Electrical – Taking two 120 volt outlets and combining into 240 volts

voltage

So before I begin let me say I am a complete idiot when it comes to anything electrical besides the very basics. So I am working on a project where I am powering something that needs 240 volts AC. So what I have done is taken two male outlets and wired them with 10 gauge wire to a common female plug. I have attached a picture below.
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Now this is where my lack of electrical knowledge is hurting me here. When I plug these into different outlets it only gives 120 volts. I have done some research and found out they need to be on different circuts so I tried that as well. Only gave me 120 volts. I also heard something about being "180 degrees out of phase". Now please don't bully me too much but I have absolutely no idea what that means. If anybody could help me out that would be great. Also if you need more pictures I would be glad to supply them.

Best Answer

If you try to understand how the 120/240Vac 60Hz is distributed, you would need a much longer Y adapter to combine opposite phases to get 240V. Each phase labelled as Line 1 and Line 2 (Black and Red) in North American standards is distributed around the house to balance the load, and both are wired to the oven and electric dryer. IN North America a differnt larger plug and outpet is used for 240Vac and NEVER the same as used for 120Vac. enter image description here - > But they are never both wired to a dual low current outlet. (10~20A)

The usual method is a 240 V cable direct from the breaker panel as adjacent dual outlets always have the same phase wired to them. Water heaters rated for 240 do not need neutral so a 2 wire +gnd is all that is needed while a stove/oven requires both L1,L2 and N for 120Vac lights, clock and accessory outlets, so a 3 wire power cable + gnd is used.

Normally household wire is Black (Line=hot) and WHite (neutral) and Black may be used for either Line 1 or Line 2.

Thus your example Y cable is a mistake in understanding.

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