[marcus118]

I've got a strange looking outlet on my sun porch that powers an old electric space heater. My house was built in 1960 and the heater is likely original to the house.

Pic:

Does homedepot sell an adapter of some sort for this kind of outlet? Everyone works fine now except I can't plug anything else into this particular outlet.

Thanks!

 

[HIVOLT]

That is a 20 amp 250 volt outlet.

 

[marcus118]

Thanks! Is there an adapter that I can get from say Home Depot that would allow me to plugin regular things? I mainly want to plugin one of those "kill a watt meters" to see how much power my space heater is using.

 

[bbo]

kill a watt is for 110.

you'll need something that measures 240. I didn't see anything on a quick internet search. perhaps someone knows of an inexpensive device.

 

[DanS26]

You need to know the difference between a 240 volt outlet and a 120 volt outlet. Do not (and I repeat DO NOT) try to jury rig any connection to a 120 volt appliance or fixture to that outlet.

Oh yes the "Kill-a-Watt" is a 120 volt device. Enough said.

 

[marcus118]

Ok thanks all.

Follow up question. Since I cant use my Kill a watt meter, is there a way to tell how many watts the heater uses by looking at the numbers on the unit (assuming max heat setting)? see below

 

[DanS26]

Easiest way to find out the power usage of the heater is to look at the nameplate. But I'm assuming that the name plate does not exist or has been removed.

The next best method would be to use a clamp on ammeter.

 

[DanS26]

Maximum heat load 3650 watts. That is 3.65 kwh so if you pay say $.13 per kwh then the heater at max cost you $.475 per hour to operate or $11.38 per day if running continuously.

 

[marcus118]

ok and what is the 3050 number?

 

[DanS26]

ok and what is the 3050 number?

Does the heater have a high and low setting? Probably the lower heat setting.

But it could be the watts used at 208 volt input. That would be two phases of a three phase system.

 

[bbo]

3650w @ 230v
3050w @ 208v

 

[marcus118]

yea i pay aboutt 17 cents per kw so this thing would cost about 60 cents per hour to run on high. sheesh.

 

[dmxtothemax]

I wouldn't complain too much about 17c Kwh,
We currently pay 26c Kwh in australia.

 

[bbo]

ouch, .12061 here

i see exchange rate is negligible