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Stupid electrician!
Mr. Perfect
Member, Moderator Posts: 66,381 ******
I just discovered the fool that wired this home used 14 AWG to run power to:
The microwave
The range (which is gas, but uses a small amount of electrical power)
Two outdoor receptacles
The interior garage lights
All three exterior light fixtures
and they are all on the same 15 amp circuit. The microwave that is installed here can draw 1600W or basically 13 amps all on its own.
Who does this?!
Some will die in hot pursuit
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Comments
I'm going to go out on a limb and say, "stupid electrician". Don
Someone with a 600 watt microwave?!
Must of been the same person that wired my place. I just have a 15 amp circuit in my kitchen and can only run my microwave at 90% without popping the breaker.
So, I am going to do some kitchen remodel and I guess run a new, dedicated microwave and fan hood circuit. And I will use 12 AWG like a normal person.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
14ga is very common now days. I DO NOT agree with it but I'm also not an electrician, stupid or otherwise.
Yeah, smart move to do it right @Mr. Perfect
I was pleasantly surprised when we bought this house. Entire house 12ga on 20 amp breakers. For most part outlets and light fixtures are separate.
Might as well go 10ga 🤔
Don't think I haven't considered that! lol
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Definitely not up to any code and not safe.
Don't forget to put GFI circuits in the kitchen.
Just reminded me of the fuse box on Green Acres.
Sounds like an electrician with several rolls of 14 AWG he needs to use up
Need to be able to hit both like and lol. ^^^^^^
When I first bought are place, which is I figure 130 years old now, it only had 60 amp service and and there was power coming into the house at two locations, over the years people had there own way of wiring a house I guess. I ended up putting in 200 amp service and rewired the whole house for 20 amps using 12ga. I went a little over board and have about 30 breakers.
The other day I was in a couple of stores and I thought I would check out to see what 12-3 wire was running cost wise, they had no 12ga. wire at all, only 14ga.
Hit it for you!
Thank you, that got you a 'Promote'
I bet he stayed at a holiday Inn express the day before doing the wiring
220, 221. Whatever it takes.
Gotta save a buck somewhere and I reckon the electricians are also gamblers playing the odds. You know popping the electrical panel switch or house fire.
That's why there are permits and inspections. And electrical codes. When I was working as a plant electrician and instrument guy I did a little side work - very little. After doing electrical work all day I didn't want to spend evenings and weekends doing more but sometimes you have to help out. I always left it up to the owner to decide if they wanted to pull a permit and schedule inspections. Surprisingly, many did. Never had any problems; once in a while the inspector would have a suggestion and I appreciated a second set of trained eyes. But they were only suggestions - different guys do things differently - and my work always passed first time. Know and follow State and Federal electrical codes. If a person can't they should get someone who can. The National Electrical Code gets its authority from the National Fire Protection Act. There's a reason for this.
20 Amp breakers are standard here & 12-2 Romex. Good catch
I have wired 4 houses that I built. I use nothing but 12 gauge wire throughout.
Current code is that you have two, 20 amp circuits in the kitchen, on 12 gauge wire of course, and with 2 GFI.
My girlfriend owns 5 nice big rental houses and I have done all kinds of electrical repairs. One big ranch style house was just like the story in the OP, a kitchen microwave, 2 light fixtures, and 3 receptacles in the kitchen all on a single circuit with 14 gauge wire, no GFI. To make matters much worse, the dummy had installed a 20 amp breaker at the panel box, I guess the 15 amp breaker kept popping. Talk about a recipe for a house fire.
I ran a single, 20 amp circuit for the microwave alone. That one 12 gauge wire was 115 feet long. Big house.
"all on the same 15 amp circuit"!!!
That might be just a lil' bit of overload... Glad you found it now and not when the Fire Marshall was trying to figure out why your house burned down!
That sounds like the idiot plumber that did our house. Would his name be chris lovett? I've spent over $4000 fixing his screw ups.
Joe
When we moved in this house it had a fuse box.....three breaker boxes....all in strange places. Its been an ongoing project to update things. We had plugs that didn't have grounds in one bedroom, they only had the two prongs for OLD appliances and such. We had that updated first, then got rid of the fuse box. We had to add some plugs to the kitchen...you still can't use the microwave when the toaster oven is being used, but we want to move the breaker box that is UNDER THE HOUSE first so we can update that problem. I swear....who puts a breaker box in the crawl space??? It took us forever to find it.
Sounds just like the electrician's my friend Adam gets so upset about....
"Independence Now, Independence Forever."
John Adams
Holy cow! Breaker box down in a potentially wet area like a crawl space seems bad.
This house was built in 2015, so it's not like it's that old or anything. Honestly, this is the only real issue I have run across. There is GFI protection on this circuit and the other one that serves the small kitchen. I feel lucky in that regard.
@Bubba Jr. I don't know his name, but we can just pretend it's the same guy if it makes you feel better. :)
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Agree, a fuse box in a crawl space, unbelievable, maybe their spool of wire from the pole ran short.....
I caught it because I had installed some roof ice melt heaters and plugged them into the outside receptacle. Any time we ran the microwave when the heaters were on it was tripping the breaker. Initially, I thought it was because the microwave was dying a slow death. I went into the panel to see if I could upgrade the 15 amp breaker (thinking that might be one, easy solution) and no dice, since the circuit uses 14 AWG. I then tried to figure out what all was on that circuit and couldn't believe what they had lumped together. I am going to have to run a new electrical line in my attic. I just had additional insulation blown in all my attic space including above the attached garage where my panel is, so I am not super excited about being up there to do that, but it is what it is, I guess. I am not going to live with this. And knowing that I can do it myself makes me too cheap to hire it out.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
A house I once owned also had a fuse box. Built in 1950 and had 60 amp service before I upgraded everything. The scariest thing I found was a copper penny under one of the fuses!
This place was built in the 50s....then a second story was added to the house in the 70s. So, you can imagine what craziness we've got going on here. The weirdness isn't limited to the electrical nonsense. We've got two large closets in one room that both have windows in them. The room is huge......two small windows on the right end of the room....then, no windows along the longest wall....and BOOM, two closets with windows in them. If this place was in New York I could rent those closets out as apartments.
There is also an entire set of ductwork and vents that are not connected to anything.....I'm guessing they planned to run one A/C and tried to tie the downstairs into what was built on when they added the upstairs. So, when that wouldn't work they put ductwork in the attic and added vents to the ceiling.
The house is not as bad as I'm making it seem....we're lucky to have what we have and its built better than most with lots of character, it just has a few crazy features.
I have seven duplex receptacles in my kitchen. All on separate 20 amp breakers with 12 ga wire and 20 amp rated receptacles. Kitchen fires are a real danger if not wired correctly.
"I have seven duplex receptacles in my kitchen. All on separate 20 amp breakers with 12 ga wire and 20 amp rated receptacles. Kitchen fires are a real danger if not wired correctly."
Seven receptacles, each on its own 20 amp breaker. And I assume each on a GFI?
Good God. That is triple what is mandated by the National Electric Code. Did you wire that, bpost?
"In God We Trust" is on pennies for just that reason!
And then there was the auto bubba mechanic that used a 22 lr round for a old timey auto fuse.
I think he might now be short a full set of jewels.
If it didn't trip the 15 amp breaker probably wasn't a big overload for 14 ga wire.
I'm not saying this was right or a good idea but unless you had experienced frequent breaker trips, you weren't in dangerous territory.
We're in the process of wiring the new shop building and Son is (IMHO) going way overboard with his wiring sizing. I've lived in a house wired like the typical 1950's skinflint fashion for over 40 years and just know to be conservative with power demands.
It was frequently tripping the breaker.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
"It was frequently tripping the breaker."
OK now that's a problem that requires attention.
A clamp-on ammeter may help determining what's going on.....and when.
Years ago I had problems with a dieing GFI breaker.
Dang women......and their hairdryers!! There's a reason they're limited to 1850 watts.😖
I bought a 90 year old single story farm house for my son back in 2013. It basically was in good shape and he spend a lot of his time and my money to make great interior improvements. The fuse box had upgraded to a modern breaker box and the knob & tube been replaced but unfortunately with 2 wire cable. I worked with a guy that was the company electrician and he installed all new gfi (?) type breakers and receptacles that accept 3 prong plugs. Those breakers were a lot more than regular breakers but the cost of rewiring the whole house would been terrible. I asked others about that fix and was told that I'm OK.
That's pretty harsh decon12. Sure, he did some unusual wiring but above all you can bet he was woke.
GFI breakers/outlets have their place but are a PITA for general use. After a while, they acquire a mind of their own and trip w/o any real cause.
I was doing remodeling work in Atlanta. I was working inside repairing some cabinets, while Jose and Roberto were outside, pressure washing the house. The lady of the house came to me and said that her receptacle next to the bathroom sink had tripped.
I went to the panel box, I inspected the other bathroom. The power in the other bathroom was also out. I had to play Sherlock Holmes, House Detective. I finally figured out that the builder of this house, a fine, new $700K 2 story house in Alpharetta, the builder had wired up both bathrooms, as well as 3 exterior receptacles, on the same circuit. One exterior receptacle was right next to the front door. When Jose pressure washed the wall, he also hosed down the receptacle, the GFI popped and knocked out power to the bathrooms.