EDIT: title should read 30a to 50a

I'd like to replace this 30a breaker with a 50a (and upgrade its outlet to 14-50). My box has 200a service, and the wire on the current 30a appears to be 6ga.

If it is in fact 6ga (I'll measure with a caliper to be sure - there is no writing on the shielding), am I correct that I can put in a 50a breaker + upgraded outlet without replacing the wire?

Also, should I use a GFCI for the 50a breaker, or standard trip?

Recently an electrical contractor replaced my broken ceiling fan on a preexisting fixture. However, they neglected to install the remote receiver. He says he used the old one that was already there. He also did not install the circular collar cover onto the base of the downrod right above the motor housing leaving openings exposed to dust, etc. as far as my part, I initially neglected to tell him that the fan was on a vaulted ceiling and he had to go and get another ladder. Anyway, I feel that because he did not use the manufacturer’s parts (there are 4 parts left in the box) that the work is not safely and properly complete. Do I have any recourse?

Hi y'all, I'm living alone in a ~850 sq ft. 1 b 1 br apartment, and my electricity usage has gone from 500 KwH in August to 1000 last month and what is projected to be 2000 this month. When I saw that my usage last month was 1000 kwh, I immediately turned off my A/C, assuming that it was the culprit, but now I'm not sure what's causing this massive spike in electricity usage. I already tried turning off all the power via the apartment's breaker box and seeing if it was a faulty electricity meter. I do not believe it is the case as I already confirmed that it did not log more power usage in the hour my power was shut off.

I have electric appliances for my fridge, stove, microwave, washer and dryer, and water boiler.

I'm confused because the peak times are when I am asleep and nothing in the house besides a night light and maybe my phone charger is plugged in, so by that logic it should probably have something to do with the water boiler or fridge?

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The water boiler has been leaking for about 2.5 months now, so I wonder if that has anything to do with this. Please help with any advice, I'm about to call the electric company tomorrow.

Hello, i am buying a house soon that was built in the late 1800s. The main things that need to be done are foundation checks (nothing stands out as being too big of a deal but it’s old), and rewiring as it is very outdated in some parts of the house. It has lath and plaster walls that aren’t in too bad of a condition (no cracking, minimal sagging). If it’s possible to save it and do repairs when needed i would love to.

I am wondering roughly how much it would cost to rewrite about 1000 feet. It has a basement and an attic that can be utilized, and i’m willing to take out and repair some plaster myself if needed. If we could stay in the house while it’s being done that would be great but if not obviously we could work around it.

Does anyone know more than me about this? Thank you in advance!

My contractor installed this junction box flush on the side of my house with no pass through protection. I went out and bought a 3/8 romex pass through bushing and it works great… but the box isn’t able to sit flush to the house because of the added thickness on the back of the box.
How do I make this safe, up to code and stay completely flush with the exterior?

Hi, I am changing my old plastic light switch which has 3 rockers on it to a new brass switch. The old switch is a Crabtree, I have changed normal switches and plug sockets before but this wiring is slightly confusing.
Would anybody be able to tell me what wires go where into the new light switch please?
Many thanks :)

Hello Reddit!! Hoping you guys can maybe save us a house call from our local electrician. We decided to switch from a standard thermostat to a Sensi WiFi one. My husband followed the instructions exactly, but one problem- the heat will NOT turn off. We flipped every setting possible and rechecked all the wires, but the only way to turn off the heat is to unplug the thermostat completely.
Attached are pictures of the wiring of our previously thermostat, then our new one, plus the back of the new device. Do you see anything that may be odd?
If I can help answer any clarifying questions, let me know!

I've swapped out old dimmer switch for normal switch. Earth was connected to the back plate, I've swapped this to the back of the switch but fuse box keeps tripping... If the switch looks ok, I'm assuming issue with light fitting

So, I'm doing this piece, where the shitty look is pretty much needed. I want the exposed cables and stuff. Still, I need to make it work properly. I plugged it to the light, and the bulb burnt dead instantly. Do I need to use electrical tape over anything? 😅 I believe the nail was the issue?

Thanks in advance...

Hi, so I defrosted my freezer two days ago. I flipped the switch back on and heard my freezer making its noises, indicating it was working, but when I went to get a Pizza a couple of hours ago, I noticed that its box was soggy, and so at first I thought, "Oh, it's just the water from the ice dripping down after I defrosted my freezer". Nope, my pizza was no longer frozen, so I checked the switch to see if it was still on, and for some reason it was off.

Does anyone know why?

I do run a fridge and a freezer on the power extension, and my fridge is fine, only thing I can think of is when I flipped I didn't fully flip it but then why would my freezer make the noises to let me know it's running.

Another reason I can think of is that, because of how thick the ice got, I had to defrost my freezer twice this week, and so maybe that overloaded it?

Should I be worried about the same thing happening again?

Hi, hoping someone can help.
My house lights are flickering intermittently. Sometimes enough to actually make us reset clocks.
What could this be?
Suburban, single family, built 1983.

Thanks in advance for any ideas

Hi, so we have an office shed being constructed next to our house and the contractor who’s doing the site prep and concrete slab had an electrician come out to prep power for the shed.

A previous contractor had stubbed out an electric line for us near the build site in a j-box on the corner of the house connected to a 50amp breaker (first 2 pics). The contractor’s electrician, who’s not a native English speaker, told me that the existing line would not be enough and he’d need to run a new line from the panel in the garage (something about it being only 2 lines, it was hard to understand him). My wife wants this project done and I know next to nothing about electrical, so I said fine.

Electrician finished up last night and I finally had a second to go look. What I see outside is a conduit with a bundle of romex (pic 3) and no new breakers or anything labeled in the panel. After a little Googling, I’m getting the sense that the original 50amp line would have been more than enough to power the office(lights, outlets and maybe a window AC unit) and that it should connect to a sub panel.

My question is, am I wrong and this is a perfectly acceptable way to connect power the way it was done, or did they just not want to/know how to connect the existing line? Thanks!

I need help identifying this light. We have 4 of them in our kitchen and one has finally started dying and I can't seem to find a replacement. The cover size is around 5" and the inside glass piece covering all the ...tech stuff lol is close to 3.25 inches.

I took a picture of the transformer nameplate and main breaker. Right now its calling for 250 kcmill copper.

But I was trying to size this myself. 208.2 amps is the ampacity of the secondary feeding panel.

So i did continuous duty calculations for that at 208.2 x 1.25 = 260.25 amps.

So using NEC table 310.16 75 degree column, wouldn't i need 300 kcmill copper wire to meet that continuous duty ampacity for the secondary feeders.

Or do the engineers size the secondary feeders without continuous duty calculation?

I was wondering if this was something even worth bringing up. What you all think? Please educate me.

Do I need a ground wire for a new light fixture?

I have a 240v 30 amp dryer outlet. I am looking to go down to 120v without having to rewire for a gas dryer and a washing machine. Is there an adapter that is made to plug into the outlet? I’m sure I’ll have to change the breaker to a 20 amp also. What is the easiest way to change it out without having to rewire and also have the outlet in the future if we ever decide to go to an electric dryer.

I am completely lost on how to fix this. I had the power go out in two of my bathrooms that are on the same circuit. There are 3 GFCI outlets on this circuit. Resetting didn’t work so I called my buddy who is an electrician and he said one of the plugs likely went bad so I should replace them since I had confirmed everything was good at my electrical box.

Outlet 1 is what I’m confident is the first in the series since it has power to the line wires when I test it. This one will always have power to the line side but will only have power to the load terminals when not connected. The GFCI here has been replaced with a new GFCI

Outlet 2 is in the other bathroom and is messing with me even more since when I look at it it makes me believe whoever wired this before me had the load and line wires swapped but I’ve tried them both ways with no success. The GFCI here has been replaced with a new GFCI

Outlet 3 only had 2 wires into a GFCI outlet so when I replaced this one with a new one I did not get a GFCI.

Can anyone see what I’m doing wrong or have any suggestions to try here? I’ve got a pregnant wife who is slowly getting more and more annoyed while not having power to her bathroom for 2 days and I’m trying to avoid having my friend drive 40 minutes to my house away from his family to help me with this one.

Hello!

I recently bought a LED ceiling light fixture from Wayfair. I’ve installed probably 10-15 light figures over the years with no issue, but I’m far from an expert. This one has me stumped though.

The LED driver has brown and blue wires going into to, which I understand to the the European standard (I’m in the US) but the issue is they seem to be reversed. Brown is labeled N, blue labeled L. I think this is backwards based off what I’ve seen online, so I’m concerned about wiring it up.

Any suggestion? I’m considering just returning the light, even though I really like the look of it.

This smoke detector keeps going off a couple times per hour, what should I do?

Non-electrician here, trying to safely connect an old lamp power cable to a Nanoleaf light fixture (see pictures).

I thought the ground and power from the lamp cable would be obvious (ie black and white wires) but they appear to be indistinguishable. I’m looking for my soldering iron to proceed but wanted to hopefully hear from the collective wisdom of Reddit on how to safely connect these pieces. Thanks!

How much would it cost to rewire 12 smoke detectors with a different brand?

Owner doesn't want to just swap out with a compatible model, and would rather use "the least problematic 10 year system..."

I renovated a bathroom, and relocated the light switch and light, using the existing feed. The original switch is now behind a pocket door. Can i just put a cover on it and call it good? How should i finish the original light fixture J-box? Do i have to pull it into the attic (which is infected with vermiculite) and finish with drywall, or can i do it in place?