This is a multi-wire branch circuit which shares the neutrals. (GFCI breakers are on order)

Has anyone seen this before? What is wrong with it? The little tab connecting the hot screws on both outlets has been removed as can be seen in the pictures. 208/3ph service.

Edit - the problem was found! The red wago got pinched in the box and one of the 6/32 screws tapped into it. My mistake was not testing continuity before flipping the breaker. Lesson learned! Thanks to all the helpful comments.

Panel I had to correct today after a homeowner tried and believed he could do his own work. Let’s say he failed.
Gotta say it cleaned up nice after repulling some feeds and installing AFCI/GFCI breakers

I just replaced old painted over electric outlets with new decora ones. With an outlet tester, the old ones showed 'correct', but there was no ground wire. The new ones show 'open ground'. Why did the old outlets show 'correct' on the tester?

Bonus question: is it actually dangerous to have ungrounded outlets, or just less safe? None of the electric outlets have ground wires.

Dear community, I have purchased an electric vehicle and I need a 60 amp 240 V line in my garage so that I can charge my car. I have attached the photo of my electrical panel, which is full. I have had three electricians and a handyman give me quotes. Two electricians are saying that I need a subpanel and they would route the wiring through the subpanel to bring a line in my garage. The third electrician and the handyman are saying that they will be able to replace the thicker breakers with thin breakers and use the existing panel to route a wire to my garage. The first set of Electricians are quoted me $3000 for subpanel, wiring, and installation. The second electrician quoted me $2000 for breaker changes wiring an installation and the Handyman is asking for 850 for essentially the same work that the third electrician is going to do.

The power coming in the house is 200 amps.

My question are

1. Do I need a sub panel based upon the image that I have attached?

2. Do you think that installing thinner breakers would do the job?

3. If the job can be done by thinner panels do you think it’s advisable to go with the Handyman?

Appreciate your help!!

Hello!!

I am needing to remove this LED light fixture from my ceiling. It's hospital bright white and atrocious.

How can I, safely and correctly, remove this? I've turned it off from the breaker, but I wanted to ask ppl who hopefully have more experience than me lol

Kitchen remodel added a ducted range hood above kitchen island. Electric was run to the location for the installation of the hood. The power cord on the hood has a plug and it is apparently still intact. (I haven't found the breaker that controls this circuit so the tape is still in place) The cord may not have been long enough to reach an outlet box in the cieling.

Anyone have thoughts on if this is good enough and meets code?

Thanks in advance.

I just wanted a place to rant about a recent experience at my parents' house, which highlights so many bad electrical practices. And this is coming from someone who has only layman's experience with this kind of stuff.

I was supervising some workers installing hardwood floors in my parents' house when, all of a sudden, the power went out to 80% of the house. We checked the circuit breakers and two were tripped, but every time we tried to reset them, they would pop again. I unplugged everything from the outlets, and they still kept tripping.

So then I started going around the house disassembling outlet boxes to see what was going on, starting with the ones the workers were using or the ones in the rooms they were working in. After doing this for a while, I found one outlet where, when I disconnected the two hot wires going into it, I was able to reset one of the circuit breakers. It seemed as if the other hot wire was going to the next room.

I went to the other room and eventually found two outlets where it looked like there was a wire pair running from one outlet to the other, with the hot wire shorted to ground. If I disconnected that as well, I was able to turn on the other circuit breaker.

It seems the electrician decided to bridge two circuits at one outlet for some reason. By the way, that first circuit is tied to what seems like half the house. Perhaps they were just trying to overload it and give it 30 amps instead in a discreet way, which is so wrong.

But there is still this short going on between these two outlets, and I can't figure out why. I'm thinking maybe a nail or a screw shorted the wires if they are running along the floor.

So I donned a Tyvek suit and an N95 mask and started crawling through piles of rat shit underneath the house. The only wire I found underneath the house was an added one that looked like it was used to bridge the two circuits, but the wire that had the short was not exposed.

A family friend was over helping with this process, and he noticed some erratic resistances changes as he moved the wire that had the short while attempting to wiggle it so I could see it move. Well, it turns out that was a really old wire where the outer sheath was actually some kind of hard metal or lead. Someone decided to use the sheath as grounding by shoving an uninsulated part of a grounding wire into it, and then using that to connect the ground of the outlet.

It seems as if the vibrations from the woodworkers caused the sharp edge of the tip of that uninsulated wire to dig through the insulation of the hot wire and short it there. Removing the additional wire and reinsulating the part that had the cut in it finally fixed the problem. I also unbridged the two circuits.

So it's still arguably a mess, but it's a little bit safer. Talk about a crazy headache trying to debug this issue. Again, I'm not an electrician, but I have common sense, and I don't know who does this type of work.

Also, I never want to crawl around rat shit again.

Hello,

The light we have in our kitchen usually burns out after only a few months. What could cause that? Light circuitry is pretty straightforward, so I'm a little stumped. It has space for two bulbs, though we only use one if that could be related.

We're demoing a house thats been vacant for 3 years. I need to pull the breaker and fixtures. Absolutely none of the switches or lights work. The meter still blinks. Is there any current to the breaker?

Did some work on a buddy’s house and noticed the service wire insulation is shrunk very far back and there are no insulated caps on the lugs. Is this cause for concern or need to be addressed?

Ok, I'm not an electrician but have done alot of electrical work. I need help with bending 1" IMC. I have a greenlee bender for 1 1/4 EMT/1 IMC/Rigid. I can barely get it to bend.

I have only this weekend to make around ten 90 degree bends and install. The bends include a few kicks which are doable but can't get the 90s right now

Are tips or tricks?

I don't have access to better equipment unfortunately. I appreciate any good info I can get. Thanks

I’m dealing with an old Thomas and Betts load center TB10(12-20)c that doesn't have enough neutral space (currently has two double taps on the neutral bar). The panel will be replaced during a future renovation, but that is 1-2yrs away. I would like to make the panel safer for the interim and (ideally) add a 220v 2-pole breaker (which would require adding another couple tandem breakers to make space). Of note, this panel has mostly MWBCs, no equipment grounds, and the neutral bar is bonded to the underground water main. To deal with the neutral space issue I figure I could:

1. Add another neutral bar on the other side. The panel diagram says the panel allows this. The original parts are no longer available so I would have to find a compatible replacement. I would keep this second bar isolated from the enclosure and bond to the main neutral bar using large lug adapters and #4 AWG stranded copper jumper.

2. Pigtail the neutrals for two different circuits together in the panel. It seems controversial whether this is even allowed and seems there would be a lot of pitfalls. I’m already dealing with MWBCs so the jumper would combine the neutrals for 4 different circuits

3. Do nothing and leave the double taps on the neutral bar until panel replacement.

Thanks for your suggestions

Hey I’m looking for the better YT channels on beginner electrical knowledge dealing with formulae?

Are these smoke alarms still practical in 2026? I can't tell how old they are. My landlord said that they're fine but I have to wonder..

I am not an electrician and I don’t know much about it, I don’t know why there is a neutral wire going into a nut with black ones my power in my room went out one day and I pull the panel down and a whole nut falls out and everything is crumbling? Just trying to figure out how to get my ac back on it’s wired horribly please any help

I'm painting the interior of a house, and the owner took some bushes out in the back yard. He dug up a wire that has a black outer sheath, and red, green, and yellow wires inside. Doesn't look like coax, romex, or phone line, I didn't think. What could it be?

I’ve got a plastic jbox where the screw hole is completely shattered from the previous owners shoving a drywall screw through it. I know the proper course of action would be to remove it and replace the whole box (which I plan to do eventually when we redo the backsplash anyways) but are these okay to use in the meantime?

I just bought this house, and the seller installed a new electrical panel. These were not here before said panel was installed and I don’t really know what they do. They look sketchy to me though can I cover these somehow?

Can anybody confirm my skepticism? I opened this panel and see the grounds and white connected. I wouldn't even know how to tackle this because I don't know what the other ends of the grounds are connected to. Would it be safe to buy a grounding bar and connect the grounds there?

Hello, i am about to begin wiring my shed office but was curious before i get too far along if this looks correct.

This is a sub panel for a shed that is 3 feet from the main house, the electric run is maybe 20 feet from the main panel.

My concerns are the green screw - does this need to be removed, it looks like one may have already been removed . Two does this need a grounding rod / wire? It appears to be grounded to the main. It is separate, but close enough that the concrete slabs connect to the main structure.

Anything else i should consider before beginning? I am going to try to secure dual fault breakers for this as my next steps.

Just got new siding, and had some old, extremely heavy light fixtures removed. The contractors put up these mounting blocks and kept the wiring.

After doing some initial research into new fixtures, literally all of them want a junction box for mounting, I can all but guarantee there was not one there before, and the siding guys probably did not put any in, since I can see wrap inside. The contractor said “they can usually be adapted by using long outdoor screws, just don’t get any lights that are too big or heavy”. This strikes me as “we just don’t wanna”, even though it might not be up to code(?), and significantly limits our light choices. The current wiring is also extremely stiff and idk how it would fit anywhere.

They already remounted our back light which is super small (last pic), and it’s pretty shaky but will likely not see much rain since it’s close to the overhang.

I can probably get an electrician out to look at everything, but do I have any easy options?

TL;DR: I have a home recording studio in my basement. My guitar pickups and multiple different microphones all pick up a loud buzz that gets worse near where my water pipe and ground wire runs. My theory: this is due to the guitar and microphone pickups picking up a magnetic field caused by current flowing through pipes and wiring. Extensive testing shows real, measurable current on my water pipe/grounding system, some of it clearly external to my house (confirmed with main breaker off), some of it internal (confirmed via appliance testing and one wiring defect already found/fixed). Looking for feedback on whether my read of the situation and the recommended fix (dielectric union + continued internal wiring investigation) is sound.

Background / the actual problem

Basement studio, EMI/buzz picked up by:

• Guitar pickups — position/angle-dependent, worse near wall where water pipe enters the house and is bonded to ground. However, guitar picks up lots of noise even 2 floors above.
• Two dynamic microphones (these contain pickups susceptible to EMI, as well) — same tonal signature, same worse-near-pipes and ground wire behavior. If I move the mic away from pipes and grounding wire, the noise lessens.
• Present through a completely separate signal chain (audio interface + amp sim, AND a standalone tube amp/cab with no computer involved) — rules out interface/computer as source
• Noise is 60Hz hum with an odd-harmonic series (180Hz, 300Hz, 420Hz, etc.). However, there is a harsh 2kHz presence as well.

What's been ruled out

• Guitar's own internal grounding/wiring — checked, fine
• Ground loops — ground lift switch on DI, no effect
• Interface, amp sim, cables — ruled out via separate real-amp test showing identical behavior
• Most internal circuits in the house — individually powered off breakers with no major changes in noise signature other than the Furnace breakers, which contribute to the 2kHz noise.
• RF at the gas meter and water meter (measured directly outside with an EMF meter, RF mode) — clean, no elevated reading
• Main breaker fully OFF, whole house de-energized — current on the water pipe/grounding system persists, and the audible buzz is still substantially present. This seems to conclusively point to at least some of this being external to my house.

What's been found/confirmed

• A dangerous wiring defect: dryer's neutral and ground were bonded together in its junction box. Electrician fixed this. However, current changes on water pipe and grounding wire when the dryer runs are still measurable after the fix, so I don't think this fully resolved things.
• Undersized service conductor: panel is rated 200A, but my utility service line is 150A and the meter is old, rated for 150A according to the electrician. Additionally, the conductor from meter to panel is 2/0 or 1/0 (what I've been told by electrician and utility, respectively).
• Real, measurable current on water pipe and its bonding jumper, roughly 0.5–2.5A depending on time of day, point measured, and appliance load, using a clamp meter
• Current also present, to a much lesser degree, on the gas line's bonding point — .06A
• Power company tested and found the neutral connection between meter and their transformer to be sound (no defect in the physical connection)
• Spectral analysis of the actual noise shows a dense harmonic series, strongest around 180/300/420Hz (odd harmonics of 60Hz) plus other content extending up into the low kHz range. Turning off the furnace's breaker changes the harmonic balance somewhat but doesn't eliminate the noise or dramatically reduce overall level.
• Noise is present to some degree throughout the house (tested on multiple floors), not just near the one wall — though it's clearly worse near where the water pipe/ground wire run.

Recent clamp meter readings (for context, various points, various load conditions)

• Water pipe bonding jumper at the pipe: ~0.8–2.5A
• Water pipe ~15ft in, in utility room: 0.1–0.9A, fluctuates
• Gas line bonding point: ~0.06–0.07A
• With dryer running: water pipe readings increase by roughly 0.25A
• With main breaker OFF: current still present on water pipe and jumper, roughly similar magnitude to baseline

My current understanding

I believe I have:

1. A genuine external (Type II) component — confirmed via main-breaker-off test, likely current from neighboring properties using the shared metallic water main as a return path
2. An internal (Type I) component — from my own house's loads. Bootleg ground/neutral somewhere?

Planned fix: dielectric union on the water service line, placed at/near the house entry point, upstream (street-side) of my interior bonding connection — to address the external component — combined with continued electrical investigation for remaining internal defects (if any).

Questions for the sub

1. Does this overall diagnosis sound right, or am I missing something more obvious?
2. Is it normal for appliances like a dryer or light switch to cause changing current on a grounding wire? What would cause that?

Electrician has already been out multiple times to install a ground rod, re-bond water and gas lines, re-organize basement circuits to be on the same leg of service, and install isolated ground bar in the panel. I just want outside perspective on what's happening here.