While I have wired the occasional house, I do not wire tract homes for a living. Those guys are in a very tough field, and are quite expert at doing the absolute least possible to comply with the code, and doing it as cheaply as possible.
There are three problems for the home owner with this approach. First of all, they are using the code as a ‘design manual’- which it is not. There is no provision for future expansion. Finally, circuit layout can make troubleshooting a nightmare.
When I look at a house, I like to see each circuit serve a clearly defined area- rather than hop all over the place. When I wire a wall, I will usually have two circuits in that wall- one for each face. That way, one circuit can be identified as serving, say, the living room while the other serves the dining room. I can write that description on the panel; I can’t write ‘common wall east side LR, west side DR, north end of all, left side of atrium, and basement SW corner.”
Some of this has been, in effect, mandated by the requirement that bedrooms be AFCI protected. Yet, I still like each room to have it’s own circuit. Later, if there are problems with a breaker tripping, I have a defined area where the problem might be, and the power outage does not inconvenience folks in other rooms.
I like to see several sub-panels, mounted on interior walls, near the areas that they serve. I do not like everything going to one big, tangled, mass of wires in the part of the attic I can’t reach.
Scattered subpanels reduce voltage drop problems, make changes and troubleshooting much easier, and helps circuit layout “make sense”.
Every panel ought to have a floor plan attached, with colors used to show the ares covered by each breaker.
Some means, such as an empty pipe, should be present to make future additions possible without having to tear the wall open.
Switch boxes should have neutral wires pass through them. This, again, eases troubleshooting and future additions.
Receptacles should be attached to the circuit with pigtails.
Cover plates should have the circuit marked on the back side.
Shared neutrals ought to be avoided. While appropriate in some instances- the fridge and dishwasher/disposal circuits come to mind- sharing the neutral often seems to only clutter the box and allow another thing to go wrong.
New panels should have NO ‘skinny’ breakers in them. Even better, have a few empty spaces. There WILL be future growth.
Receptacles, switches, and lights should be placed with an eye toward the actual use of the room. One ought not find receptacles behind beds, couches, or other large pieces of furniture. Switches ought to be where your hand expects them to be.
If a light box is placed anywhere near the center of the room, assume that somebody will eventually hang a fan there- and mount a box appropriate for that!
ANY outlet that is switch controlled – whether by a switch, motion sensor, timer, whatever- should be marked as such. In this day of $35 label printers, there is no reason a label can’t look perfectly fine on the cover plate.
Wires in the attic ought to be run near the center of the attic- where they are accessible- and run out toward the eaves at the last possible moment. If you’re planning on filling the attic with insulation, run the wires close to the roof, and not on the attic floor.
Replies
I scanned through that. Looks pretty dreamy. For the most part it is the ideal way to do a home.The shared neutral part made me chuckle. Your fridge, disposal and dishwasher circuits need to be on their own circuits anyway, so sharing a neutral is a mute point.
Guys that wire tract homes seem to be minimalist, but that's what their market dictates. I've never had a problem troublesooting them. You have to understand that differenet eras used different techniques. The more you know about different eras in wiring and older codes the easier it is to work on. Unless of course some hack has involved himself in the ituation at a later date. That always sucks.
The final answer is maybe. And that's definate.
http://www.hay98.com/
Good list, esp the ceiling fan foresight.
I'll add a couple that are appropriate for one's own house for people like on this board, obviously no tract home will have any of these.
a. Every shop area and garage has at least 2 50 A 240 V outlets. Welders, compressors, pressure washers (plus dryers,etc) all outfitted with common plugs.
b. All lights (with a few exceptions) controlled by low voltage relay switching - that way 10 way lights are feasible - with 3 or 4 central locations that can control any light, including one computer control. Own house uses RR3, RR7 type relays. Lights and outlets never on same circuit.
c. 2 ea Plugmold outlet strips on every workbench, one above and one just under the front of the worksurface. Plugmold strip attached to the back of the headboard of beds with shelf type headboards or 6 outlets minimum near nightstands.
d. Switched and non-switched outdoor outlets for Christmas lights.
e. Critical loads, such as a well or sump pump, have loop circuits (2 breakers, 2 separate wire runs, well labeled as to being fed from multiple sources).
f. Whole house Lightning arrestor and surge protection.
g. 3 separate 20 A circuits to computer areas. Switched outlets for routers and modems to allow easy reset. (one of the exception from relay switches, simple toggle)
h. Last but not least, 10 kW or larger standby generator.
I'm surprised no one considered the future planning condition for the home's service entrance cable. While the main panel is capable of 225A, the entrance cable and main breaker are geared for 150A. Then again, I'm in a tract house. :)
Around the Fraser Valley, the service entrance cable is usually supplied and installed by the utility company.. (BC Hydro). The electrical contractor is responsible for installing a 3" main pipe from the pull box to the meter base, and then all the wiring in from there. Then BC Hydro comes along and installs a #6AL cable through that 3" pipe to feed your 100A service. If you have a 200A service, they may upgrade to a #2AL cable.
If you have an overhead service, code requires that you have a minimum of 1meter of wire coming out of the weatherhead. BC Hydro then comes along and cuts off 2' of this copper wire, and crimps on their undersized aluminium wire. Their linemen collect the "scrap copper".
locolobo
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
<b. All lights (with a few exceptions) controlled by low voltage relay switching - that way 10 way lights are feasible - with 3 or 4 central locations that can control any light, including one computer control. Own house uses RR3, RR7 type relays. Lights and outlets never on same circuit.What are you using for the wall switches???I have an old GE system w/ relays and can't find any nice wall switches...the ones they have now have two buttons that you push one for off, one on...The old ones were rockers...
I also fished some wires to a seperate box for dimmers in series w/ the lights..
Bud
I second the issue of outlets for outside decorating. And I would add that outlets in bedrooms should all be double duplex.
Also, don't forget the home theatre issue. If someone invents a built-in power strip (think single outlets all the way across a stud bay) with built in surge suppression, they will make a mint (if there is something they can patent).
And I understand there are some advantages to pigtailing outlets. But while the wirenuts don't count as taking up space, in reality they do. But more to the point, the connection NOT made cannot come loose. So I'm personally not as keen on the pigtailing issue.
personally not as keen on the pigtailing issue
100% agree
I agree with you on the pigtailing outlets. Highly overrated.
The final answer is maybe. And that's definate.
http://www.hay98.com/
Just remember, I was focusing more on wiring practices, than the actual details. I'm not trying to make an "ideal" system- just one that is easy to troubleshoot or change.
Let's take a common example: The kids are grown, and you want to turn one bedroom into an office.
It would surely help your computer if there was nothing on the circuit that would 'dirty up' the electrical supply (say, something like an electronic dimmer switch). Having a circuit dedicated to that room would confine any problem to that room. Having an empty pipe stubbed out of the panel, into the attic, would make adding a dedicated circuit a lot easier. It would also be fairly easy to add a watt-hour meter, for tax purposes.
Or, another example: You decide to add a heated, jetted tub to the bathroom. Do you want to run a circuit across the entire house, then fight for space in the main panel.... or have a rather short run to a nearby sub-panel?
That extra conduit to the attic is one of the best things you can do. I don't think I've seen a bedroom that wasn't on it's own circuit here. Is that common where you live?
The final answer is maybe. And that's definate.
http://www.hay98.com/
One thing that I have for all my computers, that negates dirty power is a decent UPS (uninterruptible power supply). It will modulate the power by cleaning the spikes and brownouts. And if there is a power outage, you have time to save and shutdown.
While we're at it:
1. BX cable only. Romex is a fire waiting to happen.
2. Metal boxes only. Plastic boxes are too easy to nail or drill into.
3. If you do use Romex, use square boxes instead of rectangular for outlets. You need more room for those stiff 12 guage wires. No metal staples if you use Romex!
4. NO outlet boxes that penetrate the sheetrock on exterior walls! They are hard to insulate around and can't be easily sealed. Use surface boxes where outlets are required.
5. Agree on the neutrals. Some electricians are nutty with them, running nothing but 14-3 and 12-3 wire from the service entrance and splitting the circuits who knows where?
6. Outdoor outlets on all sides of the house, preferably switched. Who wants to deal with hundreds of feet of extension cord?
7. Use high quality dimmers that will outlast the wiring. How many houses have these round knobs that fall off or go round and round?
Like others, I totally disagree with the outlet pigtails. Connections are your enemy, so why add more than you need? Use the outlets that clamp the wire between two metal plates. Perfect connection, and easy to disassemble.
"Like others, I totally disagree with the outlet pigtails. Connections are your enemy, so why add more than you need? Use the outlets that clamp the wire between two metal plates. Perfect connection, and easy to disassemble."Pigtailed Connects to first recpectacle - 2
2nd - 3
3 th - 4, etc.
4th 5Connection through the receptacle.1 st one - 12 nd - 33 rd - 5"4. NO outlet boxes that penetrate the sheetrock on exterior walls! They are hard to insulate around and can't be easily sealed. Use surface boxes where outlets are required."Use selfsealing insulation that goes around the box, such as blown cels, FG, or foam.4th - 7
In Alberta, using the device as a splice in residential buildings is acceptable.
In B.C., it is definitely NOT! All boxes with 2 or more cables entering MUST be spliced BEFORE the device is installed. No "ifs; ands; or buts".
So, as you can see; pigtails can also be a matter of where your house is located.
In the matter of exterior walls, the Canadian Building Code requires polyhats on all boxes located in exterior walls. The insulator is then required to caulk all openings in the hats, prior to installing the vapor barrier. (I have had insulators FILL my boxes with that black goop they use, just to be jerks. That stuff is hard to work with and hard to clean up afterwards.)
locolobo
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
BX is a pain in the butt. You better be charging by the hour when installing. IMHO, BX installs are more likely to short out (wire nicked/cut by armor at cut ends, wire nicked/cut by installer when cutting the armor with hacksaw when installer does not have a greenlee cutter) than installs of romex. Why oh why would romex be a fire waiting to happen?
Tell Mrs Homeowner that surface mounted boxes on outside walls are the way to go. Even I think that is UG-LEE! Aforementioned sealed & insulated boxes are a better approach.
Your other statements I agree with you.
There are many upgrades I do on my house that you mention in your post. I install subpanels on every floor. Every room has it's own breaker. The soffit's have receptacles installed in them for Xmas light installation. The main panel in the basement feeds 3 subpanels in the house, one in the attached garage and one in the workshop. The 2 outside receptacles are wired to a switch.
This would be IMO very easy to do when you are building a house or when the house is gutted. I am renovating one room after another and it is sometimes difficult to do all the necessary changes.
Martin
I'm thinking about the conduit and that would be fine for one or the other. Lowvoltage or electric. I think a great idea would to put in a one inch for any electric that came up with another couple of stubs out of the subpanels for easy fishing.
As far as future low voltage I'd make a wire chase in a wall. Maybe build a false wall in a closet. Your more likely to add lowvoltage in the future.
The final answer is maybe. And that's definate.
http://www.hay98.com/
As long as you have a plan your customers will know what to expect.
I prefer the 1/2 width breakers, but it is a matter of preference. Few breakers will ever see much of a load.
For lighting circuits, I'd suggest checkerboarding rather than having them serve a specific area. That way, if the lights are out in the bedroom, you still have light to walk around by from the hallway and closet.
Sub panels are a good thing. If you make it a rule that they should only serve things on the same floor, you don't have to climb stairs in the dark.
Empty conduit, both for power and separate conduit for low voltage, saves loads of work for future modifications.
GFCI's should only feed downstream outlets in the same room.
Big, deep 4 11/16" metal boxes, EMT, and compression fittings are the best. Green ground wire throughout just to be sure. Stay far below the fill limit, and it goes together easier.
Finally, my most controversial preference: Hot solder joints instead of wire nuts.
-- J.S.
Just remember the "Patton" principle:"Don't let a perfect plan become the enemy of a good plan!"
my addition would be hard wired smoke detectors, that are all wired together.
so when 1 goes off on the other side of the house, all of them go off...
"my addition would be hard wired smoke detectors, that are all wired together."I think that most building codes require that now days.
good to see them code folks using my ideas...ha haim not an electrician, so not up on my codes, but that one makes sense to me..
Edited 9/27/2006 1:31 pm by oak