38
Ed Beal's post covers a major point... here's a little backgrounder on that. A 20A breaker @ 120V will supply 2400 watts nominal. "Sounds like plenty, what could 2 bathrooms possibly use?"
Well, one hair dryer is between 1500 and 1800 watts.
So while it's perfectly legal for any number of bathrooms to share 1 electrical circuit (one McMansion was ...
22
The answer is yes a single circuit can supply everything in a single branch circuit
OR
The receptacles only for multiple bathrooms.
NEC 210.11.C .3 & the exception allow for the above statement in both the 2017 & 2020 code.
I have seen this code taken to an extreme 3 bathrooms only receptacles. The owner was trying to save $ and would not budge as ...
20
Yes, it appears these adapters are common.
https://www.supplyhouse.com/DiversiTech-626-38632-Fuse-Adapter-60-to-30-Reducer-for-Class-H-250V
15
It is bad, more than a few violations here if I understand what is being fed.
First violation no clamps /bushings coming into the panel 2 places.
Next a 40 amp breaker feeding #12 possibly 14 awg wire 4 places
4 ground wires under 1 lug (I believe square D limits grounds to 2 wires)
The neutral and ground issue would have been legal prior to 1999
If the ...
14
GE does things differently
Since it appears you have a GE panel with GE breakers in it, your situation is a bit different than most folks. What you see there aren't "tandem" breakers at all, but half-width "double-stuff" breakers (THQP) instead, with the top breaker independent and the bottom two breakers handle-tied to feed a multi-wire ...
13
You are correct in addressing this, but the ring terminal isn't the right tool for the job
You are indeed correct that 14AWG is well outside the listed/labeled range of the lugs on a 50A Siemens QP breaker -- they're rated for 8AWG through 4AWG wire only. However, nobody's tested them with ring tongue terminals either, so your ring terminal solution is off ...
10
Those adapters are used to adapt the smaller fuses to a 60 amp style fuse socket and yes they are removable and transferred.
9
Yes, you can put more than one bathroom on a 20 amp circuit for outlets, but nothing else can be on that circuit other than bathroom outlets. But bear in mind that if 2 people are using each bathroom at the same time, one with a space heater and another with a hair dryer, you could easily trip a breaker.
8
A pic of the innards of the panel would help, but it's mostly likely a MWBC (Multi Wire Branch circuit) for your garage lights. If so, it's required that the breakers feeding it are handle tied like in your picture. Seems like over-kill for a lighting circuit unless there were lots of high wattage incandescent lamps in the original installation.
7
Additional violations:
The breakers are double-tapped, yet they are the older HOM breakers that are not listed for 2 wires per tap.
If you can downgrade the 240V circuit to 15A or 20A receptacles (NEMA 6), you'd have a "Multi-wire branch circuit" with mixed 120V and 240V loads. That would be fine with a 20A 2-pole breaker at that point, and the ...
answered Mar 26 at 3:12
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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All the wiring is in THHN wires inside metal conduit. Since the metal conduit carries the ground, there's no need for any ground wires, therefore no need for any ground bus.
"That was easy..."
Note that nobody puts in metal conduit for their health. They use metal conduit because the municipality requires it. So if you are DIYing electrical and ...
answered Apr 18 at 21:09
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4
Your support plans are fine; just make sure your feeder breaker is 90A or less
SER cable used for feeder or branch-circuit duty is treated exactly the same as a (rather fat) NM cable for support and installation-technique purposes, albeit without the 60°C working temperature limit on ampacity calculations:
(4) Installation Methods for Branch Circuits and ...
4
Slow down on the hole size, unless using a conduit nipple the inspector will usually call more than 2 cables through a hole bundling (where 2 or more cables are run without spacing) so a massive hole for 8-10 ea 12 or 14 gauge cables just won’t work.
Next more than 3 current carrying conductors will require derating.
Drilling a series of 3/8 -3/4 holes is a ...
4
Most likely, the neutral wire connection failed because the wire was not properly torqued down. Even experienced electricians cannot set a torque any more reliably then their spouses - that's been tested. It's why Code now requires use of torque screwdrivers.
The connection got hot, passing heat down the circuit neutral (copper is a very good thermal ...
answered Apr 3 at 22:37
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What are the NEC rules governing this?
You are not allowed to use any wiring method, except for specific wiring methods listed (enumerated) in the back half of NEC Chapter 3. (The Article 300s). Therein, you will find an article for each allowed wiring method.
Where a wiring method allows use of the pipe as the ground, it will specifically say so in that ...
answered Apr 14 at 1:35
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I'm sorry, but we have to talk about legalities.
Especially given the high risk here.
You are not a licensed electrician and that places limits as to what you may do.
You CAN do work the AHJ deems trivial, such as changing receptacles, switches and light fixtures.
You CAN diagnose and test, take deadfronts off panels and poke around with a voltmeter - ...
answered Mar 29 at 21:51
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4
Could be an overload
This is a 240V (2-pole) breaker. Given the 20A size, it is perfectly legal for it to feed both 120V and 240V loads, and I suspect the pool pump is a 240V load.
A 20A 240V/2-pole breaker has two poles (legs) of 20A each.
A 120V load can draw off one leg and neutral, and it will draw the amps it says.
A 240V load will draw off both legs at ...
answered Apr 1 at 22:17
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You don't have a ground bus because you don't need one. All existing wiring is in metal conduit, which provides the ground.
If you are in a location where local electrical code requires metal conduit, then by definition all your new circuits will have metal conduit as the ground path.
If you are in a location where local electrical code does not require ...
answered Apr 18 at 20:35
manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
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4
Normally wiring like this could go into a GFCI disconnect and directly into a prewired hot tub. If you purchased individual parts, then you would go to a sub panel adding separate GFCI breakers for the heater and motor, etc..
Unfortunately the wiring provided is only good for 240 Volt,30 Amps. Two 30 Amp breakers do not equal a 60 Amp service. It will not ...
3
It's a mess in there alright
What you have there is a right mess:
No cable-clamps on either knockout
What looks to be insufficient jacket protrusion into the box
20A circuits double-tapped off a 40A breaker that only supports one wire per lug
A box that isn't connected to ground at all
And neutrals and grounds slobbered together onto the same bar
Your ...
3
Rearranging this panel is likely possible, but not guaranteed
You have two free spaces in your panel, namely 7/9 and 8/10. This is enough space that we can rearrange the bottom section to get another two-pole breaker in there; furthermore, since the top left of your panel accepts "double stuff" (half width) breakers, we can get 3 circuits in there,...
3
What you have here is called a "split bus panel". There is no main breaker and as Limo Driver said, it follows the "rule of six" which means it must be possible to cut all power with 6 movements of your hand, you can cut all power with 4, so you're in good shape that way. But the panel is FULL! The 2 "unused" spaces are ...
3
Conduit is allowed on the surface, most cable types would require protection.
You can run multiple circuits in one conduit, the NEC has derating requirements that generally limit you to 4 @240v circuits. 8 circuits is 16 current carriers, gets you 50% rating, which is problematic. It can be overcome with #10 wire on 20A circuits, but won't go down that ...
3
Sometimes the NEC uses the term "lighting" in a broad manner that includes receptacle outlets, it is possible that the ran multiple circuits as a MWBC (two hots sharing a neutral).
The use of tandems does seem unnecessary, it could be a case of planning for the future, or just a case of smoking-what-you-brought rather than buying different parts to ...
3
Check your feeder size
That feeder coming off those 100A breakers needs to be either #3 copper or #1 aluminum. If it is #2Al / #4Cu, then you must downgrade the 100A breakers to 90A. Those are the rules, I don't write them. If you were misinformed that #2/4 is good for 100A, that happens a lot because people love to misinterpret 310.15(B)(7), or blindly &...
2
First that is a 20 amp circuit it could be 240v but sounds like 2 each 20 amp 120v circuits that are both protected by a 20 amp breaker (not the same as 40 amp).
That is a GFCI breaker (I can just barely read ground fault on the tag) .
Having multiple loads like the washer and pool pump suggest it is a multiwire branch circuit.
Multi-wire branch circuits ...
2
"I have a question: does this white double pole breaker offer 20A or
40A (20A+20A as labeled) in total?"
20A - At 240V.
If your washer draws 20A and your pool pump draws 10A, hardly surprising it would blow, since that would be 30A draw. So it would be reasonable to expect it to blow any time both are on at once, or at least any point in the wash ...
2
Noting the irregularities in the way the strands are spiraled, that is certainly SE type cable, or "Service Entrance" cable. Service entrances (weatherhead to main panel) are run hot-hot-neutral with no ground, so naturally, SE cable provides exactly that. The bare wire is neutral, not ground.
Use of SE cable for ranges was legal in the 1970s, ...
answered Mar 29 at 20:43
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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The standard Al size is 4/0. Length of conductors could need larger. Ambient temp would be subject to actual installation and local amendments.
You're probably confused because the NEC keeps changing the way we get to the same answer. We used to have a Table, 310.15(B)(7). Then 2014 they took a way the table and said:
310.15(B)(7)(1) For a service rated 100 ...
2
If the load is feeding the entire home it can be de rated to 83% as long as the calculated load Is below this 166A 310.15.B.7.1 (& .2)
AND
The ampacity of the feeder can not be below 83% so 4/0 rated at 180 amps is the minimum
The 75 degree table is used. Per NEC 110.14.C.1.b
@Jack had it I provided the code references.
Yes if overhead run some think ...
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