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OT: Home electrical wiring success story Posted by MI-Roger [Email]  (#882) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from MI-Roger) on Sun, 5 Jul 2015 14:14:50
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I have done enough home wiring that I probably shouldn't feel pride with today's accomplishment but I still do.
Our youngest son bought a post WWII bungalow last summer that has seen a lot of pleasant upgrades completed during the past 10-15 years. Even though the kitchen and bath have been nicley upgraded some numb-nuts had failed to install GFCI protection in either room!
In the kitchen I installed two GFCI receptacles at the outlets closest to the sink. Each was on a separate circuit, one as a stand-alone device (easy!) and the other as the first device in a string that included the refrigerator with built-in water/ice dispenser. That first device was a challenge due to a tight box but it is now GFCI as per code. Two other receptacles remain in the kitchen but neither is close enough to the sink to require protection.
The real success involved the bath. The bathroom has two combination devices (switch and outlet in one) that are almost impossible to find in GFCI. Definitely not cost effective, so a new breaker was the best solution even though that puts the reset button in the panel in the basement laundry room.
The house was built with a fuse box that was abandoned when a breaker panel was installed 15-20 years ago. The old fuse box is now a junction box where the old circuits are spliced into stranded THHN wire which then goes through conduit to the circuit breaker panelboard. Unfortunately, the installed panel board is a Westinghouse Challenger which is now obsolete. I was able to buy an Eaton BR style GFCI which is the only correctly labled breaker for the old Challenger boxes.
I knew the circuit that fed the bath also fed the study so I was apprehensive about findng two wires on the old breaker. Luckily there was only one, but my joy was short lived when I realized the wire was Orange and not Black. At least two Orange wires tied new breakers to old circuits in the former fuse box, and a handful of white neutral wires tied the old circuits to the new Neutral bars. How to find the right neutral for the Hot lead when there were multiple hots of the same color, all neutrals were white, and all wires were tightly bundled into a nice neat harness which precluded the "push & tug" method of circiut identifiecation? For GFCI circuits both the Neutral and the Hot must be terminated at the breaker, a neutral pig-tail goes from the breaker to the neutral bar.
Then it hit me! Disconnect the neutral wires one at a time until the circuit goes dead. Which ever Neutral interupts the circuit when it is disconnected from the Neutral bar is the mate to the Hot lead which must also be connected to the new GFCI breaker. The second neutral I disconnected was the correct one.
So now I am foolishly giddy for thinking of this embarasingly simple solution to my wiring problem. Maybe this can help others too.
->Posting last edited on Sun, 5 Jul 2015 14:21:05.
_______________________________________ Saabs owned: 2008 9-5 Aero Sedan, sold at 227K miles 2006 9-3SC 2.0T - Wife's daily driver 2000 Viggen Convertible - Sold May, 2022 1964 Quantum IV Formula Car - Retirement project 2000 9-5lpt Sedan, sold at 318K miles
, Sun, 5 Jul 2015 14:14:50 <-- Viewing This Message
, Mon, 6 Jul 2015 04:10:22, Mon, 6 Jul 2015 06:58:06, Mon, 6 Jul 2015 09:23:48
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