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New Electrical Work
Electrical work ranges from the installation of new electrical components to the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. It may also include wiring airplanes, ships and other mobile platforms.
4,938 Questions
How high off the floor should a range outlet box be?
As close to the floor as possible, or on the floor. Remember you want the range to sit back against the wall. So you must mount the outlet so it goes into the opening at the bottom of the stove. Otherwise when you plug it in, the plug will hit the back of the stove.
What size wire for a 100 amp service 250 ft run from transformer to home?
This is a voltage drop question. To answer this question a voltage has to be stated. The higher the voltage to the circuit becomes the smaller the wire size needed. After a certain voltage point the wire size will remain constant and the voltage drop at the load will become smaller.
What size breaker do you need for a Whirlpool 4 cycle dryer?
It should take a two pole (220V) 50 amp breaker and matching plug wired with # 8 or # 6 gauge wire. Check your manual.
What size wire cable and fuse for a 9.8KW shower?
7.2kW shower = 32 Amp fuse = 6 mm2 cable size
7.5kW shower = 40 Amp fuse = 10 mm2 cable size
8.5kW shower = 40 Amp fuse = 10 mm2 cable size
9.5kW shower = 40/45 Amp fuse = 10 mm2 cable size
10.5kW shower = 45 Amp fuse = 16mm2 cable size
Can you take a 120 volt ballast and use it in a 277 volt light?
Yes, if there is a 208 volt connection on the multi tap ballast. One side of the 208 to the common terminal and the other side of the 208 supply to the 208 volt lead. <><><> As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed. Before you do any work yourself,
on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,
always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized. IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
How do you wire a 220v dryer to run on 110?
You can't. A 220 volt dryer requires 220 volts in order to operate properly. It will not run on 110 volts.
How many watts can 16 gauge stranded wire carry?
To answer this question a voltage and amperage must be stated. W = Amps x Volts.
Should the ground and neutral wires be wired together?
The answer to that question depends on exactly where in the building's wiring is being asked about.
The only place the neutral and ground (or "earth") wires in a building should ever be tied (or "connected") together is at the incoming service main breaker panel "upstream" of all the fuses and/or circuit breakers which are there to protect the hot (or "live") wires for the various circuits installed in the building.
In the absence of an earth wire (= ground wire in US/Canadian English), if the appliance suffered some damage that caused a short circuit between the high voltage "hot" lead and the case of the appliance, the damage would make the case live and it would cause an electrical shock to anyone who touched it.
If the case is earthed by using a ground wire (= earth wire in British English), if that same damage occurred the hot lead would immediately be shorted to ground and in theory cause the fuse to blow or circuit breaker to open, thus eliminating the danger of a live case.
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In the USA I think we refer to what you are calling an "earth wire," as a GROUNDING CONDUCTOR, which in effect is a separate conductor which seems to be doing nothing but is in fact a protective wire. It is there, ready to take the current away to earth if it, or the body/frame of the electrical device it is connected-to, makes contact with any "hot" wire. [120 Volts mains power is carried in two current carrying conductors "hot" and "neutral".]
So, IF one of the "hot" conductors should contact the metal frame or housing - perhaps because the appliance got damaged by being dropped from a table, or similar accident - the third wire which is the "ground" or "earth" wire, which runs directly from the housing to the grounding [or earth bus] in the fuse or breaker panel, will in effect cause a short circuit which should blow the fuse or trip the breaker.
This third wire also guarantees a current path back to the load center where the fuse or circuit breaker protecting that circuit is located, in the event the hot wire should be in contact with the frame, but the other [neutral/return] conductor should happen to be cut, disconnected, or open.
The idea is to guarantee that if a part of the device should become "hot," which could be fatal to anyone who then came into contact with it, would trip/open the circuit protection device [fuse or breaker], turning off the flow of current to that circuit.
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All the neutral and ground (or "earth") wires in a building are tied or linked together at the incoming service main breaker panel. This is the only place they should ever be tied together because it is "upstream" of all the fuses and/or circuit breakers protecting the hot (or "live") wires for the various circuits installed in the building.
Warning: we must never assume that a neutral is safe to touch: it has to be checked with a voltmeter or a voltage indicator to be sure it is not "live". This is because a neutral wire is designed to carry current under normal circumstances.
So, if a neutral wire going back to the incoming main breaker panel has not been properly connected - or suffers a deliberate disconnection or some accidental damage which causes it to break - then it and any neutral wires connected to it further downstream will go live up to the break because of being connected to the downstream loads which still have hot feeds coming into them!
That is why we should never use a neutral as a substitute for a proper, separate, ground or "earth" wire.
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In addition to the above description it should also be mentioned that the presence of an earth wire allows a very sensitive safety device called a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) to operate. It will cut off the power supply to the appliance even if a tiny current of a few thousandths of an Amp is detected flowing in the earth wire, which should normally carry no current at all.
In USA/Canada, and similar countries which use mains supplies running at 120 Volts 60 Hz to feed power sockets, it is probable that the latest designs of GFCIs which are fitted to all new wiring work actually operate in the same way as the RCDs described in the next paragraph, although they are still commonly called GFCIs.
In Europe, where 230 Volts, 50Hz mains supplies are standard in homes, offices, etc. such protective "trip" devices are called Residual Current Detectors (RCDs) because, in addition to being able to detect small earth leakage currents, they have the ability to detect very small differences between the currents flowing in the hot (or live) wire and the neutral wire. Such imbalances might be caused by minor damage to the appliance which allows a small current - known as a residual current - to leak to earth either via the user or via the earth wire (if one is connected) even though the appliance itself is still working. So using an RCD helps to prevent a serious shock hazard to users if ever the kind of minor damage occurs which, in the absence of an RCD, would cause the appliance's casing to become "hot" or live.
Thus RCDs give a very high level of safe operation even if no circuit breaker has tripped and no fuse has blown and the appliance appears to be working normally. (But it has really become unsafe!) Because of the enhanced protection they give to users of appliances the latest European wiring regulations (= wiring codes in US/Canada and elsewhere) make it compulsory to fit RCDs to all new power circuits.
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As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.
Before you do any work yourself,
on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,
always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.
IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
How many amps are in 240 volts?
There is no correlation. Volts and amps are separate entities. If you liken current flow through a wire to water flow through a pipe, the voltage is the pressure in the pipe. Even if the valve is closed and no water flows, there is still pressure in the pipe. So, the voltage is like pressure. Once you turn the valve on, water flows. The amount of flow in gallons per minute is similar to amps, or current flow. So, asking what is 240 volts in amps is like asking what is 100 PSI in gpm? There is 100 PSI in the pipe. If the valve is closed, the gpm is zero. If the valve is open, the gpm might be 500. Both with 100 PSI in the pipe. There is no correlation. If you have an electrical circuit with 240 volts present, and the switch is off, the amps or current flow is zero. If you turn the switch on and the motor or lamp or whatever starts, the current will be some number greater than zero. The amount of current depends on how big the motor, lamp, or whatever is, and is not determined by the fact that 240 volts is present. Make sense?
How does the electric toaster work?
A toaster can be either of :
- A small appliance for the browning of bread into toast. Electricity is converted to heat in a series of wires which creates heat to partially char the bread. AN adjustable thermostat in the system releases a catch to pop the toasted bread up when a certain temperature is reached.
- An electronic/software system (Video Toaster) for the editing and production of standard-definition and high-definition video in NTSC, PAL, and resolution independent formats on personal computers running a Windows operating system. It allows video switching, chroma keying, character generation, animation, and image manipulation.
k is 1000
V is volts
A is amps
basic algebra kVA = (V * A)/1000
120 Volt with 20 Amp would be: (120 * 20)/1000 = 2.4 kVA
No. This practice is a violation of Article 210.19 (A) of the NEC. "Conductors of branch circuits supplying more than one receptacle for cord-and-plug-connected portable loads shall have an ampacity of not less than the rating of the branch circuit."
There are zero kilowatts in amps. A voltage value has to be supplied before an answer can be given. I = W/E. Amps = Watts/Volts = 12000/Volts.
Alternatively, you could state the resistance, from which the amps are determined from P/R = I2.
What is larger 12 gauge wire or 20 gauge wire?
Yes, a #12 AWG conductor has a greater diameter than a #14 AWG conductor.
A #12 conductor has an ampacity of 20 amps whereas a #14 conductor only has an ampacity of 15 amps.
How high does a main breaker panel need to be?
Needs to be convenient to work on. Top of panel should not be higher than eye level unless it is a very large panel. Try to keep the top of the panel at about 65 to 70 inches.
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In the United States, the NEC requires that an overcurrent device be installed not higher than 6 feet 7 inches. It's important to remember that when you are looking into a panel, you might not have good lighting and you want to be able to see what you're working with. Placing the panel so that working with branch circuits is comfortable without violating the code is preferable IMO.
I'm not writing to disagree with Dave. You will find many panels mounted 65 to 70 inches high. Sometimes, especially in a home, you don't have the room to bring the service conductors into the home and into the panel and mount it higher than that. But it is nice to walk up to a panel and with good light or a flashlight, be able to give the whole thing a good look. ========== Sparkfighter
How is an electrical outlet mounted into a wall?
== == If you're asking about the electrical socket outlet itself, usually two screws fix it into its wall outlet box.
There are several ways to mount an electrical outlet box. Depending where you live, just go to your local Home Depot, B&Q, Homebase, Wickes or any similar hardware or DIY-supplies store and look around the section for electrical parts. If you're asking about the wall outlet box, usually 2 nails or screws fix it. If it's mounted into a hollow wall built using wooden wall studs and sheetrock/plasterboard, the nails or screws fix the box to the closest wall stud. If it's mounted into (or onto) a brick wall, the nails or screws fix the box to the brickwork.
If not nailed or screwed to a wall stud in a hollow wall, an electrical outlet box can be held-in with a pair of "jiffy clips" or the box itself has flip-up ears that clamp it to the sheetrock/plasterboard. These types of boxes are known as "EZ-Boxes". <><><> As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed. If you do this work yourself, always turn off the power
at the breaker box/fuse panel BEFORE you attempt to do any work
AND
always use an electricians test meter having metal-tipped probes
(not a simple proximity voltage indicator)
to insure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.
IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
What is the minimum size for water service?
If it is roof drains you are talking about, this calculator may help you: http://www.portalsplus.com/drain_calc.htm
Can you use PVC electrical conduit in a commericial building?
I know of no restrictions on using PVC conduit in commercial buildings. If it is subject to damage, meaning if it is exposed to moving machinery, forklifts, people, etc., you must use schedule 80 PVC. "Normal" PVC is schedule 40.
PVC is easy to shatter, which would expose people to danger. EMT or rigid conduit would withstand damage much easier and wouldn't shatter in whatever event may happen. PVC is extremely difficult to customize to make it go where you want it to go and at the same time make it look nice. This in itself may be a code violation as the code requires electrical installations to be done in a "neat and workman-like manner."
What is the offset when using a conduit bender?
The offset is the preset distance that is marked on the shoe of the bender. This preset mark allows for shrink back when bending. It allows you to make a perfect bend if a conduit run comes to a wall and has to go up the wall. It takes into account the outside diameter of the conduit and adds it to the shrink back of the bend to make the conduit fit exactly up against the 90 degree angle of the wall.
See Sources and Related links below.
How many watts can be supplied depends on the voltage of the branch circuit.
Because a normal circuit breaker should only be loaded to 80 percent of its trip rating, then 0.80 X 15 = 12 amps.
Assuming a 120 volt, 15 amp branch circuit, the maximum total wattage that can safely be supplied to all appliances connected to that circuit is (120 volts x 12 amps) = 1440watts.
Assuming a 240 volt, 15 amp branch circuit, the maximum total wattage that can safely be supplied to all appliances connected to that circuit is (240 volts x 12 amps) = 2880watts.
However, the 80% quoted is true for continuous loads only. If the appliances being switched on and off on a particular circuit never run continuously all at the same time, their individual wattages when totalled-up can, in fact exceed that 80% figure, because a non-continuously-loaded breaker may have 100% of its rating applied to it for short periods such that it does not become "warm"...
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As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.
Before you do any work yourself,
on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,
always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.
IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
WHAT IS THE Cable size in mm2 required for 100 amps?
Approximate overall diameter of the wire is 12.8 mm. If you are looking for metric wire size 95 mm2. 187500 circular mils.
What size of wire is needed for 1500 amps?
There is no single conductor that will handle 1500 amps. For ease of handling, the conductors should be installed in parallel, triple or quad runs.
For a parallel run, 2 - 2000 MCM with an insulation factor of 90 degrees C will give you a total ampacity of 1550 amps.
For a triple run, 3 - 750 MCM with an insulation factor of 90 degrees C will give you a total ampacity of 1500 amps.
For a quad run, 4 - 500 with an insulation factor of 90 degrees C will give you a total ampacity of 1580 amps.
Wattage is unit of power which is the product of Voltage in V and Current in Amps. If you know the current drawn by the appliance with 1200 Watts then you can calculate the Voltage = Power/ Current. For eg. if the current drawn by the appliance is 100A then the voltage is 1200/100 i.e. 12 Volts.
