by "Pearson Hurst" (phurst)
Published 05/26/2017 at 22:37
by "Pearson Hurst" (phurst)
Published 05/26/2017 at 22:37
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STARS: 4
My office was nearly empty before noon today. I was really enjoying the peace and quiet, but my boss finally insisted I go home (I’m not an hourly employee, he was just being nice) around 1:30. A few hours in an empty house meant I could spend some time starting on a project I’ve needed to address for a while.
Not long after moving into our house, I realized that some previous resident (it was a rental before we bought it) had run power to the shed by way of half-assed burying an extension cord running from an outside outlet into the shed, and from there, powering lights and a couple of outlets. This was less than ideal in a number of levels. I mean, one, it’s just shitty work. Two, I’m pretty sure a cheap Wal-Mart extension cord isn’t rated for direct burrial. Three, sharing a circuit with half of the downstairs of my house sucked. I have some things that pull a decent load, and if I wasn’t at least a little careful, I’d trip the breaker not only taking out the workshop, but pissing off my wife and kids as well.
Today, I ran a dedicated 20A circuit from the breaker box into the crawl space, then trenched in and burried the correct 12g direct burial Romex, and tied it into the rest of the shed wiring. I got to use my USB endoscope taped to the end of a fiberglass cable fishing stick to get through an existing hole into the crawl space. Totally worth the price for just that one job! Once I verified everything was working, I ripped out that stupid extension cord. I mean, I am no stranger to half-assing something, but that was beyond even me.
I have a few more questionable bits of wiring in the shed to fix/replace, a little more lighting to install, and some additional outlets to install for some of the higher draw items I don’t trust on a power strip, like my welder, lathe, shop compressor, air conditioner, beer fridge and smart TV/surround sound system. It’s only taken 3 years, but my workspace is NEARLY where I want it.
"Wacko" (wacko--)
06/13/2017 at 13:43, STARS: 0
you want to run lights, welder, lathe, compressor, air conditioner fridge... all on one 20A?
just on one of my 20a circuits I have my compressor and my small stereo, the breaker will still kickout once in a while.