I have a person that wants to wire in four light boxes and four ceiling fans with switches and I need to know if I can run all four of them safely from one breaker and if so what kind of breaker? This question may be absurd but I just don't know the answer to it. I do home improvement work for a living at least I have the good sense ask a question before I even attempt something I don't know about. needless to say I have not done a lot of extensive wiring. I have put up plenty of ceiling fans and even ran one circuit very short distance in a garage from a breaker panel and I knew to have the proper testing equipment and to take my time and to ask questions if necessary and also most importantly to have the proper tools and some basic knowledge of how to use them. Also, do I have to run the wire through conduit in the attic?
123685
I have a person that wants to wire in four actually  light boxes for ceiling fans with switches and I need to know if I can run all four of them safely from one breaker and if so what kind of breaker? This question may be absurd but I just don't know the answer to it. I do home improvement work for a living at least I have the good sense ask a question before I even attempt something I don't know about.  needless to say I have not done a lot of expensive wiring I have put up plenty of ceiling fans and even ran one circuit very short distance in a garage from a breaker panel and I knew to have the proper testing equipment and to take my time and to ask questions if necessary and also most importantly to have the proper tools and some basic knowledge of how to use them.
69026
I have a box in the hall which includes a 3-way switch (with another switch at the other end of the hall), a single pole switch to the garage lights and a single pole switch to the exterior lights on the garage.  The single pole switch to the garage is wired with a 3 wire plus ground. The white and black wires feed the garage lights from the switch and the red wire feeds the garage ceiling outlets and is hot all the time.  In the garage I would like to add a 3-way switch for the garage lights and another 3-way switch for the exterior garage lights.  In other words I would like to be able to turn on both of those light locations from both the inside hall and the garage as well. I know that I will of course have to replace the existing single pole switches in the hall with 3-way switches and add a junction box in the garage with 2 3-way switches in it.  The thing that I don't know is what wiring connections I need to make.  Can you help?
79379
I need to replace a switch that controls a single light source in a bathroom.    The switch has two wires connected to it.  I bought a replacement switch that has two screws (one for each wire), and a green ground screw.  Is it OK to connect just the two wires to the new switch and have the green ground screw unconnected?  This is not a remodel.  Just trying to replace a switch that's broken.  EDIT: strangely, I didn't see a ground screw on the original switch.  Was this permissable at some time?  EDIT 2: Picture as requested.  The left switch is for a light source and is the broken one.  Right switch is for a fan.  The two switches are on the same circuit.  The outlet is on a separate circuit.  I can't tell if the box is metal.  It seems plastic but could be painted metal I suppose.    EDIT 3: With switches and outlet pulled out.
34459
Can a single ground wire ground 2 outlets? I don't want to run another wire through the wall, if I can run a wire to that other ground wire (and have 2 outlets being grounded by one wire).  In other words,     I also have concerns about equipment protection.  Will adding a ground wire be worse for my electronic equipment in any way?   If I am having problems with equipment taking damage, will this help?
80731
I accidentally pulled 6-4 wiring to a machine that only needs 240 and no neutral. What to do with the white wire?  I read  that at the machine, I just cap the white wire.  When I go to connect the wires in the main breaker panel, do I still connect the white wire to the neutral bus, or do I cap it in the panel as well?
101202
We have an existing 120V AC exhaust fan wired to simple inline attic fan style thermostat.  We would like to add a timer switch so the fan could be manually turned on as needed.  Would this be the correct way to add a timer switch?    This is the sort of timer switch we are looking to add:
22094
I have 12/3 wire from a switch to 3 light fixtures; can I feed the switch with 14/2 wire from a 15 amp breaker?
65168
I have a ceiling fan on our bedroom's vaulted ceiling. Since we don't want 7' pull-cords, the speed is stuck at full-tilt, which is no good. The fan has separate switches on the wall for lights and fan on/off, though, so I tried putting a dimmer switch on the fan. Can that do any damage to the fan's motor, or is there anything else I'm not thinking of that could be a problem? I've noticed the fan makes a little bit of a groaning noise when I have the rheostat down, but since I've never heard the fan at slow speeds, maybe that's normal.
104787
Is it OK to use a 15amp breaker and a 14ga wire (14/2 copper) to run 2 GFCI receptacles and a flood light on the exterior of my home? The voltage is 120.  The 2 receptacles are rated at 15amps and won't be carrying a continuous load very often. Might plug a George foreman grill into it every now and then, maybe some party lights. And an occasional power tool (hedge trimmers, weed eater, etc.). I believe the flood lights are 75w a piece.  Should I go with a 20amp/12ga wire instead?  Update**  It is a new circuit so I think I will go with the 20A/12ga just to be safe and I will check the code requirements for having receptacles on the same circuits as lights!  Lets just it is OK to have both receptacles and lights on the same circuit. Is this an acceptable way to wire it? Using a junction box to divert wire towards the outlets and a separate wire to control the flood light with a switch on the same circuit? Pardon my drawing!
120111
How many cables are you allowed to run through a single hole in a wooden floor joist? For example, could I run five 12-2 cables through a 1-1/8" hole? I know they physically fit, but is there a code to regulate this? Is there any limit on this or some table for guidance?
50505
I am looking at replacing a couple of old, porcelain style single bulb fixtures in my basement with some 4 lamp fluorescent fixtures.  I am actually running new wire to the fluorescent fixtures from a 100amp sub panel in the basement, and not reusing then existing wiring that goes to the current light.  As I was taking the porcelain fixture down I discovered that there is 14 gauge wire going to it - ok.  There are 3 such fixtures in the basement.  There are also other things on this same breaker upstairs in the main living part of the house - 3 or 4 outlets that are on 12 gauge wire.  The breaker is a 20 amp breaker for all of these.  Is this ok to mix 14 &amp; gauge wire like this?  If not, why did they do it?
104152
One of the double sockets in our garage needed replacing (damaged after a washing pole hit it) - a pretty trivial job that I'd done before. So I flipped the MCB for the ring main, used a non-contact voltage tester to check nothing was there, and set to work. I disconnected the old socket fine, and was lining the cables up to fit into the new socket when... ow.  My finger bridged the live and earth pins, and suffice to say the live wire was very much alive. Bar a few finger spasms I was fine fortunately, and believe me I realise I was very lucky in that respect (I'm in the UK, so that was 240V.) Before finishing the job I then shut off the entire property's electrics - I was taking no more chances.  Further inspection confirmed two things I immediately suspected at this point - the MCB in the garage (installed before we moved into the house) was shutting off power via the neutral, not the live, and the voltage tester was dodgy (I had tested it on the same socket earlier and it seemed fine, further testing showed it presumably had a loose connection internally and only worked sporadically.) Needless to say it's now in the bin, and an electrician has been called to sort the MCB and check the rest of the house for similar issues.  Unsurprisingly this has shaken me up a bit - I would say I'm a rather safety conscious person, and in this case thought I'd done all the checks properly (including taping over the relevant trip switch to ensure no-one flipped it back on while I was working.) In some ways I can't help feeling I was unlucky that the MCB was wired by a cowboy, in combination with the voltage tester failing in the way that it did, at the time that it did. However, I'm not one to solely blame tools - clearly some, if not most of the blame here lies with myself also.  So in short, what should I have done differently - and was I primarily being stupid, or really quite unlucky?
87844
Situation: Have a jetted bathtub that requires 2 15A gfci outlets each to its own breaker. Problem only have one wire running into tub area (would have to tear up.newly installed floor to run another. Is it possible to use that single wire and connect two wires and run to the outlets and connect two wires to the other end of the wire (wire is approx 8 ft) and run those to the breaker box and attach to two gcfi breakers
97362
I am extending a lighting and outlet circuit in a basement. The current setup has the following characteristics   15 amp. circuit breaker (200 amp service) 4 existing lighting fixtures using CFL bulbs (~ 20 W each) 1 existing double duplex outlet box (no regular appliance in use) 14/2 and 14/3 NM cabling (lighting switched, outlets not) throughout less than 100 ft of cabling so far   I plan on adding three lighting fixtures (for LED spots, less than 20W each) and one duplex outlet. I will tap off one of the existing boxes to get both a switched and a constant hot line.  Additional cabling will be less than 30 ft.  Is there any reason I cannot use 12/2 and 12/3 NM cabling for this project (I happen to have some on hand)?    Is there any practical benefit (e.g., less voltage drop in this small section of line)? Is there any disadvantage in doing so, other than higher cost of cabling  and the slightly harder handling of thicker wires?    If the cabling were concealed, would the presence of a 12 gauge wire in an outlet box or fixture convey something to an electrician or future DIYer that is misleading based on the existence of unseen 14 gauge wiring upstream?
113735
Preface: I'd like to avoid the question of whether one should run data and power together; my question is focused on Code compliance.  I'm trying to ensure I interpret Code correctly when running Cat 5/6 cabling and power together in the same conduit.  For starters, I understand that nothing in Code prohibits one from doing this; I'm trying to ensure I understand how to do it properly.  I'm wiring a basement office for power and data, and I'll be running the electrical in EMT.  My plan was to pull THHN for the power rather than pull NM-B, but then 800.133(2) Exception 1 made me scratch my head.  Is my understanding of the Article that if I want to run both data (Cat6) and power in the same conduit, that the power needs to be sheathed (i.e. NM-B).  Is it unacceptable to pull individual THHN conductors and the Cat6 together in the same conduit?     800.133 2) Other Applications. Communications wires and cables shall be separated at least 50 mm (2 in.) from conductors of any electric   light, power, Class 1, non–power-limited fire alarm, or medium-power   network-powered broadband communications circuits.      Exception No. 1: Where either (1) all of the conductors of the   electric light, power, Class 1, non–power-limited fire alarm, and   medium-power network-powered broadband communications circuits are in   a raceway or in metal-sheathed, metal-clad, nonmetallic-sheathed, Type   AC, or Type UF cables, or (2) all of the conductors of communications   circuits are encased in raceway.
60431
I am installing a drop ceiling with pot lights as part of remodeling a portion of my basement. Since I am refinishing the entire room (newly framed walls), it seems like I have a catch 22:   I need to get the electrical rough-in done before I put up drywall (including the wiring to the pot lighting fixtures in the drop-ceiling) However, I have always seen drop ceilings installed after the drywall is up, which means I cannot mount the pot lights in the ceiling/wire for them unless I mount the grid (or some portion of it) for the drop ceiling first.   Can I wire up a portion of the grid for the suspended ceiling before drywalling and leave gaps around the edges slightly bigger (~1/8" - e.g. 3/4" gap for 5/8" cement board) than required to insert drywall, or is this a ludicrous suggestion?  Or, is the wiring for pot lights in this situation typically addressed as part of the final inspection? I was not planning on having any additional junction boxes between the panel and the pot lights (all splices to supply multiple lights are supposed to just be inside of the boxes on the pot lights per my submitted plans). Since a portion of the wire run from the breaker panel to the pot lights will be concealed by dry wall for another room (I am finishing the other room at the same time under the same permit) which means the cable would be run from the panel and dangling near where the pot light will eventually be mounted for the rough-in inspection in this case.  I plan on calling my inspector to see what is acceptable, but what is typical practice in this situation?
74960
Running 12-2 Romex cable from the electrical panel to a J-box located in attic. J-box will connect two GFCI outlets and extend a 14-2 cable to the ceiling light fixture box, where other 14-2 cable will be used for a switch.   Circuit breaker is 20A.  Is that OK? Is it code compliance?