Question for electricians - Page 2

StirCrazy · #11 10-03-2009, 08:33 PM

um.. did you draw a home owners permit befor you started? If you didn't don't tell them you have started already. I know when I did my last one they wanted to inspect after the rough in then on compleation. I know I had to take a real rudamentry drawing showing what I was going to do. but that wasn`t a fishroom.

12 gauge isn't that expensive anyways, I just got 100 feet for 45 bucks at HD so I can get my damn air compressor wired up so I can start building crap in my new shop. Its amazing how much you miss your compressed air when it isn't working

this is the basic book you want for your own info and to show you the AB rules
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/...2339-item.html

ok I found it, you can use 14 in cowtown. here is everything you need to know about homeowners permits and has a bunch of how to stuff in it allso.

http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/...ring_guide.pdf

Steve

Delphinus · #12 10-03-2009, 08:54 PM

Man am I losing it. I haven't used a USB cable in years to download photos off the camera.

I don't know why I totally forgot about the card reader. Man this crap is making me lose my mind!!!!

Anyhow, this is what I found this week on the temporary circuits:

Anyhow, I'm NOT happy about this. Faulty GFCI? More likely, faulty wiring or overloaded. It's making me re-evaluate everything. I thought when I went to buy the copper that I had priced out 12 guage .. I forget why now but I remember being shocked at the cost differential between what I wanted to do with 12 gauge and what 14 gauge cost me in the end. Was it the breakers maybe? Maybe it was the breakers. I remember feeling it was a HUGE difference and I thought, well, 2 circuits at 14AWG worked fine for so many years, why woudln't it work again especially if I double up? (I have 4 circuits coming in the fish room whereas before I made do with two).

Now this is causing me to really re-evaluate. I guess if the answer is start over then the answer is start over. It's just so darned frustrating. This is the slowest build in the world as it is anyhow. It's like everything I do along the way, I regret how it ends up and I end up redoing it. I rebuilt the stand 3 times, I redid the framing a few times, I ended up puncturing the pipes at one point and had to fix that, I ended up putting in my pressure regulator backwards so I had to redo that, the overhead light fixture didn't fit with the HRV ducts and had to be redesigned, the overhead fixtures squeek when someone walks in the living room so they have to be redone ... if it weren't me I would find this pretty damn funny. All I want is a tank, a nice reef tank! Why does it have to be like this !!! It's unreal, just unreal.

Delphinus · #13 10-03-2009, 09:37 PM

Does code allow you to install 15A receptacles on a 20A circuit? The 20A plugs all have the one prong as a "T".

I can see the argument for ripping out the 14AWG wire and putting in 12AWG instead but the cost of all the incidentals: the breakers, the plugs, the GFCI that would have to replaced with their 20A counterparts (and then I'm sitting on all these 15A components that I can't return anymore to boot) alone makes the swap out proposition cost well into the hundreds of dollars. I have 4 circuits planned each with a GFCI then a 4-gang box with the plugs (although one plug is a duplex with a shutoff switch). I really want to find a way I can make this tank room workable but using 15A breakers and 14AWG.

StirCrazy · #14 10-03-2009, 09:40 PM

is that solid or stranded going into that?

I like and hate back stabs, they are good if you use the ones you have to physicly tighten, but bad if they are normal ones that seem to get loose over time.

Steve

Delphinus · #15 10-03-2009, 09:46 PM

It was solid, and it was the kind you have to tighten. The wire is physically melted into the backing, I can't pull it out for anything. I honestly don't know why it did this. I'm thinking I must have overloaded the circuit but even still, I've reduced what I have for tanks in the last year by a LOT and the box was still physically hot to the touch lately. .. I've been wanting to "decommission" these "temporary" circuits for a while. I'm glad it's off, I had no idea it was THIS bad inside of the box..

banditpowdercoat · #16 10-03-2009, 09:53 PM

WOW, that plug's toast. If the connection got corroded, it makes it worse. The corroded connection will heat up just like that, even if the circuit isnt overloaded.

KrazyKuch · #17 10-04-2009, 12:21 AM

Tony You are allowed to use 14 gauge in Calgary......If you use a 20Amp breaker you have to use 12guage wire with 20amp recepticles, can't use 15amp......I would just stay with the 15 amp breaker and 15 amp recepticles!!!

KrazyKuch · #18 10-04-2009, 12:28 AM

Hey tony if you want I can come finish your electrical....I am working 2 blocks away from your house

StirCrazy · #19 10-04-2009, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KrazyKuch

Hey tony if you want I can come finish your electrical....I am working 2 blocks away from your house

Tony, this sounds like the best way

Krazykuch, wanna come to kamloops for a weekend and fix mine LOL I think I have to put a bigger panel in and pull two new circits but I have to figure out what the hell they did first

Steve

banditpowdercoat · #20 10-04-2009, 03:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Tony, this sounds like the best way

Krazykuch, wanna come to kamloops for a weekend and fix mine LOL I think I have to put a bigger panel in and pull two new circits but I have to figure out what the hell they did first

Steve

I'm unemployed come Wed, (mine shutting down) Im sure I;ll be down your way soon

if you want help.