Circuit breaker box and Tesla charging

[Zone Read 296]

Just bought a Tesla Model 3, most fun car I've ever driven.  120 volt charging was a joke, 3-5 miles per hour wasn't going to work.  Had an electrician put in a 240 volt 30 amp circuit that gets me 24 miles per hour.  Things are good.  But, I'm a little concerned about the installation.  I read up on it and I understand that electricity coming into the house is at 240.  The main box provides 240 to the AC, water heater, range, and the box in the garage.  The box in the garage splits that 240 into two 120 phases with half the circuits being on one phase and the other half on another.  All the stuff I've seen says you put in a 30 amp breaker that fits into and pulls from 2 adjacent slots to achieve 240.  

My guy tells me that my box doesn't work that way.  So he put a 30 amp breaker in one slot and put another 30 amp breaker in the slot 2 below that one, not the adjacent one.  Those joined together to power the 240 outlet.  Well, it works so I'm guessing he's right, but does that make sense?  When I sell the house am I going to be told it's not up to code?

[horn4life 3748]

 I am NOT an electrician, but you can certainly have a 30 amp breaker on each line and have it work, as you have stated.  HOWEVER, (again not an electrician so PLEASE correct me if this sounds wrong) For your charging only purpose it may be fine, but I would question NOT having a single breaker.  Simply as what you are basically doing is putting double the power into the outlet.  So you have two "hot wires" one coming from each breaker and the ground/neutrals either on their own prong in the plug depending on three or four prong plug.  So you could have it "half hot" if only one of the breakers went? 

It's probably OK but a single breaker would be better.  From a safety standpoint.  It's the sort of thing that I would want tagged in the outlet and at the breaker box.  But maybe I am overthinking this?  As I get paranoid about electricity and safety.

Only reason I know any of this is wife wanted a damn duel fuel range, and on RV plugs the converter from 50 amp to 30 amp is just dead ending the second hot prong on the plug.

Edited November 24, 2020 by horn4life

[Zone Read 296]

24 minutes ago, horn4life said:

 I am NOT an electrician, but you can certainly have a 30 amp breaker on each line and have it work, as you have stated.  HOWEVER, (again not an electrician so PLEASE correct me if this sounds wrong) For your charging only purpose it may be fine, but I would question NOT having a single breaker.  Simply as what you are basically doing is putting double the power into the outlet.  So you have two "hot wires" one coming from each breaker and the ground/neutrals either on their own prong in the plug depending on three or four prong plug.  So you could have it "half hot" if only one of the breakers went? 

It's probably OK but a single breaker would be better.  From a safety standpoint.  It's the sort of thing that I would want tagged in the outlet and at the breaker box.  But maybe I am overthinking this?  As I get paranoid about electricity and safety.

Only reason I know any of this is wife wanted a damn duel fuel range, and on RV plugs the converter from 50 amp to 30 amp is just dead ending the second hot prong on the plug.

I agree, that's also a concern.  That 2 breakers would have to trip instead of 1.  The 2 hots are going to each side of a NEMA 14-30 outlet and the each neutral/grounds combined and going to the ground and neutral of the outlet together.  It works, so that's good but I wonder if its up to code.  I can always yank it out when I sell the house I guess.

 

Edited November 24, 2020 by Zone Read
typo

[EE2B 1560]

Definitely not code. If I’m not mistaken if you use 2 separate breakers they have to be tied together so that when one breaker trips they both do. If I understand correctly, you could end up in a situation with 120V to one side of the plug and nothing to the other. I would be worried about damaging the charging side of the Tesla. The Breaker fox is a cheap fix, I would imagine the Tesla is not.

[Gil Bang 25507]

you need "double pole" breakers.  When one blows, the other goes with it. 

[davidg 4015]

All of this.  Post up a pic of the breaker panel.  The outlet you plug the charger into should be a NEMA 14-30 and the two hot legs should attached to a dual pole breaker that spans two adjoining spaces in your breaker panel. 

[Jkwellborn 6536]

you need "double pole" breakers.  When one blows, the other goes with it. 

Those are actually just one breaker though. So, am I reading correctly that your electrician used two separate 30amp single pole breakers and they aren’t side by side in the breaker box?

[Jkwellborn 6536]

Also, call a different electrician. All breaker boxes work that way. He should have moved shit down to put them together with a double breaker correctly. What he did will work obviously, but it’s a pain, because I think you have to reset them at the same time to make the plug work if you ever turn them off.

[Zone Read 296]

15 hours ago, Jkwellborn said:

Those are actually just one breaker though. So, am I reading correctly that your electrician used two separate 30amp single pole breakers and they aren’t side by side in the breaker box?

Yes. Thats what he did.  He said that the 2 adjacent ones were on the same phase and couldn't be bridged to make 240.  Makes sense since he did move a circuit to arrange for them to be 2 apart instead of adjacent.  Right side of box are all even numbers, left is odd numbers.

Originally:       Slot 20-20 Amp-Garage door opener

                         Slot 22-Empty

                        Slot 24-Empty

Now:              Slot 20-30 Amp-Tesla Charger

                       Slot 22-20 Amp-Garage door opener

                       Slot 24-30 Amp-Tesla Charger

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by Zone Read
added info

[Parliament 13979]

.

[Sam Lin 3532]

That photo is supposed to be a joke, but I worked in a factory in China where there was a spool of thick aluminum wire and a pair of wire cutters hanging at the fuse box. The wire gage was the same diameter as the fuses - when a fuse blew, they just cut a length of the wire and popped it into the fuse slot.

[texasjacket 289]

Where did you find this electrician? 

[CooterBrown 17695]

Where did you find this electrician? 

The Home Depot parking lot.

[HornOnTheBayou 8816]

5 hours ago, texasjacket said:

Where did you find this electrician? 

What's that?
The outlet?
Mm-hmm.
That's where the electricity comes out.
Oh, you mean the holes.

[Parliament 13979]

That photo is supposed to be a joke, but I worked in a factory in China where there was a spool of thick aluminum wire and a pair of wire cutters hanging at the fuse box. The wire gage was the same diameter as the fuses - when a fuse blew, they just cut a length of the wire and popped it into the fuse slot.

Why not use thicker wire? Saves the hassle of a blown fuse.

[Gatorubet 29391]

Just bought a Tesla Model 3, most fun car I've ever driven.  120 volt charging was a joke, 3-5 miles per hour wasn't going to work.  Had an electrician put in a 240 volt 30 amp circuit that gets me 24 miles per hour.  Things are good.  But, I'm a little concerned about the installation.  I read up on it and I understand that electricity coming into the house is at 240.  The main box provides 240 to the AC, water heater, range, and the box in the garage.  The box in the garage splits that 240 into two 120 phases with half the circuits being on one phase and the other half on another.  All the stuff I've seen says you put in a 30 amp breaker that fits into and pulls from 2 adjacent slots to achieve 240.  
My guy tells me that my box doesn't work that way.  So he put a 30 amp breaker in one slot and put another 30 amp breaker in the slot 2 below that one, not the adjacent one.  Those joined together to power the 240 outlet.  Well, it works so I'm guessing he's right, but does that make sense?  When I sell the house am I going to be told it's not up to code?