New answers tagged electrical-panel
2
You can use simple EMT conduit, or Legrand Wiremold.
You are allowed to have up to 4 circuits per conduit of 15-20A circuits.
1
While product recommendations are considered "off topic" here, I'm still going to suggest Wiremold 4000. Not sure what you're setting up (a "grow" or bitcoin mining operation?, not that it matters). 8 double pole breakers? this has to be a grow. At any rate, the wiremold 4000 is quite large and would accommodate a lot of circuits and ...
0
This is fine as long as you maintain clearspace
There is nothing wrong with framing a non-structural "bump out" to house a flushmount panel as long as you don't introduce foreign (i.e. non-electrical, such as HVAC or plumbing) systems directly above the panel or create a situation that violates the 30" by 36" (fridge sized) clearspace ...
1
The dimension of Encore 12/2 nm-b is .16x.45 inches. Belden Cable has a calculator, it says you can fit only 8 in 2".
1
Rules may be different for state. Not every metal conduit approved as ground. In Ontario, for instance, only EMT with screw type couplings and connectors approved as proper ground. Using compressed connectors, ground wire should be pulled. If you are not know for sure, pulling ground wire is better then not pulling.
4
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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2
I'd use a 4/0-4/0-2/0-4 Mobile Home Feeder cable for this job
Given that you aren't going to be pushing a full 200A over the cable (which'd require 250kcmil Al, since the 83% reduction in 310.15(B)(7) doesn't apply to your situation), but need a 4-wire cable as your shed is getting powered by a feeder from your service disconnect at the pole, I'd use a 4/0-4/...
1
I am adding a new answer instead of editing as my original answer still is my recommendation since I don’t know your local AHJ. The 2020 code has updates on MC/AC bundling, with focus in 1 area of code usually other methods are also more closely examined at the professional level and DIY more so.
Code allows cables to be run together but because of ...
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 ...
2
After looking at the photo and the units size I am guessing it is a evaporative cooler commonly called a swamp cooler as the water falling down with air flow creates cool air. If this is the case you could slow the fan but remember the cooling is based on the air flow.
If I am wrong and the cooler uses a refrigerant you should not adjust the fan as slowing ...
1
You are in pretty good shape here. The metal conduit can serve as the grounding connection to the main panel, but having the neutrals and ground bonded in the sub-panel is a no-no. It's not a hard fix. Just move all the grounds to a bus bar attached to the panel (You may have to buy one and install it), and remove any bonding from the neutral to ground.
I'm ...
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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0
trying to make sense of your sense
pull out a 20 amp 240 volt circuit out of the panel, install it in a junction box beside panel
feed that junction box from that breaker, parallel it with your sense voltage leads
using the proper connectors.
nipple out of mains section of your panel using a proper bushing and sized large enough for sense connector to fit ...
0
First, the Sense takes a tiny amount of power. It doesn't need a 50A breaker (if it did, it would need a water-cooling system that was quite large!) So it's no problem for the Sense to share breakers with other circuits.
Look at your circuit breakers (possibly pull one out, no need to detach the wire). See if it has markings that indicate it accepts 2 ...
answered Apr 2 at 22:59
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0
Don’t put this device on anything larger than a 20 amp circuit.
these monitors draw very little power and putting them on a large breaker is asking for problems if and when things go bad.
Use a 15 or 20 amp circuit to power the system then if the worst happens you won’t be rewiring the entire panel.
If your breakers allow 2 wires per breaker great add the ...
-2
The type of screw terminals you have never makes reliable connections to stranded wires, the strands tend to come out and squeeze out when thermal cycling. Even with solid wire it needs to be thick enough to fill the hole, or it can wiggle around and get out.
If you want to use stranded wire with screw terminals, get a hexagonal crimper for $20 on aliexpress:...
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 ...
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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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 ...
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 ...
4
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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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
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0
My pool runs off a double 15A breaker (240v), which includes the pump and pressurized pool cleaner (a Polaris).
Salt pools use a powered chlorinator to generate chlorine and chlorinators change things a great deal. Some use less than 15A and are on a standard 120v plug. Some are direct wire and need as much as 30A and 240v.
Pools can also have lighting, but ...
0
To me that looks like it would be for the Stove and that is the neutral/ground. Based on the information you supplied I would assume you have a stove that needs 220 and based on when the house was built, it did not need a ground and a neutral in the same wire. Today, you would have a ground, neutral and 2 hot wires but back then 3 wire was common in this ...
2
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 ...
2
I received a reply by the VDE publisher. I will post it (although it is in German) and translate it below
Während die Strombelastbarkeiten der Referenzverlegearten B1, B2 und C für die Verlegung auf einer Holzwand (also dem thermisch ungünstigsten Fall) ermittelt wurden – und damit bei Verlegung auf Mauerwerk, Putz usw. auf der sicheren Seite liegen –, sind ...
2
Pull the bond, drive the rods at the panel
You are correct that you need to have the panel unbonded since the generator already provides the bond. Practically speaking, though, unless you want to leave a bunch of copper laying loose for someone to run off with, you'll be using a #8 Bare Armored Ground (BAG) cable between your panel ground bus and a pair of ...
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,...
0
If your concern is that you have to cut away a lot of material to support the surface mounted box you might replace your existing box with a Raco 187 and put a cut-in box or two behind the 187. If you use two ganged cut-in boxes in the wall that gives you a little more room to get your hand in the wall trying to fish wires or flex down the inside of the wall ...
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 ...
2
#4 copper is not legal for 100A. You would need #3 for that. Some people go around saying #4Cu/#2Al are good enough for 100A; there's a reason they think that, but they're wrong.
Most electricians doing this work for themselves would actually do one of two things.
For the full 100A, use #1 aluminum. You may have heard negative things about aluminum (you'...
answered Mar 28 at 9:39
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Using copper THWN #4 is only good for 85A, which is not a standard size breaker. So you could if allowed by AHJ to upgrade to the next standard size, 90A.
#8 copper ground is good for 100A.
3@#3 and 1@#8 would barely fit in 1" Sch40 PVC, you would need 1.25 for Sch80.
A 6 space MLO panel would work, but risky that some future change would require more ...
1
Ditch the box
The simplest way to do this would be to use an EMT-to-FMC coupling and a length of flexible metal conduit of the same size as your EMT that "dives" into the wall and lands in a FMC fitting atop the panel, as it appears you have enough length in your wires to do this. You'll need to remove the box and offset nipple first, though!
You ...
1
This should be a simple mistake, f.e. from inserting/copying tables from Excel.
Here are tables from ABB, where these strange double values for 4 and
10mm2 are missing. The 2 lines per cable size refer to maximal load and breaker amperage. They are different from the table in the question since the environment temperatures are different, i.e. 25 and 30 ...
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
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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 ...
1
Ok what probably happened is the overload found a weak point in the wiring that blew open during the short as the breaker was tripping.
I am not going to brow beat you up about working on a live circuit it should not be done but yes sometimes pros do have to work on live circuits. And pulling out a circuit to test it is quite common.
What you need to do is ...
2
I suspect part of the problem may be AFCI, GFCI and other recent advancements. A simple panel is totally passive - as long as there are no loose connections causing sparks/arcs, and actual breaker trips are not very frequent, there is little to wear out.
However, code has changed over the last few decades to mandate AFCI and GFCI protection. Breakers which ...
answered Mar 23 at 6:27
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1
Is that a standard thing? Nope.
So this is either a peculiarity of that company (read: they don't want your business) or, they are requiring it in your location because they know something about electrical practices in your neighborhood that you do not... e.g that the original builder scored a great deal on Federal Pacific panels, or that one particular ...
answered Mar 22 at 19:59
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3
What you need is a critical-loads subpanel
This is an ordinary subpanel, in which the critical-load circuits are permanently moved. (this isn't as annoying as it sounds). The ATS automatically switches its source between utility and generator.
As Ed Beal notes, it's unusual to put a large load like hot water on a backup generator for a couple of reasons: ...
answered Mar 22 at 19:09
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2
The way you are prescribing to run the wire will not be an issue at all, especially if the receptacles are higher than 48", it may even save you some wire??
You may already know this, do make sure you do not pull the wiring tight. When running through studs, turning into a stud bay, let the change in direction allow the wiring to "sweep" into ...
2
You just need an EMT connector and locknut (and to make sure that there's no paint in the way)
You don't need the extra work of a grounding bushing for voltages under 250V, even when concentric or eccentric KOs are present, provided you're not dealing with service entrance wiring. This is implied by the lack of a specific bonding requirement for such ...
2
The standard metal coupling suffice, if you install them properly.
This one is a compression style coupling, but the setscrew style will suffice as well.
You make the ground contact by running that conduit nut down and bapping it tight with a screwdriver blade and hammer... and tightening the compression fitting or setscrew. After 50 years in a quasi-...
answered Mar 21 at 19:39
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1
3mm2 is a very unusual wire size for that location.
Since many years the standard sizes are e.g. 1.5, 2.5, 4.0, 6.0, 10.0 mm2. Maybe the size is 4mm2?
But even for 4mm2, the maximal current would be 40A, but only if the cable is running in free air and only for 2 loaded wires, certainly not within a pipe and/or insulation and certainly not for a 3 phase ...
3
200A in the subpanel
Which means you don't actually need a breaker; the existing 200A main breaker will suffice (assuming there actually is one, and you don't have a split-bus/Rule of Six panel).
All you need is subfeed lugs, either built into the panel, or as a bolt-in. (however, this bolt-in will take 4 breaker spaces and limit the use of breaker spaces ...
answered Mar 19 at 23:53
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