Okay I'm in neck deep in a wiring project that is getting worse by the moment. It started when a breaker popped after my son plugged in a stereo in his bedroom. In fact it more than popped, it died. I went to the HW store, bought a new breaker, and then about screamed when I took off the panel to the breaker box. Several hours and breaker flipping later, I ran into the following:
I'm sure there's more to come, but that's what I've found so far. This house is only 13 years old; I bought it 8 years ago and all hell is breaking loose just now. This is one of those "I wish I had known then what I know now" situations. Anyway, now for the questions:
I'd love to be able to afford to have an electrician come in and do it all for me, but unfortunately I lost my job a year ago and the disability just ran out. I'm trying to bring the house up to code so I can sell it and move into someplace more affordable. I used to do industrial wiring many many years ago, so I'm not flying blind here.
- The outlets for both back bedrooms were on one circuit, thus the pop.
- All the outlets and lights in the basement are on one circuit (except the sump pump), and the wiring is bad. So bad in fact, at one place, someone had spliced the romex by cutting it, adding another line, twisting the conductors together and wrapping them with black tape (no wire nuts!), wrapping the splice in a piece of garden hose, and black tape onion the whole thing. This was right near a cold water pipe too. The splice ran to an outlet on a ceiling joist to which the furnace humidifier was plugged in.
- Two microwaves and the fridge are on one circuit. I crunched the numbers: 12.5A for MW#1, 8A for MW#2, and 7A for fridge. Explain to me why the 20A breaker hasn't popped yet, particularly when (rarely) all three are on at once. None of the outlets are GFI. I've since moved one micro to a different circuit, but the other one is more problematic.
- The stove light and exhaust fan have a dedicated circuit. Whoopee, at best they draw a couple amps.
- The gas stove and two other outlets share a circuit. Only one of those three outlets is a GFI.
- Two kitchen outlets plus the switched outlet for the sink disposal, plus the porch outlet share a circuit. All but the disposal are GFI.
- There are four circuits to cover all the lights in the house (except the basement): the garage has its own, which probably includes the opener, but that's busted so I don't know. The living room, kitchen, and porch lights share a circuit. The hallway, 3rd BR, main bath, and laundry room lights share a circuit. The MBR, 2nd BR, and master bath lights share a circuit. Light bulbs in this house don't seem to last as long as I thought they should. I always thought it was quirky, but didn't really look into it until now.
I'm sure there's more to come, but that's what I've found so far. This house is only 13 years old; I bought it 8 years ago and all hell is breaking loose just now. This is one of those "I wish I had known then what I know now" situations. Anyway, now for the questions:
- The breaker box was full, so I added an adjacent sub-box and moved some of the circuits into it. I've got #6 4-wire going from a double-50A breaker in the main box into the sub-box, and I'm a little confused about the grounding. Currently the ground and common are tied together in the sub-box, but now I read somewhere that the sub-box shouldn't be doing that. If that's the case, what do I do with the ground wire on the #6 feed? Not use it? I assume I still ground the sub-box circuits to the common bar like in the main box. Also I bonded the common in the sub-box to the box metal itself. Both boxes are placed on plywood on the wall, so they themselves wouldn't be grounded otherwise. Should I be doing that?
- The furnace, while it does have its own dedicated circuit, has no on/off switch at the furnace itself. I believe that is against code, am I correct?
- I thought the fridge was supposed to have a dedicated 15A circuit. Is this true? Its a plug-in, so I wasn't sure. (There's no hardwired appliances anywhere in the kitchen except possibly the dishwasher, and thankfully that is on its own circuit.)
- I thought all kitchen outlets were supposed to be GFI. Should I be replacing those?
- I noticed a number of the light switches throughout the house have ground screws on them, but aren't grounded. I also noticed a lot of them don't have ground screws on them at all. Should I be replacing and grounding them all? Should I be adding more light circuits?
- I bought an outlet tester and I have confirmed that all the outlets in the house and garage are wired correctly (at least as far as the tester can tell). Should I be looking at anything else?
- What is the statue of limitations and I should I be hiring a lawyer?
I'd love to be able to afford to have an electrician come in and do it all for me, but unfortunately I lost my job a year ago and the disability just ran out. I'm trying to bring the house up to code so I can sell it and move into someplace more affordable. I used to do industrial wiring many many years ago, so I'm not flying blind here.