Do We Have a Forum Member Electrician Here Somewhere?

[Triplegreen500]

yea, everything code calls for here is solid copper until you get up into the large-gauge stuff like for dryer outlets, and stoves.

Some of ours do have insulated grounds - again, depends on brand/manufacturer of the wire itself. Code makes no distinction between the two. (yet).

 

[Triplegreen500]

Arc fault is the dumbest ******* code they ever started enforcing. Those things are worthless and many customers ask me to remove them after their final.

I might have swapped standard breakers in after my final...I...um...can't remember....

 

[kiwigtx]

I always get a kick out of finding knob and tube stuff.

I first heard of that watching an HGTV show last year....looks like a fire hazard if birds or rodents start nesting around the cables.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

14,12,10 are the primary romex sizes for house circuits here. Then you get to #8 and #6 for dryers and stoves. Yes the larger wires are stranded. But I have never seen 14,12,10 in stranded romex.

I have not done residential for years unless it was to add a circuit or some crap for a friend. But I remember back when all of the romex was white in color. Now the crap is color coded I guess so inspectors have an easy time figuring out if the wire size is correct. Wouldn't want them to have to do their job....

14 is still white
12 is now yellow
10 is now orange.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

I first heard of that watching an HGTV show last year....looks like a fire hazard if birds or rodents start nesting around the cables.

Yea it was not ever a real safe thing. But it was also very early electrical so I guess they had no safety regulations or very little regulations back in the day. Did 2 buildings in Marietta Georgia both on the town square and both had knob and tube. The stuff hasn't been active for years but was still in the building untouched.

 

[kiwigtx]

I re-wired an American Caravan/Trailer a few years ago.....all cable was replaced with the local correct stuff. What a nightmare of a job. It would have been easier to remove the outer skin....but I managed to finish without damaging anything. Had to install a 110/230V transformer in for the power supply to the side-shift to open the sides up. And a new switchboard to make it all legal here. Inspector who checked it was most impressed with my workmanship.



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[BeepBeepRR]

Looks good to me. I had to go do some service work one time on a mobile home. I went in because they said they had no power on one side of the mobile home. I start investigating and found the problem pretty quickly thank god. The receptacles had the wire pressed into the back length wise and it was aluminum wire. That was the first time I ever saw aluminum style wiring in a dwelling other than the larger sizes of wire like 8,6,4 etc etc. That mobile home was a fire hazard just waiting for the opportunity to blaze up.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Ahh I did find some pictures of the knob and tube stuff on my computer.

 

[Triplegreen500]

Orange sheath can also be traveler-wire for multi-switch setups (hot, neutral, ground, red traveler)...

 

[howard s martin]

I ask and all he said was "I'll get back with ya" ===Typical electrician!

 

[Mike67]

I don't know what romex is.....but we outlawed solid stranded cable back in the 1970's - unless it is 1.0mm for lighting.

Reason been that people were not tightening the terminals up correctly - either loose connections, or breaking the terminal screws on socket outlets.

Romex is sheathed cable, solid and used only in residential applications and the ground is bare.
As far as the screw colors go the gold is the hot, electricity does not care what color the wire is, it could be 12-3 romex with a black red and white.
Some outkets are switched and Ive seen the white, especially on 3 ways used at the switch leg ,which would end uo being hot. By code they should have it identified with a marker of some sort, phasing tape usually.
Your tester should tell you what the issue is with only the center lamp burning. I havent used one in a hundred years as I dont trust them as much as a meter, nor do I do residential work.
Do as others have said if you are not experienced in working electricity live, turn the panel off.

 

[alsant]

Chicago area we have to use EMT conduit. No Romex !

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Chicago area we have to use EMT conduit. No Romex !

In residential? Must be a huge pain in the ***..

 

[BeepBeepRR]

This is 12/2 romex. Its basically all three wires in one sheath. This is for Kiwigtx. Its basically the same wire you posted except not stranded. Comes in a bunch of different gauges. And other configurations. 12/3, 14/3, 10/3 etc etc... 12/3 is actually 4 wires. Black, white, red and a ground wire.

 

[alsant]

Actually I think it’s better, and yes it is a pain in the ***. Not that Romex is bad , conduit is just what I learned on. I now live in Arizona so i get see the other side of the coin.

 

[kiwigtx]

I've used plenty of conduit in my time....plastic (PVC), flexible UV resistant etc, and galvanised steel. My latest go-to is a German product that is flexible, resists UV and chemicals, and doesn't go hard with time or heat. It's a twat to cut - I use my conduit cutters...seem to work best. Fittings are IP68 rated and are push fit. Only thing it doesn't resist so far is fire.

And because of it's slick surface, cables don't get stuck like regular PVC conduits when drawing in a bunch.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

I've used plenty of conduit in my time....plastic (PVC), flexible UV resistant etc, and galvanised steel. My latest go-to is a German product that is flexible, resists UV and chemicals, and doesn't go hard with time of heat. It's a twat to cut - I use my conduit cutters...seem to work best. Fittings are IP68 rated and are push fit. Only thing it doesn't resist so far is fire.



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And because of it's slick surface, cables don't get stuck like regular PVC conduits when drawing in a bunch.

We used to use what we called Smurf pipe. It was like what you posted but blue. Didn't do a lot of it but I remember the stuff. Honestly I absolutely hate residential did it for 10 years. Its really not the work as much as I hated dealing with home owners. They paid for one thing but expected a bunch more. Not all of them but we had several.

 

[kiwigtx]

Its really not the work as much as I hated dealing with home owners.

Exactly.

And guys like @bobtile might understand this - painters, paper-hangers, plasterers and tilers are usually the last trades in to the job. They are the most likely to get screwed over if the homeowners over-spends on the trinkets before paying the workers.

I know so many painters and tilers over here that have been screwed like that.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Actually I think it’s better, and yes it is a pain in the ***. Not that Romex is bad , conduit is just what I learned on. I now live in Arizona so i get see the other side of the coin.

It makes sense to do it. I get that. If you have a problem later on down the line its easier to replace the wire. Just like a commercial job. But drilling through studs and piecing conduit in would suck super bad. I have conduit ran in my garage but that's mostly because I didn't feel like drilling all the holes around for romex lol.

 

[kiwigtx]

Skewing slightly off track here....but here is another reason I don't like domestic work.....this was my bosses holiday home on the beach about 3 hours from home.
I had an apprentice with me for the few days we spent doing the pre-wire (first fix). The builder was 'contracted' at the pub after a few beers. The guy was a total dickwad.

I wasn't happy about his scaffold planking layout.....