Hi /r/electricians!
I recently purchased a used commercial treadmill for my fiancee and I to use in our basement. The delivery guy came yesterday and assembled it, and it was at that point that I realized that the plug is for a 20A outlet. He had some kind of homemade adapter (20A to 15A) that he claimed I could get at Home Depot and said that it shouldn't be a problem to connect to the wall, provided that the cord isn't too long. He said it might run a little hot but that it should be fine. He even turned the treadmill on and had my fiancee run on it to test it. Everything seemed fine.
When I went to Home Depot, the salesman that was helping me basically insinuated that I was going to burn my house down and that it was probably a terrible idea; they don't sell any adapter like the one described.
The treadmill is rated at 16A (per the tag on it). The basement has a few outlets, but they are only 15A. Each 15A box has a 14 gauge wire running into it. The closest 20A outlet is upstairs, powering the refrigerator. There is also a 30A outlet powering the dryer, but that is also upstairs. I found what my friend called a "junction box" on my basement ceiling with a 10 gauge wiring running into it. Though it may not be to code, my friend said that I may be able to install a 30A outlet in the ceiling there and use an adapter so long as I do not run the treadmill and the dryer simultaneously.
Alternatively, I was considering getting an adapter off of Amazon (20A to 15A), but I wasn't sure if this was dangerous. The last thing I want to do is have an electrician run an additional wire through the house because the breaker is in the garage and we are just renting this house for a few years. What should I do? I have an electrician coming to look at an unrelated problem tomorrow, but I wanted to get a few informed opinions so that I don't go into this blind. Thanks in advance for any advice given!
Submitted June 08, 2015 at 01:22AM by revan132 http://ift.tt/1RW11mK electricians
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