Hi,

I just built a house and had 220V ran to my garage for my welder. Well I didn't notice until it was too late but the electrician ran 4-wire instead of the 10-2 I needed. I was wondering if it was possible to use this wire to connect my 3 prong outlet and just leave the fourth wire unused. And would I need to get a different breaker to accommodate the new setup? Any help is appreciated.

More wires than needed is always a good thing. Cap the wire that is not needed with a wirenut or eletrical tape, which should be the white neutral.

Since the welder is 240 volts you need a 2 pole breaker.

Since the wire installed is #10 the max breaker rating is 30 amp.

If the electrician ran the wire, he probably knew the application. But code requires 4 wire now for most 220 circuits.

Handyman this post is 6 yrs old.

Yes. You are absolutely correct. I will keep responding to them until they are taken down.

Yes. You are absolutely correct. I will keep responding to them until they are taken down.So you think it is logical to respond to a 6 year old post as if it were made yesterday? That makes no sense.

I would think someone who has been a member for as long as you would have better forum etiquette.

Here's the deal. If these questions are that old and still up on the board, then why not? I am trying to make a point. These old questions need to be purged from the system. Or there has to be some way to close them so no more answers can be given. There are a lot of very interesting questions here. In keeping with the idea of this forum, answering one is just part of the desire to be helpful. These data bases , again, need to be purged if this type of "mistake" is to be completely avoided. And these aged questions seem to continually show up in the lists of new questions.

Handyman, you are beating a dead horse. The power's that be on this web site do not want threads purged because they are a source of information to new users of this site.

We use a general common sense rule here. If an item is greater than 6 months old we do not respond to the item unless it is a valid new question.

Its time for you to find another point to make! Don

I will do my best not to respond to older questions. If I miss a few, then so be it. Once I am on a roll, I can't stop!!

If a reply is made in a general sense to correct bad info or to add valuable info then you have a point. But to reply to a six year old thread like it was made yesterday and thinking the OP will see it and benefit from it is absurd at best.

If you are determined to reply to old threads with pointless info just to prove a point, then whatever. It's your choice. I'll still call you on it though.

You know, I come here to answer questions. As I stated, sometimes I get caught up in the fray of the questions and it's answers and just add something to it. It's spontaneous. What is the harm? I do not do it intentionally. And As I also stated, under new questions or "today's" questions, inevitably there are old questions. I do not see any harm. I think the original date of the question should be in larger print so it actually stands out.
That's it. I am done talking about this subject. One suggestion though, what about answered questions that are a certain age being made so they no longer accept responses? It is done on website comment boards all of the time. Bye.