Getting 110 volts from a 220 volt outlet

My daughter just had to purchase a new washer and dryer combo since her old one died. The problem is that the old one, which came with the house, is a combination unit, and had only a single 220v plug which ran both the washer and dryer. The closet where the unit was installed has only a single 220v outlet and no 110v, which the new washer needs.

I know that 220v power is actually 2 legs of 110v each, and that in theory you could open the box and run a 100v outlet by connecting to one leg of the 220v supply, but my gut instinct tells me that would violate the building codes (this is in the state of WA if that makes any difference).

My question is twofold. First, would that actually be a code violation to piggyback a 110v wall outlet off of a 220v outlet. Second, is there such a thing as an adapter plug, that could plug into the existing outlet and split the power into 2 plugs for 220 and 110? I tried Googling, but only came up with travel converters for international use.

IANAE, but I think it would be kosher to disconnect one leg at the breaker, wrap white tape around it (to indicate that it is now a neutral), and connect it to neutral. At the outlet end, you can now replace the outlet with a 110v one, and take the (now neutral) wire and wrap white tape around it, and connect it to the neutral connection of the outlet. Use the existing hot and ground wires.

yes, it would be a code violation.

I’m assuming a stacked set? And it all runs on 120? Unless the new dryer runs on gas, I think she’ll be in for some slow drying.

Ideally, the washer/dryer can be re-configured to run on 240. Or, go back to the store and say “Hey, I need one that runs on 240!”

Otherwise, converting the 240-volt receptacle will need the services of an electrician as the double 30-amp breaker at the main panel will need to be changed to a single 15 or 20 amp, and connecting the fat wires to a normal receptacle is not possible without “pigtailing” them. It will also probably be needed to re-designate one of the hot legs as a ground as a 3-wire dryer circuit is two hot legs and a neutral with no ground. Newer 4-wire circuits have the two hots, a neutral and a ground. Easy stuff for a qualified electrician, but not something I’d advise a home handyperson to attempt.

No, the old unit had only a single 220v plug, which was split inside the unit to provide power to the washer and dryer. The new unit has a 220v plug for the dryer and a 110v plug for the washer. The problem is that there is no 110v outlet in the closet.

I know I could buy some parts and build an external adapter with a 220v cord to plug in the outlet, and I could pigtail a 220v and 110v receptacle into a box that would be completely independent of the house wiring, but I was wondering if there is already such a device on the market.

Ah. The only real solution will be to have an electrician run a new 120-volt line for the washer then. There’s no easy, safe or “legal” way to tap 120 off a 240-volt circuit.

Check your washer, perhaps there is a way to configure it to run on 220

Besides being against code, this action would render the 240 volt circuit useless and if you read the OP what he wants to do is have one 240VAC and one 120VAC available for the washer and the dryer respectively.

The op stated that he needed both a 240V and a 120V circuit.

As gotpasswords stated no legal way to rig the existing plug and rigging an external connection apparatus is a dangerous idea.

Where?

There are adapters available. I have one behind my stove, said stove is using gas and only needs 110 volts to run the clock and other controls.

The adapter plugs into the standard 220 connection behind the stove and the stove’s plug connects to it.

I got the adapter at Home Depot in the appliance section.

However, it leave no capability of also connecting another appliance using 220 volts.

getting 110V off of 220V is a code violation.

if the washer could run on 220V then you would have to split (with a junction box) the 220V run to a dryer receptacle and one for the washer. problem here is that dryer run (maybe 30A) has large sized wire and this would need to be carried through to the receptacle used for the washer and a 30A receptacle used for the washer and the washer plug/cordset changed to fit that 30A receptacle. cost on this would compare to running a new 110V circuit.

if the laundry is on the first floor above a basement or crawl space then it is not expensive or difficult to run a 110V circuit for it.

When we lived in Germany, the current there is 220v. If we wanted to use our US appliances, we had to buy transformers. The bigger the appliance, the bigger the transformer. I’ve forgotten more about amps and watts than I ever really wanted to know.

From experience, we know if you plug your 110v into a 220v with no transformer, you’ll destroy your appliance–either immediately or eventually.

Go online and see if the appliance has an adaptor kit for 220v. Some of those compact machines can operate on 110-220, but you’ll need to install another cord.

If the appliance doesn’t feature that option, do one of two things:
(1) Take it back to the store and get one that uses only 220v, or
(2) Call an electrician.

If your seat-of-the-pants remedy (meaning, you don’t want to pay an electrician) fails and the house burns down, the insurance company will NOT PAY.
~VOW

the situations are different, though. In .de (and presumably all other 230VAC countries) at each receptacle you have 230V phase, neutral, and possibly ground (two or three pins.) US residential power is split-single-phase, and the 240VAC is 120V phase, 120V inverted phase, neutral, and possibly ground (three or four pins.)

plus, most 230VAC countries also use 50 Hz, so things with induction motors might not run as well even if they can handle the voltage.

Thanks for all the replies. I guess she and her husband will have to bite the bullet and call an electrician.

VOW, I know that you can’t run a 110v appliance directly from a 220v source, but in the US, a 220v outlet actually consists of 2 110v legs, so that in a 220v outlet you have one neutral wire and 2 110v wires, so you can technically get 110 volts by connecting to only one leg of the circuit.

However, as others have posted here, this is a code violation and could cause problems if not done properly.

a 220V outlet can have only 2 hot wires. depending on when the installation was done and the needs of the device it might also have a grounding wire or a grounding wire along with a neutral wire.

No, not always. Many older dryer outlets were wired only for 220V, with only the 2 hot wires – no neutral. From such an outlet, you can only get 220V (unless you use the ground as part of the circuit – an illegal & dangerous procedure).

easy way to check is to look at the outlet – does it have 4 connectors, or only 3?

One possible solution is to replace the 220v outlet with a subpanel with 220 and 110 breakers. From the subpanel you would run a new 220v outlet and a new 110v outlet.

This would still require an electrician. But if the guy does his math right, it may be the only way to save from pulling new wires.

You don’t want to do that. The existing wire gauge is too small to feed a sub-panel.

I think current codes call for new installations to have 4 prong cords and outlets for 240 appliances. Unless the original cable was 10-3 with ground, you may need to run a new cable. Depending how much unfinished space you have, that might or might not be a problem.

Does code forbid a subpanel on a 30 amp circuit? I am guessing that is what is there.

Would it be illegal/against code to modify the washer-dryer pair so that the washer cord is fed from the dryer, rather than plugging directly into the wall? Maybe add a 110 V outlet to the dryer, to plug the washer into? I know I’ve seen (long ago) a 110 outlet on an electric stove, and more recently, outlets on the back of stereo equipment. (This assumes there’s a four-prong plug for the dryer.)