Home Improvement

Captain Suave

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I need to add a sub panel next to my main. Is it dumb to do this myself? Pretty sure I only need a main lug since it will be adjacent?

Fucking around with mains power as an amateur is a great way to get killed or burn down your building and have your insurance hang you out to dry, IMO. This is what electricians are for.
 
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Palum

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Fucking around with mains power as an amateur is a great way to get killed or burn down your building and have your insurance hang you out to dry, IMO. This is what electricians are for.
Nah I have 200 amp service so I'd only be fucking around with half mains power!

But I don't want to pay $2000 to install a $100 item.
 

Nija

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If you have an easily accessible shut off somewhere I don't see why not. Mine's out on the pole, I can kill power to the shop and the house in one spot and work on stuff safely.
 

BrutulTM

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If you aren't literally helpless and can follow basic instructions you can hook up a sub panel with YouTube university and even if you go full retard and hook it up totally backwards or something the worst thing will happen is you will blow a breaker. Just make sure the power is off while you're touching stuff and when you turn it on if smoke or sparks come out of anything turn it back off quick.
 
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Kajiimagi

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Nah I have 200 amp service so I'd only be fucking around with half mains power!

But I don't want to pay $2000 to install a $100 item.
Palum, WHY do you need to install a sub panel? If it's breaker space there may be better (but not necessarily cheaper) options.
 

Kajiimagi

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My panel isn't rated for tandem breakers and its full.
Well Poo , way to rain on my parade! I would not add a panel and not have a breaker ahead of it. I'm thinking more of issues with resale of your house and of course not burning the place to the ground. Do like a 2P/100 or whatever is the max your panel allows and wire the sub panel to it.
 

Palum

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Well Poo , way to rain on my parade! I would not add a panel and not have a breaker ahead of it. I'm thinking more of issues with resale of your house and of course not burning the place to the ground. Do like a 2P/100 or whatever is the max your panel allows and wire the sub panel to it.

I don't know how I will add a sub panel without adding a panel and a breaker?
 

Palum

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OK. Friend convinced me I should put my sub panel in the garage because most of the new circuits will be going on that side of the house. Seems like I can use 1-1-1-3 aluminum SER to make the ~70 foot run?
 

Palum

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Don't use aluminum.
Why? The AL scare due to shitty old 70s wiring seems like an old wives tale that has irrationally spread to every application at this point. Every service cable is aluminum, the lugs are aluminum, etc. Anti-oxidation coating is necessary on the exposed bits, but if it's torqued to spec it shouldn't be an issue.
 

lurkingdirk

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Why? The AL scare due to shitty old 70s wiring seems like an old wives tale that has irrationally spread to every application at this point. Every service cable is aluminum, the lugs are aluminum, etc. Anti-oxidation coating is necessary on the exposed bits, but if it's torqued to spec it shouldn't be an issue.

It just breaks down faster.
 

mkopec

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Aluminum gets brittle and does not have the "bending" capacity that copper does. Our cabin up in N Michigan has all aluminum shit and constantly breaking down because of brittle wires. And the thing is you cannot even fix the shit proper because there is not enough slack to just cut it back and redo it. Its also dangerous from a fire perspective because when the shit gets brittle, breaks its cause for electric to jump and cause spark. Service cable is a different monster because its more like rope than your typical wall shit which is only single wire. Also its thick fucking shit which when installed wont really move much. It also has a metal wire which supports the run. Just spend the extra cash and do copper if you're talking about interior wire.
 

Palum

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Aluminum gets brittle and does not have the "bending" capacity that copper does. Our cabin up in N Michigan has all aluminum shit and constantly breaking down because of brittle wires. And the thing is you cannot even fix the shit proper because there is not enough slack to just cut it back and redo it. Its also dangerous from a fire perspective because when the shit gets brittle, breaks its cause for electric to jump and cause spark. Service cable is a different monster because its more like rope than your typical wall shit which is only single wire. Also its thick fucking shit which when installed wont really move much. It also has a metal wire which supports the run. Just spend the extra cash and do copper if you're talking about interior wire.
SER is service cable. It is not for single circuits.
 

Intrinsic

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In the same spirit as his question, how dangerous is replacing this myself?


HVAC guy said mine is dead and wants >$1,000 to replace it, suggesting just replacing my furnace completely since it is from 1995. Main concern is my 13 week old and it is getting cold, don’t want to risk having a freeze. We could always sleep downstairs, heat works there but his nursery is upstairs.
 

lurkingdirk

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In the same spirit as his question, how dangerous is replacing this myself?


HVAC guy said mine is dead and wants >$1,000 to replace it, suggesting just replacing my furnace completely since it is from 1995. Main concern is my 13 week old and it is getting cold, don’t want to risk having a freeze. We could always sleep downstairs, heat works there but his nursery is upstairs.

Not that hard to do, but you need to test the fuck out of it to make sure there are no leaks when you're done.
 
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mkopec

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Do you trust yourself with gas pipe? Do you have a shutoff going to furnace? If so its should be a pretty easy replace. Use lots of pie dope.
 
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The_Black_Log Foler

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About a year ago my wife bought one of these wet/dry vacuums. I thought, "great another thing that's going to sit unused and take up space", but it's been awesome. I have 2 young daughters plus the wife so plenty of long hair and various crumbs etc, so I typically do a quick pass with a cordless stick vac. Makes clean up of the wet/dry vac easier. Also, you will be slightly terrified at how dirty the water is.

Do you use the cleaning solution or water? I rock 1960s terrazzo and I’m hesitant to use the solution on it.. I’ve used bona before so wonder if that could be an option..
 

Fogel

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In the same spirit as his question, how dangerous is replacing this myself?


HVAC guy said mine is dead and wants >$1,000 to replace it, suggesting just replacing my furnace completely since it is from 1995. Main concern is my 13 week old and it is getting cold, don’t want to risk having a freeze. We could always sleep downstairs, heat works there but his nursery is upstairs.

Sounds like your furnace is pretty long in the tooth either way. I'd look into replacing it with a newer and possibly more efficient unit.
 
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