need electricians GO-AHEAD!

[inreplyavalon]

Hey all. I have been workin on my electric for some time now and think i am set to go. Plan on hooking up the circuit in the main panel tomorrow but just hoping i could double check my work here.
Here is what i did...
Have a 8/3 wire running into an intermatic WH40 timer switch. When i connected the 8/3 to the timer I also connected a seperate 240 outlet to run my AC. So I have three wire nuts. In each nut is

1) Red 8/3 wire from panel, red 10 gauge wire from AC outlet, and Red wire coming off the timer switch used to run the lights, which is a 12 gauge.

2) Black wire from Panel, black wire from AC outlet, and black wire from timer switch used to power lights.

3) I have connected the grounds from all three sources using a WIRE NUT as the standard ground connectors i had did not fit that much wire.

The above mentioned ground connection and the Neutral wire from the 8/3 are the only things i have not had experience with in the past, and the only i am slightly unsure of.
I connected the neutral wire to the Timer switch in the space it had reserved for the neutral wire. My question is does it matter that the AC outlet has no neutral? I don't see why it would, but ALWAYS want to keep my family safe.
Thanks for checking this out, i hope i explained it well enough!

 

[PharmaCan]

Sounds like you have things pretty well under control, assuming your wire sizes and breaker ratings all meet or exceed the required capacities.

Take your ground wires and wire nut them together like you did but add a small pig tail (small piece of wire) to that bundle and run the pig tail to the green screw in your timer.

The AC doesn't need a neutral, unless it needs a neutral. lol Check the specs on your AC. If it is pure 240v, you don't need a neutral for that. Anyway, if the AC is 240v and needs a neutral (the neutral is needed only if something inside the AC is running on 120v - 240v uses no neutral.) the plug will be three prongs plus ground prong, for straight 240v it'll have two prongs plus the ground prong.

PC

 

[inreplyavalon]

Pharma thank you for the confirm. This gives me much needed peace of mind. I already do have the ground hooked to the green bolt in the timer box(forgot to mention it) and the AC is definitely a two prong plus ground so i should be good there. Have a nice day ya'll

 

[EvilTwin]

ira,
One small thing attracted my attention...that is using huge wire nuts on several large wires like you have. Wire nuts for standard house wiring are not a means to make the connection...merely to protect the connection which should be made by twisting the wires. Personally for that size wire I don't use wire nuts.

You can buy proper connectors for large guage wire. They are solid copper and called split-bolt connectors...you stick all wires inside and tighten a nut which tightens onto the wire ends. Once tightened, everything is very secure. Then you cover it all with several layers of electrical tape.

Far as the neutral to the AC, when I learned electricity years ago, it was drilled in that neutral was not same as ground. Having said that, if you aren't putting in a neutral to the AC...make damn sure that it has a good ground wire connection.
Peace,
ET

 

[inreplyavalon]

ET, thanks for learning me about those connectors. I will look into them and also the warning on the AC ground. Good looking out.

 

[klouski]

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