Wiring my new shed
- Thread starter redhat
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Also makes sure that any future receptacle replacement WILL involve a flashlight or a drop light and an extension cord.
I have 3 circuits (9 receptacles + lights) in my basement and 4 circuits in my rec room), 3 circuits in my garage., put an additional 20 amp on in my 10x 12 Mancave.
Romex is normally behind sheetrock or in an attic. Not exposed. You need BX to pass code.
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I do not need a licensed electrician to get it inspected.
Nor would he need to "tear it all out"
And if done correctly and not caused by electrical, sure insurance coverage should be valid.
Kinda ironic given the way the response was written.
I've never hired an electrician and I have done plenty of wiring. My consultation and cite is NEC, not an internet forum, true enough.
Your jurisdiction may allow for it and it sounds like you confirmed you don’t require it and will get it inspected, so you should be good to go then.
Im in forensic fire investigations and part of what I do is investigate home fires with electrical causes, where people often died. Often times they were wired by people who didn’t know what they were doing. So this is why I’m a cautious/scared about people who go above and beyond. A single loose connection in a receptacle can burn your entire house down. I see scary things all the time which is why this scares me lol. I’ve seen people wire their garage 200ft away with burried Romex (not even UF cable or wire in PVC) with #14, no regard for load or voltage drop, tapped off a main with no OCPD and run air conditioners, lights, refrigerators, you name until it burns down. Open splices in attic, house additions wired in extension cords, splices in walls, undersized wire, ground wires used as neutrals. Crazy stuff.
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If it helps, the "licensed electrician" that wired my dad's house when it was built in 1987 connected the two 20 amp kitchen circuits together with an extra piece of romex, effectively making them one 40 amp circuit.
I discovered it nearly 33 years later while I was in the process of turning off the power to add two GFCIs to the kitchen.
I found that BOTH 20 amp breakers had to be off to kill power to one of the kitchen receptacles.
So then I had to track down where the two circuits were connected together and fix that.
So even %$#% work can be done by licensed electricians and pass inspection.
Wouldn't surprise me one bit, knowing what I do about how they rolled in Manassas, VA back in 1987, if the electrician and the inspector were related.
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I can imagine the horrible stuff you see. I learned long ago to not fear electrical but respect it and do it right.
Always make sure leads when wiring a switch or outlet are stripped appropriately, routed the correct way, loop closed and tightened by hand - not loose. While tightening it closes the loop.
I’ll wrap a couple wraps in some 3M super electrical tape.
I gotta get my electrical permit and will talk to the building inspector code enforcement about some of this too. Was just curious on if some of my thoughts and ideas made sense.
No way do I want anything unsafe but additionally I don’t wanna hire an electrician when majority of this stuff to me is just needing to know the code or what I need at different points and I’ll install accordingly.
You might want to get an ECX bit and screwdriver.
They allow you to put the proper torque on switch and outlet terminal screws in a way that regular phillips bits can't.
In fact, I accidentally stripped out the screw threads in an outlet using an ECX bit. A regular phillips bit will strip out the head before you'll ever be able to strip out the threads.
Yes, “licensed electricians” can be scary too. The sad truth is there can be one “licensed” guy running a shop who is supposed to be overseeing the job (and permit is filed under his name) but they hire high school kids to wire a house, or random labor. It’s sketchy business practice, but it is done all the time.
And of course just having a license doesn’t mean the electrician is any good. Just that he can pass the test. But hopefully it reduces likelihood of horror shows. Which usually seem to be in attics for some reason…
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Never heard of them. That’s real cool.
In a previous house I found a basement light that would not go off by turning off and on every breaker one by one. Two breakers connected together. Both on same leg of 220. If you happen to move either breaker up or down by one slot, the two circuits would be on opposite legs of 220. Bang, zap, big sparking.
These newer AFCI breakers would probably trip if their output were combined with another circuit, even if it's on the same leg.
My head hurts.....
unless you are a moron many things can be DIY safely, lots of vids + books! Ben Shalstrom has some great well explained vids + dont forget your qualified friends. although i am always slower than a pro i can do most anything correctly because i CARE about how its done, unlike many contractors only looking for big $$$$$
