Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!

Bone Crimes: Mar 7, 2007

The line from the pole to my house is a bit low, and can hit the gutter on a windy day. From the ground, I originally thought that the insulated support mount might be loose (it�s a bit tilted), but it seems that it�s very solid, and the white/bare cable just needs to be pulled a bit through the sliding clamp to lift the cable.

As the cable is bare/white, I�m assuming it is either ground or neutral, but I really have no experience with electrical on this side of the breaker box. My question is if I�m ok pulling the cable myself, or if I should get an electrician. I don�t want to die, but I also don�t want to have to call someone for an easy 2 minute job. Any advice?

# ¿ Mar 8, 2016 20:16

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 06:11

Bone Crimes: Mar 7, 2007

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

This. You won't die if you pull the bare wire yourself, but that wire has clearances that it obviously isn't meeting. I think the minimum distance is 12" from a residential roof, but I'd have to double-check the chart.

H110Hawk posted:

Call your utility. They will likely send out a linesman for free. Tell them it's scraping the gutter.

Thanks, called them and they said it is their responsibility.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2016 03:24

Bone Crimes: Mar 7, 2007

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

My new house's internet hookup is in the basement. Turns out that having your wifi access point in the basement gives you inconsistent signal quality in the parts of the house where you actually live! So I want to run an ethernet cable to a particular point upstairs so that I can hardwire my desktop computer.

Here's the house layout. Please forgive the low resolution; it was made with an online tool that demands you pay money if you want to export at not-poo poo resolutions.

The basement goes underneath the entire house except for the patio area. It's subdivided into two main rooms: a fully-finished theatre/bar/man cave type of thing, and a utility room (which contains the internet hookup), with the utility room occupying the entire right-hand edge. The red line shows roughly the run I'm thinking of, from the internet hookup to my office space in the living room.

The joists run "vertically", so I can't use the between-floors space unless I'm willing to drill through every joist in the way. About all I can think of is to go through the ceiling of the utility room in the bottom-left corner (along the bottom edge of the living room), then run it along the bottom wall of the living room, in exposed conduit, to the corner where my computer is. Anything else I can think of would involve removing and repairing a ton of drywall.

So far as I can tell, there's no existing network or cable runs in the house. I did find these things in several rooms, which I've no idea what they are:

but even if they are somehow network-related, there's not one anywhere close to where I need it.

Thoughts/advice are appreciated!

Did the house have cable tv? I've had good luck with using coax with network adaptors.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2024 16:29

Bone Crimes: Mar 7, 2007

What was the point of Split boxes? We're they just cheaper? I have one, and I don't like the idea that I don't have a way to shut off the bus bars from the service. This rule of 6 stuff just reeks of post-hoc justification.

# ¿ May 1, 2024 17:39

Bone Crimes: Mar 7, 2007

kid sinister posted:

Split boxes are for having both line and low voltage in the same box, with the divider separating them.

mine has 240v breakers on the lower section behind the 'main' breaker, so I'm not sure what you mean by low voltage.

# ¿ May 2, 2024 20:19

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 06:11

Bone Crimes: Mar 7, 2007

Motronic posted:

You're calling something a "split box" that isn't. That's the confusion.

You have a main lug load center. You appear to be confused as to why it's not a main breaker style load center. I have no idea why so many california homes have that arrangement - main lug panels are typically used as subpanles in my area.

maybe I should have said split bus, or split bus panel. The breaker at 9&11turns off 13-24 and is one of the six main breakers to turn off all the power. There is no single main breaker to turn everything off. House and I assume the box is from the 1950s. I'm in Washington State.

All the sites I've found and my electrician referred to this as a "split bus box"

like here: https://schwab-electric.com/should-i-replace-my-split-bus-panel/

# ¿ May 2, 2024 21:19

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!