About Experts Sitemap - Group 40 - Page 39
Electrical Wiring in the Home: ceiling light not working, light fixture, volts
light fixture, volts, breakers: You need a good voltage tester. first go to the two wires feeding the light fixture (the black and white) and test for 120 volts. if there is no power there, go to the switch and test for 120 between one of the screws of the switch and ground, if there is...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: ceiling light, 1 of the 2, switch box
1 of the 2, switch box, black wire: White wire is wirenutted in the switch box. Then the white wire goes to the white wire on the light. Black wire from the breaker to 1 of the 2 switch terminals. Black wire from the light wirenutted to the black wire going to the switch which then goes on...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: ceiling lights go off and on, college station texas, dunnam
college station texas, dunnam, ceiling lights: Rita, It SHOULD only be a coincidence with those two lights burning out. I m assuming that you ve since put new lamps in those fixtures and they work fine but not the other two. If this is not the case let me know because then we could be looking at a different...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: ceiling switch, straight fan, fan light
straight fan, fan light, wall switch: Hi. Unfortunately, I have never heard of that happening before. However, my guess is that it is somehow miswired inside the fan, and is somehow connected to the workings of the fan. You may want to see if you can run a wire from the light kit through...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: ceiling wiring advice, wiring advice, ceiling lights
wiring advice, ceiling lights, steel wool: I would have to agree. The Power company is not involved with the workings of appliances in the home...unless a transformer is defective in the vicinity. The connections to the appliances is very important. Connections in junctions are as important...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: ceilling fan, installing a ceiling fan, fan location
installing a ceiling fan, fan location, problem thanks: Yup you made a breaker checker. Take the white wire and put it on the incoming black power wire at the fan location. Then at the switch put it on the bottom terminal of the switch. Take the black wire and put it on the top switch terminal. Then wirenut...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: celing fan switch, internal fan, fan switch
internal fan, fan switch, hi john: Hi John, I still need a little more information. I can tell you for sure that the black wire coming into the ceiling box goes onto the black wire of the switch. Now we still have the red and 2 blues to deal with. Are the red and 2 blues coming off...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: celing fan, pull switch, wall switch
pull switch, wall switch, center position: Hello Michael, the white on the fan and in the junction box should be the neutrals and will connect together. The green on the fan and the bare copper will connect together, and you are correct that these are the grounds. The ceiling fan usually has two ...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: central air fan and compressor wire, computer cooling fan, bob osgood
computer cooling fan, bob osgood, amp unit: Hi Phillip, Sorry for the delay.....we are recovering from a computer cooling fan malfunction a few days ago....online time has been limited while we ve been restoring data and files... You didn t state the electrical specs for your central air unit....and...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: chandelier wiring, chandelier light, 3way switch
chandelier light, 3way switch, copper wire: Yes this sounds interesting. I would wonder if there is a dimmer involved...a 3way switch involved, if the box in the ceiling is a junction box that may have gotten crossed up. If the box had a light in it previously and worked...try plugging the chandelier...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: change circuit from dryer to table saw, amp breaker, gauge wire
amp breaker, gauge wire, hot legs: Hi Matt, Sorry just responding...have been straight out against the wall the past few days... Based on your description...I do NOT recommend you use the former dryer circuit for this table saw...without making some significant modifications. ...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changed switch-power didn't return, gfi receptacle, double switch
gfi receptacle, double switch, added measure: DB Always good to help out a fellow Garden Stater. OK we have to start from scratch here. Take all 4 wires off the switch. Of the 4 wires one is the hot and you need to identify which one that is by whatever means you have available as far as a tester...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing 3 prong to a 4 prong on electric dryer, prong cord, wire bonds
prong cord, wire bonds, wire hook: Hi Jan, Just stopped by my office for lunch break...saw your question come in. With the new Codes...and the exceptions to them - it is hard to buy a NEW dryer that comes with the cord already attached...most manufacturers intentionally have the cord...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing a switch to a recepticle, 3 way switches, recepticle
3 way switches, recepticle, way switch: You are going to have to find the power and run it to this location. The switch only has the power going to the light no neutral is present most likely. You will have to come off of the power going to the garage light if you want it to work with the switch....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing a switch to a recepticle, check voltage, recepticle
check voltage, recepticle, bare wire: Pretty easy if the wires are there. First turn off the power. Then remove the switch cover plate and the 2 screws holding the switch in. Grab the switch at the top and bottom and pull it straight out and then down with the terminals facing up. If there...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing a switch, masking tape, circuit breaker
masking tape, circuit breaker, switches: Remove the old switch from the wall after turning off the breaker feeding it. Number the wires with masking tape and then draw a picture of how the wires are connected to the switches. Remove the wires from the old switch, and place them in exactly the same...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing a switch, switch box, light switch
switch box, light switch, ceiling fan: Hello Jane, we can get this with a little more information. I need to know exactly what wires by color there are in the switch box of the switch you are replacing, and how many terminals there are on the old switch. Let me know and we will get the switch replaced....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing ceiling light fixture, ceiling light fixture, wirings
ceiling light fixture, wirings, volt meter: Hello Leon. One of these is the power wire and the other should be a switch leg. Try connecting a light to just one set of the wires. Black to black, white to white and the bare copper to the light ground. Now turn the circuit back on. If it does not light,...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing circuit breaker, changing a circuit breaker, metal tab
changing a circuit breaker, metal tab, single mom: Hi Lisa. Before you remove the breaker, write down all the info you can find on the panel and/or breaker. There should be a brand name (GE, SQ. D, WWestinghouse, etc) and an amp rating, like 20, 30 or 50. You should also measure the breaker, which will...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing light fitting, kitchen light, wall switch
kitchen light, wall switch, caron: Hi Caron, We need to know which of these wires is hot coming in and which is the switched wire. To find this out, open the wall switch and let me know what colors are in this box, and how they are now connected to the switch or to each other. Do...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing lightbulb fixture, screw caps, screw cap
screw caps, screw cap, screw terminal: Robert, on your new fixture if there are just two screw terminals, one should be a brass or darker color and leads to the center of the lamp socket. This would normally be where the short single black wire connects. Of the other two groups of three wires,...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing old alluminium wire to copper for insurance and safty purposes, copper wiring, aluminum wire
copper wiring, aluminum wire, copper wire: There is nothing unsafe about aluminum wire. It is still being used in higher amperage situations. As for your recepticles and switches...you would need an expensive appliance rated Al/Cu. Nolux is a grease that would be added to the wire to prevent oxidation...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing switched outlet to include overhead lighting, screw terminal, overhead lighting
screw terminal, overhead lighting, hi tim: Hi Tim, Just now getting the chance to log-on....we ve been pretty straight out here electrically this month... Bsased on your description...yes - your goal is possible....but just what it will take it to accomplish it is unknown. Here is the typical...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing type of lighting switches, decora line, kitchen backsplash
decora line, kitchen backsplash, leviton decora: When you say big rectangular toggle I assume you mean the Leviton Decora line of receptacles, switches and plates? Without seeing exactly what it is you have, you could find out who handles Decora in your area, and go browse a catalog to find what you...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changing type of lighting switches, leviton decora, decora line
leviton decora, decora line, kitchen backsplash: A single pole switch performs the same way, no matter what brand it is. Of course you can t interchange a single pole for a three-way, but that should be obvious. You CAN however replace a single pole with a dimmer, and a three-way with a dimmer, as long as...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: changinh a breaker to a higher watt, amp breaker, amps
amp breaker, amps, breakers: Hi Ramesh. Normally, the size of the breaker is based on the wire size, that is, for a 15 amp breaker the wire size is only a #14, while on the 20 amp breaker, the wire size is a #12. You cannot use a 20amp breaker on a #14 wire. I would research why...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: chicago, short circut, heating elements
short circut, heating elements, electric dryer: David, You want to run a 4 wire line to your dryer which would be Romex (plastic outer covering) black, red, white, bare ground. Not to confuse the issue but with Romex the bare ground wire is NOT included in the head count of wires. In other words on...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: christmas lights, bad lamp, christmas lights
bad lamp, christmas lights, happy holidays: Jeffery, Assuming there is nothing wrong with the bulbs the only thing left is a connection problem which could be anywhere in the string such as the sockets, plug , or an unseen break in the wire. If this is the case it would be easier to just buy a new...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: christmas lights, christmas lights, electrical current
christmas lights, electrical current, prongs: Hi. First of all, if it is a plain string, you may just want to replace it, since they are only a dollar or two. There are also strings that cost a little more that are more dependable. One brand is called Constant On. There are testers that test the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: christmas lights, christmas lights, sockets
christmas lights, sockets, long time: You wont like this answer. They are not worth the time it takes to find the problem. I throw mine away every year and buy new. I takes a long time to take each one out, replace with a new one, reverse, move on, etc. One bulb will stop the whole string...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: christmas lights, light strings, christmas light
light strings, christmas light, voltage detector: Hi Jeffery, Sorry just responding...had to replace the cooling fan/ heatsink assembly in our main computer system tonight...took a little longer then expected - just getting it all back up and online. Bad Christmas light strings are pretty common...seems...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: christmas lights, metal portion, christmas lights
metal portion, christmas lights, sockets: Hello Jeffery, this is very difficult to do. The sockets are so small it is almost impossible to get a set of meter leads into the socket without touching them together, which will cause a dead short. That is the only way to be sure a socket has power, if...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: cicuit breaker panel, chandeler, volts amps
chandeler, volts amps, swiches: Hello Rick. The formula to convert watts to amps is watts divided by volts = amps. So with a total of 700 watts divided by 120 volts, you only have 5.83 amps. If this will be all that is on this circuit, #14 wire is good for 15 amps and will be sufficient....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit box, plumbing work, electrical plumbing
plumbing work, electrical plumbing, rise apartment: Hi Coup. Before doing any work, check with your landload. There are probably rules against tenants doing electrical/plumbing work. If you can, then what you are talking about is a breaker. Replacing one does require some electrical knowledge, as well...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit box, rise apartment, apartment building
rise apartment, apartment building, fire hazard: You will need an electrician to replace this. The panel is very dangerous to open. It needs to be replaced soon as it could be a fire hazard since it does not work all the time. The contacts are bad in it and when it does work, it most likely is not making...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit braker, circuit braker, don beck
circuit braker, don beck, neutral position: Hi Maria, When a breaker trips it goes to a neutral position, not to an off position. To reset a breaker, you must turn the breaker to the off position by hand, and then back to the on position. Try this, if that doesn t solve the problem get back to me...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker panel, wire insulation, wire nuts
wire insulation, wire nuts, circuit breakers: You are experiencing the owner builder type construction. Some things dont get inspected, or permited. If they used the old 2 prong outlet, they would cut the bare ground off to remove it from site. If a GFCI circuit is needed, the grounds are then divided,...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker removal, flat blade, center space
flat blade, center space, trilliant: With the Main breaker off and only with the main breaker off should you attempt this. To do otherwise will certainly guarantee you a ride either to the hospital or to the funeral home. 1. TURN OFF THE MAIN BREAKER. 2. VERIFY THERE IS NO MORE PROCEEDING...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker trip repeatly in master bedrm, metal boxes, gfci receptacles
metal boxes, gfci receptacles, repeatly: Hi Sandra, It sounds like you have a short in the circuit. Try resetting it with the light turned off, if it will stay reset the problem is probably with the light, if it still won t reset it is most likely in one of the receptacles. If that is the case you...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker, circuit breakers, gfci breaker
circuit breakers, gfci breaker, electrical work: The Push to Test is a GFCI breaker. You will need to turn the MAIN breaker OFF, then remove the wires from the breakers in question, labeling what wire goes where, and take the breakers with you to the store. To remove the breaker, pull from the center...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker, dumb thing, circuit breaker
dumb thing, circuit breaker, live wire: You may have created a continuous short somewhere else in the box. You may need to replace the receptacle to correct the problem It is also possible that the breaker is now burnt out and needs replacement. Try putting that wire on another breaker and see...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker, electrican, garbage disposal
electrican, garbage disposal, kitchen nook: Hi Robin, OK, now we start trouble shooting, 1 step at a time. Remove the GFI that is closest to the panel, from the wall box. Leave the wires hooked up. If you don t have a voltage tester, you will need to get one. It can be purchased at most home...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker, kwanda, watt heater
kwanda, watt heater, thanks in advance: Kwanda, with three 1300watt heaters on one circuit, you had a total of 32.5 amps current draw. It all were one 20amp circuit, it s easy to see why the breaker won t hold it. I suspect that the noise you heard was the vibration in the wires when all that...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker, kwanda, watt heater
kwanda, watt heater, thanks in advance: kwanda, if you re not sure which breaker is the problem breaker, go to the panel and one at a time, turn each breaker off HARD, then back on. Often the breaker is hard to re-set. If the problem is still evident, check to see which receptacles are without...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker, mobile air conditioner, floor heaters
mobile air conditioner, floor heaters, kids party: Hi Randall. The reason it is popping is that there is to much load on this one circuit. If you can, try to move these loads onto different circuits, or add more circuits, if your service is large enough. If it is to small, then you may need to increase...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker, wall outlets, basement wall
wall outlets, basement wall, electrical problem: If you turn off the main breaker, everything will be dead in the panel EXCEPT the wires coming from the meter to the main breaker. Don t touch these. Your receptacle wiring should run above or below the height you intend to mount the plugs, usually 12...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker/wiring issue, amp circuits, bob patrick
amp circuits, bob patrick, voltage detector: Patrick, If you put the voltage tester on the breaker while you were having this problem and the breaker was OK then there;s no sense in switching the wires around, the problem lies some where else. Try tracing the cable for this circuit as it leaves the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breaker/wiring issue, amp circuits, hi bob
amp circuits, hi bob, circuit breaker wiring: Patrick, Yes it could very well be the breaker. You could try taking the wire thats connected to this breaker or fuse and switch it to another one and see if that solves the problem. In other words swap this wire with another one thats connected to the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breakers going bad, qualified electrician, circuit breakers
qualified electrician, circuit breakers, cause and solution: This is something that needs the tools and experience of a qualified electrician on site to discover. Personally I have never encountered something like this; bad breakers, yes of course, but a failure like this needs some professional help to determine the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit breakers, amp circuit breaker, bob osgood
amp circuit breaker, bob osgood, master electrician: Hi Pat, There is no true standard life span for a breaker...it is estimated a quality made breaker is reliable for approx. 10 years....under NORMAL circumstance. After 10 years, the inner mechanism slowly becomes worn and realibility comes into question....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit brekers, metal blade, circuit breaker
metal blade, circuit breaker, breakers: Hi. You have to be very careful not to touch anything that you shouldn t because there are parts of the breaker box that always has power. Turning off the main breaker will reduce the areas that have power, but still be careful. There are many brands...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit dilemma, heart ache, circuit breakers
heart ache, circuit breakers, bob bob: Jim, Let me get this straight. All the SAME switches and receptacles go on and off with these two breakers ? In other words it doesn t matter which breaker is on at the time but the same switches and receptacles are going on and off ?.....if this IS in...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuit splitting, don beck, amp breaker
don beck, amp breaker, seperate sets: Hi Brian, If this is a new istallation, having 3 switches in a 3 gang box should be no problem. Bring in a hot and neutral feeder, run 3 lines from this hot in, 1 for each switch. A 3 gang box using 14/2 wire should be plenty big enough. Where most of...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circuits, wall stud, receptacle
wall stud, receptacle, sorry for the delay: Hello Jack, the answer is always a surprise, according to the code, there is no limit to the number of receptacles on a single circuit. The code only states that the connected loads can not exceed the rating of the circuit. I have totally rewired my home,...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circut breaker
A dead short would immediately trip the breaker, so I would say this circuit is overloaded. A larger breaker would not cure the problem as the wire is rated the same as the breaker, the wire most likely needs to be upsized with a larger breaker. Thanks, ...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circut problems, volt circuits, gfci outlets
volt circuits, gfci outlets, incoming power: First the easy part. Just make sure the resets on the GFI s are in, not popped out. Should be flush with the face. It sounds like the continuous tripping of the 240 volt breaker may have damaged the Main breaker. Turn off all the breakers, then turn off...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: circut test, don beck
don beck: Hi David, Make sure the meter is set to 220V, or more. Insert 1 lead into 1 side of the outlet, the other lead into the other side of the outlet. This should give you a reading of 220V. You can also check for 110V by inserting 1 lead in the left side...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: clearances, refrigerator unit, phase services
refrigerator unit, phase services, phase service: Mike, as far as clearances are concerned, picture having a refrigerator unit standing right in front of the panel. This is the area that is required to be clear. The actual area is at least 30 wide (or the width of the panel, if it is larger than 30 )....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: clothes dryer and service panel, clothes dryer, electrical fire
clothes dryer, electrical fire, loose connection: Slightly warm as in it s a warm feeling but not unbearable? Or warm in that it s so hot you can t hold your hand on it for very long? For the former, it s normal for a breaker to get warmer than it s neighbors if current is flowing through it, especially...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: clothes dryer and service panel, clothes dryer, occurrance
clothes dryer, occurrance, electrical fire: Dimming of lights when a motor load comes on is a normal occurrance. Sometimes it s more pronounced in one location over another, and sometimes it can be minimized, but a momentary flicker is okay...a prolonged absense of light is abnormal and the problem...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: code question, snap switches, national electrical code
snap switches, national electrical code, amp breaker: Hi aj. It is allowable to install a 15amp duplex outlet on a 20amp circuit. See Article 210.21(B)(3) for this rule. Switches are covered in Article 404.14. This says that all snap switches are to be used within their rating. A 15amp switch could not...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: code, bob osgood, master electrician
bob osgood, master electrician, fuse block: Hi Chris, Without having the specific electrical nameplate and connection detail for your 240 volt gate operator (is this a slide or swing gate..?)...it s hard to say what will need to be connected...each unit differs as to what it requires for a supply....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: code, fuse holder, gauge wire
fuse holder, gauge wire, sympatico ca: Hi Chris, The 2 blacks will be for the hots; the other 14 gauge is the neutral, and I have no idea why an 8 gauge wire would be for the ground. To make sure you connect things up correctly, check the panel and make sure the 2 blacks are on the fuses/breakers....the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: colour coding wires, hot wire, earth
hot wire, earth, japan: Toby, I am sorry, but it would be a guess. Each manufacturer has their own set of coding, and without a wiring diagram I could not say for sure. If the voltage is 120, one would be the Hot wire, one the neutral, and the other would also be considered a...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: combination switch, incoming power, neutrals
incoming power, neutrals, light fixture: Hmmmmm, I think what you have is, and I might be wrong, 2 black wires, 2 white wires and 2 grounds. 1 is incoming power and 1 set goes to the light. First find out which of the 2 black wires is always on. That black wire goes to the gold terminals with the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: combination switch, switch legs, white paint
switch legs, white paint, red paint: NO, not too difficult. All you have there is the switch legs, ie power in and power out. You are going to have to get to the neutral and pigtail it to the receptacle on the silver terminal as I attempted to say yesterday. Thank you for the rating. Jef...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: combination switch/recepticle and 220V compatibility, visual standpoint, step down transformer
visual standpoint, step down transformer, recepticle: Hi Jonathan, The switch can be used either way, just the attached outlet, or outlets downstream. The wiring instructions to do it either way come with the device. This switch cannot control a 220V line, only 110V. There are switches available that control...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: combination switch/recetacle GFCI, receptacle, light fixture
receptacle, light fixture, power supply: 1 black wire on the switch gets powered from the receptacle. The other black wire on the switch goes to the black wire on the fixture. The white wire from the fixture goes on the receptacle with the other white wire. Hope this clears up your confusion....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: combining 2 three way circuits, hallway lights, electrical panel
hallway lights, electrical panel, way switch: Murray, it is probably possible. The two switches in the middle would be replaced by one four way switch. In this case any of the switches would operate both lights. There are lots of ways of actually routing the wire in three way systems. If you want...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: combining wire size, amp breaker, baughn
amp breaker, baughn, receptacle: Yes you can use the #12 wire. If there was originally #12 and you wanted to use #14 then you would have a problem as #12 wire is usually on a 20 amp breaker and #14 is on a 15 amp. So the #14 would burn up before the breaker would trip but it is always permissible...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: complex wiring problem, romex wire, way switch
romex wire, way switch, can of worms: Hi Steve, Sounds like we have a can of worms here. What I need to know is how many pairs of wires are there in this connection. A pair is a black and a white coming out of the same romex wire(we ll just ignore the grounds for now..(bare or green wires)....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: concerns, amp meter, amp circuit
amp meter, amp circuit, garbage disposal: Hi Scott. #1: This will require the use of an amp-meter. This is a device that clamps around the wire, at the breaker location, and gives a reading of the current flowing on that wire. Not usually a D-I-Y type of project. #2: Most breakers will handle...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: conduit fill, wire diameters, pipe diameters
wire diameters, pipe diameters, nature of electricity: Hi Rick, Sorry for the delay - had to replace the cooling fan in our main office computer - kept me off line for a few hours... Thanks for the kind words on previous advice...( I recall your name and your comments in the ratings)..it is imperative...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: conduit, circular mils, cross sectional area
circular mils, cross sectional area, homework type: Normally I don t answer homework type questions, but since you are in the military, I will make an exception. 1=a 1/2 hand bender is a 5 deduction, 3/4 hand bender is 6 and 1 hand bender is 8 . Now you cannot put 3/4 rigid in a 3/4 bender, it goes...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: conduit, cornor, occuring
cornor, occuring, bends: These sound like questions from a test. I don t have my bending book with me, so I would suggest you visit www.idealindustries.com/pdf/bendguid.pdf to download a bending guide. It may have the answers you are looking for. Good luck. Rick Miel...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: conduit, electrical wire, conduits
electrical wire, conduits, new addition: Check local codes you may not need to run the coax and phone line in conduit. If you do, then no, do not run them all in the same conduit. Where I live you can run coax and phone line on the outside of the house. Why? They do not carry high voltage (well,...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: conduits, licenced electrician, cable ducts
licenced electrician, cable ducts, maximum installation: Hi Lisa. The National Electric Code is what you need to get to find rules for electrical installations. As far as conduits & cables, in the US it is normal to use only cables, for ease of installation. Enclosing the cables in conduit may cause heating,...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: connecting neutral to ground turns on everthing in my dead curcuit, zap zap, neutral line
zap zap, neutral line, wire nut: Hi. It sounds like the white neutral line has a break in it somewhere. Connecting the white to the ground is not safe. You have electricity going through the ground. It s not made for that. Check your wiring for a place where the white neutral wire...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: connecting switches and reseptacles, screw terminals, personal preference
screw terminals, personal preference, receptacle: Both are equally safe. Usually if the wire fits in the slide holes we put it there, however if the switch would fail that means cutting the wire off, which eventually could lead to no wire without adding wire. Pretty much a personal preference. Jeff ...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: constantly flickering lights, fuse box, central air conditioning
fuse box, central air conditioning, flickering lights: Hi. I doubt if changing the sockets and switches will help. Some flickering may be normal. If you have excessive flickering, you may have a loose neutral somewhere between the street and your panel box. There may also be a problem with the power coming...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: convert 220 wiring to 110, volt circuits, breakers
volt circuits, breakers, back yard: Hello Kenny. The first thing to check is the ground that was ran to the spa. Be sure it is connected to the neutral bar. If not, move it to the neutral bar. Next, remove the double pole breaker that fed the spa and replace it with two single pole breakers....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: convert hard wire to plug in, fixture type, chandalier
fixture type, chandalier, hard wire: Hi. Yes you can. On how to do it, it depends on the fixture. If it is a chandalier, you can buy a swag kit at any home center. If it is a fluorescent light, you will need to buy a 3 wire cord that is grounded. If it is a wall scone, you need just...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: converting 2 prong outlets to 3 prong outlets., amp fuse, fuse panels
amp fuse, fuse panels, plug configuration: Hi Brad, Just getting back in for the day.... Based on your description...you ve found yourself faced with the same scenario that a lot of new owners of older homes have found themselves in...outdated non-grounding 2 wire circuits. Understandably....most...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: converting 220 to 110, volt circuits, ground bars
volt circuits, ground bars, john thanks: Piece of cake John. Remove the double breaker now feeding this circuit. The breaker will have the black and red connected. Replace this double breaker with two single 20 amp breakers and connect the black to one, the red to the other. The white and bare should...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: converting 220V circuit to two 110V circuits, receptacle, breakers
receptacle, breakers, ivan: I generally try to discourage people from trying to do this because it can lead to some confusion in the future. The best thing to do is eliminate the old circuit and you can install new ones. Sometime your old dryer wire does not have a ground wire and...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: converting European light fixture for use in US, bob osgood, volt supply
bob osgood, volt supply, master electrician: Hi Stan, Based on your description....this is simply a light fixture..made overseas....and can take standard incandecent bulb made for US fixtures (IF a US bulb will fit the socket..?). If so....then it is strictly a resistive fixture....and changing...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: converting a chandelier into a plug-in, wiremould, lamp cord
wiremould, lamp cord, happy new year: Hi. You can use lamp cord, available in spools or by the foot. If you were using chain too, they make kits for it available at all home centers. But if you want to cover the cord, they make something that is plastic that goes over the wire and attaches...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: converting an outlet to a switch, light switches, happy new year
light switches, happy new year, electrical outlet: It very likely used to be a switch that was converted to a plug. If that is the case, and electrician can convert it back to a switch very quickly. If it was not the former switch, an electrician can drop the line for a switch but that will take a couple...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: converting elctric cooktop to gas, electric cooktop, gas cooktop
electric cooktop, gas cooktop, volt supply: TJ, Absoulely tap into the outlet on the island for the electronic ignition in your new gas cook top. This is your best and EASIEST way to go about it. As far as using the old 220 line for your shop, is it a 3 wire cable or a 2 wire cable ?. In other words...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: converting range from hard wire to plug in, new appliance, prongs
new appliance, prongs, circuit breaker: Before you do anything, you have to make sure that the wire is thick enough to run the range. There is a good chance that it is not. Check the amp rating of the new appliance, and make sure it is the same as the old appliance. You may need to run a new...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: converting220 circuit to 110, 220 volt, michael adams
220 volt, michael adams, circuit breaker: Michael, a 220v circuit breaker will have two terminals for the user to connect to. Voltage across these two will be 220volts. Voltage between either of these and the neutral bus will supply 120volt. A two wire circuit, therefore, connected with the white...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: cooktop and oven, bob osgood, amp breaker
bob osgood, amp breaker, master electrician: Hi Nick, Sorry for the delay....been helping my sister move into her new place....just got back. An 8.8 kW cooktop will draw up to 36.67 amps....and should be run with # 8 wire....on a 40 amp double pole breaker. The 4kW oven will draw about 17 amps....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: cooktop hookup, garbage disposers, don beck
garbage disposers, don beck, neutral wire: Hi Carl, You idea of checking the breaker panel and see where the wires go there is the best idea. I m sure the red and the black wires are hooked correctly and the green is the ground. Howevere, this gray wire surprises me. I haven t run across that...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: copper vs aluminum, aluminum wire, lugs
aluminum wire, lugs, copper: Hi Curt. Cost is the main reason for using one over the other. Both are allowed by code, and work well, if the ends of the wire are treated correctly. You need to make sure that where you land the wires are approved for aluminum, if using aluminum. Most...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: correct wire size for 100 amp feed to subpanel, bob osgood, master electrician
bob osgood, master electrician, pvc conduit: Hi Dave, Sorry....but we are fixing to leave here shortly for our Holiday vacation...so I do not have time to answer your question in detail. For a 100 amp feed - you will need 3 runs of #2 copper (not #3 or #4) ....although the ground can be a...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: cost of electrical updating, hot water heaters, garbage disposals
hot water heaters, garbage disposals, branch circuits: I assume the contractor is doing a load analysis, and handling all the permits and such with the city and utility? I can tell you that a 200 amp service, on average, costs about $1200. Bear in mind that all these costs are average and not locality specific....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: coverting dryer cord, neutral wire, metal frame
neutral wire, metal frame, prong: Hi. Usually the ground is green and the neutral is white. In your old cord, you probably have a connection, usually in the middle that has a jumper from the connection to the metal frame of the dryer. If that is the case, the neutral wire goes on the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: crazy, air conditioning ducts, hearing voices
air conditioning ducts, hearing voices, bugging device: This is a new one on me Michelle. Was there a radio playing in the living room, and possibly your house is wired in conduit? Maybe the sound carried through the pipe like you might hear it through air conditioning ducts. I don t know and couldn t really speculate...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: cross wiring, circuit breakers, vacation feature
circuit breakers, vacation feature, hunt and peck: Sorry for the delay...I was out of town and forgot to use the vacation feature. It sound as though somewhere there is a mis-made joint, most likely in a three wire circuit, or where two separate circuits enter the same box and the neutrals were made up...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: crossed wire, incoming power, overhead light
incoming power, overhead light, light fixture: Take the switch out of the wall and see what color wire is at the terminals. 1 will be incoming power and the other will be power to the switches. Normally, I try and run incoming on white, then color it black, and outgoing to the fixture on black. Yours...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: current flow in a 220 V circuit, osciliscope, amp breaker
osciliscope, amp breaker, amp circuit: Uf you were to look at a osciliscope of a 240 volt circuit you would find tht they are 180 degrees apart. x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x All the neutral does in a 120 volt...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: damage from arced wires, red hook, fan light
red hook, fan light, light fixture: Hi Pat, Sorry for the delay...because of a material delay, we had to work a double shift - but it gave us half of tomorrow off - so it wasn t all bad. (it s been a VERY busy week here..) Thanks for the follow-up. Most unusual wiring layout for an...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: damage from arced wires, red hook, fan light
red hook, fan light, light fixture: Hi Pat4, Just getting back in from an after hours service call... Based on your description....it s clear that you need to identify what each and every one of the wires in that box actually does...where it comes from and where it goes to. Was...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: damage from arced wires, red hook, fan light
red hook, fan light, light fixture: Hi Pat, Glad to hear all worked out .... Small world..just got back from the Houston area (actually Waco for an electrical meeting a few months ago).... Our Osgood lineage originally came to Maine by way of Blue Hill back in the 1700 s....some...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dangerous amperage, heart pumps, volt amp
heart pumps, volt amp, milliamps: Hi Jim, Just getting in...long day here in the northeast.. ANY electrical shock has the potential to cause injury to humans...doesn t matter if it s 120 volts AC ...or even 12 volts DC...both can cause injury or even fatalities. (for example, lightning...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dead circuit, loose wire, wall socket
loose wire, wall socket, light fixture: Hi Stan I would suspect that you have a loose wire in the switched outlet. Remove the outlet and check the connections. If you find nothing there, you may need to remove the light fixture. What you are looking for is the start of the circuit, finding...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dead electrical outlets, voltage detector, electrical fault
voltage detector, electrical fault, copper wire: finding the cause of a dead circuit can be frustrating. If you are sure that a breaker or GFCI did not trip, then the next thing you have to do is to start looking at each plug. Unscrew the plugs that are not working from the wall. Sometimes you will see...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dead end short, continuity test, debri
continuity test, debri, loose connection: Hi Joe, The term dead end short can having multiple meanings when it concerns electrical - and it depends on how the word was used. For example...in a automotive electrical system...a dead end is a part of the wiring harness that has nothing plugged...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dead outlets, floor joists, finished walls
floor joists, finished walls, romex: Don, I think its more likely you ve got a connection issue here VS they didn t finish the wiring, though I have seen some amazing things in my day. Tell me how many cable s are in each of these two boxes, the number of wires in each cable and their colors....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dead outlets, reset buttons, gfi receptacle
reset buttons, gfi receptacle, receptacles: Don, Check the nearest working receptacles to the ones that are not working. If you happen to know exactly which other outlets are on with the ones that are not working , so much the better other wise just start opening up the nearest working receptacles...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dead outlets, rochester ny area, finished walls
rochester ny area, finished walls, reset buttons: Don, Ok this is good information. It tells me its possible these could be separate circuits totally unrelated to one another going back to either the panel where they were never hooked up or to remote junction boxes where they were also never hooked up....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dead receptacle, gfci receptacle, dead wires
gfci receptacle, dead wires, fresh batteries: First check and see if this outlet is being fed from a GFCI receptacle such as one in the garage, bathroom, attic, crawl space, etc. If it is see if the GFCI is tripped and if so push the [RESET] button. Then test the outlet. If it is not on a GFCI (as...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dead switch, fuse box, loose wire
fuse box, loose wire, switch plate: TJ, don t tear into the walls just yet. It sounds like a loose joint. If you didn t have any loose wire joints in the switch box when you replaced the switch, check the wire joints in the light box nearest to the switch. Chances are that the wire to the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dead switches and receptacles, upstairs and downstairs, light switches
upstairs and downstairs, light switches, wire nut: Open hot means that you did not make a good connection with the black wire. The incoming power goes to the line side, and the outgoing power goes on the load side to GFI protect recepts, downstream. I suspect that you are drawing to many amps for the GFI....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dedicated line, dedicated line, electric stove
dedicated line, electric stove, inefficiencies: No. A dedicated line is just a line ran to a specific piece of equipment. Such as the outside A/C is a dedicated line as all it serves is the A/C, same thing for an electric stove. Some people have dedicated lines for freezers, microwaves, computers, etc....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dimmer switch installation, low voltage track, switch installation
low voltage track, switch installation, lightolier: Hello Tom, I do not think you did anything incorrectly. There are some devices that require a specific dimmer to operate. I have a number of ceiling fans that only the manufacturers contol will operate the fan speeds, and also some light fixtures that require...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dimmer switch, remote control switch, dimmer switches
remote control switch, dimmer switches, bedroom ceiling: I can t speak for dimmers thiry five years ago, but dimmers today are quite safe, as long as you don t overload them. They come in 600, 1000 and 1500 watt ratings, single pole and three way. Just don t use a 600 watt dimmer to control 700 watts of lights....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dimmer switches, volt circuit, watt lamps
volt circuit, watt lamps, wattage: Look for a dimmer with a higher wattage rating, not necessarily amperage rating. 8-60 watt lamps is 240 watts, so if you had a 100 watt dimmer (15 amp or 20 amp) it would overheat. Change out your device to a 600 watt dimmer. By the way, 240 watts on a...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dimmer swith, dimmer switch, screw
dimmer switch, screw, ground wire: If the switch is installed in a metal box, you can attach a small wire from the ground of the switch to the box with a screw, or just leave it blank. There is not a lot of choice when there is no ground with the electrical, but I have seen it done both ways....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dimmers, don beck, dim the light
don beck, dim the light, dimmers: Hi Mike, A lot depends on the dimmer. Some of the less expensive type use close to 100 watts, even when the light is dimmed. The wattage is used up in heat. That is why some dimmers, when in use, feel warm to the touch. There are more expensive dimmers...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dimming and brightening lights, garbage disposal, electrical inspector
garbage disposal, electrical inspector, electrical company: Hi. The three things you mention the AC, the washer, and the dispoal usually cause the lights to go dim. When there is a problem, it is usually caused by a loose neutral, which you said has been checked out. Motors use a lot of electricity for the split...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dimming and brightening lights, incandescent lighting, garbage disposal
incandescent lighting, garbage disposal, electrical company: Hi Karen, Based on your description...you are suffering from a rather common problem...and it appears as you have already taken some of the steps at attempting to resolve it - having contacted the power company (to check the service and their transformer,...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dimming and flickering lights, flickering lights, confussion
flickering lights, confussion, electrical requirements: I dont want to sound rude...so understand....I cannot legally answer any question posed dealing with Mobile homes. One....I am not allowed to work on them, I dont understand them, they have their own electrical requirements. I can only say, you need a qualified...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dimming lights, best case scenario, amp service
best case scenario, amp service, factory specs: Hi Patty, Sorry just responding....been alternating days on projects down-state and local.....not much computer time as of late. Even in the best case scenario...any time a large motor load first starts..(such as the typical A/C compressor)..the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dimming, wont kick, electrical fire
wont kick, electrical fire, electric stove: You need to get an electrician there as soon as possible before you have an electrical fire. In fact I would call the local fire department and tell them that it is NOT AN EMERGENCY but could they come check the wiring. Also call your power company and ask...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: disay chainged electrical out lets, terminal screws, neutral wire
terminal screws, neutral wire, ground wires: Hello Jafar, sorry for the delay, my computer crashed and I am borrowing one. I need to be sure the wiring is correct. On the new receptacle, the terminal screws are colored as follows, one set on the same side are silver, the white neutral wire connects here....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: disconnected ground wire, hot water heater, electric hot water heater
hot water heater, electric hot water heater, electricheaters: Hi. You absolutely have to have a neutral wire to get 110 volts. You may get it temporarily hooking it to a ground, but you risk shocking yourself, and perhaps other people on the block when a fuacet or pipe is touched, or even risking a fire. Sorry,...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: disposal outlet., power source
power source: I think you are asking how to add an outlet where there is an existing switch for the disposal. If there is only 1 set of wires there it is only a switch leg, without a neutral. You will need to run a set of wires from a power source to this location so...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: distance of light switch from tub or shower, wet locations, double switch
wet locations, double switch, electrical inspector: Hi Larry. Switches can not be installed in the wet locations of tubs, unless approved for such. I would keep it at least 6 away from the tub/shower enclosure. If you need to know exactly what the requirement is, contact your local electrical inspector....
Electrical Wiring in the Home: do I, jefferson county mo, amp service
jefferson county mo, amp service, insurance purposes: Hi. In most cases, you do not need to use conduit. However, some local areas have different codes, so you may want to contact your local inspector before doing it. When doing major work like that, it is a good idea to get it inspected (if there are building...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: do i have enough, amp breaker, dish washer
amp breaker, dish washer, range oven: Mike you didn t say how big youe house is. But as long as you are not tripping breakers or fuses. And the wiring is relativity good then don t worry. The 100amp main will carry 80 amps all day and shouldn t trip. It will carry 100 amps for only 3 hours or...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: domestic lighting system, don beck, domestic lighting
don beck, domestic lighting, lighting system: Hi Patrick, It is possible to do this, but only under perfect conditions, which is unlikely. Most electricians would not run the wires the way it is needed to make it work as you want. Before going deeper into this, a simple way to check is pull the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: doorbell rings after power failure, doorbell rings, bell button
doorbell rings, bell button, door chimes: This is a one I haven t heard before. The only thing i can think of is that instead of being a normally open circuit which is completed by pushing the door bell button, this is a normally closed circuit that is completed by pushing the doorbell opening the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: doorbell wiring, bell system, tax expert
bell system, tax expert, doorbell: That would be no trouble John. The transformer should handle several chimes at the same time. Another suggestion, I am not sure how old the door bell system is, but they have come a LONG way with wireless systems. I have a 100 year old home and the doorbell...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double battery hookup, 12 volt batteries, bob osgood
12 volt batteries, bob osgood, master electrician: Hi Evin, To keep your batteries at 12 volts....simply wire them in parallel (if you go series...you ll get 24 volts). You ll need double lugs on the first battery...and will need to hook up the leads from your alternator as follows: .....come to...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double pole switch, cable 1, light fixture
cable 1, light fixture, hot wire: Hi Mike. I m sorry, but your existing wiring will not allow you to add the switch for the fan. However............ If you can add a 2-wire cable (call it cable #1) from the light fixture to the fan box, then you can make it work. At the light fixture...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double pole switch, hot wire, swith
hot wire, swith, switch box: Mike, if at the existing switch there are only the black and the white you mention, your new fan is lacking a neutral. The white between the light and the switch is the hot wire. The black between the light and the switch takes the power to the light when...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double pole switch, neutral wire, swith
neutral wire, swith, hot wire: Hi. You will have to make another switch loop for the fan. You can not power the fan from the switch, since there is no neutral wire there. (Both the black and white are hot in a switch loop.) So you need to run power into the fan from a source (such...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double pole switch, romes, hot wire
romes, hot wire, swith: Hi Mike, You still need to run 1 more wire. There needs to be a wire run from the existing light to the fan. I am assuming you are using 14/2 romes with ground. This wire contains a black,a white, and a green(or bare) wires. The new switch gets the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double pole switch, sorry guy, swith
sorry guy, swith, switch control: Sorry guy, but the two wires in your switch are HOT and SWITCH LEG. There is no neutral. And you need a neutral for your fan. The only way to fix this, short of running new wires to your switch, would be to run your fan wires to your light and let the switch...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double pole switch, switch box, swith
switch box, swith, hot wire: These are fun. Assume...b/w go from switch box to light. b/w go from switch box to fan. b/w power comes into the switch box. All the whites tie together. b from power goes to the common terminal. b to light goes on top terminal, b to fan goes on bottome...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double pole switch, swith, hot wire
swith, hot wire, switch box: Well unless you are getting power to the switch, more than just the black and white you are going to have to find where the power comes in at. That is where you are going to have to make up the white wire. It might be easier just to attach the fan to the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double pole switch, whites wires, hot wire
whites wires, hot wire, fan thanks: Hello Mike, I am afraid this is an all too common problem. There is no neutral in the switch box for the fan. You were correct that they made a switch loop for the light. The white from the light that attaches to the switch is actually a hot wire and should...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double switch plus single switch, ground cables, timer switch
ground cables, timer switch, wire nut: Hi John, The main power coming into the box(black wire)gets 3 wires pigtailed to it with a wirenut. Each of these black wires gets put on 1 screw of each switch.(Doesn t matter which screw). The black wires that go to the fan,vanity lite, and shower...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: double tap, national electrical code, double tap
national electrical code, double tap, wire nut: Hello Diane. There is a standard electrical code that is titled, The National Electrical Code. Most refer to it as the NEC. Double tapping is having more than one wire attached to a breaker. They are partially correct. You can not have more than one wire attached...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: drop down box from meter, fried bacon, electrical meter
fried bacon, electrical meter, electrical knowledge: The only safe way for an unknowledgable person to do this would be to pull the meter. And even if you did do this, the top two wires would still be hot, and if you touched them, you d receive the full output of the generating station. Suffice it to say, you...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dryer line, bob osgood, master electrician
bob osgood, master electrician, amp breaker: Hi Jack, First chance I ve had to log-in and answer your question...been right straight out here with electrical work so far this year. IF this is a standard electric home dryer - it will generally require a run of 10/3 with ground and a 4 prong...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dryer problem, don beck, clothes dryer
don beck, clothes dryer, electrical problem: Hi Danielle, If the breaker does not trip when you are not using the dryer, then the problem lies in the dryer itself. The only electrical problem could be that the breaker is too small. It should be a 30 amp. If it is, then the dryer itself is causing...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dryer receptical, fuse box, heating element
fuse box, heating element, neutral wire: If you have a white wire on the breaker and a black wire on the breaker beside it...you should have 120 to ground on each terminal. Be sure that on the two terminals you have 220volts on the meter. The only other issue is the ground bonding. Ground and...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dryer recepticle, awg wire, fuse box
awg wire, fuse box, romex: Cheryl, You can certainly do what you want. Dryer circuits almost always utilize 10 AWG wire or to be more specific 10-3 Romex or 10-3 BX cable or sometimes you will see SEU cable which is 2 insulated wires that are wrapped with numerous small uninsulated...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dryer repair, heater element, dryer repair
heater element, dryer repair, thermostat: Penny, I suggest you take the back off of the dryer and retreive the dropped nuts. You don t know where they ended up, and it could be on an energized part of the heater element, or a thermostat, or in the motor. I hope this has helped. Rick Miel...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dryer wiring, bob osgood, master electrician
bob osgood, master electrician, ac cable: Hi Tom, The wire size and type is determined by the ampacity (from the nameplate rating of the dryer) and wire type depends on the application. NM 10/3 with ground is suitable for most standard dryers in a typical residential setting....larger units...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dryer wiring, romex, clothes dryer
romex, clothes dryer, ac cable: Tom, Armor clad cable like Romex has its pluses and minus s. On the plus side it has the metal outer covering which provides better protection than Romex where its exposed to physical contact. However on the minus side it doesn t have a separate ground...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dryer, amp circuit, clothes dryer
amp circuit, clothes dryer, kitchen range: Hi. Each major appliance has to have its own circuit. The dryer should be on a 30 amp circuit. The range is probably on a 50 amp circuit. Although you can try to do it yourself, you may want to get an electrician to do it. If you want to do it yourself,...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dryers, inner city ministry, washers and dryers
inner city ministry, washers and dryers, government projects: Hi. I don t see any way to convert them. Remember that amps times volts equals wattage, so if you cut the voltage in half you double the amps. Even if there was a way to convert the voltage, you wouldn t have the capacity for the amperage. However,...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: dual combo switch/outlet from single pole switch, switch setup, switch circuit
switch setup, switch circuit, switch box: You will have to cut off the switch circuit at the breaker and pull out the existing switch and let me know what color wires are in the switch box and how they are connected. In many cases the switch is just a leg of the circuit and the neutral is not present...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: earth leakage, ground fault circuit interrupter, fault circuit interrupter
ground fault circuit interrupter, fault circuit interrupter, earth leakage: Hi Simon, Based on your description....it appears this question may be coming from the UK or a European country....as earth leakage and the monitors are not commonly used terms and equipment here in the US. What we refer to as ground - they refer to...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: earthing, american wire gage, earth cable
american wire gage, earth cable, amp service: Chris: The grounding electrod conducter size is determind by the size of the service main breaker. In florida were I,am located a 200 amp service needs a AWG (american wire gage)sized #4 copper wire. A 100 amp srvice can usa a #6 copper wire. The copper wire...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: ele, flourecent lights, bulbs
flourecent lights, bulbs: Since I dont know how you attempted the wiring...all I can say is the 2 wires that turn on the light...run paralell to the next light. Are there 2 or 4 wires in the box on the wall for the lights. If 2....then continue the wires for the other light. If...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: elec. box, neutral wire, subpanel
neutral wire, subpanel, electrician: Hi Dan. It sounds like you are trying to connect a 220volt load to a sub-panel. However, the subpanel does not sound like it is wired correctly. To be a true subpanel, you will have 2 hot wires, 1 neutral wire, and 1 ground wire. The other problem...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electical wiring, safety sake, measure voltage
safety sake, measure voltage, copper wire: I would have to assume that one of the wires not connected to anything is a neutral, or at least a ground wire (most likely the bare). If you have a meter, measure voltage between one of the white wires and the green, then the bare, then between green and...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electiral, 3 way switches, way switch
3 way switches, way switch, light switch: I might need a bit more information on just how this setup is wired, but basically power is on one switch, then travels on two wires to the other switch (these are the travelers ), and then returns on one wire to the first light. If your wiring goes from...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electirc, dining room chandelier, loose connection
dining room chandelier, loose connection, dimmer switch: It would appear that the circuit travels through your switch on it s way to the outlets, and if they worked before, and not now, I d suspect either 1) you have a loose connection or a wire joint that came loose when you replacd the switch, or 2) you ve made...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electrcal circuit problems, toaster oven, bare wire
toaster oven, bare wire, best interest: Dick, Your friend has an open neutral condition which is quite common and not safe either. What your describing are the exact symptoms. What has happened is one of the 3 wires (the neutral bare wire) coming in from the utility has opened due to a bad...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electrial leakage, strip heat, electric furnance
strip heat, electric furnance, compressor operation: Hello Ken, the main suspect is the furnace. In the heat mode, go to the outdoor unit and after the unit has ran for about 10 minutes, see if the large insulated line is Hot, it should be very hot. The small line should be very warm but not as hot as the large...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric baseboard heat, electric baseboard heat, low voltage system
electric baseboard heat, low voltage system, wall thermostat: Hi Andrew, Tried to log-in to answer your question earlier....but the allexperts server was down (been happening a lot the past week)...was just now able to log-in. Yes...it s possible to put all the basebaord heaters on one low voltage thermostat...but...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric baseboard heat, electric baseboard heat, low voltage system
electric baseboard heat, low voltage system, wall thermostat: Hi Andrew, Just getting back in...been downstate visiting for the day... Per Honeywell, the R841E (or what they refer to as a R841E1068 - 24 V Electric Heater Relay with Spst switching) Has these ratings: Electrical Ratings, Contacts (resistive)...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric baseboard heater, electric baseboard heater, neutral conductor
electric baseboard heater, neutral conductor, black al: Phil, assuming that the new heater is 240volt, just consider the white wire coming in from the floor as being black. If the wiring was in conduit the white wire would have to be another color than white, which is normally a neutral conductor and not hot...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric baseboards, aluminum siding, insulation board
aluminum siding, insulation board, fuse box: Hydro? Your utility s name?? Anyway, using electricity to heat with is always going to be more expensive than gas, and Hydro was right in the sense that even having the thing plugged in, but not ON, will use a little power, but wrong when they implied if the...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric boiler, motherwell scotland, hot water heater
motherwell scotland, hot water heater, electric boiler: Richard, OK thats good, now I have a better idea of what you should have. Your problem should either be the lower element or the thermostat that controls it. You should have access panels by each element and the thermostat that its controlled by. Each...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric breaker, electric baseboard heaters, amp breaker
electric baseboard heaters, amp breaker, jot down: Hi Randy, Thanks for following up...sorry if the site shows me maxed out at times...I get a lot of electrical questions here daily....so that happens quite often. If you should need to contact me again in the future...and the system says I m full....feel...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric dimmer installation, bob meyer, ceiling fixture
bob meyer, ceiling fixture, hi bob: Follow up: Bob, I got an amazingly prompt answer from Lutron : Mr. Mossman, Yes, a Maestro Smart Remote can wire into a 4-way location. The Blue Wire on our dimmer will have 2 of your wires attached to it. It is important in Maestro wiring...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric dryer connections, prong plug, extention cord
prong plug, extention cord, electric dryer: George, I m assuming your current receptacle is a 30 amp 240 volt receptacle where if you test between the 2 slanted openings you get 240 volts and if you test from either of the 2 slanted ones to the vertical opening you get 120 volts. If this is correct...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric dryer installation, bob osgood, wire hook
bob osgood, wire hook, master electrician: Hi Tom, Based on your description....you might be better off getting the correct dryer receptacle....then changing the cord for the dryer to match the range receptacle....but you can go either way. Also note....this should be a 4 wire hook-up to comply...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric hour meter, sendec hour meter, hot water heating
sendec hour meter, hot water heating, furnace components: Hello Jerry. Sorry for all the questions, this is an unusual situation, although I totally understand what you are requesting to do and it is a good idea, I am just not comfortable with what voltages this meter may work with and the voltages of the thermostats...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric in outdoor shed, volt amps, amp breaker
volt amps, amp breaker, pvc conduit: Depends on how far away the shed is, over 10 feet your going to have to put a new sub-panel. To find out what size take the stated amps off the name plate off the compressor multiply by 1.25 [125%] if that is over 12 amps then it will need its own 15 amp...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric oven, amp fuse, fuse box
amp fuse, fuse box, thhn: You will need the upgraded breaker, but the current wire size dictates the need to rewire. 40amps requires # 6 copper wire. If you only have #10...it may work but it may not. Depending on the actual current draw, and the manufactures specs...#10 THHN in...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric panel, amp breaker, pvc conduit
amp breaker, pvc conduit, electrical questions: Hi Mike, Sorry for the delay...due to a material delivery problem - we worked a double shift today....all caught up now (now I just need to get caught up on the pile of electrical questions I have here...). Your 200 span from the house to the barn...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric panel, circut breaker, bus bar
circut breaker, bus bar, electrican: Paul, Unfortunately the problem isn t the elements in your heater but at least you have new one s now. The problem is either in the breaker for the water heater or where it connects to the bus bar in the panel. Its definitely a connection issue which...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric problem, bathroom light fixture, high humidity
bathroom light fixture, high humidity, lightning strike: Hi John, Based on your description...the lightning strike from years ago should have long shown all it s damage electrically by now...unless this is one extremely long delayed effect. But...with that said...it could still be a remote side effect...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric range power cord ?, prong plug, new appliances
prong plug, new appliances, queston: No problem Greg. The new appliances as you see require a fourth wire for safety purposes, but many older homes do not have the fourth wire available. The green ground wire as you see is the addition on the new one. Just treat these as the single white wire...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric range wiring, amp circuit breaker, aluminum wire
amp circuit breaker, aluminum wire, terminations: Charlie, The line for your stove doesn t have to be aluminum and it doesn t have to be copper. Either one will work but copper is the better of the 2 when it comes to terminations. Because aluminum is soft and it expands and contracts more than copper when...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric shock, hot water heater, electric shock
hot water heater, electric shock, exacting specifications: Hi. You can easily get shocked touching a neutral if there is a break in the neutral, and you are getting feedback from something that is on or plugged in the circuit. If the neutral goes all the way to the neutral bar uninterupted, you should not get...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric stove, prong plug, neutral wire
prong plug, neutral wire, electric stove: Your 3 prong plug has a neutral but no ground wire? Probably the neutral and ground are bonded together within the stove (see if you can find the other end of the cord and have a look). Newer arrangements are supposd to have a four wire circuit, but replacing...
Electrical Wiring in the Home: electric subpanel overheating, aluminum cable, conductor cable
aluminum cable, conductor cable, laundry area: Hi bob. It sounds like you have a loose connection. Melting the insulation of the wire is not a good thing. I would suggest you hire an elecrician to check your system, including the buss on the panel. Since there was damage, have it checked. Hope...