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D'oh! oh well, at least we still have the garage


Pete M
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My 90 MJ exhaust has been delayed a bit. Seems the garage wiring has decided to burn itself up. the two legs shared a common neutral and for whatever reason it overloaded and fried (nothing was happening other than I tried to turn the lights on). We found water in the conduit running to the garage (can't say if that's the cause though) and so tomorrow I'll be digging up the whole mess to run new stuff. I've been wanting to rewire the garage for years now, but didn't want to do it in the cold. booooo. Oh well.

 

Here's to upgrading. :D

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The garage is still there, though darker than before. And the more I dig, the more I'm shocked that the guy ran the wires how he did. He was a licensed electrician for goodness sake! I've discovered that the decidedly undersized wire (for anything more than florescent lights) was routed through an opening in the basement wall (a short piece of pipe that seems original to the house), routed under the deck BARE, and enters metal indoor conduit right at the other end of the deck with NOTHING TO PREVENT WATER FROM ENTERING THE TUBE!!!!!! Not even electrical tape. :fs1:

 

 

This is why I always do the work myself. If necessary, I'll pay a pro to check my work.

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One of my part-time gigs is Assistant Building Inspector for one of the towns near where I live. It's ummmm, errrrrr, "enlightening" (shall we say) the amount of non-compliant, sloppy, shoddy, and downright unsafe work we see licensed and supposedly knowledgeable professionals do. Often for themselves and/or relatives.

 

What kind of wire did he run out there, Romex or weatherproof? Or did he run individual conductors?

 

If you're going to rewire it, use at least 12-gauge wire. Even if you only want 15-amp circuits, you'll likely be running power tools so voltage drop is a consideration.

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I'm told it's Romex. 3 plus ground, solid strand, in a black sheath. Looks like household wire. Oh, and we've found that the conduit as it nears the garage was only 3" underground.

 

We're doing this proper this time. 8 gauge individual wires in continuous outdoor conduit to a breaker box in the garage. 40 amp double breaker in the house, two 20 amp breakers (initially) in the garage with space for 4 more. It'll be 220 capable :D

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I'm told it's Romex. 3 plus ground, solid strand, in a black sheath. Looks like household wire. Oh, and we've found that the conduit as it nears the garage was only 3" underground.

 

We're doing this proper this time. 8 gauge individual wires in continuous outdoor conduit to a breaker box in the garage. 40 amp double breaker in the house, two 20 amp breakers (initially) in the garage with space for 4 more. It'll be 220 capable :D

Well, I don't know what it is, but all the Romex I've ever seen was in a white sheath, and the direct-burial/outdoor stuff is a grey/green sheath. Anyhoo -- sounds like what you're planning on is exactly the right way to do it.

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i have no idea what your talking about electrical is not for me

 

 

what was there before was too small and indoor-use-only. I'm replacing it with heavy duty outdoor stuff. :thumbsup:

 

 

jeep

JUST

EXPECT

EVERY

PROBLEM :hmm: :rotfl2:

 

:rotf:

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I've seen black romex. Actually, my house has a lot of black 12/2 with ground, installed in the early 70s.

 

My municipality actually specifies color coded romex based on size; don't think it is sate wide yet. White for 14 AWG yellow for 12, orange for 10 and black for 8 and larger. In Ontario ground fault circuits need to be wired with blue romex, either 12 or 14 based on max load. In Ontario any 15A circuit can be wired with 14 AWG; in Ohio only 15A light circuits. If there's an outlet somewhere, even on a 15A circuit it needs to be 12.

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Now that you mention it, I have seen yellow Romex at Lowe's. Never paid attention to see if it's only in 12-gauge. Might be. I just figured it was their way of identifying their house brand wire.

I believe the yellow Romex is a 12-gauge only wire while the white is 14 and orange is 10.

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Just now wrapped up the wiring for the compressor's box. So now I have a 40 breaker in the house, 8 guage into the garage, and 4 breaker sin the garage, one each for the compressor, lights, garage door opener, and the one bank of outlets. When it gets warmer I'll add in more outlets, but for right now this is just fine.

 

Now to figure out why the garage door opener doesn't work. I hope it's not fried too. So far that I've found, whatever happened in the wiring took out the old outlet box, an extension cord, the light switch, and the one power strip. :fs1: The compressor had an inline ground fault interrupter, which might have been it's saving grace. :D

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