ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Poor Advise

I just noticed this posted on Bob Villa.com Fixitforem (A DIY forum):

We all can assume the 110 is not made to handle the load/amperage of a Dryer.
Even if there is 12-2 wire in there.

You would need a 10-3 wire. and a 4 wire plug. Code wants you to seperate the neutral and ground now.

But basically if you wanted to turn your 110 into a 220 which is what you asked, All you have to do is go into the panel, find out which circuit does that outlet. YOU NEED TO CHECK IF IT DOES ANYTHING ELSE, otherwise everything else on there is going to be 220. If its alone, put the white wire going to the neutral bar onto a 2pole20 amp breaker, and the black wire also on this 2 pole 20 amp breaker, and install.

Dont plug in the dryer because it will cause a fire. Good luck.

Advice like this really ticks me off!! Maybe we should go over to Villas' house and wire all his circuits this way!!

Anyone stupid enough (ok, a bit harsh but..) to ask the question he replied to certainly can't figure out what circuit an "outlet" is on, much less if it's alone, and has no business being inside the panel!!

And the cute dismissal of; "Don't plug the dryer in because it will cause a fire. Good luck."
This is a public BBS so I'll refrain from the language I'd use to this jackalope's face.

Who the heck is this giving out such dangerous and deadly advice?!?

EDIT: As a follow-up, I went to the site and found that the advice above was posted by an unregistered user of the forum who gave his name...and thankfully someone followed up with the warning that "unregistered"'s advice was a formula for fireworks!!
Frankly, if I were a site moderator there I would have deleted "unregistered"'s post due to the very unsafe advice given!!

So on one hand, I apologize to Bob Villa, for wanting to wire his house at 220. However, a big raspberry for not having someone quualified moderating that forum!

[edited for spelling]

[This message has been edited by mxslick (edited 12-19-2004).]

[This message has been edited by mxslick (edited 12-19-2004).]

[This message has been edited by mxslick (edited 12-19-2004).]

We've already been through an "intervention" at the Vila BB a couple of years ago.
They had a very good moderator for a while.
https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001642.html