Home electricity question

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
OP, there's another possible problem: A poor connection somewhere. This would further increase the effect of the dimming when the heater is turned on. If you know the order of the outlets, you can test outlet to outlet to see if the problem suddenly becomes worse after a particular outlet. And, just as importantly, & if you're qualified enough to do so, check the connection in your breaker box. You can test 2 things: first, that there's enough torque holding the wire, and then, if there's a potential difference between the bar & the wire, signifying that there's a bad connection.


I've run 2 circuits to the bathroom. With a blow drier running while curling irons are heating up... You wouldn't want much else plugged in. I did it back when wire was cheap; 250' 12awg for $35 or 40.

Besides that, I personally like the 1 room - 1 circuit (except the kitchen = 3 circuits); then the breakers are much simpler to label. Plus, 1 circuit for all the ceiling fans/lights per floor.

Originally posted by: WarhammerUC
my place was built in the 50s.. and man, I just rip out 10 15 amps and replaced with 20. They had so many junction boxes in the basement.. I reran a few home runs..

at one point, I was going to rerun the whole house.. too much work..

I only had 100 service amp.. i talked to an electrician, he told me not a lot of place in nyc has 200 service.. especially for a small 40x100 house

since when is 4000 square feet considered "small"? And, I hope by ripped out, you meant that you replaced all the 14awg wiring with 12 awg, and not just the breakers themselves.

I'll bet they used "push in" connections, rather than the screws, and those things are notorious for failing or not being a good connection, in the first place.
I would check each outlet and connection along that branch circuit for integrity.

 

[Elstupido]

AlienCraft, good point and back on topic

 

[Loreena]

Who the heck pushes the wires in the back of receptacles? That is pure laziness! ALWAYS side wire them and make sure the wire goes at least three quarters around the screw.

 

[Elstupido]

Well, when you bid jobs in a very competetive low end, new residential home wiring market, most contractors will cut every corner there is, just to make a small profit. Sucks, but that is the way it is, and is still up to code.

That is the reason I stuck with commercial or residential remodeling.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: Loreena
Who the heck pushes the wires in the back of receptacles? That is pure laziness! ALWAYS side wire them and make sure the wire goes at least three quarters around the screw.

EVery contractor who bids to be competitive, that's who.
Every installer who is paid piece work, that's who.
Most of the time those connections are adequate for the load. Sometimes, they aren't.

I worked for a contractor who was adamant about time spent per fixture.
Try to time required for pigtailing 500+ outlets. It takes hours. Compared with using the push in's, you can save some of those hours and bank them as profit.
AND it meets NEC, so there is nothing substantially "wrong" with it. It simply isn't "the best way" to do it.