babyeatingpsychopath posted:

A window AC would probably be worse than your mini-split. You can absolutely try your setup with the mini-split and just plan for the contingency that if the fridge kicks on while the AC is running while you're trying to microwave food that SOMETHING is going to be very unhappy. This could be any of the big loads and/or the generator. The mini-split may undervolt and not come back on for a long while; the generator may stall and you lose all power for a bit; the fridge may trip offline and go into some protective mode for longer than your food is good for.... If you were in a constrained-generation location (off-grid, boat, etc), then there'd be load-shedding set up, but that's overkill for a house.

The expectation is that an electrician knows the PoCo and Inspector already and can schedule the job so that the inspector shows up and inspects the job and signs off on it with the presumption that the final connect will be as good as the electrician's other work. Then the PoCo shows up, pulls the meter, the sparky makes his four final connections, does a final sanity check, and the PoCo guy pops the meter back in and job's done.

Tom Guycot posted:

nwin posted:

Dammit, I wish I could just swap these two switches.

The one on the left is for the kitchen lights, the one on the right is for the fan and has the dimmer. I’d love to be able to dim my kitchen lights.

Motronic posted:

Yes.

US residential power is "split phase". From the pole you get a hot, another hot that is out of phase with the first one by 180 degrees (relative to the neutral) and a neutral. Grab 2 hots and it's 240v (think of it as "negative 120v" to "positive 120v" = 240v - this is wrong and a gross oversimplification). Grab either hot and the neutral and it's 120v.

So things that are 240v only may have a 3 wire outlet which is just hot, hot, ground with no neutral. And yes, ground is electrically the same thing is neutral since they are bonded together (usually in the panel) but their actual function is wildly different, as neutrals are intended to carry current and grounds are intended as a safety system only. So using a ground as part of a circuit is a great way to energize the safety system of your home wiring in interesting ways.

The Bananana posted:

How do I find a good electrician?
And how do I know if I'm being charged typical rates, or if I'm being over charged?

Multiple bids, like I did with my roof, or with replacing my AC?

CRUSTY MINGE posted:

And yeah, I figure cash speaks volumes, it's finding the retired electrician that's the problem.

Motronic posted:

Those are neutrals.

Please go read the thread recommended book on electrical for homeowners before touching any more electrical. That is a far too basic a question to be asking for someone with a switch out of a wall.

Super-NintendoUser posted:

So I need to move my microwave. I pulled a dedicated run for it a while back, but in the new place, the only run is a dedicated 20AM circuit that just has only one outlet for the refridgerator on it. Would it be acceptable to connect it on the circuit with the fridge? It's a lot easier to do that instead of pulling a new run all there.

Hmm so Google says that I should have the microwave (which is a fixed under cabinet model) on it's own circuit but the fridge can go on a small appliance branch circuit. So what I'll do is remove the plug for the refridgerator (probably installed by the previous occupant to get a new outlet to a new wall) and just extend it to the microwave location using a junction box in the basement. Then I'll just come off a nearby countertop outlet down for the fridge.

The countertop outlet is a 20A circuit that only has three other outlets on it, so I can use that to power the fridge and add another over the counter outlet (for a total of five outlets). Probably that's ok?

I pulled out my black and decker wiring book, and I see that it indicates using a 12/3 with two 20A circuits for the counters, I guess the 12/3 is to make it easier to pull so you don't have to pull two runs all the way back. In my case, I think I'll just reuse the existing fridge run for the the microwave since it's isolated already and right there and then I'll just pull a new run for the two new outlets I want to add so I only have three outlets per 20A circuit.

NZAmoeba posted:

Hi thread! I have a question regarding 100 year old wiring!

I currently have this outlet, which is the only 2-prong outlet in the house



I had an electrician doing some other work, who said I could replace that with a 3 prong as long as I got a gfci model.

Having bought one and opening the socket up, I found the wiring is of a different type to what my new socket expects, this is a screw down type.



I'm also not sure if this is a live and neutral combination, or a single core wire line/load set-up?

For reference, the existing socket had the wires connect at opposite sides, diagonal to each other.

What model of socket should I be looking for so I don't go and buy the wrong thing? Is it even wise to try and get a 3 prong outlet here?

corgski posted:

Sure looks like it. The solution to that outlet is to cap the wires and stop using it, and ideally find where it's spliced into the modern wiring and disconnect it entirely (and then pull new romex to it if you need a receptacle there.)

Motronic posted:

There aren't many places where this was a thing. If I saw that around here I could be 100% assured it's knob and tube.

H110Hawk posted:

We do want to help, but it's easier to work with broad strokes than tiny bites. Literally post a picture of the space, a picture of your list of things you hope to do, hard requirements ("I need 10gbps for streaming porn to my roof-top projector") and we can help guide you. This is the wiring thread, it's easy to subtly kill yourself. Ground loads should be basically 0 to you in a residential setting but maybe you get it slightly wrong. This is one wire somewhere in a house hooked up to the wrong pin on an outlet basically:

SyNack Sassimov posted:

(7 pages of text)

Pentecoastal Elites posted:

Hello wiring thread, I somehow missed you before I posted my question in the home thread and got a suggestion to ask here:

the general consensus seems like "no" beyond 12 gauge being more difficult to work with, but wanted to triple-check before pushing forward with this project.
thanks!

Powered Descent posted:

Only red and white wires, no green. Does the cable armor itself serve as the ground or something?

DaveSauce posted:

it doesn't have a UL or ETL mark, but it does have a c CSA us mark. Wasn't sure if that was acceptable or not... dunno why it wouldn't be, but I see UL and ETL, and even TUV, way more often.

devicenull posted:

Is a 20A outlet even going to accept what's presumably 6 gauge wire?

KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:

I guess this is the right thread to ask this.

Given that Tripp-Lite turned out to be super evil, what surge protectors should I be buying now?

IOwnCalculus posted:

The real risk there would be that someone in the future plugs something in that is expecting a neutral on that third pin and not another phase of spicy electrons.

UKJeff posted:

Went to repair an extension cord where the receptacle had melted. Unremarkable, wasn’t really paying attention, then I went to plug it in to see if it worked. Felt a tingle so I looked down to see what the issue was …….

Soap Scum posted:

i feel like a halfway competent electrician should have figured that out once they saw what was going on at the panel.

HolHorsejob posted:

Thank you for reminding me to never leave the ground