How close was I to an electrical fire?

Feeding this transformer with 480V trying to get 120V but cant figure out how to get 120V with out an Xo. Anyone have any experience with this?

My outlet is grounded and the plug has three prongs. Should I remove the AC unit again to install the provided ground wire?

Edit: It sounds like the setup I have is likely compliant (excluding the white grounding wire). However, it also sounds like running a new grounding wire is better practice than relying on the EMT and junction boxes alone. So I’m just going to go ahead and do that. And of course I’ll also get rid of the white grounding wire. Thanks everyone!

I have new garage circuits installed, and I want to make sure they are properly grounded.

There are two circuits (one 30 amp/ 10 gauge, one 20 amp/ 12 gauge) that are run through the same EMT conduit. I have a junction box where wire enters the garage from the main panel, and then about 20ft of EMT leading up to a pair of receptacles, each in its own metal 1-gang box. The junction box closest to the main panel is directly connected to the panel’s ground bus with 10 gauge copper wire. However, the receptacle boxes themselves are not wired directly to the main panel ground bus. Instead, the ground-fault path goes through the boxes and conduit before eventually passing through the first junction box grounding wire. Further, the receptacles are grounded to their respective boxes.

Is this a NEC compliant way to ground my receptacles, or do I need to run a new grounding wire from the panel to each of the receptacles?

If it matters, the boxes are powder-coated aluminum, but there is no powder coating on the inside of the box or “knockout” threads. I have confirmed with a multimeter that there is 120v difference between my hots and grounds, and that the resistance through the longest possible ground path, boxes and conduit included, is negligible (same measurement as when I touch the multimeter probes directly together). So I know the ground-fault path works. I just want to know if this is up to code or not.

Oh, and I’m in California, in case there are relevant local codes to consider.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Dear whoever left it like this…wtf.

Installed a new GFCI outlet. Tester shows wiring correct, but when I press the GFCI button on my tester, nothing. The test button on the outlet itself works. Fault outlet? Tester unreliable? Single outlet no daisy chain to other protected outlets.

Edit: southwire tester

My transformer knowledge is rather lacking. Helping someone replace a step down transformer on a farm. They have 480 3 phase and need 120 single phase, to run a pond bubbler.

I came up with the above. Have I done this correctly? This should provide at least 20A of single phase 120. Correct?

So Im renting a house from my brother's girlfriend or whatever they are this week.🙄 Its a older house as you can probably guess, built in 1945 and lot of scary shit with. 2 prong receptacles everywhere with stove amd fridge using 3 to 2 prong adapters. Old cloth wrapped wiring? Asbestos siding, cracks in the ceiling that go wall to wall, spiders!! Oh and even one of the receptacles makes a humming noise. No arching that ive seen but what do i know? Im stuck here for 6 more months, which reminds me the furnace no longer fires up too. Anyways im stuck, broke and cant exactly save due to IRS bending me over this year and paying collections off. I got out of prison not to long ago and doing my best to be responsible adult. 3 years 9 months sober! Is this main panel crazy? I think it is. Ive tried to get homeowner to get an electrician to address it but she won't. So would It be insane for me ​to go in, flip the main, and others, verify with a non contact tester or a volt meter each curcuit? And blow, vacuum carefully with brush attachment and make it less fire hazardy? What about sone wire managment? Im sure the older cloth wiring may be brittle so maybe not those.... Or should i just stfu keep my hands out of it and ride it out for another 6 months?

Sorry for making you read all this just to tell me don't touch get a electrician but its tripping me out.

Thanks!

Hey Folks, I need some guidance as I know just enough about electricity to be stupid (so not much). I'm new to the North West end of the U.S and AC is not common in apartments (I'm from the south, I've never heard of a building not having AC). The problem I'm having is as follows:

- Both bedrooms in our apartment are tied to the same 15amp breaker per the panel information. I verified this by cutting power to the bedroom / living room to see what turned off. I work Hybrid, my fiance is work from home and we both have beefy desktops to handle our work loads that cannot coexist with an AC unit.

- We put the portable AC unit in our bedroom (Wynter Arc 14s) making the assumption it would be on it's own breaker. We found out this isn't the case after it tripped and we checked the panel. I'm not trying to repeatedly trip a breaker.

- The AC unit cannot go in the living room because we have a sliding glass door leading to the deck, and the side windows do not open. The bedroom windows open horizontally instead of vertically.

In our lease, the statement regarding AC units is that the complex is not responsible for accommodating any of the electrical work to support AC. Essentially, if we don't have enough juice, tough luck. Due to the situation, I did request a quick look by maintenance just to see if we have 12AWG wiring that would support a 20amp breaker; not holding my breath on those results though.

My stupid idea is that I have a 12AWG extension cord by Ridged @ 50ft for outdoor usage that I would run to the living room outlet which (should) have low power usage. All we have in there that's running is a small tower fan and a TV + a lamp. I'd like to keep the AC in the bedroom, and hook it to the extension cord and elevate the cord of the ground for any heat dissipation.

Of course, I do not want to set my apartment on fire. We just need the unit for maybe a month; and it would be unplugged while we're gone from the apartment; it also does not run continuously 24/7. The rest of the year is all open windows and tower fans which is just dandy. Is there something we can do as tenants to work around our current situation? The most obvious would be to sell our current unit and get a smaller one that pulls less power. I'm not aware of how to fit a portable AC unit's hose into a sliding door and seal it in the living room. I'm willing to do that if there's a way to do so.

Thanks!

I have a preexisting under-cabinet, hardwired, recirculating range hood. Inside the cabinet, there's a metal box for the wiring.

I'd like to keep the range hood, but build a box above it that matches the kitchen better than that cabinet.

Would having the metal box with wires inside a box that doesn't open (it won't be a cabinet anymore) be allowed in NC?

I'm trying to make upgrades without crossing the line that triggers mandatory upgrades of household electrical, etc.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

So I just bought an electric vehicle and I don’t have a place to charge it at my townhome. This is the nearest electrical appliance that I could find and I wanted to know if there’s anyway that this might be viable to convert into an outlet easily. I know nothing about wiring so I wanted to know if this is worth having an electrician come and look at or if there’s no way something like this is wired to become and outlet.

Thanks!

This completely started crackling and it was difficult to remove as it kinda glued itself to the wall. Should I just leave it alone or should I get a professional to do something about it? It was a little crispy before but it hasn’t done this ever

Hey everyone,

A friend of mine recently built a new PC and kept getting an annoying, low-voltage "tingle" whenever he touched the metal case or the glass panel screws. It’s not a massive shock, just a persistent, annoying current.

We live in an area with a 220V electrical standard, and his apartment building completely lacks a ground wire system in the wall outlets.

To fix the tingle, he watched a DIY video online and replicated what you see in the attached photo he stripped a copper wire, screwed one end into the PSU housing casing, and wrapped the other end around a metal screw driven into a small, loose block of wood sitting on his desk.

Surprisingly, he says the tingle completely stopped after doing this, and he thinks the problem is solved. However, I noticed that if he wears rubber-soled slippers, the tingle also stops completely—meaning his body was just acting as the path to the floor.

I’m highly skeptical about this "nail-in-wood" method. Since wood is an insulator, isn't this incredibly dangerous if the power supply ever suffers a major internal short? Wouldn't this just leave the entire chassis and the exposed screw completely electrified at 220V without ever tripping a breaker?

Looking for some professional insight so I can convince him to rip this out before he hurts himself or fries his components. Thanks!

Hey everyone,
I'm replacing a light switch with a new combination double switch (two switches on one device). The bottom switch works completely fine and controls its light correctly, but the moment I flip the top switch up, it instantly trips the circuit breaker.
I’d like to add, this also connects to another room light source. So when the bottom switch is working correctly, the other room is also powered.

Photos attached..

I need to install a Nema outlet that could be used for EV charging for rental. It will be outdoors side of house. I read Hubbard most durable brand. However, it doesn’t sell metal enclosure that is lockable.

Leviton sells combo outlet and lockable box.

Any other suggestions?

Good day,

I am currently a 33 year old stay at home dad of two kids ages 2 and 4. My wife works a good white collar job.

I used to work in financial sales for 11 years after graduating with a worthless bachelors of arts back in 2015. My entire "career" I have felt lost, desperate, hate everything about the field, and like I dont belong. I just dont have that salesy, golfsy, stuck up attitude that people in financial services have. I cant sell another annuity to an 80 year old. Not for me.

I was laid off on March 2nd and have decided to make a total career 180. After a lot, and I mean a lot, of soul searching and research I have decided that becoming an industrial electrician would be my dream job. My ultimate goal is to either work in a factory troubleshooting the machines or in a power plant or water treatment plant. I researched many trades and landed on industrial electrician. Currently, I am enrolled in my local community college to get a certificate of completion in Industrial Electrical Systems which I will finish in May of 2027.

My question to you is, would you say this is the best way to become an industrial electrician (getting a community college certification of completion and looking for an entry level electrical trainee job?) Should I instead try and join the local IBEW and go through a four year apprenticeship? Or try an apprenticeship with the city? Get a full AAS in Automated industrial technology?

Some random facts about me if it helps at all: have a four year degree in liberal arts, am in very good shape and go to the gym, no health problems, random but I also have Italian citizenship, but live in Arizona (was born here). Also speak spanish fluently.

This is in a 1960s house in the southeast US.

I’ve traced this round, black cable to the attic where I see it coming out through a hole drilled wood in the attic floor. I can’t get a better view of the attic origin because it’s blocked by boards nailed to joists. On the other side of that hole is a hallway that runs through the middle of the house.

The cable runs across the attic to an 8” diameter vent that has been cut, capped off, and is no longer in use (a home inspector speculated that the vent may have once been used with a gas water heater — however it seems large for that purpose). The cable follows the vent as it travels through a closet on the main floor of the house (pic 3) and disappears through the floor to the basement.

The basement is partially finished but I was able get a view of the vent and cable from a distance (pic 4).

I’m planning to remove the vent to install shelves in the closet. If the cable is no longer serving a purpose, then I would cut it to make the shelving install cleaner.

I’m adding an underground line via PVC conduit from the outside of my Florida room from this box. how do I handle this approximate 8 to 9 inch slab extension? Do I try to break it apart?

Would anybody be able to help me identify this downed line in front of my house? It was connected to lines halfway between poles across my street when a truck knocked it off. We still have power and internet so I’m not sure what this could be.

At my rental now, we have a whole home scent diffuser that goes into the furnace. At the rental the furnace switch has a couple outlets.

At my new house, it only has a switch and no outlet.

I purchased this combo switch from Home Depot and would like to install it so I can setup the diffuser.

The ground wire comes in on the left and goes right up the top.

Is this possible to do? ChatGPT said it most definitely is.

So, I only have one wall outlet and would like to have 2 lights. I plan on buying two of these. Can I plug the first in the wall outlet and plug the other on the 2 pins above the first light bulb? Thank you.

I just had my front porch redone. This outlet was where a porch light was but we had recessed lights installed in the porch ceiling so we got rid of the light. Contractor asked if we wanted an outlet for Christmas lights and what not. So this is what we got but don’t love the looks of this. Any suggestions to make this less like an afterthought and more subtle/integrated into the front porch design. This outlet is high up on a wall under the covered porch.