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6-20 250v (old 220 receptacle)

i have an old 6-20 250volt receptacle (pictured above) in the wall of my house ...is there an adaptor which will allow me to plug in a simple 15amp 120v plug into the receptacle?

thank you for your time.

Jeffrey
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2 Answers2

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It "doesn't let you plug in a 120V plug" because it's a 240V outlet. It's not "old" - that is a completely current outlet - for 240V devices.

You can probably (virtually certainly) change it to a 120V outlet, but you need to do that at the supply end (breaker panel, or fuse box if really "old") before you slap a 5-15 or 5-20 outlet on the receptacle end of the wire. (if you happen to be in Canada evidently they do or did have "red-black-ground" cable which cannot be used for 120V circuits. I don't think we have ever had that in the USA, so normally there's a "white hot" in a 240V only cable (black-white-ground) that can legally become a neutral again.)

If that part is not something you are comfortable with, don't start with the receptacle. A 120V receptacle on a 240V circuit is bad news...

You've just edited to ask if there is an adapter: NO. This receptacle does NOT have a Neutral wire, so there is no safe or legal adapter from this receptacle (with two hots and a ground) to a 120V with one hot, one neutral, and a ground.

Ecnerwal
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    Ha! Literally was two-thirds of the way through writing this answer. Take my upvote instead. These are still current, still legal, and typically used for through the wall AC units. – KMJ Jul 07 '23 at 17:04
  • An upvote from me also, for the same reason. – crip659 Jul 07 '23 at 17:05
  • ...so i should NOT adapt a 20amp 250v receptacle to accept a 15amp 120v plug? is that because of the volts or the amps? – Jeffrey Jul 07 '23 at 17:06
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    @Jeffrey The volts. If you plug many 120 volt appliances into a 240 volt outlet, you’ll get a boom and let out the magic smoke. – DoxyLover Jul 07 '23 at 17:07
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    @Jeffrey you can totally change out the breaker and receptacle to reuse the box and wire. There's just no way to adapt this to 120V use without doing both ends of the circuit. – KMJ Jul 07 '23 at 17:08
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    **There's no adapter.** You can change the use of the circuit **only by changing where the wires are connected** at the supply end so you have Hot, Neutral, and Ground, with 120V between Hot and Neutral, rather than Hot, Hot and Ground with 240V between Hots. – Ecnerwal Jul 07 '23 at 17:09
  • @Jeffrey The work in the panel is probably easier than the changing of the receptacle. In the panel, with the power off, you just need to move one wire, from the breaker to the neutral bar/bus. – crip659 Jul 07 '23 at 17:10
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    thank you everyone for your replies. i understand now that there is no adaptor and if i want to alter the receptacle i will call an electrician. thanks everyone! – Jeffrey Jul 07 '23 at 17:14
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It is impossible to have an adapter to get 120V there, without creating a hazardous situation or installing a huge $300 box that hums. That is absurd, since...

A licensed electrician can rearrange the wires at the circuit breaker panel, and then install a 120V outlet there. It can be the normal 2-socket outlet, even. There is no need to replace the circuit breaker, the only parts needed would be a new 120V receptacle (and presumably 2-gang cover plate).

A competent and qualified homeowner-occupant can do the same thing.

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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  • thanks Monica for your reply. since there is no adaptor, i have decided not to alter the electricals myself. thank you! – Jeffrey Jul 07 '23 at 17:16
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    "Thanks Monica" That's funny! – FreeMan Jul 07 '23 at 18:43
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    oops, i guess the users name is "harper - reinstate monica" .. my bad. – Jeffrey Jul 07 '23 at 19:45
  • And ironically, "pronoun trouble" is the thing behind Reinstate Monica! (3rd party singular pronouns are inherently gendered. Staff was working on a draft policy re: non-binary people, and Monica suggested not using 3ps pronouns at all - canned for that, hence the protest.) And I haven't used a 3ps pronoun since then. At all. Anyone notice? – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jul 07 '23 at 22:19
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    No, because really it is the correct thing by default on a forum where assuming a gender is making a donkey of yourself, like as not. While I don't claim to be completely perfect in avoiding those (but I've been known to edit to correct mine), the ones I find jarring are where someone has, with no basis, assigned a gender (usually male) to some username without any indication from the username that that gender is accurate, whether cis- or otherwise. So not noticing is an indication that you're probably doing it right. – Ecnerwal Jul 08 '23 at 00:30
  • @Harper-ReinstateMonica ...when i called you "Monica" i was not implying any gender.. i simply picked the last word in your user name... on my screen, at the end of your Answer in the bottom right 'Monica' appears alone on the last line of your username .. (the first line read "Harper - Reinstate" then on the second final line it said "Monica").... but after someone pointed out my mistake i looked again and saw that "Harper - Reinstate Monica" was your username formatted into 2 lines to fit my screen. – Jeffrey Jul 08 '23 at 08:33
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    @Jeffery oh, you're fine lol... we're just reminiscing about the history of that phrase... – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jul 08 '23 at 17:57