Re: Newbie Advice needed

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Free" <Free-spam-me-not@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

> I am not an EE, a working electrician, and I obviously don't do this
> for a living, but I do have some clue as to what is in a panel.  Once
> upon a time, I added a breaker for my pool lights and - surprise! - no
> one has been electrocuted in the pool :).

Yet.  There's no telling whether you wired the hot, neutral and ground wires
correctly.  We don't know if you used a required ground fault interrupter
and wired and tested that properly, either.  No experienced inspector
checked you work.  It's not beyond belief to think you may have dangerous
current leakage that would only evidence itself if someone brought an
extension cord from another circuit inside the house near the pool lights
area and electrocuted themselves because you managed to connect the wrong
wire and created a path for 240VAC to course through someone's body.

There's lots more we don't know your skills or your worksite.  We don't know
if you used the proper strain relief or conduit and clamps or the proper
grade of wire for exterior use.  We don't know if you sealed your wiring up
properly to prevent moisture from entering.  We don't know if the original
wiring you are adding on to is sound.  Based on your questions so far, I'd
bet money that your work would NOT pass inspection.  It's nothing personal,
it's just that without proper training, you're just bound to miss something
important.  And that "something important" could easily turn out to be
lethal.

A lot of "homebrewed" electrical fixes work - for a while - even if some of
the most basic safety rules are ignored.  But eventually, when an
unqualified "electrician" makes enough mistakes, one of them is bound to be
serious.  Electricity can kill in more than one way.  It's not to be trifled
with.  When you are installing couplers and repeaters, you are working with
240VAC and that means there's little margin for error.  Do you wear your
safety goggles?  You would if you had seen hot metal droplets spray from a
tool vaporized from accidentally crossing 240VAC wires fused only by the 100
amp master breaker.

There's a tremendous advantage gained by experience which is why
electricians have to go through a grueling certification and journeyman
process.  Most jurisdictions would *never* allow someone of your limited
ability (don't take it personally, it's just obvious from what you're
asking) to touch anyone else's home wiring.  The reason is simple.  Hundreds
of people are accidentally electrocuted yearly.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 411 people were
accidentally electrocuted, 500 were killed, and 5,000 were injured in
electrical fires during 2001, the last year for which statistics were
available.  You're certainly upping the odds that you or your family will be
included in those grims stats in the future by doing your own wiring without
having it inspected.  Even master electricians have their work checked.

It's only the belief that a man's home is his castle that allows people to
work with lethal materials with no training or oversight.  If you live alone
and never have guests, I'm fine with that.  But if you have other people in
your house, you have a responsibility not to experiment on their lives.

I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER publicly encourage someone who is not an
electrician to go diving into their circuit panel.  In this litigious age,
it might mean being dragged into a wrongful death suit.  Far stranger things
have happened in the US court system.

Hire an electrician and watch him work.  Have him inspect your previous work
on the pool lighting while he's there and ask him lots of questions.  It may
be the best money you've ever spent.

--
Bobby G.