- 1). Turn off the main breaker to your electrical panel. Open the door, unscrew the cover and remove it.
- 2). Knock out a hole in the side or bottom of the panel through which you can pass electrical cable for a 220-volt circuit. Set a screwdriver on one of the preformed knockouts and hit the screwdriver with a hammer to dislodge the knockout. Bend back the metal with channel-locking pliers and snap it off.
- 3). Insert a knockout clamp into the hole and tighten on the the nut to hold it with channel-locking pliers. Pass the end of a length of #10/3 or #8/3 electrical cable and tighten the clamp to hold it. The first number in the wire designation denotes the wire size and the second the number of conductors, not including the ground. Use thicker 8-gauge wire for appliances that will draw more than 30 amps.
- 4). Cut 6 inches from the end of the cable with a utility knife and strip 1/2 inch from the ends of the red, black and white wires inside with a wire stripper. Connect the white wire to the neutral, or silver, bus bar. Loosen an available lug with a screwdriver, insert the wire, then tighten the lug. In the same way, connect the bare ground wire to a lug on the ground bus.
- 5). Loosen the terminal screws of a two-gang breaker, which is actually two separate breakers glued together with a strap connecting their switches. Insert the end of the black wire into one and the red wire into the other. Tighten the screws securely, then snap the breaker onto an available slot on the panel.
- 6). Run the cable to the location of the appliance or outlet. Strip the sheathing from the cable and expose the ends of the wires, then crimp ring lugs onto the ends of all four wires with a crimping tool. The ring lugs will make it easier to connect the wires to the terminals on the appliance or outlet.
- 7). Connect the red and black wires to the brass terminals on the 220-volt appliance or outlet. It doesn't matter which brass terminal you connect either of these wires to. Connect the white wire to the silver terminal, and the bare ground wire to the green terminal.
- 8). Install the outlet and screw on the cover plate, or replace the cover plate on the appliance. Turn off the two-gang breaker, turn on the main breaker, then turn on the two-gang breaker and verify that it stays on. Replace the cover on the panel and close the door.
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