Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Amateur wiring hazard
Save us from unlearned, untrained "Home" schooled arsonists and electrocutioners.
Lately, I have received scads of help requests from FAQ inquirers which reveal that they have undertaken no study of proper wiring practice whatsoever.
Question Subject: Tripping GFI Breaker
Question: I wired a bedroom with 12/2wg on three sockets and 14/2wg on two lights. I used a 20amp GFI breaker in the box. It work great until I put a load on it. I put in a new breaker and it trips under a load . THANK YOU - R
The only possible response was the following:
Answer: -
*
Robert Wilber
Licensed Philadelphia Electrician
Philadelphia License # 3516 - 16765
*
LIFE SAFETY WARNING! [disclaimer]
Electricity is dangerous!
You can be injured or killed!
Improper installations can cause fire, injury and death!
Are you qualified to do this work?
*
National Electrical Code definition, NFPA 70 2005 Article 100 I: Qualified Person. "One who has skills and knowledge related to the construction and operation of the electrical equipment and installations and has received safety training on the hazards involved."
*
You are more likely to be killed by 120 volts than any other voltage [120 volts creates the PERFECT fatal current through the human body's electrical resistance!]
TURN THE POWER OFF WHEN WORKING!
*
LIFE SAFETY WARNING! [disclaimer]
This information is provided for the use of parties as they see fit!
I am not responsible for the application of this information by any party, including those lacking sufficient skill or knowledge to perform these steps safely and any hazard created is the SOLE responsibility of the user.
*
Sorry you are having such great problems.
A legal, safe wiring system can be relied on because it has been installed in accordance with practices and standards developed and defined over the past hundred years through the cooperative efforts of hundreds of thousands of skilled, experienced electrical workers with the combined practical knowledge of MILLIONS of years of installation experience.
... but I don't think there is anything I can do to alleviate the effect of your actions.
The first sentence in your question verifies that the wiring you have installed does not meet these standards.
The product you have created is unsafe and non-functional. And now you ask advice from someone knowledgeable in the subject as to how to mitigate the damage you have wrought.
The only guidance possible is to recommend that:
1] ... you need to learn the rules and practices for installing electrical wiring, then remove the improper segments of your installation and replace them. At this point it may be possible to help you fix your existing problem, if it doesn't just get resolved during the correction process; or
2] ... you need to hire someone knowledgeable in the field to do the same thing.
Lately, I have received scads of help requests from FAQ inquirers which reveal that they have undertaken no study of proper wiring practice whatsoever.
Question Subject: Tripping GFI Breaker
Question: I wired a bedroom with 12/2wg on three sockets and 14/2wg on two lights. I used a 20amp GFI breaker in the box. It work great until I put a load on it. I put in a new breaker and it trips under a load . THANK YOU - R
The only possible response was the following:
Answer: -
*
Robert Wilber
Licensed Philadelphia Electrician
Philadelphia License # 3516 - 16765
*
LIFE SAFETY WARNING! [disclaimer]
Electricity is dangerous!
You can be injured or killed!
Improper installations can cause fire, injury and death!
Are you qualified to do this work?
*
National Electrical Code definition, NFPA 70 2005 Article 100 I: Qualified Person. "One who has skills and knowledge related to the construction and operation of the electrical equipment and installations and has received safety training on the hazards involved."
*
You are more likely to be killed by 120 volts than any other voltage [120 volts creates the PERFECT fatal current through the human body's electrical resistance!]
TURN THE POWER OFF WHEN WORKING!
*
LIFE SAFETY WARNING! [disclaimer]
This information is provided for the use of parties as they see fit!
I am not responsible for the application of this information by any party, including those lacking sufficient skill or knowledge to perform these steps safely and any hazard created is the SOLE responsibility of the user.
*
Sorry you are having such great problems.
A legal, safe wiring system can be relied on because it has been installed in accordance with practices and standards developed and defined over the past hundred years through the cooperative efforts of hundreds of thousands of skilled, experienced electrical workers with the combined practical knowledge of MILLIONS of years of installation experience.
... but I don't think there is anything I can do to alleviate the effect of your actions.
The first sentence in your question verifies that the wiring you have installed does not meet these standards.
The product you have created is unsafe and non-functional. And now you ask advice from someone knowledgeable in the subject as to how to mitigate the damage you have wrought.
The only guidance possible is to recommend that:
1] ... you need to learn the rules and practices for installing electrical wiring, then remove the improper segments of your installation and replace them. At this point it may be possible to help you fix your existing problem, if it doesn't just get resolved during the correction process; or
2] ... you need to hire someone knowledgeable in the field to do the same thing.
# posted by Bob @ 6:29 AM 
Comments:
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This blog is long-dead, but I'll try my luck...
Can you explain:
- exactly what is wrong with this mister R's wiring? is it the fact that he used XX/2 wiring (i.e. no ground)?
- why GFI breaker is tripping when load appears in the circuit?
- what he meant by 'I put in a new breaker'?
Can you explain:
- exactly what is wrong with this mister R's wiring? is it the fact that he used XX/2 wiring (i.e. no ground)?
- why GFI breaker is tripping when load appears in the circuit?
- what he meant by 'I put in a new breaker'?
Just because I don't have anything new and exciting to say doesn't mean I am dead...
anyway
Question: I wired a bedroom with 12/2wg on three sockets and 14/2wg on two lights. I used a 20amp GFI breaker in the box. It work great until I put a load on it. I put in a new breaker and it trips under a load . THANK YOU - R
He mixed 12 and 14 gauge conductors, which is ok, but he protected it with a 20 amp breaker when the max allowed because of the 14 would be 15 amps.
The wg indicates a ground wire.
Heaven alone knows why the GFI trips when he put a load on the circuit, though the cause for a GFI trip is an imbalance in the current between the hot and neutral, unless it is simply an overcurrent trip. He didn't suggest that he tried a regular breaker, which would reveal whether it was a GFI trip or an overcurrent trip, as a regular breaker wouldn't care about an imbalance.
He might simply have a ground wire touching a neutral terminal, which would split the current path and cause an imbalance and trip the GFI.
I expect that what he was saying about the new breaker was that, when the original GFI breaker tripped under load, he replaced it with another breaker which also tripped.
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anyway
Question: I wired a bedroom with 12/2wg on three sockets and 14/2wg on two lights. I used a 20amp GFI breaker in the box. It work great until I put a load on it. I put in a new breaker and it trips under a load . THANK YOU - R
He mixed 12 and 14 gauge conductors, which is ok, but he protected it with a 20 amp breaker when the max allowed because of the 14 would be 15 amps.
The wg indicates a ground wire.
Heaven alone knows why the GFI trips when he put a load on the circuit, though the cause for a GFI trip is an imbalance in the current between the hot and neutral, unless it is simply an overcurrent trip. He didn't suggest that he tried a regular breaker, which would reveal whether it was a GFI trip or an overcurrent trip, as a regular breaker wouldn't care about an imbalance.
He might simply have a ground wire touching a neutral terminal, which would split the current path and cause an imbalance and trip the GFI.
I expect that what he was saying about the new breaker was that, when the original GFI breaker tripped under load, he replaced it with another breaker which also tripped.
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