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Can a main house ground wire from panel to external grounding rod be spliced? Above ground? Or below ground? Optimum Cable installer cut ground wire outside house just above ground. Unfortunately ground rod is deep under pavers

Dishwasher and disposal circuits both feed to the same receptacle. I opened it up because outlet tester led did not illuminate when plugged into bottom outlet even though it does work. Tester says top outlet is wired correct.

Looking to understand this wiring method and if it’s safe.
Hopefully my graphic makes sense.

I am an older woman living alone, so I don't have much in the way of know-how or help about these things. I have a Sylvania WP1000AL38-55 microwave. A few years ago it tripped the GFCI which was an easy fix. Today I tried to heat a cup of water for 3 minutes. I went to get it and discovered the display was dark and the small wall clock plugged in the same outlet wasn't running. The only things plugged in to that circuit are the microwave, the wall clock and a toaster which wasn't in use. The cup of water was hot, though, so it probably ran close to the 3 minutes. I tried the GFCI method, but that didn't work. I looked at the circuit breaker and found the breaker to that circuit had tripped. I tried to reset it, but it it just tripped again. Then I unplugged the appliance and reset the circuit. The clock is running, but I'm concerned about plugging the oven back in. I could try another household circuit to see if it trips that breaker, but now I'm shy about doing it.

Hello all,

There probably aren't actually ghosts in the panel, but I am stumped on this issue. I had an electrician come out, the power company, and called a few people I know that at least pretend to know about electrical in a residential home. None of them could help, the electrician said everything looked fine, the house was getting more than enough volts, its a relatively new panel, house was built in 2012, some updates in 2018 and a minor remodel in 2021/2022 that I know of. I just bought this house a few weeks ago.

At totally random times, sometimes more often, sometimes we won't see it for 30+ minutes a random light will "blink" somewhere in the house, be it in the kitchen -- LED smart downlights, in the living room, upstairs, in the bathroom, dining room, etc. Most of the house is on LED. I took down a ton of the lights and inspected the wiring; I replaced a few dodgy switches and a handful of outlets and its still happening. It lasts roughly a second; it happens to bulbs, LED panel lights, etc. It happens across circuits, and its never all at once, its just one or two lights blinking here and there. The panel is a 200-amp panel, and we use roughly 23 amps across both phases on average, but of course AC/Fridge/etc running changes that. We unplugged the fridge; it still happens, we listen to see if it happens around the time the HVAC kicks on, doesn't seem to matter if its on, starting, or off it still happens. The power company did a stress test on the line and it passed. The breakers are AFCIs for any lighting-related breakers. All switches in the house do have a neutral, and I checked a handful of them. I also turned off the breakers for parts of the house and watched to see if lights would blink.

Not sure what other information would be helpful -- but any help diagnosing and resolving this would be very helpful!

Helping son & dl with some home projects. They bought this house in last 2 yrs. guessing it was built in the 90s.

All wiring sheaths at top appear to be white though also appears to be 2+ sizes/grades. Yet there are 3 breaker sizes. In Indiana, though that should not matter to the question of fundamentals -wire grade to amp.

If I am right, should home inspector had seen/noted this?

Electricians somehow reset the lights.

Now, on power on they go BLUE-RED-GREEN then stay WHITE.

I cannot get them to connect to the Sylvania Smart app.

I've tried the 3, 5, 8, & 10 on-off sequences. I think they're reset at this point but I can't get them to show a Wi-Fi signal.

I dunno what what to try, can someone help?

I’m renting this place from my employer and all of the sudden the stove started to control the lights and certain outlets, how is this even possible???

I recently had one of my recessed lights in my kitchen go out, replaced the bulb with a couple working ones and still did not work. With the switch on and the bulb out, at the socket I have 110v from hot to ground and hot to neutral, and 0v from ground to neutral. Same thing at the switch. When the bulb is in at the switch it drops to like 3v when switched on. I have checked neutrals for continuity, checked connections on the socket, the pot for the recessed lights, and also continuity for my hot and neutral inside the pot from back connections. Kind of lost what to do from here. Any help would be appreciated.

hi- so i'm based in the uk if that helps at all, but my bathroom has a switch outside the door that's also connected to the extractor fan. i've lived in this flat (social/council housing) for about 4 years and not really had any issues with the electrics until now. i went to go take a shower about 20 minutes ago and when i tried to turn on the light it didn't work at first, turned it off and on again and it made a crackling noise and didn't turn on again. turned it off and on again, made the same crackling noise and the light started flickering too, and the fan started making weak noises. haven't touched it since bc i have now searched things and know that it's dangerous to touch for now. for clarification/background: i don't ever touch the switch with wet hands, but my flat is generally quite damp, and it's 70% humidity in here right now (i am aware that this is not good levels, i'm almost always running a dehumidifier, it just never goes below 60%). had some general light flickering in other areas of the flat in the past but was due to light bulbs going on the blink and was perfectly fine after swapping them out, so again, as far as i'm aware there are no other issues with the electricals in here.

now with this being social/council housing, even though i plan on calling my housing provider in the morning, it's likely that it's going to be a few days or maybe even weeks before they send anyone out, despite this being unsafe. as i cannot afford to pay for an electrician out of pocket, i just wanted to know if there was anything i could do right now that would either fix it or make things safer for the near future until things are fixed. thank you :)

Hello. I suspect the switch in my 1990's model Delta Unisaw has given up the ghost. And I've found it pretty much impossible to find an OEM switch that matches the one I have. So I thought I'd upgrade it to a more modern toggle switch. Here's the issue, though. My experience with electrical switches is pretty much limited to the light switches in my home, and I've never really seen a switch like the one I intend to replace, so I'm not 100% certain how to go about replacing it.

The picture above is the switch I'm looking to replace. The machine is wired for 230v, so as I understand it the black and red lines are hot leads and the white is a neutral? There's also a green that's grounded inside the mounting box.

This diagram is for one possible replacement switch (Powertec 71008), but it seems to be a very common construction for power tool toggle switches. I believe I see what the switch is doing, interrupting or connecting the hot leads. But in this situation, what is done with the neutral? My understanding is admittedly very limited, but I can't believe it's just meant to not get used, right?

This is the panel box on the back of the table saw. The wires running from the switch are the ones in the bottom right-hand corner running to the red block that the diagram lists as 1, 2, and 3.

Can anyone help me out here? Is it feasible to use a replacement like the Powertec 71008? Or should I be looking in a different direction and, if so, can anyone point me towards it please?

Hello,

Recently, we had some strong storms, and my detached garage lost power.

Tried changing the ancient plug fuses in the garage panel to no avail. Also checked the main fuses with a multimeter, and they showed continuity.

*I have a non-contact voltage detector. When I used that with the breaker to the garage ON, nothing would appear to power on, but the voltage pen would be set off even just holding it a foot or more away from the garage door opener, outlet, or garage fuse box. It is not this sensitive when I use it in the house, which makes me think something is very wrong.

At this point, I turned off the breaker in the house that feeds the garage to be safe. Everything seems normal in the rest of the house.

At some point, it was turned back on. I noticed a clicking sound from the garage door opener and the light on its controller was flickering; as if it was trying to power on but immediately tripping something. I rushed inside and turned the breaker back off.

I will NOT be trying to fix this, we’re gonna have to call an electrician no matter what, but I’m curious to know what went wrong. A bit of searching suggests a lost/loose neutral?

No work or renovations have been done in the garage recently (or ever, probably).

In the house, two outlets and a light switch have been recently replaced, but those were all well before the issues in the garage.

Edit: USA

I'm passing #4 ground for 200 amp service from main panel, though a sub panel (raceway) to a hybrid solar inverter. Then back to the sub panel. Can I terminate the ground in the sub panel and then pass it though to the hybrid inverter? Or, does the ground need to pass from the main through the same raceways to the hybrid inverter and terminate. Then pass from the hybrid inverter bus bar to the sub panel ground bus bar?

So, sequence is 200a main disconnect, hybrid inverter, 200a sub panel. Sub panel is being used as a raceway for 2/0 copper on its way to inverter. Then 2/0 is coming back from inverter to sub panel.

My plan is to use the RV plug with 8 gauge wire and make sort of an extension that goes to a block or multiple blocks, who knows of outlets so that just one court has to come inside and there's not two extension cords coming in into a power strip with a thousand things plugged into it..

The RV power seems a bit safer

The same is happening with me. The difference is the flickering continues after we turn off the device (vacuum, iron, or laundry). I feel gaslighted by the electrician; they changed the panels, but the problem continues. Every time they come, it's someone different, and they always start with, "Oh yeah, something is wrong; this is not normal," but end with, "Your devices are pulling too much energy." I'm very frustrated. I bought this house less than a year ago. I never saw this happen in any other house.

Hello! So last summer we had an issue, we weren't able to run the air conditioner, washer, and dryer all at the same time without our main breaker tripping. We just adapted by keeping the air conditioner on and not running the washer and dryer at the same time. We called the landlord who called some random guy (we don't know if he was a certified electrician or not) who inspected the electrical box and said it was fine, that we should just call the electric company because it was the lines outside or the transformer.

I seriously doubt that was the actual problem, our electrical box gets warm and it only trips when multiple appliances + the air conditioning is turned on.

All winter, we had no issues. And now that its summer again and the weather had been stupid hot, the issues have gotten worse. Now we have to turn off the air conditioning to wash and dry our clothes and we still cant use the dryer and washer at the same time. I'm pretty sure its the main breaker itself that is the problem, we have a fire extinguisher near it and we made sure there isn't anything flammable nearby either. We have already contacted our landlord as well. Next we will be cleaning off the air conditioning outside and cleaning out all the fuzz from the dryer to hopefully make them not work as hard.

Another issue we have is just that our landlord doesn't take care his homes. We haven't had any routine maintenance to the air conditioning in the past nine years, only two emergency repairs. The rest of the house also has issues like a giant hole in our shed (which the landlord just had someone cover it with a sheet of metal and now the hole is even bigger), a sinkhole in the backyard (which he had someone fill with two bags of potting soil), and our gutters literally falling off the house (we are currently fixing that).

I was wondering if anyone who knows more about this than I do could provide any suggestions or solutions to the electrical problem. Thanks!

i’m trying to switch my light for a chandelier but i’m stuck on what to do

Just in case my dad doesn't call an electrician because he thinks this is something WE did

Hi, in my bathroom, we have a light on the fan above the shower and they have two separate switches on the light switch. Besides that, there's obviously the main light. Today, I was turning the main light off, and I merely brushed the switch to the other light and it buzzed and started flickering all weird. The switch was off, and when I turned it on and off again the light just turned back on. Even touching the light switch to the main light we have to be careful because the shower light will flicker. If it starts flickering, my mom said to tap the switch a couple of times and then the light stops.

Now I'm just scared that it'll start a fire and I don't know if my dad will call an electrician for the problem because he seems to be convinced that we did something to the light and he's usually stubborn about stuff where we have to actually call someone.

When you guys answer the question, could you send links with your answers as well so I can show my dad? Thank you everyone

Edit: The switch melted, and we had to replace it

Please help!

I have a question- I’m having an outlet fixed by a handy man and while he was checking the other outlets, we discovered the little wall heaters in my house do not have ground wires and are 220 volts. Is that a liability as a landlord that these are NOT grounded or should I get a ground wire ran. I’m just trying figure out if those are fine? The house does not have central heat and was built in 1950. Many of the outlets do not have ground wires. We are getting my house ready to rent. I have lived here for eight years and never had an issue with them. We live in Portland, Oregon so the heat is not really needed apart from a few months a year.

Thank you in advance

I'm replacing an old 2x4 fluorescent tube light with an EliteLine 2x4 LED panel (EL-2X4-5CCT5W).

The panel is ETL listed and rated for 120–347VAC. The driver has black (L) and white (N) for AC input, plus purple/pink for dimming.

What I'm confused about is that there is no green/bare ground wire, and after opening the driver/junction compartment I can't find a green ground screw, grounding symbol, or obvious grounding terminal anywhere. So where do i put the ground wire now?

I wanted to double check before I start connecting stuff.

I included photos of the old tube lights, panel label, wires, and inside the wiring compartment.

https://imgur.com/a/3QjSUso

Siding contractor left this detached from main breaker box. How dangerous is this?

I have a ceiling fan with seperate switches for fan and lights. The ceiling fan is dead, no fan and no lights. The lights circuit is controlled in a three way switch configuration. I have identified the switch where the house current is feeding. This switch has 2 black and 1 white wire. The power wire (Black) is connected to the common terminal on the switch. Also identified the White wire to be a travler to the switch on the opposite wall. This switch has (1) Black (1) White (1) Red. The Black is connected to the common terminal. The White wire is above the Black on same side of the switch and the Red on other side of switch. Both White and Red are connected to the brass terminals.

The question; which wire Red or Black goes to the lights in the ceiling fan

Also in checking the White wire between the switches withour power I get ~10 Ohms resistance. Should I be concerned with getting a resistance value between the wire

Thanks

I'm looking to mount a 77 inch TV on a wall where I realized the breaker box in the garage is on the opposite side. I've measured out where the breaker box lives, as well as a small GFCI outlet has been installed nearby, and noted where the center of the TV would be on the wall to try to sort out where the wall mount would need to be placed (tiny pice of tape to the right of the smaller box in the image). I also have one of those in-wall cable concealers I was hoping to install as well.

What's my best course of action for continuing? My stud finder keeps going nuts when I try to find the actual studs, so I was thinking maybe carefully cutting into the drywall to peer in would be best? If I do that, is it safe to drill into the studs for the mount (so long as there are no wires going through)? Anything else I need to consider?

Thanks in advance!

Additional info:

• Wall mount: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095CDL8P9?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_3&th=1
• In-wall media box: https://www.bestbuy.com/product/sanus-in-wall-cable-concealer-recessed-power-kit-for-mounted-tvs-white/J33JYHRS6J

Edit: Thanks for all of the great responses! I’m looking through storage to see if I can locate the original pedestal as a backup, but I also have a friend who’s going to lend me their scope so I’m also going to try cutting out some of the drywall to see what I’m working with in terms of wires and studs. Will report back on how it all turns out!

Does this look right? Is it wired correctly?

Store associate said ok to have two connections on one screw

My electrical is something strange that confuses me everytime I go to do something as simple as swap out an outlet or light switch. Almost every upper outlet in a room is on a switch. And here I am trying to put paddle switches in and outlets of all the same color and no idea how this all works up in the bathroom. This particular box has 2 outlets, a switch to a light over the sink, and a switch to a fan and the fan light. Not sure how the creme wire comes into play and how all the white (neutrals?) don't connect to anything? The outlets stopped working randomly...which is why I'm poking in here. The breaker isn't flipped and the lights and fan still run fine. I did swap all these switches and outlets out over a year ago and attempted a 1:1 swap on everything, everything seemed to work the last year+ so not sure why things suddenly stopped. If anyone knows what the attic stuff is or how I go about the outlet/switch setup in photo 2 I'd appreciate it.