New Electrical Work

In the United States, the NEC requires that runs of conduit be continuous and connections be made wrench tight. If done properly this provides added grounding protection to your circuits. If a connection is left loose, that added grounding protection does not exist.

There are times when threaded connections simply won't thread completely. This may require that the conduit threads be "run" with a threader to remove whatever is preventing this from happening. With experience you learn what is acceptable or not acceptable. Generally, if the connection is "wrench tight" and is otherwise secure, that is sufficient.

Usually generators are not sized for the entire house load. At 200 Amps and 240 volts that would be a 48 KW generator. You can get by with less by just creating a transfer electric panel with critical circuits. You can probably get by with a 20 KW generator.

There are two main options. A triple run or a quad run in parallel.

For a triple run, a 700 MCM copper conductor with an insulation rating of 90 degrees C is rated at 520 amps.

For a quad run, a 400 MCM copper conductor with an insulation rating of 90 degrees C is rated at 380 amps.

The question is one of protection of conductors (wires). A 30 amp breaker must have a #10 copper conductor or larger for adequate protection. A smaller wire (larger number) such as #12, is not protected by a 30 amp breaker. If the equipment you are powering only requires 20 amps, using a 30 amp breaker and #10 AWG wire is acceptable provided all other elements of the circuit are listed for 30 amp circuits.

How far do u put a GFCI receptacle from water

By 'speed of electricity', presumably, you mean 'speed of current'? We don't normally measure the speed of current but, rather, its intensity. The unit of measurement of current is the ampere (A), which is one of the SI system's seven base units. The ampere is defined in terms of the force a current produces, due to the magnetic field surrounding it, between two, parallel conductors.

USE THE 'ODD' COLORED SCREW---THE 'LIKE' COLORED SCREWS ARE USED FOR THE 'SWITCH LEGS' OR 'TRAVELERS'.

I assume that both the light switch and the outlet are already installed. First, look at the visible portion of the switch carefully. Does it say "Off" and "On"? If not, you have a 3-way switch, and you should stop here because these instructions will not work for a 3-way switch. Now, identify all devices that are operated by this switch. Presumably, you at least have an overhead light on the circuit. Identify the breaker that controls this circuit and turn it OFF. Now you need to identify the LAST device on this circuit. To do so, one device at a time, remove each device from its box (but do not disconnect the wires). The last device will have only one cable (sheathed bundle of 3-4 wires) coming into the box (any devices between the switch and the last device will have two cables coming into the box). Now, purchase enough cable to stretch from the last device to the outlet you want connected to the switch. Remember that this cable will have to run across ceiling joists, wall studs, etc., rather than in a straight line. The new cable should be the same gauge and type as the existing wiring. Purchase 3-4 feet more than you need. You will also need wire nuts (the standard yellow nuts is the size you will most likely need, but it won't hurt to buy a variety pack), electrical tape, wire cutters, a utility knife, wire strippers, and cable staples (U-shaped nails) Go to a place where you can access the BACK side of the box that houses the last device on your circuit (if this is an overhead light, that will be in your attic; if it's a wall outlet, you're pretty much screwed.) Punch out an unused hole in the back of this box and feed at least six inches of cable through that hole. Staple the cable to a ceiling joist or other sturdy frame member as close as possible to the box. If you are lucky, there will already be a hole in the top plate, with a different cable running down to the outlet. If not, you're going to have to drill your own hole, and take a chance of electrocuting yourself and/or shorting out your whole house, if there is another cable running along the underside of this top plate. Once the hole is drilled, feed the cable down through that hole as far as you can. Now, identify the circuit that controls the outlet and turn the breaker off. Take the cover plate off of the outlet, then unscrew the outlet from the box and pull it out of the box. Again, you need to identify how many cables are coming into that box. If there is only one cable, disconnect all wires from the outlet and cap them with a small wire nut (grey will probably work best) and tape them up with electrical tape. If there are two cables, you will need to disconnect all wire and match them up - black to black, white to white, ground to ground - and connect each matched pair with yellow wire nuts and tape them up. This will remove the outlet from its previous circuit, and you can now turn that breaker back on. Now comes the hard part. You need to somehow take the cable end you fed down through the top plate and feed it into the back of the outlet box. If the box isn't nailed to a stud, you can just pull it out, and it will be much easier. Otherwise, this task will be be very near impossible. You might try bending a coat hanger straight, then bending the last inch back into a U shape, then trying to fish inside the wall for the cable end. But even if you can catch it, you have to pull it through a small hole in the back of your box, and that cable isn't very flexible. You may end up having to cut a section of your drywall out and replace it later. Once you get the new cable coming into your box, trim the end to 6 inches, then cut the sheathing off with a utility knife, being careful not to cut the insulation around the individual wires. Separate the black, white, and ground wires and strip the last inch or so of insulation from the black and white wires. Bend the last inch of all three wires into a U shape. Hook this U-bend around the connection screws as follows: Black wire to one of the two brass screws on the right side of the outlet, white wire to one of the two silver screws on the left side of the outlet, and ground wire to the green screw at the bottom of the outlet. (It doesn't matter which of the two brass screws or which of the two silver screws you use, as long as the black wire is connected to brass screw and the white wire to a silver screw.) Now go back to the front side (not in your attic) of the box for your overhead light (or whatever you determined to be the last device on your switched circuit. You will have the new cable sticking out of that box, as well as the existing connection from your circuit to the device. These connection will be as follows: one circuit black wire connected to one or more black wires going to the device (if the device is a ceiling fan, and it has a light kit attached, there may also be a blue wire attached to the black wires); one circuit white wire connected to one or more white wires going to the device; and one circuit ground wire connected to a bare or green wire, which in turn is connected to either a metal part of the device or a grounding screw inside the box. You will need to remove the tape and wire nuts from the black wire connection and the white wire connection. Then add the new black wire from your new cable to the existing black (and blue, if applicable) wires and connect them all together with a yellow wire nut. Then add the new white wire from your cable to the existing white wires and connect them all together using a yellow wire nut. Tape up both connections with electrical tape. Then twist the new ground wire around the existing bare ground wire to complete the ground connection. Replace your device, turn the breaker back on, and check everything.

Generators are rated in volt-amps (va) and may also have a wattage rating. In most practical applications volt-amps and watts are the same.

At 240v single phase, 400 amps is 96000 volt-amps, or 96kva. I would be looking for a 100 kva generator. This is a large generator if you are considering it for your home. In most situations you identify critical circuits and place only these on the generator through a transfer switch. This allows for a much smaller generator.

It depends on the load applied. With a load of 10 amps you would loose 5 volts at 100 feet. I would not run it over 50'. This is one of the reasons I never wire any home with AWG#14 wire even though you can use it in bedrooms. I prefer to use AWG #12.

3/0 copper wire with 90 degree insulation is rated at 210 amps. 75 degree insulation is rated at 200 amps.

The wetness of the soil has no bearing on ground rods. Residential wiring requires two 8 foot long ground rods driven flush or just below the surface of the ground. One is mounted under the meter base and the other is mounted 6 feet to either side.

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The CEC (Canadian Electrical Code) requires two ten foot rods placed ten foot apart for the grounding system. The top of the rods are identified by diameter and length stamped into the rods. This is to prevent cutting the rods off if rock obstructions are encountered. If the rod will not pound into the ground any further it is bent 90 degrees and buried horizontally and again bent 90 degrees up to allow the top of the rod to protrude above the ground so as a connection can be made to it. In the new addition of the code it now allows a ground plate to be used as a grounding medium. Only one plate is required as it has more surface area than two ground rods. The plate is buried a one metre deep or a minimum of 600 mm if rock bottom is encountered.

If the unit is a permitted piece of equipment, like a central Air conditioning unit, it gets hardwired. If the unit is removable , such as a window unit, it will have a cord on it.

For single phase 30 amps at 120 volts you would need a #8 copper wire with an insulation rating of 90 degrees C.

You could if it fit properly in the connector, but it would be massive overkill since you only need 12 AWG wire. You also have to make sure the load can physically accommodate that larger size wire.

Every so often someone will replace an electric cooktop witha gas one. All of the new gas cooktops require a 110v outlet. The old electric cooktop may have been run with a 50 amp breaker (and probably 6 gauge wire) In order to convert this 220 v circuit to a 110v circuit we change to a 20amp breaker. Depending upon the brand of breaker sometimes the wire will fit into it. If not, we splice on a short piece of 12 gauge wire and then connect to the breaker.

You will need two 8 foot ground rods. One placed under the meter base and another one placed 6 feet to the side next to the foundation. If this is a home I highly recommend you install a 200 amp service instead of a 100 amp service. Not much more expensive and you will have plenty of room for growth.

Usually there is inside the fuse box a metal bolt and nut provided or a rail in case the box itself is made out of plasic. Typically there is a sticker with the earting symbol next to it(http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/symbol.htm) Join the green/yellow cable to that one, or the color used in your country

AWG 10.

If an electrical device fails it can send current to the housing of the device or to any of the controls that are available to the user. "Earthing" or "Grounding" as we generally call it in the United States, causes that current to be shunted to ground, making life a lot safer for people and other living creatures.

In the scenario above, the "hot" wire touching an ungrounded metal box would become a death trap -- anyone touching it could "complete" the circuit and be electrocuted. If the box were grounded, then the hot would be short-circuited and the over-current protection should shut off the power before anyone touches it.

Similarly, a broken neutral wire in an ungrounded component could prove lethal to anyone who contacts the component and completes the circuit. Unfortunately,a neutral short to a grounded box would not trip the breaker, like a hot would, but at least there is a "path to ground" through the safety ground rather than through a person.

Yes. I am assuming this is a residential question.

A better answer is...if the 8 recessed lights draw fewer than 16 amps together, it is good.

#4 bare copper connected to two 8' copper ground rods 6" apart driven into the ground.

Watts is equal to volts x current x Power Factor. The maximum value of Power Factor is 1 for a resistive load. For motors and other inductive devices the Power Factor is less than 1. Your maximum wattage is 10,000 watts and decreases as Power Factor decreases.