Square D electrical panel question

They don't seem beefy to me. I don't see why a small electric motor at 240V would use 5 amps. A 1 hp motor uses about 7. Even my shop type vac has a cord that I'd say is about the size of a pencil.

They are actually the source of a lot of fires. People put them under carpets for example, where they get rubbed, frayed. Or they take a minimal gauge cord and plug 6 things into it. Or they string together several short ones, that aren't in the greatest shape, etc. Plus they are a trip hazard. Plugging a hot plate or similar in on an extension, you could trip on the extension and have a hot pot of water land on you.

I can see that. The 120V one here I used to heat about a liter of water to make coffee or tea. If I need more water than that, I do it on the stove. I agree having a 240V electric kettle would be a very handy thing. I never thought about it until you brought it up. Maybe we can get something started here, put in 240V receptacles for new kitchens. I'd like it.

I've never seen those. Trend now is to more front loaders. There the detergent goes into a reservoir at the top of the machine, but I think it's loaded for each use.

Reply to
trader_4
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This ice thing happens when the temp is hovering around 0c. the rain mixed with snow (aka the dreaded "sleet and freezing rain") accumulates on ice that is already there and freezes creating another layer. It is just a strange thing that doesn't make as much sense as you would like but seeing a CM coating of ice on anything that it lands on makes it a reality. These things can be quite beautiful until stuff starts breaking. Imagine a forest of trees apparently made of glass. On a full moon night it is breath taking. The biggest part of the electrical problem is the reluctance of northern folks to cut back trees around power lines. Down here in Florida they are very aggressive about eliminating anything growing in the right of way. You really do not own the land in front of your house within about 3m of the road (where the power lines run) and the power company has the power to cut anything that encroaches into that space. They do. People accept it because of the number of wind storms we have. The power companies are really working to get as much as this as they can, underground. Around here, the phone company is already there and my landline is actually more reliable than the cell after a hurricane. I have never lost it in 32 years.

Reply to
gfretwell

They must have that in the UK too. It's where the fabric is made so that it holds it shape and doesn't need to be pressed after washing. Some is less than perfect though. So, it might require some pressing depending on how fussy you are. Things that really need to be pressed, eg dress shirts, I just take to the cleaners.

You can if some of the receptacles are on different circuits, which they may be. Very common to have them split up that way. But I can't recall when I've ever had two 15A appliances in one room, except the kitchen. Kitchens in current code have to have at least two 20A circuits.

I never saw one of those.

Decades of experience with breakers here, in multiple properties, businesses, etc. No problem with them tripping unnecessarily. Once in a blue moon one can go bad for sure, but I can't ever recall that happening to me.

Until you go to sell it, the buyer has it inspected, and the inspector finds a bunch of violations. There is also the theoretical possibility of the case of a fire, and if the fire resulted from some obvious hack job that they could show you did, without a permit, the insurance company might deny the claim. Or even worse, if the house burned down with your neighbors kid killed during a sleep-over, you could be in deep doo doo too.

As long as you do it right, all is good.

Wow, that's interesting. Here you can do it yourself on your own house. But I can't do it legally for a friend on their house. Nor can I do it if it's a rental property I own. Funny, we always think that you tend to have more regulations over there.

Reply to
trader_4

Some pictures here of damage from an ice storm in Nebraska back in 1976. Nebraska is a bit north of the center of the continental U.S. The power companies were using helicopters to haul the towers to the fields and set them in place. The towers were built at old WWII airfields. The storm hit in the spring so the fields were thawing and there was the usual spring moisture to contend with.

Reply to
Dean Hoffman

It's the current that kills. Not sure on the numbers, but maybe on the order of 30ma and above can effect the heart rhythm. The human body has some resistance, X. If you put 240V across that, you're going to get 2x the current as you do with 120V. But.... That's really a red herring the way the system works here. To get 240V you'd have to be across both hot wires, which is extremely unlikely. Most common is for you to connect between one hot wire and ground, like standing in water, touching an appliance case, faucet, etc. In that case you'd still only get 120V. Between each hot and ground you have 120V. Not sure how it works over there.

Reply to
trader_4

They are actually readily available. Most places that sell toaster, mixers, coffee makers, etc should have them. They are called electric kettles. I'd post a link, but it's too long. I have one, very handy, use it to make coffee every morning. But then I use a French press to make coffee, most people probably use a coffee maker.

Reply to
trader_4

Guess that it all in where one lives. I have alway lived in a house. Grew up in a town of about 20,000 and lived about 8 blocks from the middle of town. House was about 1000 sq ft of living and another 200 feet of unheated space. The other houses were somewhat larger and of town. Now have about 2000 sqft on 3 acers. All had plenty of space for the water heater. I could see it in apartment houses. Have not been in any of the large cities but would think they would have a large tank or two for the building.

The material is permanent press. You just take the warm cloths out of the dryer and hang them up. Just don't let them get cold in the dryer. If you do they will have all kinds of wrinkles in them. You can dampen them and run the dryer for a short time if this hapens.

Some rooms will be fed by 2 circuits. Especially the kitchen area where one might want to run the instant coffee pot and toaster or microwave at the same time.

Most outlets are the double kind,but are wired to the same breaker so only a total of 15 amps can be used. The outside one I mentioned that I put in was wired so each side could actually get 30 amps at 120 volts or there is a 240 volt outlet in the same box good for 30 amps. They are all connected to the same breaker so the total of 120 and 240 can only be 30 amps.

Some of the code is way above ,but guess the government is trying to prevent people from doing stupid things. They are regulating how hot the coffee can be in restraunts now. Seems that a while aback someone got some hot coffee at a drive through and spilled it on their selves and got burnt and sued and won about 5 or 6 million dollars for that.

That was the main reason, Make it so I could use my gasoline powered 5 kw generator to power part of the house if the power is out.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Around here I don't think it is because of the people,but the power company does not want to spend the money to do the cutting. Years ago they used to cut trees all the time, but quit and the trees grew up and the power has been a problem.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

CY: No, didn't think of that.

CY: Because at least one outlet shows open ground.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Thanks, Clare.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I've seen 220 or 240 volt outlets for through the wall AC. 12,000 BTU per hour and larger, most often.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Should you move the ground leg to the ground bar if the panel is permanant press?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

From everything you've posted here about the situation at the panel, I see nothing that would have anything to do with that. It's all normal. You have the neutral and ground connected together at the panel. If there is an open ground on a circuit, it sounds like a problem on that circuit.

Reply to
trader_4

I'm having a bad week. A totally, really bad week.

Lot of family dynamics going on. And none of it is at all good or pleasant. My life is making some major changes. Stress level is some where between high and extreme.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Thanks. I'll proceed with that idea. I also plan some day to test a couple other outlets, see if the open ground is just in the one branch circuit.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

You're thinking about the USA.

Mr. Macaw just posted that the two wires coming into his home in the UK were 240 and 0.

The comparison I had made was between the UK and the USA, and I said I thought more people died of shocks, per capita, in the UK than the USA.

Reply to
Micky

Once again, you're right Sherlock. It was a dead give away when a couple of sentences later I ended with:

"Not sure how it works over there. "

Reply to
trader_4

Something to do with the physiological responce to the shock. Some voltages make you hang on, others throw you off - making it virtually impossible to hold on.. I can't remember what my Dad used to say (he was an electrician) but some of the higher voltages could be safer than the lower voltages because the lower voltage made you grab the wire hard and not let go.

The let-go phenomenon for low (

Reply to
clare

I thought all AC allowed you to let go? DC cramps your muscles up.

I call "bollocks". I once picked up a wall socket which I'd used as a trailing socket, and it was wired backwards (earlier on, not by me), so when I'd switched it off, I'd disconnected the neutral and not the live. Hence I got 240V through my hand from live to earth. All it did was warm up my hand. I let go very easily.

Incorrect again. Place a PP3 9V battery on your tongue. That will sting continuously until you remove it.

Reply to
Mr Macaw

There are no 240 volt "outlets" in a typical north american home. Only high current items such as driers and ranges run on 240 volts - and they have specific connectors for the amperage of the appliance. A range uses a different plug than a drier., and those connectors are installed only where that specific appliance will be installed.

It is NOT for convenience, but for safety. Running extention cords everywhere is not safe. Particularly running them across doorways under carpets.

Out tea kettles are generally 120 volt and 1500 watts, +/- and can heat a cup of water for tea in about 45 seconds to 2 minutes.

Heating a quart takes a bit longer - and some heat faster than others.

Portable heaters generally run 1500 watts on high, and 750 or 850 on low. Irons are generally 1200 watts. They do not heat up immediately, but mabee the "colonials" have a bit more patience then folks from "the old country"

The average north american home has a minimum of 100 amp service - with very many having 200 amp, and others 120 and 150. Some large homes have multiple 200 or 400 amp services.

60 amp is pretty well obsolete now and is nefer installed in a new building. All of our fuses are AFTER the meter.

Here we don't generally use "widow-maker" showers - and washing machines and dishwashers generally use hot water from the central water heater (tank type or more recently in more numbers, tankless "on demand " heaters. Dish washers sometimes have a built-in heater for the "sanitize" cycle.

And current code requires several 20 amp circuits for the kitchen.

Reply to
clare

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