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babyeatingpsychopath posted:If your house was built anytime in the last ten years, that circuit was required by code. It was, in fact, part of the "bare minimum." Dragyn, even if it's older, still hit us up. You'd be surprised how well versed we are in "cheating", i.e. knowing how and where to legally hide wire in finished spaces if it turns out you do need a new outlet. Also from experience, check everywhere in that room. I've caught one or two laundry rooms where the outlet was hidden behind the water heater or the utility sink.
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# ? Sep 24, 2014 03:59 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 07:23 |
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kid sinister posted:Dragyn, even if it's older, still hit us up. You'd be surprised how well versed we are in "cheating", i.e. knowing how and where to legally hide wire in finished spaces if it turns out you do need a new outlet. The townhome was built in 2010, so certainly not old. Calling it a "room" is being gracious. It's a laundry closet, literally just large enough for a set of stackables. I crawled in there today and double and triple checked. There's only a 240v, no other boxes/faceplates. There is one breaker in the panel labelled "Washer" but I'm fairly certain it's the dishwasher, since it's adjacent to the kitchen circuits. Since the 120v/15a circuit in the nearby wall supports only 5 outlets total and nothing else, I'll probably just cheat in an outlet for the washer from that with a GFCI. It would be simple to remove when we move out, or switch back to a little unit for renters. Any other suggestions, or should I just go ahead with that?
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# ? Sep 24, 2014 04:27 |
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Dragyn posted:The townhome was built in 2010, so certainly not old. I don't know much but I do know that panel adjacency means squat. My panel is insane as far as what's next to each other. There's no rhyme or reason to it, so I wouldn't assume anything based on that.
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# ? Sep 24, 2014 04:52 |
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Dragyn posted:The townhome was built in 2010, so certainly not old. To be up to modern code, you would have to put in a separate 20A laundry circuit with GFCI. The GFCI was made mandatory in the 2014 code update. That circuit isn't also allowed to be shared with any other areas. Also, I hope your washer is fairly recent. Older washers tend to trip GFCIs with false positives. YMMV
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# ? Sep 24, 2014 22:13 |
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I have a garage with no outlets. All the other garages do except for mine for some reason, in fact I'm kinda pissed because when I was looking at the place the landlord showed me a random other garage as an example and it had an outlet. It has a light though with a switch. Could I get one of those bulb splitter things with an outlet in it to use? I'd love to maybe vacuum my car or something some time. Also how hard would it be to just install an outlet off the light switch?
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# ? Sep 24, 2014 22:46 |
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Baronjutter posted:I have a garage with no outlets. All the other garages do except for mine for some reason, in fact I'm kinda pissed because when I was looking at the place the landlord showed me a random other garage as an example and it had an outlet. It has a light though with a switch. Could I get one of those bulb splitter things with an outlet in it to use? I'd love to maybe vacuum my car or something some time. In my experience a vacuum is going to draw way too much current for one of those light bulb thingies, unless you mean a handvac and then just get a cordless one. My experience consists of watching my grandpa start a fire trying to do precisely that when I was a kid.
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# ? Sep 24, 2014 23:33 |
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Dragyn posted:We're going to be getting a full sized electric washer/dryer combo, and get rid of our apartment style stacker. Before you go adding GFIs and such, exactly what model are you looking at?
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# ? Sep 25, 2014 02:35 |
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Baronjutter posted:Also how hard would it be to just install an outlet off the light switch? Probably not too hard. However, you're renting and your landlord might not like you doing that yourself.
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# ? Sep 25, 2014 17:32 |
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shortspecialbus posted:I don't know much but I do know that panel adjacency means squat. My panel is insane as far as what's next to each other. There's no rhyme or reason to it, so I wouldn't assume anything based on that. Yeah, considering the panel is labelled in half-English, I didn't expect anything orderly. I did check though, and that circuit is for the dishwasher. There's no laundry circuit outside of the 240v. Of this I am sure. kid sinister posted:To be up to modern code, you would have to put in a separate 20A laundry circuit with GFCI. The GFCI was made mandatory in the 2014 code update. That circuit isn't also allowed to be shared with any other areas. I suspect that we're just outside the realm of the builder having followed the code here now, since the circuit doesn't exist. The washer/dryer are only a few years old. angryrobots posted:Going back to this original question... I just looked up a LG washer/dryer all in one, and the specs on it were only 120v/20A. I believe you could convert your existing circuit for that. It's not an all-in-one, just a stackable set of front loaders. It's a long strange story, but I don't know the make/model of them, as they are presently in operation in my neighbor's house and we'll be taking them when they sell the property to my father-in-law in November.
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# ? Sep 25, 2014 19:38 |
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Hello, Wiring Thread. This post begins what I anticipate will be a long, possibly tumultuous, but hopefully fruitful relationship. You see, I just bought a house that was built in 1951. It is, in general, in excellent condition -- no aluminum wiring, nice basement with a workshop and ready access to all the cable runs on the main floor, and the previous owners did a kitchen reno, so the breaker box was replaced and upgraded to 200A, which is more than I expect to ever need. However, I'm the latest in what appears to be a long-running series of DIY homeowners in this property who have done work that, while mostly adequate and generally skillful (lots of nice carpentry in the reno), is striking me as somewhat "questionable" in the wiring department. I've rewired a few reversed-polarity outlets, fixed a bunch of outlets with no ground (doubly odd because it's largely MC cable) and added GFIs basically everywhere you're supposed to have them. Now that I've got the easy stuff knocked out, though, I'm starting to face a few head-scratchers. Rather than bombard you with everything at once, I figured I'd drop in with each task once I get around to it. Anyways, first thing: Fan switches. Right now I've got three functional ceiling fans, with some kind of weird digital control: Top rocker controls the light, middle rocker controls the fan, the bottom is an on/off power cutoff switch. If you hold down either rocker, the fan "beeps" at a different tone and adjusts the speed/brightness higher (until you get to the max, at which point it resets). From what I can tell, this is a W-11 fan control: ... that is basically wired with a regular 2-wire cable to the fan and uses some kind of communication sequence to control the settings. Aside from being a little awkward, some of the fans buttons are starting to fail, so I want to replace them -- ideally with something more intuitive and modern, like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-M...79?N=5yc1vZbvmu It's my understanding that that will require a 3-conductor cable. I'm anticipating that running new 14/3 won't be too hard, but I'm wondering if it can be that simple, or if there are other issues like compatibility or figuring out how to wire it fan-side that I haven't realized yet. One concern is that, since this might be an original fixture, the cable is actually a 2-conductor armored cable instead of something I can just use to pull my new cable through the wall. If that's the case, would it be kosher to just pull the old wires through and run my 14/3 straight through the armor sheath like a conduit? Looking at the rest of the house's wires, it seems like it might fit. Otherwise, does anyone have any suggestions? If it's the "old" (original) wiring, it's going to be solid copper wrapped in a sort of waxed cloth inside metal jackets.
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# ? Sep 25, 2014 21:47 |
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Hubis posted:Hello, Wiring Thread. Congrats on owning the World's Finest Ceiling Fan (no joke, the motor in them is great). In order to use that controller, you're going to need to perform a lobotomy on the fan, but you don't need to run any new wires. I just did this on my own fan because the RMM (circuit board in the fan itself) finally died, and paying $150 for the replacement was absurd, given that that seem to have a 5-year life. The Ye-Olde RMM-I that talked to the W-11 was a bit more robust but will eventually die on you too. Good news though, there's plenty of room in the motor housing where the intellitouch circuitry was for you to put the lutron controller! Open up the fan, and you'll see a board like this: All you want off it is the giant capacitor. Snip or desolder it off, then disconnect all the wires connecting to it. You'll have some coming from the BFR (the resistive heatsink band that wraps around the motor housing) just chop those and tape it down. at this point you'll have a black and white coming down the hanging stem, (if light kit: black and white from the lower housing through the motor) and a red, brown and white from the motor. Attach the black coming down the stem to the input of the canopy module, then the fan output of the canopy module to both red AND one side of the capacitor. Connect brown to the other side of the capacitor. code:
If the fan turns the wrong direction, just swap brown and red. The light kit just attaches to the red lead (or light output if they've changed colors), and white as well. I ended up zip-tying the canopy module to the old mounting bracket for the RMM circuit board and it fit pretty well. You lose the ability to reverse from the wall control (press fan+light at the same time) and the home-safe where it'll turn on the light randomly so it looks like you're home (light, fan, light, fan).
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# ? Sep 25, 2014 22:16 |
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Dragyn posted:It's not an all-in-one, just a stackable set of front loaders.
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# ? Sep 25, 2014 23:16 |
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I'm thinking of putting in some of those usb outlets in strategic places around the house, what is the best kind to get? Internet research turns up the fact that some have trouble charging certain devices, what specs should I be looking for, 2.1 amps?
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# ? Sep 28, 2014 22:28 |
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Hackan Slash posted:I'm thinking of putting in some of those usb outlets in strategic places around the house, what is the best kind to get? Internet research turns up the fact that some have trouble charging certain devices, what specs should I be looking for, 2.1 amps? if you want combo outlets: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Decora-15-Amp-Combination-Duplex-Receptacle-and-USB-Charger-White-R02-T5632-0BW/205092277
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# ? Sep 28, 2014 23:25 |
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Qwijib0 posted:Congrats on owning the World's Finest Ceiling Fan (no joke, the motor in them is great). In order to use that controller, you're going to need to perform a lobotomy on the fan, but you don't need to run any new wires. I just did this on my own fan because the RMM (circuit board in the fan itself) finally died, and paying $150 for the replacement was absurd, given that that seem to have a 5-year life. The Ye-Olde RMM-I that talked to the W-11 was a bit more robust but will eventually die on you too. Good news though, there's plenty of room in the motor housing where the intellitouch circuitry was for you to put the lutron controller! This is fantastic, thank you! Knowing that it's a bit more involved than I thought I'll probably put it off until the need becomes more pressing, but I'm definitely saving this for that point.
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# ? Sep 29, 2014 02:01 |
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Qwijib0 posted:if you want combo outlets: Are those 2A or 1A for the usb? These would save me some hassles in a few places, but if they're not the fast-charging ones I'm much less interested unfortunately. The reviews seem unclear, although you'd think that someone with one could figure it out pretty easily based on how quick it charges. Edit: Careful reading implies 2A. Missed that first go-around. Edit 2: VVV ssb fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Sep 30, 2014 |
# ? Sep 30, 2014 01:07 |
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Says 3.6A right on there. I suppose that could be a total over both?
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# ? Sep 30, 2014 01:11 |
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slap me silly posted:Says 3.6A right on there. I suppose that could be a total over both? shortspecialbus posted:Are those 2A or 1A for the usb? These would save me some hassles in a few places, but if they're not the fast-charging ones I'm much less interested unfortunately. The reviews seem unclear, although you'd think that someone with one could figure it out pretty easily based on how quick it charges. Yeah, the datasheet clarifies that. Two ipads would be 1.8 per port. It's got the smart-charge spec circuitry so it should cleverly distribute as needed for a phone+pad, 1A+2A.
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# ? Sep 30, 2014 02:53 |
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Hello wiring thread, I'm wanting to install some fluorescent fixtures in my garage for better lighting. Right now I have 2 of these lighting everything: I'm probably just going to grab some shop lights from Home Depot with a standard plug. So my question is, how easy would it be to just switch both of those fixtures to an outlet? Seems like it should be something I can tackle myself, but since I don't know a ton about electrical stuff I figured I'd ask here first.
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# ? Sep 30, 2014 21:32 |
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fknlo posted:I'm probably just going to grab some shop lights from Home Depot with a standard plug. So my question is, how easy would it be to just switch both of those fixtures to an outlet? Seems like it should be something I can tackle myself, but since I don't know a ton about electrical stuff I figured I'd ask here first. It's super easy. You just buy special steel face plates for those ceiling boxes that has duplex cutouts on it. It might be easier to mount the outlet to that faceplate first before you wire it up. Typically those face plates are for sale in the stores over by the boxes, not by the outlets and switches. edit: something like this, but you buy the pieces separately. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Sep 30, 2014 |
# ? Sep 30, 2014 21:42 |
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Trivial. But why not grab "real" fixtures while you're there? They're not very expensive, and they can mount directly to that round box. But if you go the outlet route, take the round boxes off the ceiling and put single gang boxes up in their place. Also, make them GFCI because they're in a garage. Those two (or even one) GFCI outlets are probably going to be the cost difference between something with a plug and something without. Also, switching GFCI outlets on and off may have them reset to off, so you'd have to turn the switch on then manually push the reset button to get the lights to come on. Unless you installed your GFCI protection upstream of your switch, but then your switch can sometimes cause false trips. Really, just get some of the $20 4' fluorescent fixtures and mount them. FAR less hassle.
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# ? Sep 30, 2014 21:48 |
babyeatingpsychopath posted:Really, just get some of the $20 4' fluorescent fixtures and mount them. FAR less hassle. And, pretty sure you could even rip that box out and just run the wires right into the fixture, since the fixtures UL listed and all that and are up to code as a junction box. So you just feed your romex into the fixture (through a clamp, of course) and bolt the whole shebang to the 2x4s you conveniently have exposed. It's like a ten-minute installation. Those $20 4' fixtures from HD/Lowe's even come with a connector in the box, all you have to do is take the bare wire end, strip a half inch off, and jam each wire into the connector. You don't even need a wire nut!
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# ? Sep 30, 2014 21:51 |
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Trivial. But why not grab "real" fixtures while you're there? They're not very expensive, and they can mount directly to that round box. I don't think you're supposed to put gfci outlets on the ceiling of your garage, or anywhere not 'readily accessible'.
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# ? Sep 30, 2014 22:00 |
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PuTTY riot posted:I don't think you're supposed to put gfci outlets on the ceiling of your garage, or anywhere not 'readily accessible'. I think its more of "don't have to" as opposed to "not supposed to". Besides, "readily accessible" is open to interpretation of the inspector and means different things to tall people.
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# ? Sep 30, 2014 22:26 |
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Wiring some lights directly looks pretty easily doable. The reason I was going to go with shop lights is that for the best coverage I was going to hang them between the ceiling beams for the best light coverage. I guess it wouldn't be much more work to do four 2 bulb fixtures instead of two 4 bulb fixtures. A 20 amp breaker with nothing else on it should be fine for that, right?
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# ? Sep 30, 2014 22:46 |
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PuTTY riot posted:I don't think you're supposed to put gfci outlets on the ceiling of your garage, or anywhere not 'readily accessible'. You're not. In wiring situations where that would be unavoidable, you'd be better off swapping in a GFCI breaker, since your panel is also supposed to be accessible, in theory. Regarding "readily accessible", that also includes "not having to move a 100+ pound major appliance out of the way to reach it". fknlo posted:Wiring some lights directly looks pretty easily doable. The reason I was going to go with shop lights is that for the best coverage I was going to hang them between the ceiling beams for the best light coverage. I guess it wouldn't be much more work to do four 2 bulb fixtures instead of two 4 bulb fixtures. A 20 amp breaker with nothing else on it should be fine for that, right? Should be. Also, keep in mind that you can mount some surface mount fixtures end to end and run the wiring between fixtures internally too. If you go that route, let us know and we'll tell you how to do it legally. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Sep 30, 2014 |
# ? Sep 30, 2014 22:56 |
fknlo posted:Wiring some lights directly looks pretty easily doable. The reason I was going to go with shop lights is that for the best coverage I was going to hang them between the ceiling beams for the best light coverage. I guess it wouldn't be much more work to do four 2 bulb fixtures instead of two 4 bulb fixtures. A 20 amp breaker with nothing else on it should be fine for that, right? Personally, I'd prefer the four 2-bulb fixtures to the two 4-bulb fixtures, so this is a win. Having your light come from two spots makes it more likely you'll cast a shadow on whatever you're working on. In my shop, I have seven 2-bulb fixtures for a total of something like 35,000 lumens and it's all spread across the ceiling fairly evenly, and I'll be darned if I can stand anywhere in the entire shop and cast a noticeable shadow on whatever I'm working on. It's glorious.
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# ? Sep 30, 2014 23:14 |
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Got 2 of the fixtures up today, I'll finish it up tomorrow. Could those things be built any more cheaply? One of the covers just won't stay on with any kind of vibration and is now unusable from hitting the floor a couple of times. Any reason they need to be on there outside of aesthetics?
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# ? Oct 2, 2014 00:35 |
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fknlo posted:Got 2 of the fixtures up today, I'll finish it up tomorrow. Could those things be built any more cheaply? One of the covers just won't stay on with any kind of vibration and is now unusable from hitting the floor a couple of times. Any reason they need to be on there outside of aesthetics? They're made out of sheet metal. Bend them back into shape. And yes, you might want to put on the covers. Sometimes when the tubes go bad, they can crack near the ends. Rarely, it can be a crack all the way around the tube. While I've never seen one fall out and rain glass everywhere, I have seen bad bulbs fall apart as soon as I touch them in the fixture. If you have a garage door opener rattling your rafters around, I wouldn't put it outside the realm of possibility. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Oct 2, 2014 |
# ? Oct 2, 2014 01:58 |
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fknlo posted:Got 2 of the fixtures up today, I'll finish it up tomorrow. Could those things be built any more cheaply? One of the covers just won't stay on with any kind of vibration and is now unusable from hitting the floor a couple of times. Any reason they need to be on there outside of aesthetics? Those things literally could not be made more cheaply. They fall apart all the time as is. Any reason to install the lenses? Not really. Aesthetics. In a garage, they're nice to keep you from whacking the bulb with a board or something. Leave them out, duct tape them on, wrap a piece of wire around them to keep them from hitting the floor when they do fall off, use a wire screen, whatever. They're barely more than cosmetic.
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# ? Oct 2, 2014 02:29 |
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I just put a 2 inch PVC pipe through a poorly insulated area under my stairs so I can use it as a conduit for an HDMI cable and possibly a few Cat5 runs in the future. I'm planning on putting some of these desk grommet thingies in the ends of the pipe to help keep spiders, squirrels, etc... out of the pipe but I'm wondering if anyone has a better solution?
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# ? Oct 2, 2014 08:30 |
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Got everything up today. Garage still hasn't burned down!
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# ? Oct 3, 2014 01:33 |
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Could we see the right side of that fixture please? How does the NM enter the fixture? And what is that cable hanging down in the 3rd picture? Is that live?
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# ? Oct 3, 2014 02:08 |
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kid sinister posted:Could we see the right side of that fixture please? How does the NM enter the fixture? I'll try to get a picture. The cables are run in through a clamp and are stacked. The cable in the 3rd picture is where I gave up last night. It wasn't live.
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# ? Oct 3, 2014 02:31 |
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fknlo posted:I'll try to get a picture. The cables are run in through a clamp and are stacked. The cable in the 3rd picture is where I gave up last night. It wasn't live. Nevermind then, that's actually what I was asking for indirectly, if the entering cables were clamped and protected. And after I posted that, I figured out the progression of pictures. Good work!
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# ? Oct 3, 2014 02:49 |
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I was talking to a friend at work who was telling me that running 14/2 on a 20 amp breaker may not be up to code? It is what was already run to the lights, but he said I might want to switch to a 15 amp breaker? Quick googling says yes? The outlets are all 14/2 on a 20 amp breaker as well, but I plan on putting an outlet on the 3rd wall at some point and can just upgrade to 12 gauge at that point.
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# ? Oct 4, 2014 03:19 |
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I think that everything after a 20 amp breaker has to be on 12 gauge wire.
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# ? Oct 4, 2014 04:23 |
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slap me silly posted:I think that everything after a 20 amp breaker has to be on 12 gauge wire. Yeah, gonna check everything tomorrow. I know that it's 12/2 running from the house into the breaker box but I think everything coming out of the box is 14/2.
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# ? Oct 4, 2014 04:39 |
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Your friend is right. 14 gauge circuits are only allowed to use 15 amp breakers.
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# ? Oct 4, 2014 04:45 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 07:23 |
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fknlo posted:Yeah, gonna check everything tomorrow. I know that it's 12/2 running from the house into the breaker box but I think everything coming out of the box is 14/2. How small is that panel you have in the garage? It sounds a bit underpowered if it is being serviced by just a 12/2 line.
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# ? Oct 4, 2014 17:11 |