Electrical Inspection Wall Of Shame
- Thread starter Smilingreen
- Start date
Yep, Bubba's been in the breaker panel again...
I'll add my own project to this thread.
Didn't realize the panel only allowed tandems on the lower 5 slots when I tore into it.
I did however get around to replacing the 4 circuit 20A quad breaker with proper 15A ones. Apparently my solar installer didn't have 15A tandems when he needed to make room in the panel, so I got a used 20A that must have been banging around in the back of his truck (switch partially broken).
Now I'm annoyed he put that 35A solar breaker in the last 2 slots I can fit tandems. I'm wiring in an EVSE and need to free up 1 more slot.
So there are conductors with white insulation that are hot, like the 2 pole "Solar" breaker at bottom right?
Or am I not seeing it right?
Or am I not seeing it right?
So there are conductors with white insulation that are hot, like the 2 pole "Solar" breaker at bottom right?
Or am I not seeing it right?
It's the weird perspective. It has a red and a black going to it.
I'll add my own project to this thread.
Didn't realize the panel only allowed tandems on the lower 5 slots when I tore into it.
I did however get around to replacing the 4 circuit 20A quad breaker with proper 15A ones. Apparently my solar installer didn't have 15A tandems when he needed to make room in the panel, so I got a used 20A that must have been banging around in the back of his truck (switch partially broken).
Now I'm annoyed he put that 35A solar breaker in the last 2 slots I can fit tandems. I'm wiring in an EVSE and need to free up 1 more slot.
WAY out of my league......wow.
Don't know why but it bugs the crap out of me to hear actual (so-called) 'electricians' call a female wall receptacle a "plug"....... a plug is a male device, a receptacle is female. Heck, even calling it an "outlet" or "socket" wouldn't bother me. Some of the circuit breakers in the image triggered me, the dude that wired my house did the same thing on my panel.
Even NEMA labels the typical 15 amp female outlet as "5-15R" (R for Receptacle) and the male plug "5-15P" (P for Plug).
Yeah, I know.....the wife says I'm anal. But I dealt with those devices and names for 40 years and long before we were married, so....
Even NEMA labels the typical 15 amp female outlet as "5-15R" (R for Receptacle) and the male plug "5-15P" (P for Plug).
Yeah, I know.....the wife says I'm anal. But I dealt with those devices and names for 40 years and long before we were married, so....
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Well I'm doing everything wrong it seems.
I should have gone with my initial instinct to remove the dryer circuit and just use that spot.
Out of my league too, as I'm discovering.
I used plug just because it's shorter than spelling receptacle, which wouldn't fit on the breaker... but I should have just used 'R' to designate receptacle, and maybe 'L' for lights. It got pretty confusing with Master bath lights, fans and receptacles on the same circuit as master bed lights and receptacles. The receptacles in the bath had a dedicated circuit... so I couldn't just label a circuit as Master Bath, or Master Bed since they share circuits. Lots of that room sharing going on making labeling not so straight forward.
I wrote it all down in detail in a notebook, trying to figure out how this house is wired. I still have 2 switches I have no idea what they control.
- 6awg NM-B is the wrong wire because it has a 60 degree C rating, which de-rates it to 55 amps, which is less than the 60A breaker I need to run the 48A continuous circuit (the 80% rule).
- The bus will have a rating of either 200A or 225A for my 200 amp service. It's not permissible to add another source of power (my solar array) that when combined with the main breaker rating exceeds the bus rating. I'm at 135A.
- The exception to that rule is to place the solar breaker at the opposite end of the bus as the main breaker, which is what the solar installer did. I can't move that breaker.
- Tony pointed out I mislabeled breakers with 'plug'
I should have gone with my initial instinct to remove the dryer circuit and just use that spot.
Out of my league too, as I'm discovering.
I used plug just because it's shorter than spelling receptacle, which wouldn't fit on the breaker... but I should have just used 'R' to designate receptacle, and maybe 'L' for lights. It got pretty confusing with Master bath lights, fans and receptacles on the same circuit as master bed lights and receptacles. The receptacles in the bath had a dedicated circuit... so I couldn't just label a circuit as Master Bath, or Master Bed since they share circuits. Lots of that room sharing going on making labeling not so straight forward.
I wrote it all down in detail in a notebook, trying to figure out how this house is wired. I still have 2 switches I have no idea what they control.
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Hey,man...I didn't mean to sound like I was getting onto you, I don't have that right and it's not really my style...besides you didn't ask for my opinion.
I think you're doing pretty damn good, BTW.
Broachoski
Getting comfortable
Mike A.
Known around here
- May 6, 2017
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^ WTF? How does that even occur to someone?
When there's an extended power outage, and you realize you can cut the socket end off an old extension cord and put another plug on it so you can hook your generator into an outlet of your choosing to energize the whole circuit. I would never...
Instead I wired the cut end directly into the breaker panel for the week we were without power.
Anyhow, powering the outlet with an energized plug reminded me of that very not recommended hack.
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Mike A.
Known around here
- May 6, 2017
- 4,051
- 6,798
That I can understand. But doesn't look like what happened here. They put some work into it and looks good all the way up to that point.
I'd have gone with speaker wire with 2 blade terminals on the ends shoved into the socket instead of putting all the effort into that nonsense. If laziness is called for, go full lazy.
Broachoski
Getting comfortable
I do believe we're looking at a inside wall cutout in a mobile home of the 70's, what with the 2x2's, thin particle board paneling, etc.
Maybe it's furring strips and paneling over a outside concrete block wall to create a space for wiring, plumbing, etc. Hard to say!
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Broachoski
Getting comfortable
That gave me a flashback from 1973 when in Panama City FL, one could but a new 60 foot non insulated "trailer house" for $2000 and when the washing machine spin cycle was out of balance, the feeling was similar to a typical earthquake.
