Basic Electricity For Homeowners

[Worth1]

The guy I work with sometimes from Baghdad.
He told me how they do it over there.
He was 17 when the war started.
People buy generators and sell electricity to folks.
The wiring is unbelievable you give someone twenty dollars and he climbs the pole to figure out which wires are yours.
Looks worse than the Mexico wiring.
The power is on for maybe ten hours a day.
We are very lucky here.
The wiring this guy does is impeccable.
Worth

[kurt]

After the demo electrician calls for his sign off and before I release the lien final payment I will ask him if all demo,seal ,cap and whatever else has contractual responsibility is done and he says yes I have my helper(in unions ,helper,apprentice ,journeyman ,then master)fire up a hand held drywall gun plugged into a outlet that was supposed to be de energized for future construction purposes and watch the look on his face.I politely tell we will revisit again when he is ready.Never take electricity for granted.

[kurt]

Originally Posted by dmforcier

My uncle Harold was a 40 year master electrician. He died in his own attic, cutting into a live lead.

I tend to be careful. First, understand what's going on if you can. Then check that the hots that you think are controlled by the breaker really are. Compared to a professional electrician I work slow. But I've done a lot of work and I'm still here.


Never seen inside a bus duct. (I've done next to no commercial work.) Was the problem that the busbar alloy was corroding?

The aluminum in the alloy was breaking down and causing performance load degeneration over time.No structural failure just a flawed value engineering and not knowing the time element of material demise(ALUM)Naturally the addition of electric plus salt intrusion amplified demise.No more metal now in exposed(wet)areas (pools)All Seal Tite,PVC conduit,J boxes,Plastic splash guards on all plug in devices.All GFI at wet areas(Public areas a must).

[Worth1]

The union non union thing is of no consequence here in Texas.
I have seen garbage work and good work from both sides.
The very best work comes from guys that started out in heavy industry like chemical plants and refinery's like myself not saying I do the very best but it is better than most.
For the most part it was non union.
The very worst was a nightmare job where some residential guys did stick frame hotel.
They were pot smoking slack jawed I dont know whats that were over the top screwed up wine head jerks.
That was the worst job I have ever been on in my life.
The GC was on my tail about a fire alarm inspection and it was going to be all my fault if we didn't pass.
The electricians ran plastic flex so crooked I couldn't get my wire through it.
I told them about it every day.
When the day before the inspection came up I took a saw cut out the sheet rock in the elevator lobby and fixed it myself.
That left a big hole in the newly painted wall.
We past our inspection and everybody else failed.
As a matter of fact the GC and everyone else had fines put on them for all sorts of violations before the inspector left.
One of which was using water from a fire hydrant with no permit and no back flow preventer.
Another trying to hide the fact that the sparky's didn't fire stop the risers and hid it with carpet.
Inspector Gibbs caught it and ripped up the carpet.
I was never so happy in my life to see Gibbs show up.
He and I had a long standing relationship of trust.
If I told him it worked he believed me.
If it didn't work right I would tell him and he would let me fix it while doing something else.
That man pulled me out of the fire more than once with bad GC's.

Worth

[kurt]

Thanx,Nice to see that there are other stooped visor that knows pertinent codes ,rules ,and regs are for not only public but the trademans also. Most are for workplace safety. I am the guy that posts the ADA,Hard hat steel toes.We install 4x4 plywood,with all electrical connects for the trades welding hook ups to boot.Phones are confiscated if used for "don't worry honey I will pick up the milk"calls while dangling 120 feets in the air.Second time,you are off the job.I carry snips to cut all frayed cords,and will give you for free a new fat three pronged,grounded yellowished neon cord pat you on the back and tell happy belated B day and get back to work.If you come on the job with a old tattered ladder,I will give a community ladder to you and ask you if your boss can give you a new safe(Non Aluminum) in the morning.Although semi retired,I still do some projects(per diem) if the ducats are fat enough.Sorry for the the long winded rant but Safety is the theme here.Too many men went down because of that one millisecond of inattentivness.Our new mantra is "Safety Always"

[Worth1]

I remember the days when nobody had grounded outlets but the new products had the 3rd ground prongs.
What to do?
Chop it off.
Worth

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I remember the days when nobody had grounded outlets but the new products had the 3rd ground prongs.
What to do?
Chop it off.
Worth

I cut a few off.

[dmforcier]

Nope. Two-prong adapters. Even though they have the same effect as cutting off the ground prong, they don't ruin the plug.

[AKmark]

Great thread, tons of info, thanks everyone.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by AKmark

Great thread, tons of info, thanks everyone.

Thank you Mark.

[Worth1]

POP Quiz!!!!!!

Folks here is a test.
In the pictuer there are three ways to wire a light.
A B and C

The test will be in order of which is best next best and worse.
List them as 1 2 and 3 with 1 being the best 3 worse.
In other words put the number by the letter.
All three will work one can get you killed.
Tell me why you answered the way you did on each circuit.
Yes this weekend will cover wiring pictures and tests.
You have had all week to study.

Have fun and you can talk among yourselves and it is open book.
You have 48 hours.
#2 lead pencil please.

Worth
Wiring 1.jpg

[PhilaGardener]

B is best, hot to switch, black from switch to load.
C is next, hot to switch, white wire to load should be marked with black tape
A is worst, socket hot all the time (polarity reversed). Might kill you.
I ran into an example of A last summer . . . but I found it first with my meter

[dmforcier]

Question: Where is hot coming into the circuit? The black wire that exits to the left?

A is no good because the lamp base is always hot, even with the switch off.

B and C are identical electrically, the difference being the color of the intermediate wire.

In terms of the black=hot convention, I'd go with B. But in terms of how cable is pulled, C may be more convenient. The intermediate white should be marked, though.


Do I win? Do I win? What do I win? Aw dang it, Philly got in first.


Edit: I want to clarify my answer and ruminate a bit. B has unswitched power coming into the switch box, then a switched pair to the lamp. C has unswitched power coming into the lamp or ★★★★★★★★ box, with a control leg to the switch. I think I would prefer C as it makes it easier to add on to the leg, assuming that the box is big enough. All too often, though, they use a shallow or ceiling box.
Also, you can save quite a bit of Romex by bringing power into the box closest to the panel.
Anyway, choice between B and C is not dictated by the circuit, but by physical exigencies.

[Worth1]

Yes all wire feeds from left.

[James_57]

It looks to me like A and C would be a dead short as soon as you turned on the switch. with a hot on one side and a neutral on the other.