How do you change a 220 receptacle to a 110 receptacle?

Question

The plug in use to be for a window air conditioner but I want to use it for just a regular 110 plug in. What needs to be done?

Answer 1

You have several partial answers here.... but I will repeat what one person has already said... seriously consider calling an electrician to do this for you. 220v is plenty of juice to kill, and all it takes is one mistake.

Here is what needs to be done tho, should you decide to attempt it yourself, or, would like to know what to expect from the electrician.

The current wiring can be left in place, and used. You will disable one wire. You do NOT, as one person here suggested, want to leave a hot wire running thru your wall, and only cap it off at the outlet....thats just asking for trouble later. It is better to take the wire off at BOTH ends.

The Circuit breaker will need to be replaced with 2 single breakers...probably 15 to 20 amp will be sufficient. One of these, you will not even have a use for at this time, unless you have some other circuits that are tied to the same breaker, and wish to split them. Or, you can just install one breaker, and a panel cover, to close the hole left by installing a smaller breaker.

The receptacle (wall outlet) will also have to be replaced.

The circuit breakers will cost maybe $10, and the wall outlet will run maybe another $2... an electrician can do this for you in a matter of minutes, literally. If you want to do it yourself, you need a voltmeter, or multimeter.

Go to the circuit box, and turn off the 220v breaker to the outlet. Use your meter to check the outlet to make sure you got the right one turned off. If you have, then after removing the face plate, pull the breaker from the panel. It should have a black and red wire running into two seperate retaining clips. Take them both out, and attach the black wire to the new breaker. I would then put a wire nut over the end of the red wire, and tape it in place with electrical tape, and bend it back out of the way, where it will not come in contact with any of the other wiring in the panel box. Push the new breaker into place, but leave it turned off....or... wait until you have replaced the wall outlet, before pushing it in place. To replace the wall outlet, remove all the wires from the old receptacle... again...wire nut, and tape, the red wire, and bend it back out of the way. Attach the ground wire (usually bare copper) to the green screw on the receptacle. Attach the black wire to the black terminal, and white to white. Place the wall outlet into it's box, and affix the cover plate. Now you are ready to put the circuit breaker back in the panel if you had not done that earlier, and turn it on. Check the outlet with the meter again, to verify you have it wired correctly and it is operating as it should.

In the circuit box, you can either place a 'snap in' cover over the half of the opening in the panel face where the large double throw breaker used to be, or you can install that second, single throw breaker. Do NOT leave the space empty, where someone could reach thru it.

I could do this type of installation, in about 15 minutes. You may be ahead to call an electrician to do this for you, rather than tackling it yourself. Be safe!

Good Luck!

Answer 2

There should be three wires in the box feeding the 220 V receptacle. One of those is ground (generally white) and two are "hot" (generally one black and one red but not always). There are 110 volts between the ground and either of the two hot wires. Turn the breaker feeding the box off. Get a 110 V receptacle, hook the ground (generally white) to the silver colored terminal and one of the hot wires to the darker, brass colored terminal. Put a wire nut on the other hot wire firmly so that it will not come off when moved. Mount the receptacle in the box, add a cover plate and turn the breaker back on.

Answer 3

OK, don't want to sound rude or condescending, but...

If you have to ask how to do this then don't. Call an electrician before you kill yourself or burn your house down.

It's possible to connect a 15 amp duplex receptacle -- break the copper strip connecting the receptacle's hot terminals, connect one hot wire to each and the neutral and ground wires to their respective terminals -- but it's very dangerous. An overload will cause the receptacle to overheat and possibly start a fire before the circuit breaker trips. The receptacle, wires, and circuit breaker all need to be correctly matched.

Answer 4

well a 220 rec. will have 2 110 lines coming from the fuse box. there will be a double fuse in the fuse box with 2 lines going to the rec.(plus a common or ground) you could use 1 of the 110 wires and cap the other off (or unhook it from the fuse) and the common.if you don't no a lot about ele. i would strongly suggest getting a pro. to help. THIS CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS

Answer 5

Call an electrician. The change will have to be done at the breaker box as well as the receptacle. Probably will be inexpensive.

Answer 6

The wrangler has the best solution. However, unless you have a basic knowledge of electricity and how to work with it safely, I'd be very nervous about you working in an open circuit breaker box. You have 100 plus amps in there and it would be very easy for a screwdriver or your hand to hit high voltage. Unless you are very sure of your ability, call an electrician. Be safe.

Answer 7

Split the wire to the fuse box 1 hot 1 ground 1 nutreal

Answer 8

Well, you have to refeed the line to the receptacle with a line connected to your 110V service.