Grabbing Power From Mid-run Receptacle

what the fudge sticks man?



I am not a DIY'er or a handy man but I gave it a shot..



I replaced an old a$$ receptacle with a brand new one and I wired it EXACTLY the same as the old one..



I know this because I did it WIRE BY WIRE!! i.e. I took 1 wire off the old receptacle and installed it on the new one.. wire by wire..



Power works and all that.. BUT NOW the ONLY light switch in the room does not control the bottom receptacle anymore?



what gives? i don't get it.. what changed?



Previously the light switch gave power to this outlets bottom plug, so I had the lamp plugged into it and turned it on/off with the light switch..



but that doesn't work?



I even triple checked my work and still not seeing whats up?





any ideas?





oNe.





p.s.  HOW do you release the wires on these new fangled outlets? It says push spring in slot to release but I am not seeing it?  any ideas?
      

If you have a 20 amp circuit going to your bathroom vanity, can you have two 20 amp receptacles on it, one a GFI receptacle and the other a standard 20 amp receptacle wired to the load terminals of the GFI receptacle ?



Or does the code require each receptacle to be a GFI on its own circuit ?



Arky
      

Hello there,



I just installed a new fixture in my dining room. It has 5 MR16 halogen bulbs. When i turn on the light switch, the lights are gradually turning on to full brightness. The process takes a between 5 to 10 seconds.



I removed one of the bulb and noticed it took a bit less time and continued until I had only 3 bulbs and then the lights are turning on instantly.



So I think its obvious that the fixture is drawing too much power from the circuit. My question is, why? What tests can I dk to find the cause? Is it a faulty switch or faulty wiring?



Thank you!
      

Hello!



In a house I recently bought I have a strange situation.



There is a three way switch on one side of the wall with two sets of wires coming in:



Red, Black, White

Black, White



and then one stray Black that goes to the duplex receptacle on the other side of the wall (on the OUTSIDE of the wall!  Clearly an afterthought.)



Into the receptacle goes this strange black single wire from the light switch and the usual black and white wires + ground wire.



I went to change the ugly receptacle to a decora and now it doesn't work, though I'm not 100% sure it worked before.



I've wired the new receptacle as I remember it being wired before, any idea what is wrong? 



I've attached a diagram!



Thanks in advance for any input.
      

I'm new to this site.  But would appreciate some troubleshooting.  I just renovated my kitchen, gutted and all, finished in the Fall.  I did not replace wiring to the dryer, nor tamper with it, to my knowledge.  We did have an electrician add a small fuse panel.  We did not add more appliances then before, added some lights, but mostly used the room to separate things out.  Had a mentor do the wiring, many years of experience, very tidy and careful work, though not electrician by trade.  We have a standard 200 amp box as far as i know.  The house is 100 years old, but the wiring isn't.



In October my mother in law heard a very loud bang.  The electric dryer had been running.  She smelled smoke.  At the dryer receptacle was molten plastic sprayed onto the wall, caused by overheating at that point, due to I don't know what.  I thought maybe I had knocked something loose in the receptacle when i was drywalling around it.  I can't remember now if the breaker had tripped.  The receptacle and plug were toast. 



I replaced the receptacle, I replaced the dryer cord, not the breaker.   The dryer worked fine until february, when it stopped heating.  I found a bad thermal fuse and replaced it, the very common two pronged white one. 



The dryer worked fine until early April when it stopped heating again.  I checked all the fuses/thermostats on the back and the heating element, as I had done the first time.  Nothing was bad.  I checked the voltage coming out of the wall, as I had done the first time, only this time I did it correctly and got a reading that told me to check the breaker in the panel, which had not thrown.  When I checked the voltage between the Nuetral Bus and the two terminals on the Dryer's 30 amp breaker I only got a good reading on one of them, telling me that the breaker was bad.  While at the box, i noticed that to the main breaker, from where the conduit comes into the box from outside, the nuetral wires are bare all the way up, no insulation, and at the terminal of the main breaker they appear to have all melted together, even a couple small pieces have melted off of the "bundle." 



Switched the range 50 amp breaker with the dryer, dryer worked fine, nothing was back fed either.  Bought a new 30 amp breaker for the dryer and installed it on Saturday.  Also on Saturday we were given a dryer, about 4 years old, same as ours, so i hooked it up and saved ours for a spare, which I deemed still good since it seemed the breaker was the issue.  New Dryer worked fine from saturday until today.  Now it won't turn on, though it didn't cut out mid load yesterday either.  The breaker did not trip.  I repeat, no tripped breaker.  I just checked the voltage at the wall and it seems to have that same problem where one side of the receptacle gets a reading of 120, and the other a reading of about 5.  The problem must be bigger than the breaker.  I am not an electrician, I am a welder.  I have gone as far as I could on my own.  Thank you.
      

i have 3 switch sets in my house that are giving me absolute fits.



#1  kitchen switch, controls the light over the outside door




    Code:

   

3 sets of lines coming in,



line from the breaker panel (power)



line to the ceiling lights 



line to the outside porch light.

i cannot get this 3 line to work without tripping the breaker every time i turn the switch off



#2 bathroom switches




    Code:

   

power feed line



line to the light over the medicine cabinet



line to the second switch to control the exhaust fan.

same issue as the first set, flip the switch and trip the breaker (different breaker from the kitchen switch)



#3 living room switch and plug controlled via switch




    Code:

   

 power feed line



outside porch light line



line to wall switch to control the lower wall outlet

flip switch, trip breaker



the switches i have are "1 pole" am i using the wrong switches for this job?
      

Hello.



I recently purchased a home that has a a new grounded breaker panel but none of the outlets themselves are grounded save the hvac system in the basement. I had an electrician come and he said the fastest way to get it done is to switch the appropriate breakers to GFCI breakers in my service box and then I can change the outlets and then just put the stickers that say ungrounded etc on the new 3 prong receptacles. he called the inspector to double check and the inspector told him that he can't do it this way but he needs to find the first outlet in the loop from each breaker line and change that receptacle to a gfci and then we can change each receptacle to 3 prong in that loop.



Wouldn't just changing the breaker do the same thing? also if I did just install a Gfci receptacle on the first outlet in the loop, if it breaks wouldn't the rest of the outlets behind that gfci not function until I replaced the Gfci outlet where as a breaker would just pop and I can simply go turn it back on?



Just wanted to get some opinion from the experts as I'm willing to spend more on doing gfci breakers and am confused as to why the inspector suggested the way he did



Thanks for any help!
      

I have a covered (rafters, decking, shingles, etc) screen room out back. It used to have a single light, which I wanted to replace with a ceiling fan with light kit, independently switched. So I bought this fan/light dimmer: http://www.lowes.com/pd_69955-539-S2...d=10151&rpp=24



I checked the wire at the old light, and as it was 14-2, I removed it and replaced it with 14-3. It wasn't until after I spent 3 hours crawling around the attic on my stomach running the new line that it hit me....the circuit is on a 20 amp breaker. The line running to the switch, and a jumper running from it to 5 wall outlets in the living room, is all 12-2.



The new line runs straight from the switch to the fan box, with no other outlets. So while I doubt it is up to code, it seems like it should be ok. The fan/light won't pull anywhere near enough power to overheat the 14 gauge line, and if there is an actual fault, it should trip the 20 amp breaker anyway.



I would very much like to hear from the experts. Running the 14-3 was a serious pain in the butt, and replacing it with 12-3 would be just as bad. So if this is safe, I'd rather not replace it. But if I am risking a fire, it is obviously worth the hassle.
      

I am in the process of installing a submerisble pump into my well, but I have a few questions I'd like answered first.



The pump is a 1HP, 230V pump with 8.2amps and KW 0.75.  It is rated at 12/2 w/ ground. 



1) Is there any reason I shouldn't install a 230v wall mounted switch to turn this on/off if I want to kill the power.  For now a pump start will control it for my irrigation system, this would just be in addition if I ever wanted to shut things down and not have to rely on using the breaker, which I understand shouldn't be used as a switch.



2) What about installing this on a plug, so that I can plug it into a receptacle vs. hardwired.  (*I'll explain my reason later)



3) My understanding is 12gauge wire is rated for 20amp, but it looks like the owners manual calls for a 25amp fuse.  Should I use 20amp or 25amp?



*The reason I ask about the switch and the plug is because I plan on using some wiring that is already in place.  I already have 12/2 w/ground installed in the location of the pump start.  It is currently wired for 110v as it was placed there for a 3/4hp jet pump I planned on installing, but ended up going with a cased well instead, so I figure why not utilize the existing wire, but switch it to 220 instead of 110.  Basically, swap the 20amp 110v switch out for a similar rated 230v switch and replace the receptacle with a 230v receptacle and just plug this pump in. 



I question the use of the plug because I thought I had read somewhere it was ok to use one, but when unpacking the pump last night, I thought I read never to install it on a plug, so now I'm unsure.  Why would they not want it on a plug?  I guess it's not a big deal as I can always run wire into the j-box, but I hate using pigtails if I don't have to.



Thanks for any info on this...heading to the parts store in a while to grab the fuse and anything else I need.
      

Hi, I recently moved into a 1954 house with a  20amp electrical system, not the old fuse type, but there are no ground wires.



I removed an old light and replaced it with a light fan combo. As I removed the old light (after turning off the breaker) I noticed from the ceiling that there were 2 white wires tied together with a wire nut and 2 black wires, one attached to the white wire in the light and the other attached to the black one from the light. Feeling this was wrong and should be black to black, white to white, (even knowing full well the light was working fine before I disconnected it) I wired the fan the way I've always wired fan lights,  white to white, blue and black to black.  (again, knowing full well the light was working the other way). Turned breaker on then powered on switch. POP at the switch, breaker switched off. I reworked it back to the way it was before with whites tied off, black to white, black and blue to black, turned it back on and  viola, things worked fine. (I know, duh... Right???)

2 questions from this experience...

1. Why would the 2 whites be tied off with only black wires used?

And 2. It seems that one of the light switches in the same circuit as the blown one is now working soft. In other words, it used to make the normal click noise when turned on/off but now it just moves softly up and down without the click. Could I have damaged something when I mis-wired?