Getting New Home Runs Into Attic

Help!  We decided to raise the ceiling in our kitchen for some new taller cabinets. We have 30" cabinets with a 7' drop ceiling. By taking out the drop ceiling we can go to an 8' ceiling with 36" cabinets.  We just had the ceiling taken out and now I see I got a problem!



This is a 2 story home, the wall in question is a load bearing wall (runs through the center of the house) The main breaker panel is in this wall (the panel opening is in the adjacent family room)



As you can see in the photos I cannot extend the wall up because all of the home wiring is in the way!  I expected I might have to run longer wires but not this. 



Some ideas we've thought about...

notch the double 2x4s (not sure how much I need to notch or allowed to)



build a cove (box) and leave the wires like they are (might be an eyesore in our new kitchen)



put up a large crown moulding along the entire wall (would be the only crown moulding in the house)



extend the ceiling up 6-7" instead of 12" (should leave enough room for wire to stay)



I'm leaning to the notching option if I can find a way to reinforce that section.



Any ideas?



thanks!
      

Need a little advice... Here's the scenario:



-200 amp meter/main.

-2 small side by side residences with 80 amp load each.

-Each residence has a 200 amp panel with main disconnect.

-1 3" conduit from meter to underground pull box between both buildings

-A 2" conduit from the pull box to each building.

-All conductors to be 3/0



Is there any reason why a 3/0 feeder with ground could not be pulled to the

pull box and then split to run to each building instead of running 2 separate 100 amp feeders? Any other things to consider?
      

Hi all

I'm renovating a rental home I bought. It has the original 90 year old fuse panel  and I'd like to replace it with a modern panelboard. Here's a picture of the current setup:







I'd like to demo the inset fuse box cabinet and then mount a new panel on the wall to the left.

The service conduit goes inside the stucco into the building. I'd like to cut it, put in junction box, and a sweep and extend the service to the left to the new panel



I called our electric co. to get the power disconnected and strangely the rep told me "Oh, people usually just work on it hot". Is this true/feasible??



Your advice is appreciated
      

Hello, I'm roughing in 5 rooms and it's time to do the cable boxes. I was thinking of using RG 6/U in each room with home runs for every room.

I'm not sure really what to use.



This is rental property, and some tenants use Satelite, some use "Charter"

and all use High Speed Internet.

I'm thinking of also installing Cat 5E or 6 in same box.



I only want to do this once since I can't pull it out once installed.

Not sure about telephone, probably cable, but I might run some 22/4

in same box just in case. Hopefully crosstalk will not be an issue.



Any help or ideas would be appreciated.



Thanks.
      

We are in the process of redoing the area around our pool. As part of this we are adding a pool house and hot tub (separate from pool).



I have a couple Elecrtical Contractors coming out this weekend to price/put together a plan. Along with talking to several indivuals, I've been lurking around reading and trying to gather info but feel the need to have as much info available prior to getting these estimates and plans. Please excuse any incorrect verbage i might use and appreciate any corrections to my terminoligy



So this is what i have 



The pool house is approx 100 ft from the house.

It will have a few and outlets for blenders, minifridge, tv etc

the pool equipement consites of a pump, heater and a sand filter. The pump and current heater run off standard 110 lines (however if i upgrade this I dont know if the new one will require a 220 line



The pool light seems to run off a standard line as well



The hottub requires a 220 40amp line



There will be landscaping lighting as well as 2 more outlets for accesories



The original setup prior to last year had what looks like 6 or 8 guage (3 wire) directly buried about 6-8 inches under  ground. it was running what look to be two 20amp circuits from the main panel inside the house. This wire got split to two separate outlets near the pool. One went directly to the pool equipment and on directy to the pool light switch and some landscaping ighting.



With all the enhancements we are making i'm wondering what the best approach will be.



I assume a sub panel in the pool house that has one "main breaker" and has its own ground. Then one run to the pool equipment and one run to the hottub and a couple runs to the accesories i mentioned.



I have seen several replies on here where individuals talk about  "if they were doing the job this is how they would do it". Id be interested in some responses



What type of wire would be best to get it to the pool house

Does it run right from the main panel in the house?

Does direct burial make sense or shold i put it in conduit? I'm already digging a trench three feet deep for water and RG6 (which will be pushed thru conduit)



Any question i should make sure i ask the contractors?





Thanks in advance for any input
      

I have a circuit that is for 2 of the bedrooms upstairs then also runs downstairs to what used to be a garage but I am now looking to refinish as a finished area.  the circuit goes to 3 light fixtures from a switch in the unfinished room and I want to cut it off and run a new circuit for recessed lights in that area.  I dont know where the original wire comes from upstairs, does it matter if I just wire nut it in the unfinished room and leave it as a junction box?
      

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.
      

Hi guys. I'm Dan, and I'm in Knoxville, TN. I know running power to a shed is a very common topic here. I've been doing tons of reading and feel pretty comfortable with the requirements, but I have two questions I haven't been able to find a clear answer to.



First, my situation: I'm having a 10x16 shed built in my backyard, to be used primarily as a woodshop. I need more than a single circuit, so I know I need a subpanel and two grounding rods at least 6' apart, bonded to the subpanel with #6 bare copper wire.



My house has 200 amp service, and the main panel is in the garage at the opposite corner of the house from where the shed will go, so it would be pretty inconvenient to run a feeder from, there. But there's an existing 100 amp subpanel in the basement, presumably installed when the previous owner finished the basement. I'll be running a 60 amp feeder from that subpanel to the shed.



My total run will be something like 75', so I'm running #6 THWN for the two hots and neutral, and #10 THWN for the ground. I plan to bury it in 1.25" schedule 40 PVC, buried 18" deep.



My first question relates to how I need to run the wire when it's not underground. The basement is finished with a drop ceiling, so I plan to run the feeder across the drop ceiling, out of the house, down to the ground (it's a walk-out basement), then underground the 26' to the shed. I assume it still needs to be in conduit for at least the part that runs up the wall of the house. But what about inside, when it runs through the drop ceiling to the panel? Does it need to be in conduit for the whole run? Or would I just staple the four wires to the joists or something?



The other question relates to the trench. I've got a rain gutter downspout that discharges right at where the shed will soon be, so I'm running a 40' length of 4" PVC to pipe that water past the shed. It will be buried just about 6-12", just enough to run under the shed. Can I run the power conduit in the same trench (obviously, deeper)? Presumably I'd dig the 18" trench to the shed, lay the schedule 40, then add a few inches of dirt to bring it up to about 12" deep, and extend the trench past the shed at that depth, then lay the 4" drain pipe and backfill. Or do I need to dig two separate trenches? Is there a rule about how far apart they need to be if so?



If anyone sees any other flaws or concerns with my plan, please do speak up, I want to do this right. Thanks!



Dan
      

Hello everybody! First things first..I don't know much about wiring besides there being a positive, negative and a ground.



I am in the process of gathering information about installing two lights on the soffit of the corners of my house. There is an outside light by the sliding glass door that I was going to tap into for power, since the switch for it is in the kitchen.



My question is will this be possible if I was to run two twin head flood lights off of the same switch.   (  http://www.lampsplus.com/products/br...ht__h9572.html   )





What would be the easiest way to run the wiring for this? Through the soffit or just through the attic? The problem with the attic is there is vaulted ceilings in a few rooms of my house so it is pretty much impossible to walk in the attic to the far side of my house...actually I don't even think it is possible with the amount of insulation and how the ceilings are.



How would I go about mounting the light to the soffit? A junction box? Will I have to run conduit?



Here is a picture of what I am trying to do. Excuse my art skills in paint.





Thank you!
      

Getting ready to replace my well jet pump with a 240 volt model (currently I use a 120 volt pump. Currently I have a 20 amp, 120 volt circuit that runs from the house to the pump house about 60 feet. I use that circuit for the pump, a light and a receptacle. I want to replace that circuit with a 20 amp MWBC using 12/3 UF cable from the sub panel in my detached barn to the pump house (about 20 feet).



Question: Can I use 1/2" seal-tite to run from the sub panel to a a junction box prior to going underground with the 12/3 UF? The seal-tight run would be about 30". (I have a bunch of seal-tite, connectors and #12 THWN that I bought cheap at a storage unit auction.) The seal-tite would be run in the stud bay and along side the ceiling joist to get from one side of the barn to the other.



Question: Can I use an unfused air conditioning disconnect at the pump house to disconnect the 2 ungrounded conductors of the MWBC.



I can find nothing in the NEC that would bar either of these items, but I am a code novice.