Are All Breaker Boxes This Tidy?

[jeepxj]

I think that is way safer overall. keeping the service isolated.

 

[SlappyWhite]

I think that is way safer overall. keeping the service isolated.

Yes the service side is physically isolated and separated inside the panel, which includes the "unfused" part of the service (the seperate cover inside the panel can be removed though if you need access). Really, it is very unlikely anyone (electrician or more importantly DIYer) would need access to this and it means nothing is easily accessible inside the panel prior to the main breaker.

 

[rlitman]

i only wire in yellow THHN. nothing else will work

 

[andyvh1959]

Well, the "professional" that wired the breaker panel in my house must have been in a hurry. Whatever length of wire that was pulled into the panel, even if it was more than 24" too long, just got crammed in. Wires all over the place with no decent routing. I found a neutral that was not connected to anything, but the black for that circuit was connected to a breaker. Found a few breakers with two blacks routed to them rather than use two more breakers. Found two blacks I could slip out of the breaker lug with my finger. Just real sloppy over all.

When I wired in the power cable from my detached shop, I needed to add a ground bus to the panel, so I could route the neutrals and grounds separately. I removed all the breakers, reorganized them by circuit and amperage, and then rerouted all the wires. By the time I was done the panel looked much more like the picture shown by the OP. And I'm no electrician.

 

[Firebrick43]

 

[mike93lx]

Guessing few grounds because of the conduit?

 

[Debcrow]

What about a whole job that's done that way (without the violations)?

Makes troubleshooting a lot easier. The problem is in the Yellow cable......

I used to tell that to the guys when we had a problem in the power plant with miles of single strand grey in the control room and the electrical room underneath....."Its the Grey wire that is the problem".

 

[Firebrick43]

Guessing few grounds because of the conduit?

It isn't conduit but yes.

 

[PCustoms]

It isn't conduit but yes.

 

[sparky 1971]

It isn't conduit but yes.

EMT is tubing, not conduit. And it looks awful.

 

[mike93lx]

It isn't conduit but yes.

EMT is tubing, not conduit. And it looks awful.

Sure looks to meet the definition of conduit to me

 

[sparky 1971]

Sure looka to meet the definition of conduit to me

It's splitting hairs but
EMT electrical metallic tubing
RMC rigid metal conduit
RPVC Rigid polyvinyl chloride conduit (PVC)
LFMC liquid tight flexible metal conduit (seal tight)


For what it's worth, I also call EMT conduit.

If you look in article 100, there is no definition of conduit but there is a definition for conduit body:

A separate portion of a conduit or tubing system that provides access through a removable cover...and keeps going.

 

[Firebrick43]

Sure looka to meet the definition of conduit to me

It personally doesn’t bother me if you do call it conduit.

But a good many electricians I have worked with over the years flip out if you miss the distinction and I feared being called out by the zealots

 

[Firebrick43]

EMT is tubing, not conduit. And it looks awful.

Thank you, may I have another.

 

[mike93lx]

It personally doesn’t bother me if you do call it conduit.

But a good many electricians I have worked with over the years flip out if you miss the distinction and I feared being called out by the zealots

Sparkies are...special

 

[Firebrick43]

Sparkies are...special

While I have met “eccentric” individuals in every trade, it does seem that there is a much higher percentage of special people on the electrical side.

For many years I was strictly a mech on CNC machines.

We had one sparky that looked and sometimes seem as intelligent as Elmer Fudd. One day he used 51 of the 53 fuses in stock trying to find a short on a Lamb line. I found the smashed conduit in 15 mins.

After that if I saw him coming I would quietly say to the nearest co worker.

“Be very quiet, I am hunting electrons” in my best Elmer Fudd impression

Don’t tell anyone but the last few years I have actually been more of an industrial electrician. I guess working with some that were really good wore off on me.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

while ya'll are arguing over conduit vs tubing , i'll just point out that the bare copper wire tying the 2 ground bars together is totally unnecessary...

 

[mike93lx]

It's splitting hairs but
EMT electrical metallic tubing
RMC rigid metal conduit
RPVC Rigid polyvinyl chloride conduit (PVC)
LFMC liquid tight flexible metal conduit (seal tight)


For what it's worth, I also call EMT conduit.

If you look in article 100, there is no definition of conduit but there is a definition for conduit body:

A separate portion of a conduit or tubing system that provides access through a removable cover...and keeps going.

Just because conduit isn't in the name doesn't mean it isn't conduit. We don't call squares Square rectangles, but they are still rectangles

 

[Bert_]

Green is my favorite color. Wait, isn't that used for some specific wire? Oh well, the green looks great

At a school I do work at, one wing has green switch legs for all the lights. Was built in the 60's

 

[sparky 1971]

Just because conduit isn't in the name doesn't mean it isn't conduit. We don't call squares Square rectangles, but they are still rectangles

But there is a difference according to the NEC. That's why it differentiates between conduit and tubing systems. I have at one time or another called all of them conduit and never has the word tubing come out of my mouth that I know of because I don't care.

 

[Firebrick43]

while ya'll are arguing over conduit vs tubing , i'll just point out that the bare copper wire tying the 2 ground bars together is totally unnecessary...

Yes, but the inspector wanted it and I learned along time ago just comply no matter how stupid they are. (If it’s minor)

Didn’t hurt any thing.

He was concerned as well that boxes with two sets of receptacles had to have individual ground wires connected with a greenie and then to the box instead of a single wire daisy chained from one ground post to the next and then to the box even though I used hospital grade receptacles that technically don’t even need a ground wire as the are self bonded thru the yoke.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Yes, but the inspector wanted it and I learned along time ago just comply no matter how stupid they are.

Didn’t hurt any thing.

He was concerned as well that boxes with two sets of receptacles had to have individual ground wires connected with a greenie and then to the box instead of a single wire daisy chained from one ground post to the next and then to the box

umm the inspector cant require something that isnt code and you arent required to bend over for them.... no you dont just comply... ask them for code reference... if they asked you to do something that would cost tons of money, would you just do it, even if it wasnt code?

 

[Firebrick43]

It didn’t cost me a dime just a couple of hours of time. And your right I could have fought it but we have one inspector for the county and I didn’t want to **** heads down the road.

Now the idiot in the county to the east I have butted heads with. I helped a friend with his house and the inspector had never seen 3/0 copper xhhw (in pvc conduit from the meter base to the main box) and wanted 4/0 aluminum.

 

[beemerphile]

while ya'll are arguing over conduit vs tubing , i'll just point out that the bare copper wire tying the 2 ground bars together is totally unnecessary...

I've always tied ground bars together with #6 as well. It just feels better and who doesn't have a few coils of that lying around without a purpose in life. Of course, this is from a guy with two 8 ft. ground rods plus a UFER. Belts 'n' suspenders.

 

[sparky 1971]

I've always tied ground bars together with #6 as well. It just feels better and who doesn't have a few coils of that lying around without a purpose in life. Of course, this is from a guy with two 8 ft. ground rods plus a UFER. Belts 'n' suspenders.

You've got coils of bare #6 laying around but not white or green marking tape?

 

[Jim greengo]

Somebody needs to learn to bend conduit.

 

[beemerphile]

You've got coils of bare #6 laying around but not white or green marking tape?

Expound please upon that thought?

 

[rancherbill]

Now the idiot in the county to the east I have butted heads with. I helped a friend with his house and the inspector had never seen 3/0 copper xhhw (in pvc conduit from the meter base to the main box) and wanted 4/0 aluminum.

I see a pattern, you were after the guy for not calling conduit EMT conduit. Now you're after an inspector for the wire that he thinks is required. You letting a couple of things slide with the inspector that you deal with all the time.

You should consider a ticket upgrade and become an inspector.

 

[Firebrick43]

I see a pattern, you were after the guy for not calling conduit EMT conduit. Now you're after an inspector for the wire that he thinks is required. You letting a couple of things slide with the inspector that you deal with all the time.

You should consider a ticket upgrade and become an inspector.

I simply said it was not conduit. I wasn’t “after him”. Your grasping

The inspector that I deal with sometimes wanted something that cost me nothing but a little time.

The other inspector wanted us to pull out close to a thousand dollars of copper wire that was superior in all ways(except cost) and replace it with aluminum

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Expound please upon that thought?

you didnt mark your EGC or neutral with green and white (respectively) tape....

 

[Mzungu]

Somebody needs to learn to bend conduit.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[sparky 1971]

Expound please upon that thought?

I see black wires landed where the neutral and ground should be.

 

[sparky 1971]

Somebody needs to learn to bend conduit.

Yep. If I walked up to that panel I would expect to find a rats nest under the cover. The inside looks really good though other than I think the bushing is missing. I install breakers from the bottom like that myself.

 

[Jim greengo]

Yep. If I walked up to that panel I would expect to find a rats nest under the cover. The inside looks really good though. I install breakers from the bottom like that myself.

I always start at the top with 2 poles and try and make everything look symmetrical as I go down the panel.
Just the way I've done things for more years than I'd like to remember some days.

 

[beemerphile]

I see black wires landed where the neutral and ground should be.

I had taped both ends to land them on the right terminals, but I cut the taped ends off when the wires were cut to length. The picture was taken before the wires were re-taped. They were later marked again with blue, red, white, and green.

 

[Debcrow]

Green is my favorite color. Wait, isn't that used for some specific wire? Oh well, the green looks great.

At a school I do work at, one wing has green switch legs for all the lights. Was built in the 60's

VERY GOOD. You guys are in touch with the New Reality of the WORLD. EVERYONE should be going GREEN to save the universe!!!!!!

 

[beemerphile]

I finished my workshop main panel and sub-panel today. The main has more circuits than I need, but with the panel shortages going on it was the smallest QO PON panel I could get with a 150A main. The 100A sub-panel at the opposite end of the workshop feeds the 60A Tesla Wallcharger, a mini-split, and the lights and receptacles in the garage attached to the workshop. I feel like I need to brace for incoming when I show work here, but if it exposes something that isn't done correctly, I want to know. So, here are a couple of examples of what I hope can be considered workmanlike, though not tidy to squeaky *** standards...

 

[mike93lx]

I finished my workshop main panel and sub-panel today. The main has more circuits than I need, but with the panel shortages going on it was the smallest QO PON panel I could get with a 150A main. The 100A sub-panel at the opposite end of the workshop feeds the 60A Tesla Wallcharger, a mini-split, and the lights and receptacles in the garage attached to the workshop. I feel like I need to brace for incoming when I show work here, but if it exposes something that isn't done correctly, I want to know. So, here are a couple of examples of what I hope can be considered workmanlike, though not tidy to squeaky *** standards...

What an absolute **** show. The audacity of sharing that ****!








Looks good

 

[beemerphile]

What an absolute **** show. The audacity of sharing that ****!








Looks good

I was already in the basement with a cooking pot on my head before I read the last comment.

 

[sparky 1971]

I finished my workshop main panel and sub-panel today. The main has more circuits than I need, but with the panel shortages going on it was the smallest QO PON panel I could get with a 150A main. The 100A sub-panel at the opposite end of the workshop feeds the 60A Tesla Wallcharger, a mini-split, and the lights and receptacles in the garage attached to the workshop. I feel like I need to brace for incoming when I show work here, but if it exposes something that isn't done correctly, I want to know. So, here are a couple of examples of what I hope can be considered workmanlike, though not tidy to squeaky *** standards...

I like those. That's about what mine look like, of course they all look alike when the covers go on. And you forgot the bushing on the bottom panel. That's another one of my tricks, find the bushing laying on top of the panel right before I put the cover on.