120/240 to 240

[willwag3]

I have a 50 amp 3 pole 3 wire receptacle that I would like to change out to take a 30 amp 240 plug. The receptacle currently on is an old Nema 10-50r and need to use a 6-30r. How can I do this without killing everything big enough to die? Would prefer not burning the house down either. Have been told to use the white neutral wire as ground and it would work. Not sure that is correct. If this is possible will I want to change breaker to 30 amp also? Will be running a heater , not sure what used to be plugged in there but think it was a dryer. My three main concerns are safety, safety ,and safety

[HayZee518]

shut off the 50 amp breaker. take apart the range receptacle check the size of the wires, probably #6. I don't know off hand if the cable will fit a dryer receptacle. something you'll need to check out. if it does then you will use the two outer insulated wires for the hots and the twisted bare for the center lug. if the center leg is an insulated white then this will go to the center terminal. change out the breaker at the panel to a 30 amp

[willwag3]

Many thanks! That`s what I was told but that came from a guy who used to be an apprentice. Except for the breaker part, I thought that a 30 amp heater should have a 30 breaker.

[HayZee518]

a piece of 6-3 gray plastic seu will have two insulated wires and a third bare that you twist together to make a "wire" - 6-3 romex will have a black, red , white and a number 8 bare ground. the range receptacle will look like a crow foot with straight prongs. a dryer receptacle has two angled prongs and a third L shaped prong. a typical dryer is about 6600 watts - 6600 divided by 240 equals 27.5 amps. the new code says for new installations to use a four wire pigtail and four wire receptacle

[manhattan42]

Not Enough Information To Answer Question

I have a 50 amp 3 pole 3 wire receptacle that I would like to change out to take a 30 amp 240 plug. The receptacle currently on is an old Nema 10-50r and need to use a 6-30r. How can I do this without killing everything big enough to die? Would prefer not burning the house down either. Have been told to use the white neutral wire as ground and it would work. Not sure that is correct. If this is possible will I want to change breaker to 30 amp also? Will be running a heater , not sure what used to be plugged in there but think it was a dryer. My three main concerns are safety, safety ,and safety

You don't provide enough information to adequately answer your questions.

The main concern is that we need to know the size the heater will be in kilowatts in order to know what size conductors and overcurrent protection you need.

Electric heaters are considered 'continuous loads' and the conductors as well as overcurrent protection must be sized at 125% of that maximum load.

Without knowing the load, no one can answer whether or not your existing conductors or new breaker will be safe.