Q for you Electricians

Re: Q for you Electricians

The GFCI's were purely something to give me a master on/off switch in the shed since I didn't have any sort of sub-panel or anything, that way I didn't have to keep running back and forth to the house to shut the power off/on. Since I'll be putting in a sub-panel now the GFCI's will be coming out.
 
Re: Q for you Electricians

I understand your statement and the underlying purpose of a GFCI, just paraphrasing what the NEC says about the the use.
My point was to make sure that proper bonding and grounding needs to be performed and to not depend only on a GFI for overload and ground fault protection, the fail at a rate most people don't realize.
Never trust a switch...
 
Re: Q for you Electricians

Yes, it will be properly (or at least to the best of my ability) bonded.

Would it be the end of the world if I just bought a single 500' spool of 10ga black and then marked every so often with electrical tape which was the neutral? Or do I really need to buy two different colors. I ask because I can buy a 500' roll for $85 or 3 120' "by the foot" lengths for $120.
 
Re: Q for you Electricians

yeah thats what i meant, just buy one spool of wire, its legal to use black for anything aslong as its marked with tape, atleast in fl, but in your case there is no inspection. just make sure you mark the ends with white tape so you know. pay the 85$ for the 500' of #10 and your go to go. i just did my shed the same way the other day. just please keep track of your N and dont mix a hot with the N or your drills will drill like they are on meth, for a litte while lol. good luck<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Ratbert</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Yes, it will be properly (or at least to the best of my ability) bonded.

Would it be the end of the world if I just bought a single 500' spool of 10ga black and then marked every so often with electrical tape which was the neutral? Or do I really need to buy two different colors. I ask because I can buy a 500' roll for $85 or 3 120' "by the foot" lengths for $120.

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Re: Q for you Electricians

in WA we can't use the same color for every thing, By NEC rules (200.6a) grounded conductors have to be white or gray(if smaller than 6awg) and grounding conductors have to be green (250.119) yet again under 6awg. If you already have a pipe(PVC gray and buried 18" down) I would put the sub panel in your shop, will allow you to expand later if needed or wanted, Will get you cleaner power. And as a NEC nut, Do it right, take the time and spend the money. Last thing you want is to do some patch job and get hurt. I am always willing to spend the money when it comes to electrical work because I know how fast that cheap job can get expensive when have to keep fixing it or, have to upgrade it because you need more power out there. I can't tell you how may time i have been told that 'i am only going to run a......" only to have to go back a year later to add to the system for the extra stuff they were never going to use. Go sup panel. feel free to hit me up in the shout box for any questions.
 
Re: Q for you Electricians

Here's a Q for you...

My GE main panel is full and the last couple of circuits had to be added via the half-height breakers. So long as I made sure I had them on different phases, is there any reason I couldn't link two of the half heights together for the run out to the sub-panel rather than having to figure out a way to wedge a linked pair of full heights into the box?

Obviously to get them on different phases but still next to each other I'd have to install 4 half heights in a row (two on each phase) then link the center two together.
 
Re: Q for you Electricians

you, need the link so they trip at the same time, you normally always can add more "peanut" breakers and or re-arrange your panel to fit a 2-pole breaker that you need. If you use two of the "peanut" breakers and just one phase trips and the other doesn't you can run in to big problems, such as letting the smoke out of some thing(it is a pita to put back in) or worse you could create a safety hazard. Hope that helps.
 
Re: Q for you Electricians

Right, that's why I was describing installing 4 in a row and using the center two; so that they can be linked together and yet on different phases. I just didn't know if there was any other reason a half-height wouldn't fly.
 
Re: Q for you Electricians

FYI, I ended up using the 12ga Romex in the conduit as a pull to feed 3 8ga conductors to the barn, put a 20A two-pole breaker in the house box and installed a 4 slot, 100A subpanel in the barn, bonded to an 8'x5/8" ground pole. Plugged the two existing circuits in the barn into the subpanel on different phases and so far everything seems groovy.
 
Re: Q for you Electricians

As a military electrician in combat, I was frequently forced to work live circuts (Command and Control Comunications power supplies cut during incoming artillery attacks, for just one of many examples. You can't wait for the 'all clear'; other peoples' lives are at stake.), sometimes atop bunkers covered with wet sandbags.

I 'got bit' occasionally, even and up to 440V. It can be unpleasant, and bad luck is bad luck, but obviously, I survived. There are no guarantees, but there are precautions one can take when a jolt can be anticipated.

Just remember, it only takes one parcel of bad luck to put a permanent end to one's adventures here 'In The Land of The Knee-Walking Turkeys...'

Greg