Questions tagged [electrical]
Distribution and use of electricity throughout the home. Electrical standards vary greatly worldwide, so you need to provide your location in your question or profile to ensure you get answers that are relevant to you. Posting photographs of wiring junctions or drawing a wiring diagram and posting it is also highly recommended.
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How important is circuit breaker breaking capacity?
All else being equal circuit breakers can have different "breaking capacity" - it's the maximum current which the breaker can disconnect and it's typically several thousand amperes. The idea is that ...
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What information do I need to select a circuit breaker?
I am having 2 new lines run in my basement to power a workbench's tools and an unrelated computer station.
I have room in my panel for additional breakers, and rather than tie into existing wiring, I ...
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Amp rating of ganged circuit-breakers
Backstory: I'm considering replacing my current tank water heater with a tankless whole-house unit. The units I see generally require a 120-amp breaker circuit.
Currently, my panel has two ganged ...
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Service mast too short
I've read that the service mast on the roof should be 12-18 inches high. The one we have is a lot shorter than that. Does that pose any safety issues? We recently purchased the house, and the previous ...
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Identify type of switch
Can anyone identify the type of switch this is? There are 4 connectors at the bottom and 3 at the top.
I've already purchased a 2 gang 2 way switch which turned out to be the wrong one (it only has 2 ...
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Running electric cables in basement shop
I am setting up a workshop in the unfinished area of my basement. I need to run a couple of electrical outlets and would like to run them along the block walls through grey PVC. Will this be a ...
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What's the correct way to pass wire to exterior electrical box?
I'm doing some remodeling in our basement, and came across the following (see pictures). It looks like the contractor simply wrapped tape around the conduit to secure the box to the wall.
How are ...
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How do I install an electrical outlet on a live circuit?
In my dorm room closet, there is a junction box with a blank plate (no outlet). Inside there are three wirenuts (hot, neutral, ground).
I know it is generally unsafe to do any work on a live circuit,...
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Does the code inspector look at preexisting work, or only at recent work?
I would like to have my service panel upgraded from 50 to 200 amps by licensed electrician, but am worried about preexisting code violations. If I had it upgraded and a building code inspector came ...
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How to install 230V Light with Light-activated-resistor?
I am trying to set up light-activated-resistors that activate a light during dark hours. I have bought a ready Chinese thing that apparently contain a driver to change from AC to proper DC output for ...
user2903
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Parallel Fluorescent Wiring
I've got a few ceiling lighting 'boxes' that have one capacitor, two ballast, two starters, and two fluorescent lamps in each. Everything seems to be nicely wired up internally and I just need to ...
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When wiring two circuits through the same conduit, what wire coloring is required?
Problem
I am wiring a septic control/alarm box to a subpanel. They are on the same post, so the wire run is through a short stretch of 3/4" flex conduit.
There are two circuits required: a 240V for ...
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Is it safe to replace a switch with a dimmer on halogen spots?
I live in Europe (so we're on 220V), and in the house we've got two halogen spots (on a transformer) on a plain switch.
Is it safe to replace the switch with a dimmer (like these)? Do the transformer ...
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Ceiling fan switch replacements
I have 2 ceiling fans that were in my house when I moved in. Both fans have recently had the pull strings torn out of the switch. I took the fans apart, and wrote down the information on the switch, ...
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What should we look for when buying a fixer-upper house?
My fiance and I are considering buying a fixer-upper house rather than an apartment when we get married.
Obviously things like location, neighbors etc. are important, but; what should we be looking ...
