Residential Electrical Wiring Guide

Residential electrical wiring begins at the pole. From there it goes to the meter and then to the breaker (or fuse box) and then to the rest of the house (lighting, receptacles and hardwired appliances such as air conditioners and so on…).The distribution of wires through the entire house is a complex web of leads that power different parts of your house including the garage or garden/ landscape lights for those with homes surrounded by large compounds.

So how is the electric wiring in your home put together? Is it in line with the NEC (National Electric Code) requirements?

The wiring in residential homes is quite simple but very dangerous to work with if you have no idea how things move from point to point. Most residential houses are served by 240/120 Volts in single phase. Circuits are rated by the circuit breaker. The breaker panel capacity on the other hand is determined by the available spaces for individual breakers as well as the amperage.

Larry Dimock has provided a nice detailed overview of what to expect in any residential electrical wiring. He points out that the ideal wire gauge for residential electric wiring is either a 14-gauge which carries a load of up to 15A (amperes) or the slightly larger 12-gauge which can comfortably handle 20A. This is mainly because most devices in a typical home are rated 15A and 20A. Here’s a breakdown of common residential electric wiring components:

Basic House Wiring Issues, Parts, and Code

As a result, the amp rating of a circuit breaker has the following relation to the wire size that has been chosen. A 20-amp breaker is never* allowed to run any circuit whose wires (anywhere on the circuit) are 14-gauge. But a 15-amp breaker’s wires out on the circuit may be 14-gauge, 12-gauge, or even a mixture. Yes, even larger wires than these are possible (10-gauge), but become difficult to install properly and give little benefit. The rating of a circuit itself is that of the breaker. Any general purpose circuit in a house might be 20-amp, but some circuits are required to be; for example, for the outlets in kitchen, dining, laundry, and bathrooms… find out more basic electric wiring facts for residentials

And it’s not about the web of color coded wires… nope! There’s also the issue with the positioning. See, all wires are leading to a terminated point to power something. Be it a receptacle, lights, heater or any other device in and outside your home. The key point with electricity is to your life powered conviniently. This means all outlets including bulb holders have to be positioned right and easy to access.

Which brings us to a quick point…

You also have to ensure that you always match the appliances or bulbs used, to the recommended ampereage or wattage. Messing this up is the begin of electrical wars you will end up losing… so don’t even go there, use electricity responsibly. Don’t Overload!

Did you know that not all home electrical faults are your fault? Check out Josh Garskof‘s list of common electrical problems and their solutions as well as their dangers. This article takes you through the daily mistakes we make or may encounter (you’ve probably experienced a couple from the list…) with electricity at home:

10 Wiring Problems Solved

5. No GFCIs
What it means: Increased risk of electrocution in wet areas, such as baths and kitchens. GFCIs (ground-fault circuit interrupters) shut down circuits in 4 milliseconds, before current can cause a deadly shock.

Code violation? No; grandfathered in. (Codes today require GFCIs within 4 feet ofany sink and on all garage, basement, and outdoor outlets.)

Danger level: High.

Solution: Replace old receptacles with GFCIs (about $12 each). This is a simple job that many homeowners do themselves. Electricians charge about $20 per outlet. (There will likely be a minimum job charge.) Note: As an alternative, GFCI breakers ($25) can be installed on the main panel. But then every time one trips, you have to go down to the basement to reset it…. here are all the ten problems and their solutions

There are so many brilliant electrician videos out there about home wiring but Sam Maltese breaks it down for everyone to understand. He even zooms in on cable ratings to show you how to different wire gauges… serious details in this video. Hope this video will help you identify most of the electrical components highlighted in this article. Here is the video titled “Basic Residential Wiring”:

That covers much of what there is to know about residential electrical wiring for homeowners. You can schedule a quick inspection with an elecrtrcian near you or simply call us.

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What You Should Know About Your Home’s Electrical System

This is Homeowners Empowerment 101… welcome to lesson one. Modern day living depends on electricity in EVERYTHING! Whichever way you want to look at it. We need electricity for almost everything around the home and at work and pretty much everywhere else in between. Don’t you think it’s time you learning about your home’s electrical system is long overdue?

We all enjoy a good day with electricity, switching on a light here, warming something in the microwave, catching up on the latest sports news or gossip channel… but what’s behind all that comfort and efficiency? Where does all this juice come from and how is it distributed in your home? Do you even know how to calculate the energy usage in your home? This is a lesson in mapping your home’s electrical circuit from the electrician squad.

Jeff Wilsow shares a detailed outline of a typical home’s electric circuit. You should know whether you still have the old mechanical meter or the newer digital type. Jeff has dissected every basic part of a home’s electric circuit and practically leaves nothing untouched! Check out what he has to say:

Get to Know Your Home’s Electrical System

circuit breaker

The maximum amount of electricity that a home can use at one time is dictated by the size of the main breaker. The breaker is a type of switch, set to flip off in case of an overload in the home, reducing the risk of fire or electrocution. Most modern homes will have 200 amp (short for amperage) service, while an older home might only have 100 amp service and a larger home 400 amp service. If you’re curious about your home’s electrical service, open the main breaker panel and look for the largest breaker switch in the panel, usually mounted at the top of the panel. The number on the switch will tell you the total amps of your home’s electric service… what more does your home electric circuit have?

If you’re building your own house from ground up then please note; you will need to walk around with the electrician to easily identify receptacle positioning, positions and locations of hardwired appliances, the load you intend to use with all the appliances, lighting, heating, air conditioning, or otherwise. This will help you determine where your meter will be, where the circuit breaker will be installed, how the separation of wiring will be carried out (to rooms, appliances, lights, receptacles e.t.c) and so on… All this must be done before everything is closed in behind walls.

If you just bought a new home or planning to buy one anytime time soon then maybe you should try to find out how your home or home to be is wired. Poor wiring can be a disaster waiting happen and most electrical fires start with frayed and exposed electric wires. Another thing you should probably note is that if you’re buying an older home or leaving in one then what you will probably have instead of a circuit breaker is what we call a fuse panel. The fuse panel works just like the breaker only that instead of just flipping off in the event of an overload, the fuse in that circuit burns up to cut off electricity flow and avoid accidents such as electrocution or fires.

The ESFi has written a publication that includes among other things, the type of wiring you should expect to get in your home. There are about three types of wiring systems and ESFi highlights the difference:

What kind of wiring system is in my home?

More than 30 million homes, or about one-third of the homes in the United States are at least 50 years old, and studies have shown that the frequency of fires in these aging homes is disproportionately high.

Many older homes were built with electrical systems and components which are no longer safe and may be considered as fire hazards.

It is important to identify what type, color, and size wire is needed in order to properly address hazardous situations before they become critical… find out what hidden behind your home’s walls

Many people still don’t know this but every time you touch an appliance and feel a little shock it means you have some faulty wiring somewhere. There are several other ways your home lets you know it’s time to call an electrician. When fuses start blowing up or breakers start tripping up uncontrollably then you should know something somewhere in your electric circuit is amiss!

Understanding how your home’s electric circuit works can help you pull some simple DIY’s or call an electrician with the right information when need arises. The Home Depot has shared some insights on how to follow wire diagrams through their youtube channel (TheHomeDepot) in a video titled “Basics of Your Home’s Electrical System – The Home Depot”. Here is how to interpret and decipher electric circuits:

 

 

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A Peak Into Commercial Electrical Wiring

Commercial electrical wiring is kind of like wiring a residential home only that this time it’s on a much larger scale. This means bigger capacity components (wire gauges and panels…), bigger risk and of course a bigger budget. The electrician needed for these type of projects must be properly certified and insured (or maybe even bonded). Somethings are just way above DIY or you regular handyman and better left for the pros.

One of the major differences between commercial and residential electrical wiring is that; residential wiring is mainly single phased and sometimes it’s combined with a 2 phase circuit connection. Commercial electrical wiring on the other hand requires a 3-phase circuit. This is of course due to obvious higher power demands. This also means that different classes of materials (to manage bigger loads) are used.

In general, commercial 3-phase power can be sub-divided into 4 main categories; (a) Special 4 Wire (b) Common 4 Wire (c) Common 3 Wire and (d) 3 Wire with Grounded Hot Leg. Only the meter can tell you what voltages you are receiving though… The rule of thumb is that commercial electric wiring runs through raceways, metal conduits, ceiling rafters or armored cable.

Commercial electrical wiring doesn’t have to be heavy duty as Michael Shatzkin points out in a very interesting article on testing both light commercial and residential wiring for faults. There are some lesser dangerous low voltage wiring tasks like hooking up security systems or telephone lines e.t.c.

Nevertheless, they still require some high level of expertise or the entire network of wires might have some loose ends or simply fail to work! Here is what Michael says about commercial low voltage wiring:

Troubleshooting residential and light-commercial wiring

Some sophistication is required when you are troubleshooting telephone wiring systems, because there are many ways that problems can arise if the multicolored, color-coded conductors are not properly matched and devices are not correctly wired. Polarity must always be observed, especially when making the transition from one color code to another. Most electrical house-wiring problems show up immediately with a blown fuse or activated circuit breaker, but many telephone wiring system problems do not show up immediately… find out more about light commercial electric wiring

Another thing to note about commercial electrical wiring is that just like residential wirig, you need to do some thorough calculations to determine the recommended load capacity as stipulated in Art. 220 of the NEC regulations. Mike Holt does a good job sharing some bit of vital information about calculating commercial loads.

Commercial Electrical Load Calculations

Two items associated with this type of calculation repeatedly need clarification:

Voltage

The voltage to use for your calculations depends on the system design voltage. Thus when you calculate branch-circuit, feeder, and service loads, you must use a nominal system voltage of 120V, 120/240V, 208Y/120V, 240V, 347V, 480Y/277V, 480V, 600Y/347V, or 600V unless otherwise specified (220.2) (Fig. 1 below).

Rounding

Refer to 200.2(B) to end the rounding mystery. When the ampere calculation exceeds a whole number by 0.5 or more, round up to the next whole number. If the extra is 0.49 or less, round down to the next whole number. For, example, round 29.5A up to 30A, but round 29.45A down to 29A… learn a few commercial voltage calculation tricks

To shed some light on what “hands on” commercial electrical wiring entails, here is a video posted by Franck Benedetti on “Commercial Wiring Make Up and Trim Work “. Watch as the basics are explained in black and white and clear enough even for a novice DIYer to follow:

So there it is… commercial electrical wiring is not so different from residential wiring but it’s quite clear that you will need different wire gauges and higher rated equipment to web together a safe commercial electrical circuit.

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Effective Ways to Find an Electrical Contractor for Your Specific Need

At some point in everyone’s life, they figure out that they need to hire a professional electrical repair and maintenance contractor. If you are wanting your work to be done in a quick manner and at a good price, you will need to use caution when hiring a professional contractor because some may take shortcuts to fulfill your requirements. You’ll be less likely to make a mistake when selecting a professional contractor if you follow these guidelines.

A first-class electrical repair and maintenance contractor will do everything in his power to effectively ensure full customer satisfaction and exceptional results. Punctuality and prompt delivery are indications of a great contractor. By keeping interruptions to a minimum, you will give your electrical service provider the time he needs to finish your project successfully within your agreed-upon deadline. Make sure the electrical service provider you choose has insurance in place for accidents.

Giving clients a firm quote prior to starting a job is something a popular electrical repair and maintenance contractor takes great pride in doing. After you have met with the local contractor and given him a detailed outlook of what you want done, he shouldn’t have an issue presenting a precise quote. Hold off on the start of a project until you have a detailed quote in hand, because verbal interactions can’t be used to support your legal case if things go awry further down the line. Once the project is surveyed, it’s never acceptable to give a guesstimate; by then a firm estimate should be prepared.

A written estimate will likely be provided to you if you select a residential electrical contractor or maintenance contractor with a good reputation. If you need information right away, your contractor ideally should have the skill to provide you a quote over the phone. Check them out to really ensure they could handle the project, both with expertise and time available. Prior to you employing any contractor, ensure all issues are properly addressed.

Warn your electrical repair and maintenance contractor ahead of time if you have a pet and it will probably be on site while he’s working on the job, as its presence could cause problems. You may consider having someone watch your pet animal if it’s going to interfere with the local contractor duties or if it may cause distractions. Having a pet in the work area is both dangerous for your pet animal and your workers.

It’s essential to view and treat each potential electrical repair and maintenance contractor that you work with as a member of your team. Study every sentence of the legal agreement before you sign it, asking for explanations of any parts that you don’t completely understand. Your down payment ought to be less than half of the total amount of the work. Lastly, sign the papers in the contractor’s office to observe their business habits.

For more information on general maintenance contractors please visit:

http://study.com/articles/How_to_Become_a_Building_Maintenance_Contractor.html

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Electrical Safety at Home

If there is ever one thing that the NFPA (National Fire Protection Asssociation) teaches better than anyone else, it is how not to be a “Doofus”! Electricity is an integral part of our lives… have you watched the Revolution TV series? Doing without electricity now is practically impossible! However, just like every other inventions cooked up by man, and despite the obvious advantages of electricity that we are all well aware of… electricity has its flaws and it can be extremely dangerous if not handled properly especially around your home.

It is very important to be cautious of electricity and avoiding accidents related to electrical faults for homeowners. And it’s not about the adults only… oh no, kids too need to be told of the dangers they could put themselves in if they play with anything electrical in and around the house. I myself had a bad experience with electricity as a young kid growing up right here in downtown Sacramento. I think ultimately the respect I gained for electric is what prompted me to eventually start the Electrician Squad. Anyway I digress. Let your small children know that it’s not cool to stick metal objects in sockets (outlets). The older ones also need to be made alert of some of the dangers of leaving electrical gadgets on even when not in use or letting electrical leads run all over the floor in a mess. Same for overloading power outlets…

The “Switched On Kids” website is a good place to start with the kids. They have animated some nice lessons that your children are sure to enjoy while learning a lot. There are loads of resources for adults too. You can learn how to guide your children on safe use of electricity in your home. The lesson plans provided are simple and comprehensive yet they serve their purpose well for both adults and children. Kids can fun with the worksheets with different tasks. Here’s what the website says about your children and electricity safety at home:

Top Electrical Safety Tips

To help you and your children stay safe while using electrical appliances… Click here for more fun electrical safety tips and games for all

Electrical safety at home is not just about getting shocked and tripping over toaster leads, electrical fires are just as dangerous! The NFPA has staggering statistics on home fires caused by electrical faults. Misusing or mishandling electricyt could be the fastest way to lose your property and belogings in a fire!

When they are not organizing singing contests, the NFPA is busy tying to take the electrical home safety gospel to the grassroot by providing training, holding expos and training as well as conducting communiity based campaigns for electrical safety.

Here are some figures collected by John R. Hall, Jr. in his aticle on electrical fires as published on the NFPA website:

Electrical Fires

The most inclusive and direct interpretation of “electrical fire” is a fire involving some type of electrical failure or malfunction. Any equipment powered by electricity can have such a failure.

 

In 2011, an estimated 47,700 home structure fires reported to U.S. fire departments involved some type of electrical failure or malfunction as a factor contributing to ignition. These fires resulted in 418 civilian deaths, 1,570 civilian injuries, and $1.4 billion in direct property damage. In 2007-2011, home electrical fires represented 13% of total home structure fires, 18% of associated civilian deaths, 11% of associated civilian injuries, and 20% of associated direct property damage…. find out more about electrical fires

Now that you know how to keep your children safe from electrical related accidents at home and how to prevent electrical fires, maybe it’s time I reminded you that you should extend your knowledge on everything electrical about your home. What do I mean?

Did you know that you are required by law to get an electrical inspection permit every time you want to do something like renovations around your home for your safety? Most problems occur at the receptacles as the General Manager Steve Smith from the Electrical Safety Authority (ElectricalSafetyESA) clearly points out in this outstanding video on home safety.

Learn what a breaker is and how to identify different circuits, try to find out how old your wiring is, do you have frayed cords in and around your home? These are jsut some of the important factors you will need to get familiar with real quick. Check out this video:

 

 

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How to Hire the Right Electrical Contractor for First Timers

Screen electrical repair and maintenance contractors based on quality, paying particular close attention to lower than average proposals. Working with a contractor with a very low quote could yield results you are not happy with. Here’s some good advice to help you find the very best candidate for the job.

Release the final payment to your legal consultant only when you’re 100% satisfied with the quality of work they have provided. When inspecting, take a few days and don’t rush so that you make sure you’re happy with everything. As soon as you find that the work is successful, that’s the time to make payment. Cash payments should be avoided by making paper trails for all transactions.

Every town and city has a unique set of buildings codes and regulations. Make certain that your electrical service provider is familiar with all of these codes prior to signing a legal contract. If you find that your electrical service provider is up-to-date on these regulations, it is fair to assume a quicker completion of the project. By posing a handful of hypothetical situations you could present your electrical service provider with challenges.

During the warm summer months, electrical repair and maintenance contractors tend to be their busiest. When you employee a local contractor to complete projects in the summer, remember to be careful. To generate the most profit, many contractors will accept as many projects as possible, only to effectively discover they do not have enough time for each one. See to it that you have an accurate timeline for the completion of your job when you approach a local contractor, so that you can come to an agreement on whether or not there’s sufficient time for the project to be completed effectively.

Electrical contractors who are good at their jobs are usually very busy. If a licensed electrical repair and maintenance contractor has a waiting list, he’s usually a great choice to manage your job. The disadvantage to working with a licensed contractor in high demand is that he usually is working on more than one project at once, and he won’t be ready to give your job his complete attention. When looking for a trustworthy contractor, follow your gut feeling.

A good rule of thumb is to not voice your complaints to the electrical repair and maintenance contractor in the presence of the crew. Find a comfortable and private area where the two of you could sit down and have a calm discussion about the issues. As long as it just doesn’t seriously delay the work, you should consider taking a break from the project while you iron out the details of the problem. The best way to avert any possible issues is by having everything covered in writing through a contract that’s understood and signed by both parties.

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Should I Hire an Electrician

Ok, so you can replace a broken plug and get all the color codes right… or maybe you can fix a few appliances in your kitchen and you’ve probably pulled off a few successful cable replacements or repairs too. “Hoorah…!” for that; but sadly, there are some electrical faults that just require a professional. Working... 

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