. . .when I get serious about finishing up electrical work here at twc central.
*profound sigh*
I do so very much dislike doing electrical work, but the only electrician I really trust here in America’s Third County retired a couple of years ago, and I really, really, really don’t want to pay someone to just screw things up, so that leaves me, my “consultant” (“Hey, X, can you tell me what to do/where to go for parts/etc., for such and so?”) and my several references on electrical work, codes, etc.
See, there are several ESSENTIAL circuits. Some I’ve already reworked, and they’re OK, but there is one seriously, majorly [messed up] circuit that serves stuff all over the house in ways that make no rhyme or reason that I’ve been putting off simply because it is the single weirdest electrical circuit I’ve ever run across. It serves parts of serveral rooms and one room entirely–the small room I have used as an office that is now pretty much simply a computer junk room and place with my most comfy chair for sitting at a computer.
(Yeh, yeh, I know, whine, whine, whine.)
Well, that circuit decided today was the day to go crazy. Dead. Live. Dead again. No, the circuit breaker doesn’t pop. It’s the live bus bar in the main box. *sigh* Yeh. Best solution is simply to replace the main service panel. *groan* I do NOT want to do that. Second best: call the manufacturer and order a new bus bar. Now, while that’s nearly the cost of a completely new circuit panel and still involves working around the live mains, I can do that. (Good insulation all over, including properly insulated tools, gloves, shoes, etc., then terminating the live mains with appropriately-sized insulators; still a PITA and still a bit scary. *shrugs* I have life insurance. :-)) But that, of course, will still leave me with rewiring to do, since circuits wired by a jackleg electrician and added to later by someone’s retarded pet monkey still need to be cleaned up (*cough* rewired completely *cough*).
Ah, well, in th meantime, I can bring in those three (or four–there is room in the box) circuits someone added to the house in a box outside about 30 years or so ago (going by the manufacture date of the circuit panel outside). . . coming straight off the mains! *sigh* I suppose I could cut off two of the rooms on this bad circuit and use one circuit apiece from the outside box for them. That’d (temporarily, in a hash-up sort of way) solve a world of ills. Another for an appliance circuit that I think is overloaded, although it’s never had any problems. I could almost do that recycling the conduit that’s outside, although I’d want to use new wiring.
Looks like my Spring task list has pretty well filled up, cos I do electrical work v e r y s l o w l y.
I do it even slower… I will always hire someone else to risk life, limb and nervous system… I simply don’t have the patience to do it right, and if I’m not going to do it right, I’m not going to do it.
Well, slowly and carefully has worked well so far. Protective gear helps. 😉 NOT providing a path to ground helps, too. If I knew a local electrician I had any confidence in at all, it’d definitely be a different story, but I don’t. On the positive side: I always find a “reason” to buy (or make: today I made a very handy circuit tester–easier to use and gives me adequate info for the troubleshooting I’m doing now and. . . cost about $2 to make AND gave me an ecuse to use an old butane mini-torch to do the soldering, instead of using one of my electric soldering guns. Fun! Win-Win-Win.) more tools. 🙂
Another plus: I’ve had to re-think–and improve–my re-wiring efforts. Re-rationalize the schematic, re-think techniques and processes both for safety and for additional ease of completion. I really, REALLY hate the idea of completely switching out the main service panel, but as I’ve been troubleshooting the troubled (and troubling) circuit, I’ve hit on–and studied, and researched and thought about and re-thought about–a process for making such a project much, much easier, complete with equipment and supplies list for the gig. That’s fun, too. Heck, I’ve even added to the task list using an old USB label printer (prints adhesive label strips) for labeling ALL wiring emerging from junctions, terminating (both ends) etc., as to which circuit it belongs to, all to match the service panel labels. The circuits that are already rehabbed will be able to be simply switched over, while I’ll be doing the remaining circuits according to the new plan (and adding the new labeling to already rehabbed circuits).
Then, of course, I need to be sure I fit in tilling the new garden plots. . . trimming/pruning more trees back. . . more work on the decks. . . checking how well my roof work came through the Winter. . . PAINTING the rest of the house to match the front (all I got done last Fall). I have enough projects to last me a while, I think. *heh*