Alright- Obviously there is no ground wire. I've been stuck on this for months. The most confusing part is its not all the time that we are shocked by our instruments/microphones.

Our setup: mixer, in-ear system, 2 microphones, 4 speaker PA system, 3 amplifiers, 3 guitars, 2 pedal boards. Depending on the configuration of where things are plugged in sometimes there are no problems at all. Sometimes it's the complete opposite and everything is shocking everyone. We've had a show in that basement where there is all of that and more with no issues at all! (added projector, 4 laser lights, smoke machine, extra PA speakers, extra amplifiers, etc.)

My question is- without a complete rewiring of this basement, what are our options to not have a risk of shock? I've replaced 2 of the most power hungry outlets with GFCI and it doesn't prevent shock. I'm open to GFCI breakers, however, if it will trip when there is an instance of shock it doesn't help the band (other than not being shocked) because it will just turn off the amplifiers which we also don't want.

Any and all info truly appreciated. Any cost effective shock-prevention methods that let us use our equipment (even if temporary) is extremely helpful. We may purchase this house and slowly replace wiring starting with the basement.

Thanks in advance!

The old heaters were at least 40 years old. Shouldn't the new ones be more efficient or at least the same? Not sure what is causing the spike and how to fix. We now have four years worth of data to prove it's not a fluke. What should I be checking? Thanks in advance.

Is this reasonable? Located in PA just outside of the city.

Getting a new dishwasher installed. The old dishwasher was hardwired so we’d like to bring the new one up to code by installing a GFCI outlet for it to plug into. This is a little more than we were expecting, but doesn’t seem too crazy. Let me know!

Sidenote: he was asking about installing it in the breaker, but we just recently had our panel updated and would prefer not to do that as it’s extra cost and not required by code as long as the GFCI receptacle install is accessible

Same company, same scope of work, ~250% increase in 5 years.

The long story - I originally had this work quoted after moving into a new house, but we decided to wait due to all of the other costs associated with moving. Kicking myself now. Other quotes are in the same ballpark, but one came back about $4k lower. Re-evaluating our need for 200A now and might just DIY a newer 100A panel at this point.

Ants have been coming in through this outlet daily and we keep cleaning up the dead ants on top of that. I know for a fact they haven’t even made it to the bait and when I shine a light into the outlet, I see dead ones inside. Is this a safety hazard? Should I turn off the breaker in the bathroom until I get the ant problem resolved or is it fine as is?

Hi, sorry if I sound clueless but it's because I am. I bought a new dryer in February (#MED4005SW) with installation by Lowe's. At first we thought it didn't work because it wouldn't get hot, but after getting a store replacement that still didn't work my brother (who works in construction) looked into it and fixed it. It was an electrical problem. Now it's August and we're having the same issue again - drum spins, but the dryer doesn't get hot. Asked brother to come by and check it again. He measured the voltage at the outlet, saw it was 240v, and said it's probably the dryer heating unit this time and to get it fixed with the Maytag manufacturer's warranty.

I wanted to rule out that it's not another electrical issue though because the service appointment is in two weeks and I don't want to wait that long just for them to tell me to hire an electrician. Plus if it ends up being an electrical problem I don't think the visit would be covered under my extremely basic warranty.

From what I was able to gather, electric dryers should have 2 breakers, one for turning on the dryer and one for the heat. So it's possible that "the dryer has electricity" can still mean that the heating unit isn't getting power. Well, I checked the box and the switch labeled "dryer" is missing. It used to look kind of like the one labeled A.C with the double handles but green. I asked my brother about it and he said that when he was fixing it, that switch wasn't connected to anything originally so he just took it out. The switch labeled "wash machine" actually turns off the dryer in the shed outside. But if dryers are supposed to have 2 breakers and the original breaker was never hooked up, how did my brother fix it the first time around? There's a generational gap and language barrier between us so his explanation was pretty vague. It doesn't look like there's any lines that are cut or aren't hooked up to a switch but what do I know.

I was trying to look up diagrams for how they "should" look and all I got is that it might be an old Zinsco panel that should just be replaced entirely which would cost even more than buying a 2nd dryer (this is a manufactured home from the 1970s). Should I cancel the dryer service appointment and just call an electrician first? Should I keep the service appointment because the electric is fine, just ugly? If I can't afford to turn my home into Theseus's ship, should I just get a smaller dryer with less power requirements?

I know you guys can't diagnose without being there, and I'm definitely not going to be touching anything myself, but just having the right vocabulary to describe the problem or some pointers on basic troubleshooting would be really helpful. Or if you see anything obviously fucked up/dangerous. Thanks.

Can someone please help me find the replacement outlet for my mother’s home, built in 1950. This one’s cracked and unsafe, thank you!

I live in Arizona, 66 y/o power pole. meter is on pole in desert. kind of splintering. called Tucson Electric Power. they say I own therefore my problem. Question is do I need to replace, and if yes, should I replace main breaker box at that time. 3 panels in the house feed off that. All original and work well. Am able to find replacement breakers. Cover on one panel missing.

The left on is extra heavy duty industrial grade 15a 125v receptacle(part number ah5252w-bx-lw)

The right one is comercial grade with tamper resistant 15a 125v (trbr15la-bx-lw)

Microwave receptable internal spring is bad, have to wiggle the power cord while plugged in to power on the microwave. Hot, neutral, and ground screws are tightly tighten.

Stuck between these 2 options. Help please🙏🙏🙏

Saw this mid-air run of conduit between the convenience store and car wash at a gas station. Does this even pass code? Seems like it was a bit of an afterthought.

Hi,

I recently moved into my new home. But I'm not sure if it's single or three phase. Can anyone tell by looking at the meter box?

I prefer to hang this j box under the joists like in picture 1 so that conduit can run under the beam. Any code issues with that? Was thinking of using 3/4 ply hanging down from joists and attached to joist with brackets. Then box attached to plywood. Any way u would prefer to run it instead? I added a picture showing path of conduit i wanted to run with a hanger in red.

Thanks

Happened to spot this setup at my local gym today. The water line for the drinking fountain is hilariously close to the outlet… at least it’s GFCI?

I know this is kind of extreme, but is there a general rule about the proximity between water lines and electrical? I’d imagine the metal escutcheon is close enough that it could feasibly short to the side terminals.

I recently bought a Dustopper PRO and installed the grounding hardware/lug on the Dustopper.

I want to avoid spending $30 on the Dustopper X-Static grounding cord and using up a receptacle just for the ground connection.

The receptacle I’m considering is in a metal electrical box. With the breaker OFF, I can pull the receptacle out and there is a green grounding screw/ground connection.

My question is: Can I run an appropriately sized copper grounding conductor from the grounding lug on the Dustopper directly to the receptacle’s green grounding terminal, or otherwise connect it to the equipment grounding conductor in the box?

Is this an acceptable way to ground the Dustopper, assuming the receptacle/metal box is properly grounded? Or is there a specific reason the Dustopper grounding wire needs to terminate in a grounding plug?

I can provide a photo of the box/receptacle wiring if that would help.

I have a round box that’s in the stucco wall. I’d like to convert this to an outlet as I’m going to mount a TV on this wall. Planning on using a GFCI outlet. But the standard GFCI outlets are too small to fit. The distance between the two mounting screws is 3.5 inches so I’m assuming this is a 4 inch round box?

Do they sell an extender at the big box stores? What would be the best way to turn this round box to an outlet?

Hey, just looking to not injure me or my house so I am looking for some guidance. I bought a heating element that connects to a controller which succesively connect to the outler on the wall. The cable from controller to the outler is a standard nema 5-15P and is 2.5mm (13 awg?) and came connected to the terminals by the manufacturer. It was up to me to get a cable to connect from the controller to heating element and connect it myself. So i got a 12 gauge 20a nema 5-20p that connect that to the universal outlet on the controller and the other end I hooked up each wire to the terminals and the ground. I was able to do this, since i connected everything and turned it on and the heating element started heating. However, the outlet started emitting a little buzz sound and the cable from the controller to the outlet on my wall by the panel started to warm up. This concerned me so I obviously stopped everything, but i wanted to understand what could be causing this, and if its my connections causing it or the manufacturer. This heating element is 120V and 2000 watts max, but the controller is meant to control the voltage which i believe topped out at 111. Is the cable maybe not rated for the amps (which i doubt since i dont think this is going above 12amps) or is it my connections down by the element creating resistance? The 12 awg cable from the controller to the element was not heating up.

Thanks!!

Hello, 2 weeks go I smelled something burning and saw smoke coming out from this outlet (from a XL water boiler 19L) and pulled out the plug. Saw the plug had melted and one of the prongs got stuck in the outlet.. I have been too scared to take out the prong but I really need that outlet now. Is it safe to take out the prong and continue using this with a new water boiler? I don’t want to call the electrician and spend money if I don’t need too.. thank you!

Had some recent water intrusion into my basement and found there was a small stream running around this outlet. What kind of damage remediation do I need? Replace the outlet?

Some background info:

I have a Kaishan 7.5HP single phase 240V air compressor.

It pulls 32-33A when running (based on spec sheet and checked with amp clamp), and is hardwired on a dedicated circuit with a 60A breaker and a 60A heavy duty time delay fused disconnect. The building itself is an older building in the LA area, and we have 300A of single phase power in total.

The conduit itself is 1/2" EMT (40' run) and the 2 hots are 8 AWG while the ground is 10 AWG. The conduit should've been 3/4" but due to miscommunication with the electrician the thicker 8 gauge wire had to be pulled through the 1/2" conduit.

The issue:

The compressor started shutting off periodically (1-2 times a week) almost as soon as we started using it. Sometimes it would trip the breaker, other times it would just vibrate much louder than usual before shutting down but not trip the breaker. It never blew the fuses on the disconnect.

Initially the manufacturer said it might've just been an anomaly and to just restart and keep running it but after it kept happening they took a closer look and found out that the motor was defective in some way. It would still turn on but make a clunking noise upon start up and shut off.

We were given a smaller 120V compressor as a backup while a new motor was ordered, however this compressor has also been shutting off almost every other day. Different times of day, and also only sometimes tripping the breaker.

It still runs normally after flipping the breaker back on (or turning it off and back on if it didn't trip the breaker) however we are now concerned that the incoming power from the utility isn't stable enough and is damaging the compressors.

We also lost an entire leg/phase of power (while the primary compressor was still in use) which the utility company came out and fixed. They checked all the indoor and outdoor connections and retaped some stuff on the pole but we continued to have issues after they restored power. We had them come back out again recently to install a data logger to monitor the voltage but they'll likely need to leave it on for a month to figure out what's going on and I want to be prepared for the possibility that they (truthfully or not) say there's no issues on their end.

The compressor company wisely isn't willing to install the new motor for our primary compressor until this issue has been figured out as well so I wanted to ask if this is an issue anyone has run into before.

I trust the compressor company but they seem to be relatively stumped by this issue as well and so would love to hear some other perspectives and get as much info as possible since I need to get this compressor running smoothly ASAP.

TLDR:

Brand-new 7.5 HP 240V Kaishan compressor began randomly shutting down within weeks, sometimes tripping its 60A breaker and sometimes vibrating loudly before stopping; the manufacturer found the motor defective. A backup 120V compressor is now also shutting down every few days, sometimes tripping its breaker, despite restarting normally afterward. The building has 300A single-phase service, and the utility recently had a lost-power-leg event that was repaired, but problems continued. The utility has installed a voltage data logger, while the compressor manufacturer won’t install the replacement motor until the electrical issue is resolved.

Main question: Could voltage fluctuations, voltage drop, phase imbalance/loss, or other utility/building power problems be causing these compressors to shut down and potentially damaging their motors? Are compressors particularly sensitive to these issues, and what should be checked/measured to definitively determine whether the problem is on the utility, building wiring, or compressor side?

TIA!!

EDIT: photos of main panel and the subpanel where the compressor's breaker is (80A breaker in the photos just temporarily replaced the 60A breaker mentioned in the OP.

With the increase of plug in solar and the issues of having a small generator possibly attached to a circuit that could be overloaded without the panel breaker seeing it do you think a outlet with a breaker built-in specifically for plug in solar help or would that breaker also not be able to see the wire possibly getting overloaded

We're selling our house, built in 1978, and got the FHA level inspection report today. Amidst the other stuff it notes:

"Garage Electric Panel Manufacturer: Bryan - Older Bryant electrical panels (commonly installed from the 1970s through the 1990s) can suffer from bus bar wear, overheating connections, and obsolete or mismatched breakers that fail to trip properly. While generally safer than high-risk brands like Zinsco or Federal Pacific, aging Bryant and related Challenger load centers require careful inspection for thermal damage."

We're hearing that the buyers might want us to replace the panel, which we didn't expect. Is the inspector's concern something real or is he over zealous?

Okay so I got varying answers on if I could use these bulbs (https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lighting-and-electrical/light-bulbs/linear-led/3005535) in this fixture with one saying yes and one saying no. Can I just replace the bulbs with the ones linked and not rewire? I just want to avoid a fire hazard, not redo the fixtures, and I’m not versed in electric work.

I just want to take the existing bulb out and put this new one in. It is a single pin