Only have 110 volts, can I use my oven?

[Areomyst]

I have an old oven that I want to use for powder coating, but I don't have 220 volt electricity in my garage, and I don't have the money right now to upgrade the electricity. Is there any way to use my oven on 110 volts and still get results? I wasn't sure if it'd just take a lot longer to heat or if it wouldn't work at all.

It's got 4 wires coming out of the back of the oven. I can post photos if need be...

Please forgive my very basic knowledge on ovens and home wiring!

~Josh

[cambosoup99]

nope you need to get your outlet wired for 220v

[o1dakota440]

yes you can run your oven on 110, but it will take alot longer to heat. now that being said, if you have 110 in your shop you almost certainly have 220 in your shop. just buy a lenght of wire and a receptical and you are in business

[cambosoup99]

that's a fire waiting to happen.

[Areomyst]

Originally Posted by o1dakota440

yes you can run your oven on 110, but it will take alot longer to heat. now that being said, if you have 110 in your shop you almost certainly have 220 in your shop. just buy a lenght of wire and a receptical and you are in business

If it'll just take longer to heat, I'm okay with that. I don't have any inexpensive way to get 220v in my garage... I believe it was built in 1946 and the existing wiring is good for only lights. I have a heavy duty extension cord to operate my air compressor (I'm not wild about that...) I can only operate one piece of equipment at a time for better or worse.

It's in the future plan to dig a trench and get proper electricity, but I don't have the means at the moment.

~Josh

[o1dakota440]

what gauge wire is running to your shop?

[Areomyst]

Well, it's pretty rough honestly. I'd have to double check, but I think it's a heavy duty 12 gauge extension cord. When I get some more money I'm going get REAL electricity going, but it just isn't an option for me right now. The good news, is that I talked to a good friend who works for a local electrical contractor, and he can help me with some items (2x4 lights, aluminum wiring, subpanel) that will be much cheaper through him.

This is the 12x20 garage that is my "shop". It's small, but it's mine. I somehow manage to fit my workbench, air compressor, blast cabinet, tool chest, and too many scooters and a couple of dirtbikes in there. My main interests (obvoiusly) are scooters and other small engines. Powder coating and polishing are two of my primary parts finishing interests.




The extension cord comes from the house, which has updated electricity. It's plugged into a circuit with a 20amp breaker.

[baz]

with 110 volts and a 20 amp breaker , 2200 watt element would be the maximum that the breaker would support before it trips and that is the breaker only . your extension cord might overheat too .
anything running at the same time as your 2200 watt element would trip the breaker . i dont think you can run anything bigger than a toaster oven

[SCOTTRODS]

There's truly no way to run much of anything bigger than a toaster oven at present.

The biggest cost of the upgrade will be the actual wir you use to run the circuits. I recommend putting in more than you think you need, by at least 1/2 again. In other words, put in 2 50amp 220/240's and as many 120's as youi can spare in the supply box.

Oh,... and stay away form the aluminum wiring. It's not as good as copper for more than a supply line to the house. Copper is easier to work with and doesn't harden with time and corrode the same as aluminum in electrical applications. Aluminum will put on a coat of oxidation that's invisible to your eye (and sometimes very visible) and cause connection issues pretty much too. Unless you're an electrician and have more knowledge than I do, Use Copper wire.

[FigureLLC]

we originally had the same problem. Our solution was to take a natural gas oven (we got it free off of craig's list) and change it over to propane. That process consisted of 1) flipping a piece in the oven regulator from "ng" to "lp" -$0, 2) screwing the orifice at the burner down tight -$0, and 3) changing the gas line so we could connect a 20lb lp tank, like for a grill ~$20. Worked great.