100 Year Old Home

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 just recently moved back into my home and found that all of my exterior power outlets seem to be dead. something must've happened while i was out of the house, but i've no idea what.



should be simple right? a breaker somewhere? interior outlets are all fine, no other apparent electrical issues. i've been to the breaker box, and there are no breakers specifically marked for the exterior outlets, and all of the breakers appear to be set/active.



anyone have any suggestions as to where to look for the problem? adv-thanks-ance for your thoughts!
      

Hey guys,



I am trying to convert several 2 prong to 3 prong outlets throughout my house that was built in 1959. I have attached 2 photographs of the outlet, one from the right, and one from the left.



You will see the right side of the outlet has a RED and a BLACK wire attached to it. The left side has a WHITE wire.



I took the Menards employees advice that the black wire was most likely the ground, hooked it up, and blew a fuse (time delay fuses....). When I tried screwing in another fuse, it blew right away. This happened about 4 times and I got frustrated and decided to try this forum.



Any ideas as to which cable would be the ground, if any?? I'm pretty new to all of this. Any advice?



Thanks!
      

I posted this in the woodworking forum and I got a ton of rants so please spare me that please. I'm not an idiot and I intend on completely turning off all power before attempting anything.



So I've been researching adding a couple of electrical outlets to my garage (where the panel is). I want to run a new 120v outlet for the tablesaw (older craftsman 113 series) so that it is on it's own circuit and a 240v outlet for a grizzly G1029z2 DC on it's own circuit as well.



What amp 120 circuit should I add for my tablesaw? Will a standard 15a breaker be fine?



What amp 240 circuit should I add for my DC? The motor plate states 12 amps and the manual says the electrical is a minimum circuit size of 20. Should I just install a 20amp circuit or go with larger circuit?



Need recommendations on the gauge of wire to use on each circuit.
      

I am thinking of purchasing a WineKoolr used but after looking at the manual online it states that it must be plugged into a "Dedicated separately fused, grounded, 15 amp 100-120v line." The price I can get this at is awesome, but I live in apartment and am not sure, but think I only have 1 dedicated line at all, for the fridge. The previous owners said they just had it plugged into a normal outlet fine, but I want to know if it is a serious issue to do this? I really want a nice cooler for my beer cellar since I have no actual basement, so I am really hoping I can make this work in my home. Thanks for any help!





*Someone asked me on another forum what breakers I have for where I want to install it, and its in my second bedroom.  The breaker for those outlets is a 15A.  They also said that it probably says that in the manual to cover themselves legally but I should likely be just fine.





**

Well I turned off the breakers until I found which was for the outlets in the spare room.  As far as I can tell, the only things on this circuit are the spare bedroom outlets (not the lights), and 1 outlet in the hallway.  Nothing is plugged into any of these and its a 20A circuit.
      

I've only been here a short while but I've seen enough posts from  non-professionals that are difficult to understand because they are not  familiar with electrical terminology that I thought we needing something so they can better communicate with us what the problem is.



I created an image with the basic items you'd find in a house thinking  if we all got together and created a thread to help the non-pros explain  their problems we could ask for it to be a sticky requesting non-pros  read it before asking their questions.



Let me know what you think and suggest any additions, changes, etc you think would help us help them.







      

Hey all, new to the forum and had a few questions about the electric I plan on installing in my basement I am working on finishing.   Here is what the plans call for...



- Bathroom

  - 2 Lights, one GFCI, vent fan

- Home theater

  - Projector, Sound system, various other electronics

- General Lighting throughout

  - 14 Recessed lights approx 60 watt bulbs

  - 14 outlets

  - Mini bar fridge

I will have to run the line from the garage to the basement and my question is should I go 15 or 20 and will I need more than one line to support this?  Any info or direction you guys can give would be greatly appreciated!!



Tom
      

I have new 12/2 wire running to my attic (home built 1920) on a 20amp breaker.  My service is 100A and the box is older but not ancient.  The only thing on the line is a couple of outlets and 2 lights.  Would it be code to switch this breaker out for a tandem 15amp breaker?  This would open some space for me as my box is full.  Thanks.
      

In my older home i just founf out that all the upstairs ( 2 bedrooms) outlets are installed on the same 20 amp circuit breaker for my kitchen. which might be a reason that when too many things are running this breaker trips. My question is I want to add a 15 amp breaker and isolate all the upstairs on this breaker so the kitchen stays seperate. i Found the romex that is installed to a downstairs outlet that is connected to all the other outlets upstairs but since it is hidden in the walls and i narrowed it down to 3 possiblities upstairs, but i am not sure. How can i test to see which one of the romex wires it could be so i can attach my new romex from the new breaker and just abandon the old wire all together.

PS. when i disconnnect the romex from the outlet downstairs in the kitchen all the outlets upstairs stop working, that is how i know that is the one that brings the electriity upstairs.
      

I have an older home and i wanted to add a new 15 amp breaker for a circuit for the outlets for my upstairs. I noticed that the existing old black romex runs from the circuit breaker in electrical conduit in my walls. There is no way i can get more romex through that conduit. Can i add the romex outside the electrical conduit? i am not really sure why they ran through the conduit to begin with.