What did you do today

[Rebel Dave]

Miner
 A few yrs ago, I went thru my house, and pulled all the receptacles, and switches, to check all the terminals for loose screws.
Lots of them were loose. They get loose from every day use.
You might want to do that on yours.
Loose wires can cause  fires.
Just a thought.  I am not an electrician.

Dave 

[Len]

One thing to look out for, is copper wire ends that are tin soldered in order to keep the strands together. When screwed into sockets they always get a lose connection that might cause sparks.

[Electric Miner]

Miner
 A few yrs ago, I went thru my house, and pulled all the receptacles, and switches, to check all the terminals for loose screws.
Lots of them were loose. They get loose from every day use.
You might want to do that on yours.
Loose wires can cause  fires.
Just a thought.  I am not an electrician.

Dave

I am actually an electrician. All switches and outlets are on the list for replacement this spring, depending on how all the garbage plays out. In fact, that is what I was started on when I found this.

[mazo kid]

Lots of rust on that outlet, also corrosion on the terminal screw. Several years ago we rehabbed our 150+ year old house and I completely re-wired the old part of the house. There was one switch and light and one outlet per room. The newer part is the kitchen and downstairs bathroom and eventually I added several outlets and switches there also.  You wouldn't believe the stuff I found, make the hair stand up on the back of your neck! Knob and tube to BX to Romex, connections mostly without benefit of a junction box. Found a hot circuit in the kitchen attic that was just sticking out of a stud, no box, no nothing! If I remember right, I added about 70 outlets and 30 some switches.

[Electric Miner]

This weekend's project - draw up map of house and mark the locations of every single outlet and breaker. Then start shutting off breakers and map which outlets are on which breakers. Then start flipping switches and see what each switch actually shuts off. Then we have to label each and every outlet with a number and create a map/list of which outlets are on which breakers. Then I can start doing load calcs for each circuit.

[G Dog]

That's a job I definitely hire out to a licensed experienced pro.  Amateur electricians get people killed.  A guy rewiring his hot tub caused one of our recent major fires here in N. California.  That exercise burned down an entire town. 

[Electric Miner]

I actually am an experienced professional electrician. At work I handle everything from 12VDC to 69kv. And my wife is a city building inspector. Between us we know all the code and best practices.

[G Dog]

That's great.  Then, you and she got that.  I admire the skills and expertise.  It's out of school for me - not my shop.  I have to pay to have it done.

[Electric Miner]

I am a certified electrician, but I'm not currently a licensed contractor, so there are some things that, by state law, I have to have a licensed electrical contractor do, even on my own house. I am perfectly capable of installing a main panel, but by state law that has to be done by a licensed contractor. So, when we upgraded our main panel from 100-amp to 200-amp, we had to hire an electrical contractor to do it. Luckily, since my wife is a building inspector, she knows all the best contractors in the area.

[mazo kid]

EM, I am not a licensed contractor either, just 38 years experience starting with a 5 year apprenticeship. Since I re-wired each room, it is on its own circuit breaker. Any special purpose area also on it's own breaker. Each breaker was identified. On to the kitchen, 'fridge, dishwasher, micro-wave, etc. same thing. In the basement those outlets were numbered with breaker number on the box/plate with furnace, washer, freezer, shop circuits all separate. You know all those things though. When we bought the house 30 years ago, the electrical service had already been professionally upgraded to 200 amp with each outbuilding having it's own panel. As far as Code, I don't think anything in the house was changed. And the several owners over the years each added their own bit of inexperience.

[Electric Miner]

You'll love this...

We're mapping out the circuits on our house, in conjunction with replacing all the receptacles and switches. In our main panel, we have one 20 amp circuit that is supposed to be just the refrigerator and nothing else. While tracing circuits this morning we found that the "dedicated" refrigerator circuit has:

1 - the refrigerator outlet
2 - 2 duplex appliance outlets in the kitchen
3 - 3 duplex outlets and a ceiling fan on the sun porch
4 - one duplex outlet in the walk-in closet in the master bedroom
5 - the entire master bath, including one duplex outlet, one quad outlet, and two light fixtures

None of this is GFCI protected and as it stands, we can't put GFCI on it, since the refrigerator is on it, and you can't GFCI a refrigerator circuit. Now I have to split off the refrigerator circuit. Luckily, we have a brandy-new 100 amp sub-panel on the sun porch, ten feet from the refrigerator from which we can run a new circuit. Then we can GFCI protect the old circuit which will be within code for load calcs.

Then in the master bedroom, we have two separate circuits, one of which has outlets and lighting, and one of which has two - count 'em - two duplex outlets, one on each side of the bed, and nothing else.

[mazo kid]

Isn't that always the way....bedrooms typically have the least load of any other room. Alarm clock , light, bedside table lamp, maybe ceiling fan. Oh, and my wife's C-Pap machine. Not much over 300 watts at any one time. I have a tester, plug the transmitter into the outlet and scan the wires in the panel. Saved me many steps over the years.

[sourdough]

You'll love this...

We're mapping out the circuits on our house, in conjunction with replacing all the receptacles and switches. In our main panel, we have one 20 amp circuit that is supposed to be just the refrigerator and nothing else. While tracing circuits this morning we found that the "dedicated" refrigerator circuit has:

1 - the refrigerator outlet
2 - 2 duplex appliance outlets in the kitchen
3 - 3 duplex outlets and a ceiling fan on the sun porch
4 - one duplex outlet in the walk-in closet in the master bedroom
5 - the entire master bath, including one duplex outlet, one quad outlet, and two light fixtures

That is quite a load for one 20A circuit.

None of this is GFCI protected and as it stands, we can't put GFCI on it, since the refrigerator is on it, and you can't GFCI a refrigerator circuit.

I am not a licensed electrician but I spent 35 years in the HVAC/Refer/Building Controls field prior to retiring 13 years ago. Unless I misunderstand you, I don't think anything in the NEC prohibits having a refer on a GFCI circuit, although it would be an annoyance if the circuit tripped due to a ground fault having nothing to do with the refer. I read a comment some time ago about refers not working on a GFCI circuit, but I have a 12-year-old chest freezer in the garage plugged into a GFCI receptacle and it works just fine.

If you are concerned about protecting the two receptacles within 6' of the sink, a GFCI receptacle can be wired so that it does not affect the balance of the circuit when tripped.

EM, please comment.

Regards,

Jim

[Electric Miner]

There is nothing in the NEC that says you can't gfci  a fridge. However, any motor on a gfci can cause trips, and losing your food due to a trip sucks. Industrial and commercial refrigerators are required to be on a gfci. Residential are required to be on a gfci if they are on a branch circuit. If they are on their own dedicated circuit, they are not required to be on a gfci, which is why we need to get it on it's own dedicated circuit.

[mazo kid]

Yep, there are just some appliances, etc. that cause fits on a GFCI outlet or breaker. I have an RCBS ProMelt lead pot that trips a GFCI circuit, also some garage door openers cause nuisance tripping. I have read that I need to use that RCBS pot more and that it will cure itself of that habit! I have checked it many times and can't find any problem. My Lee 20 pound pot works just fine on the same circuit.