T&T: 30A/50A y adapters

[Ron Rogers]

I hope that Arild will comment because the issue of 240 vs. 120V is involved 
as well, *I think.* I ironically, I'm using a dumb splitter to connect a 50 
amp cable to my 30 amp inlet (converting to 50 amp service in-progress.) I 
have noted that I have a little more "headroom" than an ordinary 30 amp 
cable. Larger gauge and more available amps.

I *think* that if you use 240V service, you only have 30 amps available. Not 
sure if you need 125V whether or not you can draw 50 amps.

Ron Rogers


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Loy" <mloy@bellsouth.net>


| One analysis might be to quantify the energy-passing capability of
| the two alternatives.  Electric energy [watts] equals voltage times
| amps [ignoring power factor].  A 30 amp 120v circuit is nominally
| capable of passing 3,600 watts.  A 50 amp 240v circuit is 12,000
| watts.  Combining two 30 amp circuits [on different legs] gets one to
| 7,200 watts; well below the capability of the single 50 amp
| circuit.  Using the adapter and putting a load of greater than 7,200
| watts on it might result in popping the ckt breaker on one or both of
| the 30 amp feeder legs.  Arild, am I wrong?