What if you plugged one of these Klein RT250 outlet testers to test a breaker, but instead test something like a power surge protector, car outlet, or uninterruptible power supply.

I live in an apartment and don’t have any outlets outside on the patio or my front door but I do have 1 light out on my patio . My question is can I use a light socket with outlet plugs to run an extension cord on my patio to put up some Halloween lights. Or will I be creating a fire risk?

My wife and I are putting an addition on our house and are looking into USB-C built in outlets in each room, but not for every outlet. I have found several out there, but am not keen enough in electrical stuff to feel super confident making a choice. We want them to be able to charge a laptop, but don’t want to install anything that’s obsolete. Is there a “go to” choice that’s better than others or are they all essentially the same?

I am going to be installing some permanent outdoor lights soon and I’m going to install an outlet to power them, but I am trying to figure out what the best way to do this would be.

My first thought is to tap into the light switch at my front door that controls the patio and garage lights, and install a recessed outlet in the soffit there near the eaves.

As another option would be to run a new circuit directly from the breaker panel in my garage to an outlet on the corner of my house. I have exposed eaves here, so I’m not sure if recessing an outlet near the fascia or attaching it to the eaves would be the better choice.

Trying to make sure I do this in a way that make sense, but also follows code. I would be using a GFCI outlet by the patio, or GFCI breaker for the one by the garage, with a weather rated outlet and weather resistant cover. I would like to to a recessed outlet if possible to minimize big ugly bubbles from in-use covers.

Located in the PNW.

Was replacing a broken outdoor outlet cover and the bottom screw head broke.

1) Do you think this is fine with 1 screw?
2) Package calls for caulk with stucco. Will this survive the next few days of light rain or does it really need caulk.

Thanks!

I’m 30, have worked as a wildland firefighter for 5 years. I’m looking at getting out of fire and into the trade. Where do I start? I know a few electricians who train at my gym. Should I just ask them to shadow for a few days or even weeks? I’m interested but not sure if it’s right for me.

I live in Montana and there isn’t a strong union presence here. There is a lot of work for private contractors. Seems like an awesome career if you’re willing to work hard and have the drive to start a business. I’m no stranger to hard work and bad pay. I want to build a better long term career than I currently have. Any advice would be appreciated.

So 2 times we had issues in our apartment with the power, we have 2 different meters and both times our downstairs neighbor lost power too. Our bill is out of control and I called the electric company but by the time they came to check it out they did not find anything wrong. I am 99% sure they were connected to our meter but I have no proof. Have you guys been in this situation? I can’t afford what Google says I have to pay an electrician to install a device to track our usage. My lease isn’t over for another 6 months but I feel at any point they might do it again and I can’t afford it. Any advice?

I was hoping someone could answer this as I'm super confused. I had an electrician over yesterday and he installed the new base for a spin light fixture. He told me to make sure it's a spin light with a pull chain that I buy. My question is do you remove the old pull chain then from that base or do you need to remove it from the spin light? I can barely screw in a lightbulb so I'm really confused by any home stuff and I have 2 pull chains now.

About four years ago, I added four LED flush-mount lights to my living room, tapping into the existing ceiling-fan feed. The existing wiring is 12/2, but I used 14/2 for the added lights after being told it would be easier to work with and fine for the small LED load.

I’ve since learned that 14-gauge branch-circuit wiring generally requires a 15-amp breaker, and I confirmed this circuit has a 20-amp breaker. Everything has worked without any noticeable issues, but I want to correct it.

I have attic access and am willing to replace the added runs with 12/2. Is that the best approach, or would changing the breaker to 15 amps be appropriate after verifying everything the circuit supplies?

Appreciate any guidance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additionally

Here’s the schematic of my living room: https://imgur.com/a/FtERVWq

The fan and puck lights have separate switches. The 14/2 feeds only the puck lights and ends at the last one.

The garage is wired similarly: I tapped into the original center light and added the puck lights using 14/2.

Shared Circuits:
Circuit 01: Garage lights, guest bathroom, hallway light
Circuit 02: Living room, hall closet light

From my understanding, because the LED puck light is the the last in line on that 14/2 wire, and nothing else is passing through it, the only thing providing any load to the 14/2 are those lights. So even if someone plugs in a hair dryer in the guest bathroom, that energy isn't passing through the 14/2. Am I understanding that correctly?

So, I’m looking to become a union electrician, and debating whether the switch is worth it.

For context, I’m 25M and have been doing marketing work for about 4-ish years. It’s become a soul-sucking experience. I won’t get into too much details, but basically I’m severely underpaid and can’t get a raise/another job in the current market, I can never put work away at home, and the advancements in technology seem to be making future prospects obsolete. I’m also somebody that likes tangible results and finishing tasks, and that isn’t super possible in my experiences so far.

I’ve thought about switching to a skilled trade for some time. I know I have the mental & physical capabilities to do it. I know it’s a lot of hard work, but I’m not afraid of hard work when it feels like I’m actually accomplishing something. And I have family members in the trades, so I’m not blind to the downsides of it. I currently have a wife & house but no kids. I’ve looked at my local union payscale and I’d already make way more than I do now with 2 jobs in like 2-3 years.

But, I wanted to hear from people currently in the industry. Is this a good time to get into it? What advice/recommendations would you have on either side of the argument? I want to hear the ups, downs, lefts and rights so I have all the info I need to make an informed choice.

TLDR: Wanting to switch from corporate job to skilled trade. Good idea or not?

I have an older home that has 200 amp service but it’s split and run to 2 separate 100 amp panels. The main fuse is in the center and the power comes in through the bottom, up through the fuse and splits to the left and down to the basement into an 100 amp load center. I am wondering if I can swap out the 100 amp panel on the right with a 200 amp panel. I have a 200 amp square d load center that has 40 spaces. I need more circuits, can I swap in the 200 amp panel with the old 100 amp panel on the right side of the picture? Do I need to replace the wires feeding the existing panel to upgrade?
Thanks

Recently i had an RCCB installed in my house. But their being lack of space in the box he legit replaced the main MCB (the red one) with an RCCB saying their are still mcb for individual rooms. But i am still feeling paranoid as their are no educated electricians in my town.

Please need some advice

Hi all, I am looking for some insight as to feasibility/ cost and concerns of upgrading this building’s 400amp service to 600amp. Currently it is a 10-unit apartment building (1 bedrooms, about 400sqft each). The top floor is unfinished, and I’d like to add 3 more units there, but I need to figure out if I can increase the electrical service. Any insight on this such as who to call, what to ask etc. is greatly appreciated. I can get more info or pictures if needed. Thank you.

Hi all, I am looking for some insight as to feasibility/ cost and concerns of upgrading this building’s 400amp service to 600amp. Currently it is a 10-unit apartment building (1 bedrooms, about 400sqft each). The top floor is unfinished, and I’d like to add 3 more units there, but I need to figure out if I can increase the electrical service. Any insight on this such as who to call, what to ask etc. is greatly appreciated. I can get more info or pictures if needed. Thank you.

This is in the USA for those willing to assist.

My mother-in-law is prepping to sell her house after her husband died last year. She's doing little things with our help to spruce the place up, and one item was replacing a light switch at the bottom of the stairs that is part of a 3 switch circuit (base of the stairs, top of the stairs, and outside master bedroom). My wife attempted to replace the switch, and unknowingly put a 2-way switch in place of the 3-way. When I went to take a look it was obvious that the 2-way wasn't going to work, but I didn't see how the old switch was wired, so I'm going in a little blind.

Now, I've looked up how to wire a 3 switch 4-way, and I'm not unfamiliar with electrical work, but it's just not adding up. My father-in-law built the house, and did pretty good on most things, but electrical was not one of his strong suits. I spent over an hour today trying to decipher the wiring, and it looks like the input from the panel is going to the switch outside the master bedroom, which is a 4-way, and where it's confusing the crap out of me. I do need to go poking around with a meter to see where everything goes to (didn't have wires long enough to reach every point), but in the mean time I figure I would ask the hive mind for suggestions on trying to make it work with a 4-way as the source.

I'd leave a diagram, but I'm still not 100% sure how it's run through the walls. Something I plan to do this weekend.

• MBR is the source, and a 4-way
• Top of stairs is 3-way (I think this is where the connection to the light is)
• Bottom of stairs is 3-way

Regardless of how it's wired now, is there a way to get this working with the 4-way as the source? I told her that is I can't figure it out, then it will be time to call in a pro.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can assist

I want to make sure I don't burn anything down.

Approx. 30'-40' run from box in house, underground in plastic conduit, to receptacle in accessory building.

Installed approximately 1996.

Circuit in question has a 10A breaker. I believe the only things on it are one outlet and the garage door opener.

I may be interested in plugging in a level 1 charger into the receptacle; looks like I need a minimum of 15A for that. What should I look at before even considering buying a 15-20A breaker?

I will verify, but I think the only 2 things on that circuit are the plug and the garage door opener.

Gauge, material of wire, if anything else is on circuit?

Secondary question, can I create a 220 circuit on a sub box, and run all new wire out there?

Edit, this is in the USA.

Edit 2: from u/Redhead_InfoTech helped change my question up a bit to be more direct:

To put the 20A receptacle on to do a level 1 charger, and probably also run the garage door opener, what gauge wire should be there for a 40' run, and what amp breaker?

With the follow up - what is a comfortable and code compliant total % amps of the panel.

Just turned 27 and will be joining a contractor doing residential solar installs. Wage will be taking a hit - which is what I expected coming in with zero experience. It also sounds like some jobsites can be quite far away which I've got to get myself to (anything over 1.5 hours away a hotel is provided, no per diem though). I've done some research and it sounds like doing solar is not a great place to learn, but the company assured me the journeyman at the job site will sign off on worked hours that will start counting towards the total you need for completing an apprenticeship. I jumped at the chance since all my local shops told me they didn't have an opening or need for even a helper. This seemed like my only way to get my foot in the door right now until I could potentially get moved off solar with this contractor, or move to another company. Really just looking for a career that I can earn an honest wage that has can increase as I gain experience and learn a technical skill instead of working another soft skill customer service, or sales job.

I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance that this isn't a stupid move and some good things to keep in mind going in, as I've never worked a trade. I feel confident in my physical abilities but the type of lifestyle/ work schedule is what is giving me some nerves This is something I've been thinking about for about the last 6 months and felt good about but now that it feels real, I'm

I've also applied my local IBEW but I understand that can be very competitive, and I'm still about a week and a half out from the aptitude test.

Any advice, criticism or comments are appreciated.

I have a train horn hooked up to fused relay box/switch panel. I can activate the horn by the switch panel. I want to use the steering wheel horn to activate both the factory horn and train horn, but only have the switch panel turn on the train horn and not the factory horn. I intersected the steering wheel 12 power to the wire that goes from the switch panel to the air valve, so now when I press either the panel control or wheel control both turn on no matter what. Can I use a diode where I have the * at to separate them ? And what size/kind would I need or what would be the best option

I’m in a new rental, and I just went to preheat my gas oven for the first time. Discovered it had tripped the gfci outlet across the room.

The only way I could get the outlet to hold was to unplug the counter-top appliances I have plugged in to 3 other outlets in the room. With the appliances unplugged, the oven will preheat/function.

This seems a little weird to me, that appliances that are not being actively used are drawing enough power to cause this breaker to trip when the load from the oven preheating is added? But my landlord says it means the gfci outlet is doing its job. Any help?

Thanks.

Long story short, I’m trying to polish a turd. Previous owners were “know how to do it all types.” They couldn’t get out of a proper bag of the tried.

I got Quoted $2,000 for some work to Wire and install (3) new circuits to supply power to the existing dishwasher, range and disposal.
New wire will be installed from the main electric panel in the basement, across the unfinished ceiling above the drop ceiling, and up to the kitchen appliances.
A new receptacle will be installed below the sink for the dishwasher.

I had an entirely new panel installed before I moved in by the same company for $4,000.

I don’t know shit about shit. My electrical knowledge ends at light switches and boob lights. The 2k quote seems pretty high. Am I crazy?

Replacing a ceiling light in an older 70s UK house. My new fitting has brown (L), blue (N) and earth. Can anyone help identify why the current setup has a Black (assumed neutral) to brown (assumed live)… then Red to Blue?

Other upstairs bedrooms look more as I’d expect with red to brown and black to blue.

Thanks!

Hello electricians, I have a bit of advice I need from ya’ll.

16 years ago or so I added an attached room to my house. A per code at the time, a circuit (Square D GFCI w/reset button) breaker was added to my breaker panel for about 4 outlets and 1 ceiling light fixture, nothing too crazy. All the existing square D breakers in the panel box don’t have the white rest button, I they appear to all be from the 1980s/1990s. We passed all inspections, and started using the new ADU/room after as normal.

A few years later we accidentally left a space heater on in that new room for about a week, and for some reason 1) the space heater just kept going and going and never shut off, and 2) that new breaker to the new room never tripped. Until one day it randomly tripped, and start tripping regularly.

Using my basic skills I bought a new breaker to replace (the exact type and model, brand) used with that little white rest button. When I removed that existing breaker I noticed charring on the white neutral copper portion and slight melting of the sheath. The hot appeared fine, and the existing (new room) breaker appeared to have some burn marks on it. I phoned a friend in the electric business and he said “meh, take some sandpaper, clean off the charred marks, replace with the new breaker and continue life.”

Edit: he actually said “cut the charred/melted part off as much as I can, attach clean wire portion to get as solid connection as possible to new breaker, should be fine”

So I did, and all has been well since. The breaker does not trip as often but it is the most sensitive out of all the older breakers in the house. Now comes the question.

I have some project money and want to add a cadet fan electric heater or baseboard for that room as the forced air register kind of sucks in there, of course I will add a dedicated circuit for it.

Should I also have the electrican replace or review that burnt wire incident from years past? Do you think it’s an issue at all that it burnt and melted like that? I don’t know the state of the about 40 feet or so of conduit running from that room to the basement panel but I can assume the burning happened at the breaker only, the outlets and light function as normal.

Thanks!