I looked at it, I was wrong, it has a black and a white hot wire and a bare ground, the motor is what has 2 white wires.
I think I might just get another light and wire it in series, that sounds like the easiest way to safely do it, does it matter if I use 2 different watt lights? Could I use a 250 watt heat lamp and a 120 volt LED to just provide light? 240v heat lamps are hard to find even online!
Both bulbs must be the same wattage, or the higher wattage bulb will see a proportionally larger voltage drop.
As for wiring colors, there are a lot of electrical system components still in existence that predate the NEC. They may not be as safe as a system installed today, but it doesn't mean the electrician was an amateur. But if you are reworking an older system, don't take anything for granted.
The safest way would be to get a 240V to 120V transformer. Get one large enough to run a hair dryer in case the bulbs burn out, 2000 VA or so. That will also allow you to run other 120V appliances if necessary.
As for wiring colors, there are a lot of electrical system components still in existence that predate the NEC. They may not be as safe as a system installed today, but it doesn't mean the electrician was an amateur. But if you are reworking an older system, don't take anything for granted.
The safest way would be to get a 240V to 120V transformer. Get one large enough to run a hair dryer in case the bulbs burn out, 2000 VA or so. That will also allow you to run other 120V appliances if necessary.
kb1cjp
Aluminum
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2012
- Location
- Connecticut
I would not use a CCFL or LED in series. I think either would be missing the point tho because you are looking for heat. They have switching power supplies in them. If you read the fine print on the side some may be safe to use on 240vac, but again this does not help you. If you are going to use the series method use two identical filliment bulbs.
Won't he need a neutral then? Don't think you can use the ground for a neutral.
anoldcrank
Banned
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2014
- Location
- Saint Louis
Are there still 240 volt light bulbs available?
I believe this would fall under the NEC as a "separately derived system" The new neutral and ground get bonded together. Free advice, definatly check it out.
DMF_TomB
Diamond
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2008
- Location
- Rochester, NY, USA
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personally i believe in having everything grounded. had a kiln and a black live wire was touched frame.
i touched frame and basically got a nasty shock. if machine frame is grounded than if a live wire ever
touched it it would blow the fuse/breaker. i am a firm believe in ground wires connected to anything a
person could possibly touch and is not suppose to be live. even driving an extra ground rod 8 feet into
the dirt is better than nothing but ideally it should connect to the ground at the electrical panel too
........ if you use a electrical meter and get any voltage from the ground to any machine or pump frame
you got a problem. you should not measure voltage from a neutral to a ground either. if
you get 120 volts from a neutral to a ground wire you got another problem
crossthread
Titanium
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2004
- Location
- Richmond,VA,USA
tdmidget...if he adds a 220 to 110 transformer he will have his ground. Since it would be an isolation transformer it would be the safest setup. He could ground the fixture to the neutral from his 220 volt line if he wanted to (neutral should be connected to mother earth at the panel) but it would not be necessary since neither side is hot to ground. You would have to try pretty hard to kill yourself with it. Since it is an isolation transformer he would just take the two 110 volt wires coming out of the transformer secondary and choose one for ground to connect to the shell of the fixture. It doesn't matter which one and the other wire is your hot wire to the fixture or switch depending on if you want to have an on/off switch. .
Pete Deal
Titanium
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2007
- Location
- Morgantown, WV
Go to Mcmaster Carr's site and search "Electric heater" lots of options in 240v. They have these little bulb socket heaters, could get an electric baseboard heater, enclosure heater, radiant heaters, etc. An enclosure heaters might be good but expensive. May be able to find one on ebay cheap. I have in the past.
Scottl
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2013
- Location
- Eastern Massachusetts, USA
Different wattage lamps will divide the voltage unequally. If that is the cheapest route I would use 2 identical lamps of 1/2 the desired total wattage. Just be aware that if one lamp burns out the other will stop working also so using 2 lamps will not add redundancy.
Also, I would add some red tape to the white wire to identify that it is not a neutral. Do this at any end where there is a connection. I would also put black and red tape on the matching motor wires. But that's just me.
Thanks for all the tips, I should have said I don't want to spend much on this as where I live there are only a few nights a year where the pump would be in danger of freezing so I don't want to buy transformers and such. It's going down to about 20 deg. Wed. night 1.07.15 so I want to get it rigged up by then.
steve-l
Titanium
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2012
- Location
- Geilenkirchen, Germany
I have resolved this problem before by using a 4 wire system. Phase 1, phase 2, safety ground and a neutral. Never use safety ground as a current carrier. The ground to neural bond can only occur once in the power distribution box. The motor will be wired as it is now phase 1 to phase 2 (240V). Additional 120 volt loads can be fed by either phase 1 or phase 2 and the neutral line. Yes this would work with only 3 wires, but it is against code and is unsafe.
Scottl
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2013
- Location
- Eastern Massachusetts, USA
Sounds like 2 lamps in series is the winner then. Probably too cold for fiddling with colored electrical tape but a red sharpie works fine in the cold if you keep it in an inside pocket until needed.
20 degrees? It was 13°F outside here when I woke up this morning. And we are having a heat wave compared to some other states.
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