Basement Electrical Questions

Finishing basement and have a few questions...



1. Have already bought recessed cans. Commercial Electric brand. I have now read a few places that these are junk. Why exactly and should I return them? Need to know know before I paint them black.



2. I plan on installing 12 lights on new 15A circuit using 2 switches one for left side of basement one for right (6 x 6). This is OK yes? Both switches will be in same box. And will be only thing on this new circuit.



3. Assuming I am running hot lead from main panel to switch box...there is no fancy wiring that needs to be done correct? 14/2 black to black, white to white except at switch correct?
      

QUESTION:  can I run (2) 14-2 romex wires in (1) 3/4 BX Armored cable?



SETUP: I am finishing my basement and a few main floor circuits are intermingled with the basement lights and outlets.  In finishing the basement, all basement electrical will be on its own circuit. Therefore, I need to rewire some main floor items.



For instance, the main floor living room outlets go through the den area below in the basement. The 3/4 BX cable goes through the ceiling to the outlets.



PLAN:  I plan to cut the armored cable shortly after it comes out of the ceiling (main floor floor) and just connect the first floor outlets in a series using the proper bushing and BX cable ends. I will strap the BX cable ends down and the romex as soon as it comes out.



The electrical inspector already gave me thumbs up on doing this for the electric oven and cooktop (bigger wires of course).



I searched and couldn't find anything to this specific question.



Any input?



B
      

remodeling basement ..don't want to tape into my furnace for heat ... have one large room 480' sq. and am thinking of using two or three  baseboard electric heaters [possibly Cadet                                                              6 Ft. 1500 Watt 240 Volt Electric] as heat source on outside walls ..out side walls insulated and basement not real cold ...I'm doing electrical now ..do these need to have there own independent run or can they be wired to 3 basement pull chain lights which I seldom use and are on a 15 amp circuit .........the basement remodel has 3 separate runs [ 2 lights 1 outlets ] ..thanks for any advise
      

I'm currently working on a house built in the 1930's. The electrical is a mess with a combination of a switch panel  and a fuse box with most of it still being knob and tube. I'm running a new electrical line to the air handler in the basement. This is due to it currently being tapped off a light circuit which also feeds an outlet in the kitchen, a bedroom, and half the outlets upstairs. (There's no rhyme or reason to the current electrical setup). 



  My main question is I'm running  12NM through bored holes in the studs to the air handler. Once I get to the handler and run it down to where it enters the appliance and switch box will I run in to codes problems. Should this run in the basement be inside a conduit or is NM cable okay? 

  Any guidance would be appreciated. 
      

I know this has been done to death but, just want to make sure that I headed in the right direction. O.K. I'm building a 12x16 shed and need to know what size wire to use. I plan on having lights, saws, mini fridge, deep freeze, air compressor and maybe a small a/c unit in the summer. I plan on having everything on different circuits like lights on 15A, fridge and freezer on 20A, have plugs on bench on 20A, air compressor on 20A, and mini a/c on 20A. I plan on using romex 14/2 for 15A and 12/2 for 20A. With sub panel http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...&storeId=10051 or something like it. My shed is about 30' from the meter loop. So, what size wire do I use from the meter loop 6/2????? Do I need to use a ground rod at the shed? Thanks for looken!!!!!
      

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.
      

Hi

I  have a light circuit 15 amp 14gauge(7  cfl lights) ,and am going to link off of it 15ft to garage(is the only wiring close).will be putting 3 plugs,1st  -GFI; and 2 cfl lights on the line.I dont plan to use any appliances /compressors,etc. Will have garage door opener1/3 hp ,and may use vaccuum ,or 13 amp  saw once in a while,but not often

Do you see any problems with the set up ?



Will i be able to run the 13amp 60 hz (4500rpm no load ) saw,ok ,or small vac,even if lights are all on? I wont use the plugs together at same time even though there are only 3 on entire circuit.

Any info is appreciated.
      

I have a 1960s house with EMT throughout. 



I recently replaced 2 florecent fixtures in my basement with 4 LED lights in their own J-Boxes in the drop ceiling. I did the following:



1. Rerouted the the conduit from the light switch to the main j-box for the lights. (previously it was going directly into the fixture) 

2. Ran 4 foot whips to each jbox holding the LED (metalic 14# wires)

3. Cut the old spliced wire (that was just twisted and taped) and used a wire nut

4. Replaced the switch with a dimmer



The lights work great.  Noticebale improvement and the dimmer is excellent.



The issue is that the circuit for the kitchen is now tripping.  I told my wife its just a coincidence, but she is sure I caused it.  Its only happened 2x (1 day apart.  Nothing unusual running on the circuit, only the fridge and the gas stove which as not in use)



Can my "new" work possibly impact another circuit?   What should I check?  Any way to avoid re-doing my work?



Things I noticed / may or may not be relevant:

1. Some of the EMT is directly in contact with a copper water pipe

2. The switch / dimmer isn't grounded

3. The wires in the jbox were nasty and old.  There was corrosion on the jackets and the jbox.  Looks like some water leaked down fromt the laundy above at some point in the last 40 years.

4. At some point (months ago) when I was in the basement I touched some of the EMT and something that was plugged in I swear I feld a shock. (just listing everything I can think of).  I didn't think much of it at the time, but now my whole electrical system is suspect.

5.  The tripped circuit (fridge, MW, stove) didn't appear to be tripped.  The fridge wasn't on.  When I turned off and back on the circuit the aplliances came back to life.  Appliances less than 1 year old. 

6. The clock on the range was reset at one point but I didn't think I turned on or off the circuit.  The lights for the basement were switced off but still worked with the fridge circuit tripped.

7.  We had a huge electrical storm right before I did the work

8.  We have a "stablock" panel that the home inspector got all bent out of shape about.  Other than truning on and off breakers I have never touched it.

9.  Kitchen breaker and basement light breaker are adjacent in the box

10.  I believe kitchen and basement share the same EMT in places.

11.  I think I now have too many connectors in my j-box.  Will likely add an extension.

12.  I didn't use the red "bushing" on all my whips as I ran out of them, but I was careful with the metal sheath and really don't think any wires were cut. (besides if there was a short wouldn't my LED lights fail and that circut break?)



HELP.  I am happy to call a contractor to come in, but I don't have an electrician I trust yet and I'm scared bringing someone in before I isolate the problem a little.
      

I am redoing my basement, and i am making the electrical runs for the recessed lights in the ceiling. I am using 14 gauge wire, and i have 16 recessed lights with 65 watt bulbs in them, however they are rated at 75 watts max. assuming someone after us may put in the max bulb, the total watts would be 1200, equaling 10 amps. When all of the new wiring is done, i am going to have an electrician connect the circuits to the circuit breaker (using 15 amp breakers) however since i am not comfortable doing this myself, and i would like to use the lights now, can i connect them to the existing 12 gauge wire (this will not overload the breaker... i already checked what else was plugged in to the electrical outlets).



to recap:

The power draw will only be 10 amps at MAX. capacity

existing wiring is 12 gauge/ 20 amp breaker

electrician WILL connect 14 gauge wire to breaker using 15 amp breaker



*THIS WILL BE TEMPORARY*
      

I am planning on installing recessed lights in my basement.  The ceiling is currently unfinished, so I have complete access to it.  Would you suggest I use 5" or 6" lights?  Also, I have attached a picture of dimensions and the small circles are where I have the lights going.  Using a total of 15 lights in 3 rows.  Is this too many lights?  Is the spacing correct?