220 volt line to 120 plugin?

[Heather H.]

Hi - I am fairly unfamiliar with electrical concepts, but here is my
question. Im my bathroom is a standard 220 volt baseboard heater
installed by the previous owner. It is in a terrible position as the
length of it sits just 2 inches from a permanent large wood base of a
tub he put in. It gets very hot and seems dangerous. I want to remove
the heater and if at all possible, place on the wall where the heater
was (there is a junction box coming out of the wall next to the heater
now) a standard 120 volt plugin so I can use a timered radiator-type
freestanding heater i already own.

Is it possible to somehow allow a 120 volt device to be plugged into a
220 line? Convert or something else? Thank you, Heather

 

[[email protected]]

Hi - I am fairly unfamiliar with electrical concepts, but here is my
question. Im my bathroom is a standard 220 volt baseboard heater
installed by the previous owner. It is in a terrible position as the
length of it sits just 2 inches from a permanent large wood base of a
tub he put in. It gets very hot and seems dangerous. I want to remove
the heater and if at all possible, place on the wall where the heater
was (there is a junction box coming out of the wall next to the heater
now) a standard 120 volt plugin so I can use a timered radiator-type
freestanding heater i already own.

Is it possible to somehow allow a 120 volt device to be plugged into a
220 line? Convert or something else? Thank you, Heather

Ther short answer is yes you can convert that to a 120v outlet. The
safest way is to call an electrician.

 

[Beachcomber]

The baseboard heaters I am familar with use 2 wire cable plus a ground
wiire, no neutral. There is no reason I know of why the existing wires
can not be used to wire a 120 circuit using one of the wires as a
neutral. This would mean chaging the breaker in your service panel to
single pole 20 amp and connecting 1 of the wires to the neutral bus.
Not a very difficult task if you know what you are doing. If you dont
then call an electrician.

Last time I checked, the code allowed just one GFCI outlet in
bathrooms for things like hair dryers, electric toothbrushes, and
shavers.

A convenience outlet that close to your bathtub may be illegal and
dangerous as the authorities don't really want you to be running
portable appliances near bathtubs and showers.

Beachcomber

 

[[email protected]]

Last time I checked, the code allowed just one GFCI outlet in
bathrooms for things like hair dryers, electric toothbrushes, and
shavers.

You can have all the GFCI protected receptales you want but you are
correct in pointing out the GFCI.

A convenience outlet that close to your bathtub may be illegal and
dangerous as the authorities don't really want you to be running
portable appliances near bathtubs and showers.

This may change in 2008 but right now they only say it can't be in the
"tub space". It can be just outside the shower curtain.

 

[Heather H.]

Last time I checked, the code allowed just one GFCI outlet in
bathrooms for things like hair dryers, electric toothbrushes, and
shavers.

You can have all the GFCI protected receptales you want but you are
correct in pointing out the GFCI.

A convenience outlet that close to your bathtub may be illegal and
dangerous as the authorities don't really want you to be running
portable appliances near bathtubs and showers.

This may change in 2008 but right now they only say it can't be in the
"tub space". It can be just outside the shower curtain.


Thanks all for the answers. I really appreciate your help. After
figuring out if it was even possible, I planned on calling an
electrician so it was done right. Hopefully they'll clue me in on the
local codes if any apply to placement. Thanks again, H

 

[Beachcomber]

This may change in 2008 but right now they only say it can't be in the
"tub space". It can be just outside the shower curtain.

I once stayed in a well known motel chain in Madison, Wisconsin. The
light switch for the overhead bathroom light was literally "in" the
shower on a tile wall. I was amazed and amused, but thankfully not
"shocked".

Beachcomber