# Old Leviton outlet



## BIGRED (Jan 22, 2007)

Found this today


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## ampman (Apr 2, 2009)

i've not seen that configuration for 20a-250v


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

What was that configuration ever used for, I've only seen them less than a half a dozen times in 25 years.


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

ampman said:


> i've not seen that configuration for 20a-250v


It was a 125/250 volt 20 amp thing , set up like the old 3 wire dryer ckts. But what actually plugged into them is my question.


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## LegacyofTroy (Feb 14, 2011)

Fans


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## retiredsparktech (Mar 8, 2011)

Shockdoc said:


> What was that configuration ever used for, I've only seen them less than a half a dozen times in 25 years.


 They were used on the larger 230volt air conditioners and electric room heaters in the 60's.
I'm trying to remember when all the wiring devices were standardized by NEMA.


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## circuitman1 (Mar 14, 2013)

my mom & dad has there hot water heater plugged into one of them. i belive they call them crows foots. correct me if i'm wrong.


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## cortez (Oct 23, 2011)

Older 14,000 BTU (and up?) dedicated air conditioners. 

I have seen a 120 outlet converted into 220 by screwing the neutral of the 220 outlet to the steel box while using the white wire to carry the second leg (where the box only had a hot and a white wire [the return]). It is against code but seen often 2 or 3 decades ago.


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## retiredsparktech (Mar 8, 2011)

cortez said:


> Older 14,000 BTU (and up?) dedicated air conditioners.
> 
> I have seen a 120 outlet converted into 220 by screwing the neutral of the 220 outlet to the steel box while using the white wire to carry the second leg (where the box only had a hot and a white wire [the return]). It is against code but seen often 2 or 3 decades ago.


That straight slot you're refering to, was always considered to be the grounding terminal. The white wire should have been reidentified as a non-grounded current carrying conductor. :001_huh:


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

retiredsparktech said:


> They were used on the larger 230volt air conditioners and electric room heaters in the 60's.
> I'm trying to remember when all the wiring devices were standardized by NEMA.


Guess i was wrong in my earlier statement, they were like a mini version of a dryer receptacle.


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## retiredsparktech (Mar 8, 2011)

circuitman1 said:


> my mom & dad has there hot water heater plugged into one of them. i belive they call them crows foots. correct me if i'm wrong.


 The first plant I worked in had the smaller crows foot receptacles still in use, in the mid-60's. They were finally replaced in the later 60's, early 70's.
They were identical to the Australian configuration.


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## cortez (Oct 23, 2011)

retiredsparktech said:


> That straight slot you're refering to, was always considered to be the grounding terminal. The white wire should have been reidentified as a non-grounded current carrying conductor. :001_huh:



Here colored electrical tape was allowed to indicate the white wire was being used as a hot leg. Usually red tape was used when the other hot leg was black (and visa-verso). The wire had to be identified at both the breaker or fuse box and the outlet box. Of course it is self evident and many times the wire went un marked.


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## varmit (Apr 19, 2009)

These were the common outlet used for window air conditions and other 20 amp, 230 volt applications until about the mid 70s. I have installed many of these in my younger days.


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## cornutt (Feb 25, 2012)

retiredsparktech said:


> They were used on the larger 230volt air conditioners and electric room heaters in the 60's.
> I'm trying to remember when all the wiring devices were standardized by NEMA.


Yep, very common in the Southeast U.S. in the 1950s and '60s. Back in the days when window air conditioners weren't quite so efficient, and were asked to cool larger spaces, you needed these outlets at the windows where the air conditioners would go. Some older houses around here still have them; in others, the circuit has been converted to 120V.


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