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Results tagged with electrical
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user 47125
Distribution and use of electricity throughout the home. Electrical standards vary greatly worldwide, so you need to provide your location in your question or profile to ensure you get answers that are relevant to you. Posting photographs of wiring junctions or drawing a wiring diagram and posting it is also highly recommended.
130
votes
Half my power out, but firing up an appliance turns it back on
Call the power company back. You lost a pole.
Here's how your house normally works.
Here's what happens when a hot wire breaks.
That's simple enough, right? Half the 120V loads croak. And al …
75
votes
What are insulated screwdrivers for if you’re not supposed to work on a live circuit?
I shut off the breaker (I knew the circuit well, since it powered the lighting in the electrical parts crib) and double checked power was off. …
74
votes
Accepted
What is a tandem breaker (aka duplex, cheater, twin, double-stuff, etc.)?
Electrical power in North America delivers split-phase power. Meaning there are two "legs" or "poles" - L1 and L2 - both 120V from neutral, and opposite-phased so they add up to 240V. …
71
votes
Accepted
I ran a nail through a wire at home, should I worry?
Every country has an electrical code (really, although it is sometimes not enforced pre-accident) and many electrical codes provide provisions for how to resolve the conflict between wire damage and nailing …
70
votes
Accepted
Can I DIY fix the broken main feeder support cable?
You can see right there where the steel cable is bonded to the lighter colored of the three service entrance wires.
Yeah, you lost a neutral. This is when we get out the big font and say
This is a p …
68
votes
Can I use 220 V outlets on a 15 ampere breaker and wire it up as 110 V?
In the future, don't buy electrical parts online; they are price prohibitive because they're usually too low value to justify shipping. … Talk to your local electrical supply house, and tell them you are sick of being overcharged by Home Depot (that puts them on notice that you are price conscious). …
67
votes
Accepted
Why is my voltage dropping with load and why is current flowing on my ground wire?
Turn off 120V appliances NOW. Call the power company and report an outage.
What you have is a classical "Lost Neutral". The dead giveaway is when circuits teeter-totter: when one pole's voltage goes …
61
votes
Accepted
Is there a benefit to having a switch control an outlet?
It's in the Building and Electrical Codes
You may have noticed that you can walk into a room that you've never been in before, and reach for a light switch, your hand has a really good chance of finding … It's required by both the electrical and the building codes. Every room must have a light, and the light must be operated in a switch located at -- well, your hand knows.
Here's another non-accident. …
59
votes
Can I power a tree house from a "permanently" installed extension cord?
The system would be entirely local to the tree house, and would not connect in any way to AC mains electrical. …
58
votes
Accepted
Do GFI/GFCI outlets have a potential to damage Nespresso machines (and coffee machines?)
the Nespresso support agent said that the machines should not be connected to a GFCI outlet
Where do they think Nespresso machines are used? Bedrooms? No, they're kitchen appliances and GFCIs are wi …
58
votes
LED Light bulbs burning out much sooner than expected
Yup, that's marketing.
And then, these bulbs don't last long, either. They work fine for about 3 months, but then they start randomly getting dim for a minute or two, then getting bright again for a …
52
votes
Accepted
Unused outlets get warm when others under load
The appropriate response to a hot outlet is NOT "change usage patterns to reduce somewhat".
The appropriate response to a hot outlet is Kill It With Fire before it kills YOU with fire. This is a "get …
51
votes
The main ground on my house sparks when an appliance is turned on
You lost neutral! This is an outage and an emergency
Your neutral wire no longer connects back to the utility. Out of desperation, neutral is pathing through your neutral-ground equipotential bond, th …
50
votes
Panel breakers are alternately 90 V and 140 V
Call the power company NOW and report a power outage
The fact that you've worked on your panel is unrelated. Given the testing you just did and the results you got -- you have a power outage at the …
49
votes
Why am I getting an electric shock from the water in my hot tub?
Edit: This is sounding more and more like a problem with either a neighbor's electrical or the utility's supply. See last entry.
DON'T get in that hot tub again! … If so, the cure is a thorough search of your house's electrical system for any defects. And if neighbors are close, you may need to bring out someone to test for problems coming from them. …