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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Yeah, tandem breaker, I forgot the correct term. Thanks. I could maybe fit another one or two breakers into the panel, but I'd be a lot more comfortable if I just had a modern panel with 24+ slots in it. And if the circuits made a lick of sense. I have a circuit that powers outlets in two rooms (but not all the outlets, of course) and lights on the second floor. Most rooms are going to have a minimum of three breakers. You'll have two for the outlets and one for the lights. You wouldn't really want all the plugs in a room to be on the same breaker. Might make it easier to work on the electricity--but doesn't work so well when an actual breaker gets tripped. Suddenly none of the lamps work! Having half the outlets on a different breaker means you aren't completely out of power if a breaker trips. Plus if you are doing other type of handyman work on the room you still have power for tools and the like.
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Dec 14, 2017 21:24
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HycoCam posted:Most rooms are going to have a minimum of three breakers. You'll have two for the outlets and one for the lights. You wouldn't really want all the plugs in a room to be on the same breaker. Might make it easier to work on the electricity--but doesn't work so well when an actual breaker gets tripped. Suddenly none of the lamps work! Having half the outlets on a different breaker means you aren't completely out of power if a breaker trips. Plus if you are doing other type of handyman work on the room you still have power for tools and the like. That's a fair point, but I still have gripes about the layout in this house.  Tangentially related: is there any particular reason not to put an exterior electrical outlet on the front of the house? With a covered-when-in-use cover, of course, and probably a lock so people can't mooch electricity (not that I think that's especially likely). It'd be handy for my corded weedwhacker, Christmas lights, and other similar stuff that currently I have to run an extension cord through the garage door for.
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Dec 14, 2017 22:05
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:That's a fair point, but I still have gripes about the layout in this house. No they are awesome. Do the whole home rewire. Best decision ever. No more gee-I-wish stuff.
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Dec 14, 2017 22:15
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:That's a fair point, but I still have gripes about the layout in this house. Put one up under the eaves too. Not having to deal with running extension cords makes hanging christmas lights way less of a project.
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Dec 15, 2017 01:36
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HycoCam posted:Most rooms are going to have a minimum of three breakers. You'll have two for the outlets and one for the lights. You wouldn't really want all the plugs in a room to be on the same breaker. Might make it easier to work on the electricity--but doesn't work so well when an actual breaker gets tripped. Suddenly none of the lamps work! Having half the outlets on a different breaker means you aren't completely out of power if a breaker trips. Plus if you are doing other type of handyman work on the room you still have power for tools and the like. This is complete overkill for residences. Not necessarily a bad thing, though. The way I wired my house was each room was its own breaker. All lights and outlets were on that breaker, except one outlet was on the breaker for the room on the opposite wall. That way, I could shut that room off and still have power in that room. The hallway only had two outlets on it, but they were on one breaker, too. The kitchen was obviously two breakers (as required by code) but the outlets were staggered between. Going down the wall, it was breaker A, then B, then A, then B. That way, if there were a stack of crock pots on one counter, they'd be split between two breakers. Fridge and microwave were on their own breaker, but together. If the clock is out on the microwave, that means the fridge isn't running. Garbage disposal and dishwasher, same deal, but half-switched. Dishwashers don't need a dedicated circuit (in my jurisdiction). All the bathrooms were on one 15A circuit, wired with 12AWG, and the GFCI protection was via an outlet in that bathroom. Again, the lights for the bathroom weren't on the bathroom's outlet breaker. Even though I had gas in the house, I wired the laundry room for electric dryer, the utility room for electric water heater, and the kitchen for electric stove. Another way I've seen it done is all lights on one breaker and all "north/east" walls on one, and "south/west" walls on one. Honestly, 20A is a lot of power in a house. One room, even a rec room, doesn't usually go over 12A, unless you're running two vacuums, which is why the hallway had its own breaker. Just realize that anything more than "one room, one breaker" is more wire, which is why houses don't come that way (why builders don't build that way). If you're rewiring, though, then expect more material cost, and only a little bit more labor cost. When I wired my house, I calculated that I used 4 more breakers and 20% more wire than standard, but only 5% more time in labor. Rough-in time was about the same, trim-out time is exactly the same, really only wiring the panel took about an hour longer (9 vs 8 hours). Well worth it to make the house reasonably electrically future-proof.
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Dec 15, 2017 02:15
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I'd be a happy man if "one room, one breaker" could even be counted on as a baseline. As far as I'm concerned an ideal house has at least one dedicated circuit per room. Two or more if the need is there, but nothing shared. Every house or apartment I've ever lived in has had some circuits shared between rooms in some unexpected way that ended up being a nuisance.
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Dec 15, 2017 06:38
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kid sinister posted:Yup. The thing about using plugs as disconnects for appliances is that they need to be accessible. For kitchen mounted appliances, that means being able to reach the plug while the appliance is in place. For big, mounted stuff like microwaves and dishwashers, that means mounting the outlet in the next cabinet over, drilling a hole in between and threading the cord through that. Depends on the area, and if the house is grandfathered under older code. Where I'm at, it's fine to have a cord on a dishwasher, so long as you can get to the plug once you've removed the dishwasher (and, obviously, the cord has to be long enough to allow the dishwasher to be removed). Every house I've lived in had an outlet behind the dishwasher, and I know the apartment I'm currently living in is the same way. I'm not sure if the latest version of the NEC allows this, but I've lived in places built between 1920 and 1995 (my current place is 1983 or 1984). One city I lived in required a switch at counter height for the dishwasher - it was usually next to the garbage disposal switch (and if equipped, switch for the light above the sink). Still had a cord and plug on the dishwasher. So many friends that first moved to that city got confused when their dishwasher wouldn't work shortly after moving in... I'd ask them if they'd turned off any switches by the sink, every time they'd say no, and I'd ask them which switch did seemingly nothing. Then turn it back on, and oh hey dishwasher fires up! wolrah posted:I'd be a happy man if "one room, one breaker" could even be counted on as a baseline. As far as I'm concerned an ideal house has at least one dedicated circuit per room. Two or more if the need is there, but nothing shared. Every house or apartment I've ever lived in has had some circuits shared between rooms in some unexpected way that ended up being a nuisance. This. My apartment has 3 x 15 amp breakers that handle everything that's not a kitchen outlet. There's 5 x 20 amp breakers - 1 of those seems to be dedicated to the washing machine, 1 is split between the dishwasher and 2 outlets (one of which is in the living room); another is split between a single outlet, garbage compactor, and garbage disposal, one for the fridge and outlet to the right of the stove, one for the single outlet to the left of the stove. They went overkill on the kitchen wiring and "good nuff" for everything else in this place. This place was built in the early 80s, so I'm pretty amazed they dumped 5 circuits into the kitchen (NOT including the lighting, vent hood, or laundry closet light.. those are on one of the 15 amp circuits). Probably explains why when they went hog wild with the GFCIs, they replaced every.single.kitchen.outlet with a GFCI instead of trying to figure out if they could protect multiple things with one outlet. I know for sure my bathroom circuit is fed by the circuit from my wet bar, but they threw in GFCIs at both locations (and didn't wire anything to the load side, anywhere... tripping the GFCIs only kills that particular outlet). I've tripped a breaker vacuuming the living room while an electric radiator was plugged in in the bedroom. The outlets weren't on shared walls either. Also, the living room has 2 switched outlets (same switch), with one half of a duplex outlet being switched - only the top half of those outlets went dead when that breaker tripped (lamps controlled by the wall switch went out, but a radio I had plugged in was still working).  I gave up trying to figure out what 15 amp breaker does what.
randomidiot fucked around with this message at 09:44 on Dec 15, 2017 |
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Dec 15, 2017 09:41
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How are you supposed to semi-permanently install LED strips with dimmers? The drivers are hard-wired to the chopped 120, so it goes in a box. But the drivers are big, and boxes aren't. And then the low voltage side comes out and gets snaked everywhere. And and and and 😦
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Dec 15, 2017 16:11
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insta posted:How are you supposed to semi-permanently install LED strips with dimmers? The drivers are hard-wired to the chopped 120, so it goes in a box. But the drivers are big, and boxes aren't. And then the low voltage side comes out and gets snaked everywhere. And and and and 😦 That's always been an issue with fluorescents/LEDs: "where do I hide the ballast/driver?" The answer is: wherever you can. Probably the most common way is to install an outlet then put the driver on a cord and plug. That way, they can be treated as an appliance instead of a fixture, and the code is a bit more forgiving for appliance wiring. You can have exposed cords, etc. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Dec 17, 2017 |
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Dec 17, 2017 17:18
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Goons, I need help. I'm trying to install a baseboard heater with on board thermostat (sold separately). I did this perfectly well yesterday in my bathroom where the supply lines are on the left side of the heater anyway. https://imgur.com/a/agkcD https://imgur.com/a/tC9Sa https://imgur.com/a/sWBtZ Today I'm trying to do another one but for Reasons I need the wires to go on the right side. The right side is slightly different. On the left we have two black wires and a red wire that's connected on both ends to the element. I wired the two black wires to the two black wires on the thermostat, and then the two red wires on the thermostat to the supply (one black, one white). And ground to ground obviously. On the right side I have a black and red, and no looped wire connected at both ends. So does the black and red from the heater go to the two black on the thermostat, and then the two red on the thermostat go to the supply, as before? This seems logical to me, but I'm not about to test it out based on just that. My dad is concerned about the colors not matching. The diagram in the directions is not...helpful. Sorry I can't seem to get the pictures right - its very cold in here right now.
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Dec 17, 2017 23:52
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Bob Shadycharacter posted:Goons, I need help. Yes. If the breaker pops, come back and let us know, and we'll ask for some different and better pictures.
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Dec 18, 2017 02:52
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Hi wiring thread, home gamer running a new 30A / 240v circuit from panel to garage for a 20 amp garage heater (possible future welder). I went through various permutations thinking out loud in the general questions chat, here's where I've ended up: 30A SquareD QO breaker going to 8/2 Romex. First ~20' is above finished ceiling, perpendicular to floor truss. I can probably reach in and secure it at an 18' unsecured run laying above the ceiling (but "cradled" in the V of the trusses). Continuing for another ~15' and making a 90* turn for another 20' straight run through wall into garage going to a box surface mounted to the wall. Does this raise any red flags to you pros? I am going up in gauge from 10 to 8 to account for the run. The more I look at it, the more straightforward it appears. Thanks for any input!
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Dec 28, 2017 23:12
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Seminal Flu posted:Thanks for any input! This was kinda covered, but if I was doing this at my house, I'd run a large enough conductor to a new subpanel in the garage. The cost difference is potentially minimal, and probably less if you're running more stuff out there later.
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Dec 29, 2017 00:06
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angryrobots posted:This was kinda covered, but if I was doing this at my house, I'd run a large enough conductor to a new subpanel in the garage. The cost difference is potentially minimal, and probably less if you're running more stuff out there later. I would, in a second, but I have no wall space in the garage that has the clearance required for a subpanel.  It's all ate up with commercial shelving and slatwall.
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Dec 29, 2017 00:11
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Seminal Flu posted:Hi wiring thread, home gamer running a new 30A / 240v circuit from panel to garage for a 20 amp garage heater (possible future welder). Red flags are what kind of outlet are you putting at the other end? 240V 30A? If it's a 240V 20A, then you must size your breaker for the weakest link. In this case, a 20A single outlet must be fused at 20A. Also all 15- and 20-amp outlets in a garage are required to be GFCI. 30A are not. My recommendation is to throw a 30A (or 40A, see below) on the end. Yellow flag: it's only 75 feet. Even at 30A, that's 1.5% voltage drop with #10 by my napkin. Stick with #10, unless you think you'll want a 40A welder, then go with the #8. Unmentioned questions: Does your garage already have power and stuff, so you won't need a neutral out there? It is as straightforward as it appears.
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Dec 29, 2017 00:25
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Red flags are what kind of outlet are you putting at the other end? 240V 30A? If it's a 240V 20A, then you must size your breaker for the weakest link. In this case, a 20A single outlet must be fused at 20A. Also all 15- and 20-amp outlets in a garage are required to be GFCI. 30A are not. My recommendation is to throw a 30A (or 40A, see below) on the end. Outlet -- 240V 30A outlet. I may do 10/2 if that works, it's cheaper. Any welder I use would be lightweight, nothing that would exceed the rating. Garage has power and stuff, so I'm not going to touch anything existing, just adding a dedicated circuit for the heater. Last question -- if I go Romex, can I use EMT to run from where the Romex comes through the wall up to the outlet, since I'm surface mounting it?
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Dec 29, 2017 00:32
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HycoCam posted:Most rooms are going to have a minimum of three breakers. You'll have two for the outlets and one for the lights. You wouldn't really want all the plugs in a room to be on the same breaker. Might make it easier to work on the electricity--but doesn't work so well when an actual breaker gets tripped. Suddenly none of the lamps work! Having half the outlets on a different breaker means you aren't completely out of power if a breaker trips. Plus if you are doing other type of handyman work on the room you still have power for tools and the like. I think you mean most properly designed, modern houses. I had an older PO nightmare house that had like all the outlets on one HALF of a floor on a single outlet.. granted it was a small house but poo poo was that annoying.
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Dec 29, 2017 02:14
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Seminal Flu posted:Outlet -- 240V 30A outlet. I may do 10/2 if that works, it's cheaper. Any welder I use would be lightweight, nothing that would exceed the rating. EMT is suitable to be used as protection for type NM cable in garages. You need a bushing on one end and a fitting on the end where your box is. Remember 3/4" minimum, and it's still going to suck to pull 10/2 w/g through 3/4 EMT. Though, being a straight stick and <10 feet, it's not as bad as it could be.
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Dec 29, 2017 04:49
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:EMT is suitable to be used as protection for type NM cable in garages. You need a bushing on one end and a fitting on the end where your box is. Remember 3/4" minimum, and it's still going to suck to pull 10/2 w/g through 3/4 EMT. Though, being a straight stick and <10 feet, it's not as bad as it could be. Perfect, I'm on it. Thanks!
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Dec 29, 2017 12:55
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tater_salad posted:I think you mean most properly designed, modern houses. I had an older PO nightmare house that had like all the outlets on one HALF of a floor on a single outlet.. granted it was a small house but poo poo was that annoying. Yeah I really need to start ripping out drywall now that I've discovered my kitchen, bath, one bedroom, all the outdoor lights, and all the ceiling fans are on the same screw-in fuse. Oh and none of it's grounded, PO ran 2+G 12ga everywhere but clipped all the ground conductors off behind the box because gently caress you. Every time I look at it I have idle fantasies about killing myself so I can pick a fight with his ghost.
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Dec 29, 2017 17:57
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shame on an IGA posted:Yeah I really need to start ripping out drywall now that I've discovered my kitchen, bath, one bedroom, all the outdoor lights, and all the ceiling fans are on the same screw-in fuse. God this poo poo blows my mind. Also, my circuits are basically "Hmm, what wire is closest to whatever I want to electrify?" Having a PO-finished basement makes for some pretty bizarre combinations. I need to add foot-notes to the labels in my breaker box.
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Dec 30, 2017 01:28
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Crossposted from the homeownership thread
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Dec 30, 2017 03:49
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I’ve got a light switch in our utility room that is a single gang but it has a light switch and an outlet on it. The outlet does not seem to be hooked up at all (outlet tester doesn’t do anything when plugged in and voltage tester doesn’t indicate anything when plugged in) If there is just one run of Romex that goes to the switch is there a way I can light back the outlet from the switch so that it has power without having to re wire completely?
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Dec 30, 2017 03:58
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Seminal Flu posted:Hi wiring thread, home gamer running a new 30A / 240v circuit from panel to garage for a 20 amp garage heater (possible future welder). Doesn’t code require 240v circuits to have a ground conductor? Also, it’s a garage, if you have the overhead at the panel, put a 50a circuit in, even if you have no plans to use it.
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Dec 30, 2017 04:37
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Rubiks Pubes posted:I’ve got a light switch in our utility room that is a single gang but it has a light switch and an outlet on it. The outlet does not seem to be hooked up at all (outlet tester doesn’t do anything when plugged in and voltage tester doesn’t indicate anything when plugged in) If there's just one 12 or 14/2 romex in the switch box, the two non-ground wires are used as switch legs and there is no neutral, which would mean you couldn't run an outlet. It would be weird to initially install a combo sw/receptacle here though, so you'll have to take the cover off and verify what wiring is there (unless the wiring/wall is currently exposed). Those combo sw/rec's will have 3 or 4 wires terminated on them. Hot, neutral, light load, and maybe ground. This is assuming the switch controls lights, and not the outlet itself. MrYenko posted:Doesn’t code require 240v circuits to have a ground conductor? Romex has a bare ground wire. On the packaging it'll say 10/2 with ground. Unless you mean a "grounded neutral conductor", and then no, it's not required. I wouldn't personally oversize the wire as the op has access for future runs like a car charger or heavy welder.
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Dec 30, 2017 14:55
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The Human Cow posted:I'm stumped. I bought a Lutron Maestro MS-OPS2 - this one and an LED light - this one for a closet. Everything worked well for a couple of days, and then the light would be super dim when it came on: So, following up on this: I've replaced the light with a different fixture and the motion switch with a regular old light switch. The same thing happened:  I removed the switch from the equation completely and wired the fixture directly to the non-switched romex - same result. My multimeter is reading 120 volts between hot and ground, and I've done and undone the wire nut connections a few times. What am I missing here? As best as I can tell, the only other things on this circuit are an outlet with nothing plugged into it, a vanity light and the vent fan in the bathroom - those all seem to work fine.
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Dec 31, 2017 00:24
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Since this has happened with two fixtures, and you've eliminated the switch as well...you've got resistance (a bad connection) in the circuit somewhere, that is causing the voltage to drop under load. If you can *safely* read the voltage at the fixture while it's on, the volt meter should verify this. angryrobots fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Dec 31, 2017 |
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Dec 31, 2017 01:43
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The Human Cow posted:My multimeter is reading 120 volts between hot and ground, and I've done and undone the wire nut connections a few times. What do you have for voltage between hot and neutral, and neutral and ground?
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Dec 31, 2017 03:03
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:EMT is suitable to be used as protection for type NM cable in garages. You need a bushing on one end and a fitting on the end where your box is. Remember 3/4" minimum, and it's still going to suck to pull 10/2 w/g through 3/4 EMT. Though, being a straight stick and <10 feet, it's not as bad as it could be. You were right, 10/2 through 3/4 EMT wasn't fun. Running it through the joists was way more of a pain in the rear end, though. That poo poo just doesn't want to cooperate. It's done, though. Nice and clean, heater's working great. Thanks again for the help, all.
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Dec 31, 2017 20:55
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Seminal Flu posted:You were right, 10/2 through 3/4 EMT wasn't fun. Running it through the joists was way more of a pain in the rear end, though. That poo poo just doesn't want to cooperate. Running any bundled cable through a hole or pipe that isn't comically oversized is always a major pain in the rear end. Be lucky you didn't have any conduit corners to pull through. There's a reason that electricians overwhelmingly prefer individual wires for conduit.
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Dec 31, 2017 22:13
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Blackbeer posted:If there's just one 12 or 14/2 romex in the switch box, the two non-ground wires are used as switch legs and there is no neutral, which would mean you couldn't run an outlet. It would be weird to initially install a combo sw/receptacle here though, so you'll have to take the cover off and verify what wiring is there (unless the wiring/wall is currently exposed). Those combo sw/rec's will have 3 or 4 wires terminated on them. Hot, neutral, light load, and maybe ground. This is assuming the switch controls lights, and not the outlet itself. Yeah just two wires in there and they are hooked up to the switch. Outlet has nothing attached. So I’ll just change it out with a regular switch.
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Jan 2, 2018 01:04
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So, I had an interesting episode that ventured heavily into "don't burn your house down", except it was an apartment building with ~25 units. As some of you know, I'm a lineman for a utility and occasionally I respond to outages. On Thursday I had a single call at an apartment complex, tenant claimed they had checked their breakers. I found the unit had power, and the exterior breaker (110A, gang meterbase, I assume the apt breaker box has a 100A so this external breaker exists to protect the wire feeding the apt breaker box) was not tripped. The phone number on the account was not working, and the tenant was not home, or would not answer the door for me. On Friday, the same apt called in again. I asked dispatch to ping the meter and verify both that it wasn't lost, and that it hasn't experienced any momentary outages, which they verified. I found the meter and breaker in the same state as the day previous. I knocked on the door again, and the tenant was home and informed me that apt management had instructed her to call the power company about any outage, but "that she thought" a maintenance man had come by at some point and possibly reset the outdoor breaker. She also informed me that the breaker tripped (in the last couple months at some point), and she had called in an outage and (allegedly) one of my coworkers responded and reset it for her. So I made the decision to stop by the managers office and let them know that this apartment had an issue that needed to be addressed, and that it was not the poco's responsibility. I'll spare you a play-by-play of our convo, but it went downhill quickly and the complex manager denied that any issue could possibly be their responsibility, that we had to fix any power issue, and that I had to leave the property immediately. I was  as my only, or biggest, concern was the safety of the people living in this building. I mean maybe the breaker is bad.....or maybe there's a bad spot in the wire and a possible fire hazard right?I called my supervisor, who went and talked to her later and *possibly* got through that the issue was not our responsibility, but I don't think any maintenance person was dispatched, at least not after our conversation. So that's where it lays. I hope I don't hear on the news that there's been an apartment fire at that location. I know most of angryrobots fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Jan 7, 2018 |
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Jan 7, 2018 01:50
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angryrobots posted:So that's where it lays. I hope I don't hear on the news that there's been an apartment fire at that location. I don't know where you get that thought, boots on the ground utility workers I've met have been great. It's the utility itself for which I harbor contempt. SCE can get hosed, sce line crews are nice people. Pasadena water and power is awesome, as are their line/pipe crews. I would wager a bet most of the ire you draw is misguided angst. It's not like you're the cable company.
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Jan 7, 2018 04:36
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angryrobots posted:I know most of you have mostly contempt for utility workers... there are those of us who care, but our hands are tied. I spent the better part of a year trying to get a pole moved and my feed moved underground and every person I interacted with on site was great. The supervisor on the day when they set the pole and moved the lines even made sure I had the 10' horizontal clearance I needed for a pool to be to code, something that isn't really their responsibility at all. The bureaucracy is the frustrating part.
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Jan 7, 2018 04:45
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angryrobots posted:So, I had an interesting episode that ventured heavily into "don't burn your house down", except it was an apartment building with ~25 units. I'm willing to bet any code enforcement officer would take a call from a power company a lot more seriously than one from a tenant, especially after you were thrown off the property. That's practically a confession. shame on an IGA fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Jan 7, 2018 |
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Jan 7, 2018 04:47
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H110Hawk posted:I don't know where you get that thought, boots on the ground utility workers I've met have been great. It's the utility itself for which I harbor contempt. SCE can get hosed, sce line crews are nice people. Pasadena water and power is awesome, as are their line/pipe crews. I didn't really mean to word it that way, especially not that this forum in particular dislikes utility workers...but yeah angst would be a good way to describe the attitude I get most days, and that was what I meant "from the general public". I don't dwell on it, but this situation really bothered me and I wanted to share it somewhere. Qwijib0 posted:I spent the better part of a year trying to get a pole moved and my feed moved underground and every person I interacted with on site was great. The supervisor on the day when they set the pole and moved the lines even made sure I had the 10' horizontal clearance I needed for a pool to be to code, something that isn't really their responsibility at all. As a person who meets with people regularly to discuss things like this, I have found the power of the pen to be absolutely incredible. That's the best part of my job, when someone has a problem or wants something done, and I can offer a solution they hadn't considered, or do exactly what they want if that's most reasonable. ...And then I can ride by later and see it done, or sometimes assist the crew in building it if I'm in the area and not busy. angryrobots fucked around with this message at 05:22 on Jan 7, 2018 |
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Jan 7, 2018 05:13
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angryrobots posted:On Friday, the same apt called in again. I asked dispatch to ping the meter and verify both that it wasn't lost, and that it hasn't experienced any momentary outages, which they verified. I found the meter and breaker in the same state as the day previous. I knocked on the door again, and the tenant was home and informed me that apt management had instructed her to call the power company about any outage, but "that she thought" a maintenance man had come by at some point and possibly reset the outdoor breaker. She also informed me that the breaker tripped (in the last couple months at some point), and she had called in an outage and (allegedly) one of my coworkers responded and reset it for her. FWIW, last fall, I had an issue with bright/dim lights in my apartment (one side would get brighter, other would dim, depending on loads; they'd equalize whenever the AC was on). Figured loose neutral either in the can or panel, called the automated outage line to report a partial outage. Got a call back in a few minutes, told them what was going on, and what I suspected. They said they'd have someone out "in a few hours". Within 30 minutes they had a line tech inside my can (  ), who confirmed it wasn't an issue on their side or inside of the can. He asked how good the maintenance was here.... I laughed and told him how long it takes to get "serious" issues (leaks, etc) fixed (1+ month). He went and talked to the leasing office.Maintenance was out here digging in the panel (and attempting to arc weld tools) a few minutes later. If only they would show up in less than 6 weeks for other minor stuff, like when they forgot to hook up the condensation drain on the new HVAC (which resulted in water pouring out of the bathroom ceiling for 6 weeks... had to get the city involved on that one.. I COULD have fixed it myself, but they'd tried blaming other poo poo on me before, so I won't even change a light bulb or air filter without them present). It probably helped that they've lost a building at this property to an electrical fire before, and lost a building at another property to an electrical fire a year ago (one a friend lived in  ). If I owned I would have had no problem killing the main breaker (which is at the meter) and digging into it myself, but they've already tried blaming me for the compressor in my old AC burning out (instead of the fact they jammed a 50 amp breaker in for a 2.5 ton ac with a labeled OCD of 20 amps, and doing some kind of voodoo with multiple start caps, and saying it wasn't designed to cool below 85 when city code requires 78...).tl;dr thanks for having the titanium balls that you guys have. 120/240 doesn't phase me (  ), but anything higher than that is stuff for someone else to play with.randomidiot fucked around with this message at 11:43 on Jan 7, 2018 |
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Jan 7, 2018 11:08
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:
Yeah and that's the other thing - the available fault current in that gang box is absolutely incredible. I'm not gonna speculate on the level, but in this case with a ~200kva xfmr and I think 500mcm conductor feeding it, you're definitely in the range where arc flash protection would be required. Working on 120/240 with that kind of available fault current is far more dangerous than working on power lines. It's vanishingly unlikely that a maintenance person has the tools, training, or PPE to do hot work in that box. Electricians always try to convince me/us to leave stuff on, they'll be fine. I think very few realize the massive explosion hazard they have in their face.
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Jan 7, 2018 14:08
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angryrobots posted:Electricians always try to convince me/us to leave stuff on, they'll be fine. I think very few realize the massive explosion hazard they have in their face. I realize it, my boss realizes it, it's the customers that don't realize it. If it were me, I would put my own life over satisfying some whiny office manager who can't deal with a shut down but my boss is a little nuts. I can hardly believe some of the stuff I've seen him do live. To his credit he won't ask anyone else to do anything crazy, if he gets a wild hair up his rear end to do something stupid live he does it himself. Luckily he's drat good, I just hope he stays that way, I like the guy.
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Jan 7, 2018 16:58
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I’m trying to push a nylon cable through the conduit where my coax cable is running and the fish is getting stuck somewhere. The metal end of it is hitting something hard (can’t tell if it’s wood, metal, or plastic though) and the sound sounds like it’s coming from somewhere relatively close to the outlet I’m starting at, but that could just be acoustics. Anyway is it possible (ie, legal?) that there would be some kind of junction hidden inside my walls for this that the fish is hitting? Does it make any sense that the cable installer would have “gaps” in the flexible plastic conduit, letting the fishing wire exit and just hitting a random stud/wall? e: I would like to just run a cat5e cable through this existing conduit because there’s a coax outlet in the wall near my PC which will probably never be used. e2: Is it safe to coil/wind up the extra lengths on my power cables (for the TV, laptop, media box, etc) while the devices are being used? I would imagine that this might create some kind of electric field but I’m not sure. Boris Galerkin fucked around with this message at 12:56 on Jan 8, 2018 |
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Jan 8, 2018 12:24
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