Ceiling Fan

Hello,



I took a shot at installing a ceiling fan for the first time and I would like to get advice if I did the wiring correctly. There were Black, Copper, Red, and White Wires coming from the ceiling. I read the instructions and connected the wires as stated on the manual. I was left with the Red wire. I called a friend up and he told me to connect the Red wires from ceiling to the Black Connections from Ceiling and Fan. The fan works but something is irking me inside thats telling me this is not safe. Could anyone with any know how in this subject guide me in the right direction?
      

I've had an on-off problems with two of my ceiling fans (different makers, one hunter and one minka). Wired differently too, the minka one is controlled by a wall remote control, and the hunter one by two wired wall switches).



Every now and then, for no reason, the fan will stop working. It may stop working for a day, a week, whatever.. then start working again for a month or even a year. When this happens, the light kit on both fans still works (on the minka, the light kit and fan are on the same line, separated in the fan by the remote control receiver. On the hunter, it's two different wires going into the fan.).



It stumps me.. I'll just turn the fan on one day, it will spin a little bit, then stop. Nothing gets it to work. I can hear a small hum in its motor, like it's getting power, but it won't spin. Then a week later I may accidentally turn it on again and it will run. Two and three years ago I had repeated on/off problems with both fans. Last year, both worked perfectly the entire year. This year one of them has started acting up again.



Any hints would be appreciated.
      

Each time someone drives by my house using a cell phone it seems there is a one-time clicking noise coming out of several of my electrical outlets.  It may happen in all rooms at the same time but of course, the only ones I notice are in the room I am in currently.



Any ideas, and thanks!
      

Electrical novice here.... I think calling myself even a novice is too much credit.

The good thing is I'm not the one that did the work....



My question is about votls/amps/wats correlations.



Long sorry short ... I have in floor heating wire that was installed - this is not the typical off-the-shelf type (have a friend in the home products biz and he picked this up for me on a recent trip to china).



I am trying to estimate usage costs come winter time... but something just does not sound right to me...



It is 18W/220V heat wire...



        Have 120/240 Volt Main Service



Is the calculation correct:



Power       18w per meter and i have 220 meters (700 Ft)   

 

- total power is 220m*18w/m, if your voltage is 240V, the Amps will be 220*18/240v=16.5A.



If correct - That means this is going to be insanely expensive to run - correct?


      

I have a home that I only use from time to time.  At Christmas one of the GFCI outlets kept tripping.  This outlet has a TV/reciever/cable box/xbox/lights, etc. on the load side.  When I reset it, everything would be OK for 20 minutes or so, then it would trip.  I did not have time to investigate the problem so I just left it.  When I returned a week or so ago, the outlet was tripped and would not reset.  As soon as I pushed the reset button in, it would pop back out.  I replace the GFCI outlet but that did not help.  I removed all load outlets and inspected them.  Everything looked OK.  Anyone have an idea.  The strange thing to me is that the problem seemed to get worse over time.  (I.e. it stayed reset for 30 minutes at Christmas and now it will not reset at all).  Ideas?  Thanks in advance.
      

Hello everyone,



I am trying to replace a 40-year old garage door opener that stopped working, and the motor reads "250v"-- are 250 volt openers standard? does the 250v mean something completely different? or will I have to re-wire it to a standard 110v outlet type to put in a new opener? The original cover has most likely been lost to time; the brand was Overhead Door company.



I haven't purchased any new openers yet, making sure I know what I am getting into first :-)

The door is not especially large --9'x7' not sure of their weight; if it matters, the door will likely be replaced shortly as well.

Thanks for any and all help!
      

Hi guys,



I have a Torx 7200 and, while the main wheel turn and the switch "clicks" each time the pins hit, the power doesn't toggle on or off. Is this an easy (cheap) fix or do I need to buy a new timer? By the way, it is controls my pool pump.



Thanks
      

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.
      

So we just bought a circal-1930s house, and one very large project looming is redoing the eletrical. The house has a mix of BX, cotton-wraped romex, and some very cracked romex running around the house. combine that with some very odd additions for outlets, bad light switch placement, it's just going to be a large project.



My father in law, a licensed electrician, has promised to do the rewiring of the house this summer. The problem is I plan to do some major renovations in the coming years (namely the kitchen).



I am already drawing up floor plans now so I can stategically think of where to put needed outlets, but should they be installed at this time? Is it worth the headache to install new outlets now and put them in their proper locations when the reno comes?
      

Hi, I have a 6" craftsmans metal cutting lathe and trying to wire a drum switch to it. The motor is a 1/3 hp westinghouse split phase motor 6.3 amp 1725 rpm. The switch is forward-off-reverse. There are two posts and two wires on the motor I'm not sure witch ones are start or run and how to go about wiring it there are 6 screws on the switch.I could probly post pics to someone  Thanks