Your Resident Electrician for all your electrical questions!

mcarroll

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Let me know if you did find the metal in HD

None of the rolled metal (for flashing) at the home stores around here is stainless - all aluminum or other. (Shiny stuff that looks like stainless is polished aluminum.) Been to a few stores now - no dice. I think I found another solution though - we'll see how it comes together in the next week or so. Be on the lookout for another update! :)

-Matt
 
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None of the rolled metal (for flashing) at the home stores around here is stainless - all aluminum or other. (Shiny stuff that looks like stainless is polished aluminum.) Been to a few stores now - no dice. I think I found another solution though - we'll see how it comes together in the next week or so. Be on the lookout for another update! :)-Matt
I will try and get some photo from HD
 

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Sweet, an actual electrician! So I took a dell power supply cord and spliced it into my MH pendant to run the cooling fan. The colors matched up(green,white and black) and it's been running for quite a few months with absolutely no issues. Since you know better than the average joe, do you think there might be any problems down the road? I used really good wire nuts and half a roll of electrical tape to ensure good insulation and that there are no problems with it on the ground(it's away from any possible water damage, so no worries there). Touching/handling the pendant yields no shock or any negative effects as it is grounded. I just want to make sure from an expert since I really don't know that much about the wires and what they can handle. It's just a regular 4 inch fan, and the cord powered the Dell's power supply so one would think it could handle a fan :)
 
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Sweet, an actual electrician! So I took a dell power supply cord and spliced it into my MH pendant to run the cooling fan. The colors matched up(green,white and black) and it's been running for quite a few months with absolutely no issues. Since you know better than the average joe, do you think there might be any problems down the road? I used really good wire nuts and half a roll of electrical tape to ensure good insulation and that there are no problems with it on the ground(it's away from any possible water damage, so no worries there). Touching/handling the pendant yields no shock or any negative effects as it is grounded. I just want to make sure from an expert since I really don't know that much about the wires and what they can handle. It's just a regular 4 inch fan, and the cord powered the Dell's power supply so one would think it could handle a fan :)
The cords powering computer equipment usually are a very small wire size to cut down in cost, a fuse internally protects the equipment but the cords protection is left for the 15 or 20 A circuit breaker. Thiner than 14 AWG should not be used for house wiring over 15A. Now the 6 ft cords smaller than 14 AWG are able to handle the equipments current draw usually of 2-3 Amps, the fan you are powering is probably drawing less than 1/2 an amp, so there are no issues with the cord, if that fan goes ban without fusing it it can start a fire due to the circuit breaker not tripping. A dead short usually will turn the circuit breaker off. To be 100% safe you need fan fusing at 0.5 Amps and a cord 14 AWG. To be practical and realistic, you are fine :) under normal circumstances that cord will never get hot with the current the fan will draw. My fans are not fused and i depend on the circuit breaker to trip if there are problems :)
 

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YF: what are your thoughts on "Stab Lok" outlets? We're buying a place in the next few months but in the meantime I'm renting and almost had a fire a few months ago because of this type of outlet in our current place. Is that considered a rare occurrence with these or are they extremely hazardous ?
 
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YF: what are your thoughts on "Stab Lok" outlets? We're buying a place in the next few months but in the meantime I'm renting and almost had a fire a few months ago because of this type of outlet in our current place. Is that considered a rare occurrence with these or are they extremely hazardous ?
They are made to save on labor, and used to accept solid #14, they changed it to most states accepting a minimum of #12, there is no substitute for a tight screw connection. Personally I would definitely redo the connection to the screw without given it much thought. Yes i do find them a fire hazard.
 

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They are made to save on labor, and used to accept solid #14, they changed it to most states accepting a minimum of #12, there is no substitute for a tight screw connection. Personally I would definitely redo the connection to the screw without given it much thought. Yes i do find them a fire hazard.

Will the connection only begin arcing if the connection is loose? Is there any way to determine a hazardous stab Lok externally , such as a loose outlet etc?
 
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Will the connection only begin arcing if the connection is loose? Is there any way to determine a hazardous stab Lok externally , such as a loose outlet etc?
A loose connection without any load will not arc, its when the load is on when the arching happens, a visual inspection is best but without being able to see the connections is very hard. Get the largest incandescent bulb you can find, supply houses carry them 1000W incandescent, if it flickers there is a problem :) hope this helps :)
 

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I want to build a power box with switches next to each power cord. Do you follow? Not sure what it would take or even necessary. I want a way to clean up my cords.
 
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The simple way

IMG_77931.jpg
 

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A loose connection without any load will not arc, its when the load is on when the arching happens, a visual inspection is best but without being able to see the connections is very hard. Get the largest incandescent bulb you can find, supply houses carry them 1000W incandescent, if it flickers there is a problem :) hope this helps :)

Thanks dude!
 

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In house wiring,, which wire is the one that bites? The white or the black?
The black wire is hot, the white is neutral, and the bare wire is the ground. I like to double check the power with a continuity tester, it looks like a pen, and beeps when it encounters a live wire.
 

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The black wire is hot, the white is neutral, and the bare wire is the ground. I like to double check the power with a continuity tester, it looks like a pen, and beeps when it encounters a live wire.


Thanks
 
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In house wiring,, which wire is the one that bites? The white or the black?
Never work live, unless you know what you are doing, supposed to be the black but i have seen otherwise. When a wire is shorting to ground, BOOM, a quick fix is change polarity, thats what most service electricians do, so color don't matter :)
 

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Never work live, unless you know what you are doing, supposed to be the black but i have seen otherwise. When a wire is shorting to ground, BOOM, a quick fix is change polarity, thats what most service electricians do, so color don't matter :)
LOL, never tell someone it is okay if they know what they are doing :) I am guilty of working on live wires, but when you think of it, almost all panel work is live anyways.
 

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Never work live, unless you know what you are doing, supposed to be the black but i have seen otherwise. When a wire is shorting to ground, BOOM, a quick fix is change polarity, thats what most service electricians do, so color don't matter :)
Also, I hate it when the last guy changed polarity, especially when I get a "surprise". On single pole switches, in certain situations, it is okay, and easy to spot.
 
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Also, I hate it when the last guy changed polarity, especially when I get a "surprise". On single pole switches, in certain situations, it is okay, and easy to spot.
anemone i did not realize you are a fellow sparky :) LOL been there thousands of times, thousands of amps and thousands of volts :) my last 10-12 years are boring office work, i missed the field :) so much, maybe thats one of the reasons i build all this crazy stuff :)
 

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