The home inspector added several outlets to the ‘punch’ list when you where buying your house and it says something about a GFCI. What is it and why does it need to be on your report?

- GFCI – Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter

This is a typical problem as building codes change for different regions of the US. I see this on almost every older house sale that I help punch out…The problem usually stems from not adding every bathroom or kitchen outlet to the existing GFCI or not having them added at all. The current law requires that every outlet within 3ft of a water source (sink) and every outlet located outdoors be GFCI protected (this is the last time I looked).

What exactly does a GFCI do? A GFCI is a little genius invention that detects the presence of water and trips the circuit. It works by comparing the current out with the current in and trips when the differ. When water is added to the circuit the current is allowed to stray a little which causes the electricity to be suddenly interrupted. If you are holding a blow dryer and somehow come in contact with water you may get a little shock, but the GFCI is designed to stop the electricity quickly so that you are not electrocuted.

- Tip – Check your GFCIs periodically to ensure they are working properly. This includes all outlets attached to the GFCI load end (protected). Push the test button and make sure there is no electricity coming from them with a non-contact voltage tester.

Thank You For Reading
Luke Spencer

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Wow!…that’s a long title. I remember working as a carpenter in my younger years and breaking off the third prong on my extension cords to fit two prong plugs. It never shocked me so I thought why even add a third prong to power cords. – This post is for all you ‘lucky’ construction workers that have worked with metal tools and not been lit up at least one time (with electricity).

The third prong was added to electrical outlets and cords around the 70’s and 80’s for safety reasons. Grounding provides a quick path for stray electricity to go in the case of a Hot wire short to the chassis, frame, or any other conducting part of an electrical item. Electricity follows the path of least resistance, for example: A human is usually 10000 ohms of resistance, a copper ground line is going to be around 0 – 5 ohms. The low resistance of the copper is going to provide a way for the electricity to run back to the grounding strip (instead of through the person) therefore causing high amps and tripping the breaker.
– - Here’s some math from ohms law – I = V/R (Current = Voltage/Resistance), 120V/3ohms = 40amps – A normal breaker for 120V is 20Amps or less so you can see the breaker would interrupt the electrical flow very quickly.
If you decided to break the third prong off your extension cord and the hot wire touches the frame of the tool you are using you are very likely to get a shock. You will not only get a shock, but the breaker will not trip so you will continue to get shocked.
There are adapters for converting a 3 prong plug into a 2 prong plug. They are made to be used in coordination with an earth ground (like plumbing). If you choose to use one of these just remember that if you do not ground it, it is just like using no ground.
- Another thing to add to this is the third prong not only protects you but is also a safety device for your equipment (electronics, wiring, etc).

Thank you for reading!!

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One of the not so nice things about older houses is the lack of information left behind about its inner workings…specifically in the electrical department. The house we live in now, actually several of the houses we have lived in lacked a breaker diagram in the breaker box (list of breakers and what they control the electricity to). This is always an irritating problem when you have more than 10 breakers in the box. Usually it goes like this “Was it that one”, “No…that was my alarm clock in the bedroom” , “How about that one”, “nope, that was the refrigerator”. A conversation like this on can go on for 30 minutes depending on the size of your house. If your house is laden with clocks and computers it could take another 30 minutes of running around re-setting clocks, timers, and all the other things that rely on the electricity they are plugged into. We as civilized human beings ought to know better, not really…organization is a learned skill and at times I am hard of learning (wording is intentional…no emails please:). I took the time a few months ago to find what each breaker was powering and I put it together in an excell spreadsheet. Of course in doing this I had to reset every clock in my house and I also had to physically test each outlet and light to find out what area each breaker was powering up (I used a non-contact voltage tester). Making a spreadsheet is fairly strait forward, here is an example of the one I created. **Note – there are many spread sheet programs out there, you can use whatever is on your computer…

– I made the cells larger to correspond to the relative breaker size, it was purely preference on my behalf.

Thank you for reading,
Luke

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I recently wrote a post about non-contact voltage detector under an electrical safety topic. This is a video to accompany the post, I hope it will make the function of this great tool easier to understand. Anyone that has shocked themselves will appreciate the heightened safety factor you will enjoy when you arm yourself with one of these tools.

Thank you for watching!…

Luke

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Just a quick electrical outlet tip for today…Have you ever wanted to separate a wall outlet so that the top operates with a switch (for a lamp etc.), but the other plug un-switched (like a normal outlet)? This is a fairly easy task that requires a little trick. The outlet has small metal tabs that connect the top and bottom plugs, this tab(s) can be removed with a pair of needle nose pliers. See picture: If you are running two completely separate supplies for the top and the bottom, break both tabs off (neutral + hot). If you are using the same supply for the top and the bottom, but still want switched power for the one or the other then break off the hot wire tab (this is the brass side – - the side with the small slot opening). Usually you can get away with just breaking off the brass tab but I like to have compete separation from two separate supplies.

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Want surround sound or a hard wired internet network in your new house or the old house you are renovating? Do not forget to tell your contractor about it before the dry wall goes up. This is a seemingly easy job when there is no cover on the wall and all or the studs are in clear view. In contrast, this can be a very irritating and daunting task if the drywall is up and the work is finished. Most of my friends have put the network/speaker wire in themselves before drywall, but this is an easy task for your electrician if you choose not to do it yourself…just don’t forget to let everyone know your intentions. A few other things to think about in this stage of your new house/ renovation are plumbing, extra electrical outlets, lighting, extra ceiling fans..etc. It is good practice to get all the stuff in your wall that you can while it is easy, even if you will not use them for a year or two. The installation for these items is much more cost efficient (at least 50% less) before the drywall is up. One more note on this stage of your project, if you plan to hang cabinets anywhere in your house at a later date (office, laundry room, bedroom) put up some extra blocking between your studs to make your cabinet hanging easier. Note the area somewhere you will not forget, and when you go to hang your cabinets you will not have to wonder whether you are going to hit wood or not.

Hope this is helpful, as usual, if you have something to add please comment
Luke

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Do you have a toaster that trips its breaker every time you use it. Here is some simple math to help you out with this problem.
** Electrical law for finding Amps from Wattage and Voltage is: >>
Watts/Volts = Amps
Household voltage is usually 120V for plugs and lights and 240 for the dryer ,AC/Heat, Oven. The most common breaker is the 20 amp breaker for 120 volts. Here is an example of an overloaded circuit.
– Toaster 1100Watts/120Volts = 9.17Amps
– Microwave 1500Watts/120Volts = 12.5Amps
– Total Amps = 21.67Amps
If you were using a regular 20 amp breaker it would trip every time you used the microwave and toaster at the same time (a 1500 watt microwave is not very common, usually they are 800-1000 watt).

If you are having breaker problems, try to determine how many appliances you have plugged into a single circuit. You may be able to move some appliances to different plugs to alleviate this problem.
Here is a link to determine common appliance watts. Appliance Watts

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Most people find out the bad effects of electricity before learning about electrical safety.  I learned when I was about 8 years old.  I grabbed an electrical switch in the dark without a cover.  I thought all the joints in my body disconnected all at once.  I thought I was dead for sure.  Now being much older and hopefully a little wiser I have begun using a non contact voltage tester.  I learned about this genius invention  around the time I started my career in the construction industry.  It is very easy to to use, just push the test button and you will hear a beep… get the tip of the tester near live electricity between 40 – 1000V and the tester will beep continuously until removed or turned off.  It works through wire insulation and occasionally through Sheetrock.  I have included a picture of a Green Lee Voltage Detector (GB, Kline, and Fluke make a nice detector also).  You can find one of these in your local hardware store or just about anywhere on the internet (check some of my sponsored sites).

Thank You and Be Safe.

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