Electric Water Heater & High Electric Bills

I was in my attic today doing some work when I noticed a bare twisted copper wire that ran along a ceiling joist.  All along it was charred wood and charred  fiberglass insulation.  Luckily the fire it caused did not sustain itself and I was able to find the problem.  I then traced the wire and figured it originated in my breaker box (although I could not determine exactly where in the box).  It then ran across my attic alongside a ceiling joist and down into a wall ending up connecting to my water meter.

  Several months ago,  the electric company was restoring power to my area and ended up sending a power surge into my house taking out an oscillating fan, a toaster and a GFI outlet.  Last winter, I also had to have my electric meter pole replaced by an electrician after a tree branch took it out during an ice storm.

  I was wondering if one of these events could have caused the ground wire to heat up or something else entirely is going on?  I am suppose to have a company blow in  insulation soon and I need to figure this problem out.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.
      

I am installing central air conditioner in our 80 year old house. Debating between one high velocity system or two conventional systems.



We have 100 amp service with an electric dryer, stove and oven. Water and heat is gas.



The HVAC contractor told me that he spoke with the electrician who assured him that we would not need to upgrade service but add in a sub-panel.



Any thoughts?



What are the risks of staying with current electrical service and adding A/C? What are the risks of upgrading to 200 amp with such old wiring? Is one high velocity system better than two conventional systems?



Note I am cross posting based on another question I had in the HVAC forum.



Thank you in advance for all your help.
      

On my second floor with a High / Low switch and a timer hooked up to it.  The fan works fine on high and the timer works - but if I try to put it on low it stalls out.  I can hear it try to work - it sounds kind of like trying to get a car to turn over.  It starts up, spins for a second and stops and repeats that cycle until I turn it off or set it to high.  The fan was installed when I bought the house so I have no idea how old it is or its brand / model.



Does anyone know what might be causing the problems on low, is it still OK to run it on high, even with the issues on low and is this something that can be fixed easily or does it require special services - electrician or otherwise?
      

this topic came up on another thread but its buried pretty deep. it is my understanding from several experienced posters that under normal circumstances all neutral current should flow back to the utility neutral, not the grounded plumbing or rods.



i am trying to figure out why. bear with this simplistic example.



100a service - 3 wires in - A (hot+), B (hot-) and N (neutral).

circuit 1 on A is using 12 amps

circuit 2 on B is using 7 amps

so a total of 5 neutral current amps have to go somewhere.



they could all flow back on N, but if bonded to N at the panel is a low resistence connection to say, copper water pipes, wouldnt some of the current flow there?



is the utility neutral supposed to be so low resistence that none of the current would flow to the grounds? if that is the case i need to call my utility ASAP because a considerable amount of current flows to my main ground.



where i am struggling is i dont see how a utility pole or transformer would be any lower resistance than miles of metal plumbing and since they are bonded together, the current can choose (i know wrong word but im not an electrican or an engineer) either path
      

OK, here is my problem.  I live in a newly constructed house.  They are building a new house right next door.  I am seeing a power flux (dimming) in my lights whenever any of the following occurs:



- I turn on the A/C in my house

- I turn on the washing machine in my house

- the compressor next door kicks on (for their nail gun and/or other tools)



The compressor next door is hooked up to a temporary post on the street.  I have had my electrician come look along with the utility company.  The utility company says that the house is getting plenty of power.  So now, short of getting another electrician in here, trying to figure out what the problem could be (and if my electrician, who is the one who did the wiring during construction, doesn't know what he's doing).  Most of the lights in the house are 60W if that matters.



Any thoughts on what the problem might be?  I would think that given the proper wiring that I shouldn't see any kind of power flux.



Thanks for the help in advance.
      

I have a tankless hot water heater with the following requirements:

Voltage/Freq:240v/60

Wattage:21kw

Max amp load: 88

Min req circuit breaker: 2x60

Min wire size: 2x8 AWG copper (note:should be 2x6)



Amps to house is 200. Breaker box is 10 years old with space to add new breaker. The old 30 breaker will come out, new 2x60 in, and new wiring will need to be run approx 15 feet to location of old water heater.



Initial quotes from electricians via phone are all over the place and I have someone coming to house on Friday for a site estimate. In my understanding, the work is straight forward as stated above. What am I missing? Or what might the electricians be thinking I am not (besides pulling a $40 permit)?
      

My existing service entrance consists of an external Meter can mounted on the outside of the garage wall directly behind a SD Main Breaker Panel (MBP) with a 150 amp main breaker.  In order to support upgrades, I am installing a second MBP (200 amp) inside the garage in the wall cavity right next to the existing panel.



Local code requires that the upgraded Meter can be purchased from the City Utility.  I have already confirmed with the local inspector that either 4/0 Al or 2/0 Cu SE cable are acceptable for both the existing and new MBP.



My question is what is the code requirement for getting the 3 SE cables run from the dual lugs to the new panel?  Can those conductors run into the same wall cavity where the existing panel is installed?  If so, I'm certain they can't go through the same conduit nipple that connects the back of the meter can to the existing MBP.  Can they route in behind/above/below the existing panel and through a hole in the wall stud to gain access to the adjacent stud bay to get to the new panel?  If not, do they need to be routed out of the meter can on the external wall in conduit over to the next stud bay and then enter the wall there to gain access to the new panel?  If external conduit is required I would expect it must be metallic as opposed to PVC.



Best Regards,



Ted
      

I'm trying to fix a problem with a track light installment over the a bar I've just put in. I've done it before. never had issues. but this particular problem is driving me nuts. It just defies logic.  The electrician who actually installed the associated dimmer switches with this dining room area was called as it seems it may be a flaw with his wiring, but he's blown us off and I have to try and solve this myself.



This is how it's all set up. I've been rehabbing our home from top to bottom, and converted our old kitchen into a dining area. Within this dining area are four sets of lights, all controlled from one box containing four dimmer switches. I set up all the new wiring and installation of the lights in the ceiling, and we paid an electrician to come in, check everything out, set up the multiple switches, and connect it all to the board. It's all new copper wiring from beginning to end, as I didn't want to connect or splice in to the old aluminum wiring that was in place. All the new wiring and lights are on a dedicated 15 amp breaker. Three of the sets of lights were set up to be available from the day the electrician came around. The fourth, for the track light over the bar, was left hanging from the ceiling capped off and with the switch off, as I still had work to do installing an overhead wine rack, under which the track was going to be set.



Two days ago I finally got around to putting the track up, but after setting it in place and connecting the power up the lights wouldn't work. I took the lights out to our kitchen, where I installed another track light system some time ago, plugged one of the lights in, and it worked just fine. I then went back to the bar area and used a spare track, then a spare connector, to see if I could isolate the fault, yet neither of the items provided a solution. Now here's the weird bit - every time I tried checking the system out, I'd get 120 volts showing from the wiring and from the track when I'd test with the multimeter. But the second I'd put a light into the track, the multimeter would drop to zero on the voltage reading on either the wiring or the track. Take the light fixture back out, and the voltage would pop back up. Inserting the light was thus completing some kind of odd loop. It wasn't just one light - I double checked by grabbing working lights from the kitchen track and inserting them into the other track - the same problem would pop up. Finally, having come to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with the track at all, I took the whole assembly over to a nearby wall outlet, used some spare electric cable to connect up to the appropriate slots - presto, the light came on! I even double checked all this by grabbing another light fixture destined for our bathroom, and tried connecting it to the wiring over the bar. Nothing. Yet as with the track light, the minute I took it over to the wall outlet and connected it, the light worked.



So everything logically points to the fact it has to be something to do with this individual circuit, right, because a) the light fixtures work when plugged into another circuit and b) the other three dimmers and lights hooked up in the same box work fine and draw power from the same wire cable/breaker combination. The only things left that I can think of is that the electrician has either wired the dimmer switch up incorrectly or that there's some kind of flaw inside the switch itself. Does this make sense?



A friend also told me to double-check to make sure that the black wire feeding power to the light was indeed the hot wire, and it is.  If I touch it with the black test lead from the multimeter and put the red one to the neutral I show 120 volts. If I keep the black test lead on the black wire and put the red test lead to the ground - I also show 120 volts.



A final point. I know I'm not overloading the circuit - not even close. With all four dimmers maxed and every light on - including the test light on the track - I'd only be drawing 8 amps on a 15 amp breaker, besides which I'm only using one set of lights while I'm working on this problem anyway. This is a dedicated circuit, so there's no additional power being drawn away by something else.



So how am I getting 120 volts from this wiring, according to my multimeter, yet it won't light up ANYTHING and keeps giving off the indication that some kind of loop or short is being created every time I actually plug a light into the track? It's got me totally stumped.



Anyone have any ideas?
      

Greetings,



I am looking to wire a sub-panel in my barn to support a general workshop.  Loads would include standard woodworking tools (including 220V table saw), welding, air compressor, etc.



The house has 200AMP main breaker and minimal in-house loads.  Dryer is gas, Oven and cooktop are gas.  Water heater is off the oil furnace.  I think the biggest single load is the well-pump and/or fridge compressor.  We do have sporadic toaster oven, hairdryers etc.  Otherwise its just lights, ceiling fans, flat-panel tv, stereo...



We had 4" conduit installed to the barn, so there is plenty of room to pull a big cable.  The entire run from the house panel to the barn totals around 155' (probably less, but rounding up)



My questions a



Can I pull a 100AMP sub-panel from my main house panel as described?


Would 4/0,4/0,4/0,2/0 aluminum service entrance cable be a good choice for this run?  Could I do it with something lighter?


Could I put an additional sub-panel in the garage (about halfway to the barn) by interrupting the run?  The garage subpanel would have a 220V plug for possible welding and/or electric car charging.  Would this require a separate run?


Are there any other considerations I should be thinking about in planning this?




Thanks for any thoughts you can share on this! 



Cheers,



pete
      

I am working on fixing an issue with the wiring in one of the bedrooms in my older mountain home. Though I was not present for the cause of the problem, here is what was told to me by the tennant.  he claimed that he went to turn on the light in the closet, (a 3 lamp track bar light, wired to a switch) he heard a loud pop from the light in the closet and lost power to to the room. The room has 6 recessed ceiling lights on 2 separate switches, presently only half of the lights work.There are no breakers tripped, no obvious shorts at outlets. I have opened the drywall following the wires around hoping to find a short but I have found nothing. I decided to try something, and I bridged the working switch to a dead outlet and everything turned on. I am waiting til the daytime to follow the wires outside to the breaker box, but so far no breaks or anything.. curious if anyone has any pointers.. could the pop he heard from the track lighting have killed a breaker? its about the only thing left.