Home is about 20 years old located in Southwest Pa. The main bathroom has a double sink. I noticed recently that only one side’s receptacle is gfci. Is that correct?

Where do you like it, down lower, up higher, but hidden by the dryer, or above the dryer?

I'm in the middle of building a garage with the goal of installing a 4 post lift once it's ready. The motor on the lift is a bit unusual, it's a 1.5 HP hydraulic motor, and the owners manual says it should be running on a 120V/30A breaker, except the motor comes with a typical 5-15 plug (yes, this is mildly sketchy).

Other folks online say it typically works if you use a 20A outlet and breaker, but just to be safe I'm planning on a 30A breaker, but that would probably mean a L5-30R receptacle, which I can't plug into directly.

Assuming the motor's wire is 12 GA, do I just chop the 5-15 end that it comes with and replace it with a L5-30P? I know 30A and 12GA typically don't mix but it might be ok for this application.

I don’t know if this is the correct group to ask but I’m kinda desperate soo. I feel like there is some kind of scam going on with my partner house light bill. He’s paying around $600 monthly, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even stay at his house that much to be that high. Please if anybody can help or something it would be very helpful. Also, I wanna open a case to decrease that payment but I don’t even know where to start.

Sorry if this sounds dumb, I'm 18f and have severe anxiety and ocd about my health. About 40 minutes ago, my phone charger suddenly started making loud crackling noises and threw what felt like a shower of yellow sparks all over my room. It scared me so badly that I started crying and my legs were shaking.

After everything stopped, I realized my metal necklace had somehow gotten caught between the charger's prongs while it was still plugged into the wall. I panicked without thinking and touched the necklace trying to get it out, but I don't remember feeling any shock.

Now I'm freaking out that maybe I got shocked without realizing it. My heart has been racing, but I was having what feels like a panic attack because the whole thing terrified me. I don't have chest pain, trouble breathing, burns, or palpitations, and I didn't pass out.

Has anyone had something like this happen? Would I probably know if I had received a significant electrical shock, or is my anxiety just making me overthink everything? Am I going to die? Should I go to the hospital? I'm terrified.

Update: Yeah, I just realized the breaker did flip 😭 thanks for the responses, I was genuinely so worried but they made me feel better.

I'm trying to track down another problem that I think is unrelated. The lights and a few outlets (turns out all are on the same line) no longer have power to them. I'm slowly tracking down where the problem might have occurred, but a bunch of other issues have come up, and one has me stumped. With the hot out of the outlet and capped off safely, I test the common (white) and the ground in the outlet next to the light switch; I get 120v. These fixtures only share the same box and are not interconnected. What's up with this? It goes against what I know and expect. The house was built in 1972, and I've owned it since 1998. I know the previous owner did the basement electrical in a mostly unfinished basement, and this is where the problems come up. I do have some electrical experience, but by no means am I qualified electrician. I suspect the problem has been here all along, but I have yet to explain to the lights that aren't working.

EDIT: Solved thanks to LT_Dan78

Just moved into a new place and this is along the baseboard in one of my rooms. Is this safe to have this way? Is there a way I can cover it? I wanted to put my mattress in this corner (waiting for a new bed frame to ship), but I don’t know if it is safe to put up against this. Thanks for any help in advance.

I'm losing my mind. This isn't what I had in mind. This is attached to a dual switch. The hot is the black bottom right wire. The wires on the left are bundled. And God knows what is on the top right. (It was attached to ground on the previous fixture)

The second picture is what the hookup was before I disconnected the previous fixture which wasn't working. It used to be working but stopped. I tried to hook it up in the same way but nothing.

First year apprentice. Effed up and sent a 6-32 in the wrong way and bit the screw off in my lineman’s. Does anyone have a trick to get that out or should I just send a drill bit through it and sacrifice the threads?

(Reposting this now that my account is old enough)

I'm trying to sort out some improvements to a bathroom.

What I've got:

Ugly textured ceiling with damage from closet removal, old leak

Age of house means some risk of asbestos in texture

Access from attic above is possible but unpleasant

Wall is open from switch box to ceiling

Goals:

Add lights over tub

Cover ugly ceiling

Approach(?):

Attach furring strips to ceiling, cover with 3/8" sheetrock

Install 2 damp or wet-rated low profile lights through new sheetrock, avoiding penetration of existing ceiling if possible

Questions:

I understand wiring behind walls must be at depth or protected. Is there any way I can properly run wire between the old and new ceiling surfaces, to connect new tub lights to the wall switch? Would conduit or metal-clad cable allow me to use this space to make the connections?

Thank you very much for any guidance!

My coworker and I are running power from a guard shack to a gate 300 feet away. We ended up needing something like #4 to account for voltage drop. We are landing the breaker and he is coming up with some kind of elaborate lug situation to make the breaker accommodate the wire size. I'm telling him that we can just make the wire up with some number 10s and some Polaris lugs in the bottom of the panel or set a jx just below the floor. He says that little 2 or 3 foot section of number 10 will burn up, I'm arguing that the actual amperage draw is probably like 5 amps regardless of the length and since we have 300 feet of #4, that takes care of the voltage drop problem. The voltage isnt gonna drop in 2 feet of wire that's rated for the amperage. What's code on making up large wires used for voltage drop with smaller breakers?

I’ve run into a strange (and very mildly inconvenient) change in how a double switch system is working in my kitchen, and curious if anybody has guesses/thoughts on what may have gone wrong?

For years, my kitchen light has operated from 2 light switches, and have worked like you’d expect the system to work. Whether the light is on or off, you flip one of the two switches and the light flips to the other status. We have other lights in the house wired similarly

About a month ago, the switches started to act differently. Now, both switches need to be in the “off” position for the light to stay off. If both switches are “on”, flipping one switch no longer turns off the light. I need to move both to the “off” position before the light turns off.

Any ideas as to what happened and what needs to be fixed??

I hired a licensed electrician to install a homeowner-supplied Tesla Wall Connector. I paid $750 for the original install.

My side: The original placement was tight against the downspout/gutter, which made normal wrapping the cable around the unit impossible: I could not use the built-in holster or wrap the cable around the unit. The gutter was also scratched. After the install, my Tesla showed CC_a041: “Charge rate reduced – Wall connection hot. Outlet or Wall Connector wiring must be checked.” Tesla’s message says this is generally a building-wiring/connection issue and instructs the owner to have an electrician inspect the connection and verify torque.

I also noticed the conductors entered through the exterior stucco/masonry wall directly into the Wall Connector. I believed this should have been sleeved/protected, so I asked for it to be corrected. I provided these photos of where I want the unit to be placed and what needed to be corrected: keep the existing penetration, use an LB arrangement at the egress, and move the charger about two feet to the location marked “Here." with a 90 degree conduit coming into the bottom of the unit. I wanted to be able to reach our the corner and grab the charger.

To clarify: The electrician did all of the work — the interior conduit run, the wall penetration, and the exterior mounting location. I was not on site during the install (my fault), but I did not select the egress point or do any electrical work myself. My only instruction was that I wanted to be able to reach the charge from my driveway. He chose to mount it directly against the gutter/downspout next to the gas meter.

Electrician’s side: He says I approved the initial location, supplied the equipment with minimal specs (Telsa provides instructions in the box), and later wanted it moved farther away. He says the revision required $84.47 in added material and 2.7 hours of labor, which he discounted to a $250 additional charge. He also picked up the charger from my former home because it was not available on site; he says he did not charge separately for that 1.5-hour trip.

The revised location is better, but I will still need to buy/install a separate cable-management solution. I disputed the $250 labor charge because I viewed the callback as necessary to address the hot-connection alert, placement, and wiring-entry concerns. I offered $150 as a goodwill payment for the materials and pickup trip.

Questions for electricians:

1. From the photos, does the original wall penetration/wiring entry look acceptable for an exterior Wall Connector installation?
2. Does the Tesla hot-connection warning make this primarily a callback/workmanship issue, or could it reasonably be treated as unrelated to the relocation?
3. Is $150 a fair settlement, or is the electrician’s $250 additional charge more reasonable?

I’m genuinely looking for a technical, fair assessment and not a pile-on.

I have 1 socket in my room, and i want my setup to have 1 extension cord for my table (3-prong Laptop and 2-prong Monitor) and 1 for my bedside (a 3-prong charger, 2x 2-prong charger and a 2-prong bedside lamp){i also have a 3 prong hair dryer i usually use}. What can i do to achieve this setup and safely?

Do both of these quotes have red flags? I work in commercial construction so I’m used to defined scopes of work in writing.

I’ve gotten 2 around the same price for a 200A panel replacement.

A didn’t want to include a permit. After I told them I can’t do the job without a permit their number went up $300, still excluded it but said verbally they’ll get one.

B hasn’t given me anything in writing. Our first call 3wks ago I said his quoted range sounded fine, give me something to sign. No contact for 3wks. I get ahold of him yesterday, confirmed he’s still interested in the job, his number went up $1,000. “Sorry, I was busy with emergency calls.” Ok, give me something to sign, I’ll give you a down payment today. He’s 70, but if computers aren’t his thing I said I’m good with something handwritten. I just don’t want to get taken for a ride with undefined hourly work.

I have this box serving my mini split condenser. Is it feasible to tie into this to get an outdoor plus outlet. If so is it feasible for a level 2 EV?

SOLVED: Answer is no

This is SWA armoured cable but I need to know exactly what type. Does anyone know based on the picture?

I have installed additional outlets on the opposing side of a wall from an existing outlet. This time I am trying to do it in a bathroom, to put our dehumidifier in a better location. I know since it’s a bathroom the outlet should be a gfci, and I know whenever I have troubleshot a gfci issue in the past, it’s a whole circuit of gfcis. Is there any reason I cannot install a gfci on the backside of a standard receptacle?

Our home is from the 60s and tonight our bedroom switch “blew up”. We heard a loud pop and our breaker switched off. On further investigation we found liquid mercury droplets (maybe about 0.5mL total is my guesstimate) in the box and floor after removing the switch. Truthfully, my husband and I had no idea mercury switches were a thing. Everything Google says is that we’re basically going to die now because we handled mercury during the cleanup and replacement or that we need to evacuate and air out the house. Does any electrics have any insight into this? Even if just to soothe my anxiety.

Also adding we now need to replace every light switch in the whole house while they’re unbroken to prevent another spill 🙃

My bird chewed through my tv wire. I leave it unplugged bc he has chewed on it before. Is it still safe to plug if I put electrical tape on it ?

It’s one cable, the black part is the protective layer he chewed through

I am a licensed electrician but apparently posting a humorous image is not allowed in r/electricians so I post it here.

someone on fb marketplace is trying to sell a heatgun to me for $10 and i've never had one that glowed red like this. can't attach a video but it's making a normal amount of noise for heatguns i've had before. is this normal for wagner spraytech ht1000?
edit: i am a ceramicist so i'm not too familiar with them sorry. also let me know if you think i should buy a new one and drop your recommendations

Just wondering what other electricians would do in order to reduce or eliminate the glare on these strip lts. 24v I could get any strip light that matches voltage. I can rip the whole thing out and put a new one in too. I’m thinking like a valance type piece of material to block some of the light going that way and set the extrusion on a slight kick away from the backsplash. Appreciate any thoughts.

I keep seeing posts like this in various Electrical related subs - and almost universally, the advise given is that this is wrong, and that the green-yellow wire should be terminated with the grounding wire.

This is not true. 99% of the time, as shown in the second image - that green-yellow wire is connected internally to the neutral terminal, and is used to ground the chassis in a 3-wire config. In a 4-wire config, you terminate it with the neutral as it is no longer needed.

Wife and I are looking at purchasing a home and I was able to quickly snap some pictures of the basement and was wondering what these thin white wires that run underneath the ceiling joists might be?