Attn: Computer Experts and Electricians

[Pointg5]

Originally Posted by Downthestretch55

I can't answer your first question...I'm ignorant there.
Your second question, though, can be traced. Find your service panel. It's what comes into your house after the meter. Is it fuses (old stuff) or breakers? Is it a 100 or 200 box? If the circuit he put it on didn't pop a breaker or a fuse, your wiring should be ok. Did he put in a "ground fault" outlet? Take a look at the bill he gave you. See what he put in.
And don't run cords, especially off 14-2 wire. Ask him questions.

DTS,

It's a breaker, he seemed surprised that the mini fire did not kick the breaker, before the wiring burnt out. The new outlet has a GFC, which he told me would definitely prevent any future problems. I have a feeling that some of the old owners of the house may have wired it themselves, the house was built in 1926.I'll look at the bill this weekend. Thanks for the reply.

I have no mechanical aptitude or knowledge of these things, I respect people who do this work, because I know they work hard and went to school for it and simply I have no ability to do this, but sometimes I think they know they can take advantage of people. The other end of the spectrum is that I had a plumber at my house for about 5 hours and he only charged me $200 for everything..

[Downthestretch55]

Originally Posted by Pointg5

DTS,

It's a breaker, he seemed surprised that the mini fire did not kick the breaker, before the wiring burnt out. The new outlet has a GFC, which he told me would definitely prevent any future problems. I have a feeling that some of the old owners of the house may have wired it themselves, the house was built in 1926.I'll look at the bill this weekend. Thanks for the reply.

I have no mechanical aptitude or knowledge of these things, I respect people who do this work, because I know they work hard and went to school for it and simply I have no ability to do this, but sometimes I think they know they can take advantage of people. The other end of the spectrum is that I had a plumber at my house for about 5 hours and he only charged me $200 for everything..

OK...that's good.
Now look at the breaker that the circuit feeds back to. It will have alittle number on it. It will say 15 amp, 20 amp..on up.
If the demand of the wiring is below the capacity of the breaker, it won't trip.
However, if the wiring is above the capacity, it's time to get the breaker replaced with one that will accept the "load".

Cajun,
It's "electric speak". Figure it this way...like plumbing, if a pipe has a certain volume of stuff that you want to put through it, and you try to put more into it than it can handle, the pipe will burst and you'll have a flood.
With electricity, it's a lot like that, except you'll have a fire.

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by Downthestretch55

OK...that's good.
Now look at the breaker that the circuit feeds back to. It will have alittle number on it. It will say 15 amp, 20 amp..on up.
If the demand of the wiring is below the capacity of the breaker, it won't trip.
However, if the wiring is above the capacity, it's time to get the breaker replaced with one that will accept the "load".

Cajun,
It's "electric speak". Figure it this way...like plumbing, if a pipe has a certain volume of stuff that you want to put through it, and you try to put more into it than it can handle, the pipe will burst and you'll have a flood.
With electricity, it's a lot like that, except you'll have a fire.

Ok... I just spit my drink out (guess the pipe exploded there )... HILARIOUS that you used that as an example. CLASSIC!

[Downthestretch55]

Originally Posted by Cajungator26

Ok... I just spit my drink out (guess the pipe exploded there )... HILARIOUS that you used that as an example. CLASSIC!

Too funny!

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Pointg5

DTS,

It's a breaker, he seemed surprised that the mini fire did not kick the breaker, before the wiring burnt out. The new outlet has a GFC, which he told me would definitely prevent any future problems. I have a feeling that some of the old owners of the house may have wired it themselves, the house was built in 1926.I'll look at the bill this weekend. Thanks for the reply.

I have no mechanical aptitude or knowledge of these things, I respect people who do this work, because I know they work hard and went to school for it and simply I have no ability to do this, but sometimes I think they know they can take advantage of people. The other end of the spectrum is that I had a plumber at my house for about 5 hours and he only charged me $200 for everything..

my husband is an electrician, but even if he were here it wouldn't do much good to ask, as he's industrial. but i don't think your bill sounds unreasonable.

in future, always get references--tricky i know in a situation like this one. and of course, bonded and insured.
big difference as well between electrical and plumbing. i've done both, believe me, i'd tackle plumbing over electric anyday. screw up on a pipe, you have to wipe up a puddle. on wiring? weelll, that can kill you.

[timmgirvan]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

my husband is an electrician, but even if he were here it wouldn't do much good to ask, as he's industrial. but i don't think your bill sounds unreasonable.

in future, always get references--tricky i know in a situation like this one. and of course, bonded and insured.
big difference as well between electrical and plumbing. i've done both, believe me, i'd tackle plumbing over electric anyday. screw up on a pipe, you have to wipe up a puddle. on wiring? weelll, that can kill you.

I agree the bill seems unreasonable...in Cali you can a small house rewired for 800 bucks!

[Danzig]

no, i said it didn't sound unreasonable.
wiring is incredibly expensive these days, due to the price of copper. $2 a pound now. a roll of copper line for use in plumbing costs over $100 dollars. haven't priced romex recently, but i can imagine...
and of course many residential plumbers/electricians charge a 2 hour minimum labor fee just for showing up to your house. that can be $100 or more just for them to pull into the driveway.

[timmgirvan]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

no, i said it didn't sound unreasonable.
wiring is incredibly expensive these days, due to the price of copper. $2 a pound now. a roll of copper line for use in plumbing costs over $100 dollars. haven't priced romex recently, but i can imagine...
and of course many residential plumbers/electricians charge a 2 hour minimum labor fee just for showing up to your house. that can be $100 or more just for them to pull into the driveway.

Zeig: you said it will kill you...I thought you meant voltage-wise,not price wise,lol!

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by timmgirvan

Zeig: you said it will kill you...I thought you meant voltage-wise,not price wise,lol!

lol
i did mean voltage wise. but definitely sticker shock as well.

[Downthestretch55]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

no, i said it didn't sound unreasonable.
wiring is incredibly expensive these days, due to the price of copper. $2 a pound now. a roll of copper line for use in plumbing costs over $100 dollars. haven't priced romex recently, but i can imagine...
and of course many residential plumbers/electricians charge a 2 hour minimum labor fee just for showing up to your house. that can be $100 or more just for them to pull into the driveway.

Danzig,
You are correct about the price of copper. It's through the roof.
As far as your idea about plumbing vs electric, I prefer electric. Plumbing is just very frustrating to me. I always have "do overs". At least with electrical stuff, at the end of the day, my hands are clean. If there's anything scarey, I just pop the main breaker, though I admit, at times I've worked in a hot box.

Hey Cajun,
You are too funny!

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Downthestretch55

Danzig,
You are correct about the price of copper. It's through the roof.
As far as your idea about plumbing vs electric, I prefer electric. Plumbing is just very frustrating to me. I always have "do overs". At least with electrical stuff, at the end of the day, my hands are clean. If there's anything scarey, I just pop the main breaker, though I admit, at times I've worked in a hot box.

Hey Cajun,
You are too funny!

ok, glad i wasn't drinking just then. i know it wasn't what you meant, but funny all the same!
i don't mind doing either kind of work. now, back before pvc pipe took over, i hated working with copper. hold the pipe while my dad did the soldering, that crap falling all over you and burning--but don't move!! lol
very glad i spent all that time working with him, i can do any kind of remodelling--really any carpentry work from digging and pouring footings to putting on a new roof--and everything in between. can run wire, install switches and outlets, etc. but i excel at drywall mudding. all that knowledge has saved me a ton of $ since buying this house.

as for the price, they just had about $80k worth of copper stolen--bound to be an inside job-at a warehouse about an hour from my house.
fat lot of good it'll do the crooks. now if you sell more than $20 worth, you have to show picture i.d. that'll take forever to unload if they do such a small amout at a time!!

[Downthestretch55]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

ok, glad i wasn't drinking just then. i know it wasn't what you meant, but funny all the same!
i don't mind doing either kind of work. now, back before pvc pipe took over, i hated working with copper. hold the pipe while my dad did the soldering, that crap falling all over you and burning--but don't move!! lol
very glad i spent all that time working with him, i can do any kind of remodelling--really any carpentry work from digging and pouring footings to putting on a new roof--and everything in between. can run wire, install switches and outlets, etc. but i excel at drywall mudding. all that knowledge has saved me a ton of $ since buying this house.

as for the price, they just had about $80k worth of copper stolen--bound to be an inside job-at a warehouse about an hour from my house.
fat lot of good it'll do the crooks. now if you sell more than $20 worth, you have to show picture i.d. that'll take forever to unload if they do such a small amout at a time!!

Sometimes I'm funny when I have no intention of being so...and then at other times, when I try to be...flat on my face, bombs away.
Go figure. I need lessons.

[Pointg5]

Originally Posted by Danzig188

no, i said it didn't sound unreasonable.
wiring is incredibly expensive these days, due to the price of copper. $2 a pound now. a roll of copper line for use in plumbing costs over $100 dollars. haven't priced romex recently, but i can imagine...
and of course many residential plumbers/electricians charge a 2 hour minimum labor fee just for showing up to your house. that can be $100 or more just for them to pull into the driveway.

I'll let it go, you seem to have a pretty good handle on this...One thing I will say is that there customer service was excellent, both the guy who came and the phone rep, I filled out their reply card and said they were outstanding, I figured those two were great, why should they get a bad reply card, because I thought the owner was gouging me...


I am moving from this house this summer, moving to Northern Kentucky. It's a great little old house and it's plenty for my wife and I, but I am tired of dealing with these little issues...

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Pointg5

I'll let it go, you seem to have a pretty good handle on this...One thing I will say is that there customer service was excellent, both the guy who came and the phone rep, I filled out their reply card and said they were outstanding, I figured those two were great, why should they get a bad reply card, because I thought the owner was gouging me...


I am moving from this house this summer, moving to Northern Kentucky. It's a great little old house and it's plenty for my wife and I, but I am tired of dealing with these little issues...

a lot of people fall in love with an older home, but all those nagging little problems take their toll.