Receptacle Next To Panel

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
      

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
      

In a large bunkhouse we need to add a second range, water heater, and kitchen outlets.  The existing panel is 125 AMP (with breaker), and don't want to redo entire panel.  A consultant said to install a 200 AMP drop, with a panel to handle the additional load.  Would you then feed each of the panels from that drop as main panels, or use a new 200 AMP panel as the main, and the 125 as a sub-panel from that?  I assume in either instance, the grounding would be done as a 200 AMP service.  Just realized if each was a main panel, the new one couldn't exceed 75 Amps, or total would be over 200.  Any other ideas appreciated.
      

Hi all, this is my first post, so...my kitchen was just renovated and the electrical outlets are on the walls and I wanted them in plugmold under the cabinet. Why didn't it happen?  Long story, but I'm doing it myself now.  The electrical receptacles are on 2 separate circuits with a gfci receptacle on each and neither circuit has a receptacle outside the kitchen where I can put the gfci's, so I'm putting gfci breakers in the panel instead. I've run into a different problem on each circuit that'd like some advice on.



Circuit 1: this is a 20 amp circuit.  I have to plug this circuit's neutral wire into the gfci breaker, but I couldn't see which neutral wire matched the hot wire (buried in mess of wires) and I don't have a continuity tester so I just pulled one neutral at a time (tedious) until the circuit failed, but it never failed. So I did this again for every neutral...same result. This circuit shares a few boxes with other circuits so I'm wondering if the neutrals on different circuits are tied together somewhere, and if so I'm pretty sure, but not completely, that that's not going to work with the gfci breaker.  So I didn't install that gfci breaker since I'm not confident it would actually gfci (yep i verbified gfci).  What do you think?



Circuit 2:  this is a 20 amp circuit.  This circuit currently has the refrigerator, gas stove and range hood, and then a gfci in front of 3 electrical receptacles, which already sounds bad since I thought the kitchen receptacles required 2 dedicated circuits. I replaced that breaker with no problem, but it tripped after a few minutes and continued to trip every few minutes. I haven't changed anything else on that circuit yet and it's never tripped before, but now it is, so I put the old breaker back for now. The current gfci receptacle is only protecting the 3 outlets since the appliances are ahead of it. I know you wouldn't normally want the appliances gfci protected, so do you think the refrigerator motor may be a problem?  Do I need the appliances on a separate circuit?  What would you suggest I do?



Thanks, and if you're wondering "why all the effort?", it's partly because I'm meddlesome, partly because I'm bored, and partly because the backsplash tile is to be on showcase, not the electrical receptacles.
      

Is there any reason I can't mount a 50 amp receptacle for a welder a few inches below the panel to save on the cost of the wire? Is THHN or 6/3 nm preferred?
      

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?
      

I am siding a cottage/house and came to the outside plug. It is a GFI but I found it kept tripping. I actually changed to GFI because it looked as though it sparked. While changing I noticed the white wire was loose ... so I thought this could be the problem. I replaced the GFI plug and the only thing that was plugged into it was a circular saw. Again, it tripped. My thought atre that it could have been wired wrong or have other items on the run. I believe an outside circuit should be all by itself? The only other reason that comes to mind would be if someone drove a nail or screw into the hot wire. Any suggestions and possible remedies?
      

I'm having quite the time finding an electrician who will quote this.  Just about all of them say that what I need is to upgrade my main panel but I want to install a new main panel that is a part of the meter base outside and make my current 100A panel a sub.   Maybe you people can tell me why nobody seems to want to do this.  Here are a few shots of the existing meter (note what is apparently a 60A base here)






and a shot of the conduit headed underground.  Like most homes built during this era, the conduit makes a right turn underground to enter through the cinderblock, ending up coming into the back of the main panel.  This conduit encloses a 4 wire feed. edit: no, actually it is only a 3 wire feed which is a problem if I want to convert the original main panel a sub.






Here's the existing panel.  It's a 60's era Square-D split panel with a 30 amp sub panel for the finished basement.  Those are low voltage wires to circuit taps for my home energy monitoring system btw.






The reason I don't want to upgrade this panel are as follows:

We won't be expanding the electrical west of this panel any more.  All planned expansion (240v car charger in Garage, planned 3 season room with grid tie Solar on the roof) will be to the east.


Upgrading the panel will require major surgery to the walls.  Due to the way the original basement is engineered there, the walls have an intricate stud pattern behind the existing panel.  I'd pretty much have to rip out a 4' section and redo it to make the access large enough to handle a 200A panel.


Adding additional circuits to an upgraded panel will require an act of God due to the finished basement construction.  There are no raceways for additional circuits.






Based on this, my thoughts were to create a new 200A main panel outside based on something like the GE model TSM420CSCUP loadcenter.  Here's a shot of this panel:






This particular panel has room for three 2-pole breakers in addition to the 200A mains.  I'd add a 100A 2-pole breaker for the existing panel, with the other two reserved for the garage/solar expansions.



The issue with the contractors who have quoted the job appears to be the conduit going to the existing panel.  I'm not sure what's wrong with it but it is apparently not compliant with current code.  Obviously the bonding needs to change, new grounding electrodes need to be driven, and a water pipe ground needs to be established to the new main panel, but what else is required?



I'd like to throughly research all the code considerations here so I can approach a contractor from a more knowledgable perspective then determine the best way to perform this upgrade.  Due to POCO coordination and the need to cut household power for the duration of the job, I have no desire to DIY this one...



So what exactly is wrong with the conduit running from the existing meter base to the existing load center?  Why is everybody telling me that I can't do essentially what I've described above?  What are the relevant code sections that will apply to this job?  Should I be chatting with my AHJ about local considerations now or should I wait until I have the code requirements down pat (assuming the latter here)?
      

I am finishing my basement and adding several new circuits with breakers. I now find my breaker box is full and need additional curcuits. Can I connect more than one wire to the lugs in the circuit box or must they be connected elsewhere?
      

i have just installed 4 cans controlled by a dimmer switch using 14/2 wire and plan to hook into a 15A circuit. The easiest wire for me to hook into this circuit is on the load side of a receptacle that goes to another receptacle. can I cut the wire that goes between receptacles and split the hot wire so it goes to the new recessed cans ( same for the white wire) and then on to the receptacle as previous?

Thanks

Tom