Electrical wiring in the home shop.

[tornitore45]

Fires are not so common in Europe because practically all houses are brick, blocks, concrete and stones, even partitioning walls.
Tiles are far more prevalent than carpets.
The house I lived in until married had a 220V 10A service, when the rare fuse blew we replaced the link between the screws with thick solder.
Fire stations are a lost sparser in Europe cities than in the US

[Patio]

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you Patio for your electrical expertise input. I agree that one should use the correct nomenclature when describing anything. Being an engineer, I subscribe to correct nomenclature, but I guess that is not considered important to non-engineering/technical types.

I have not used correct nomenclature, during my explanations, because it may confuse non electrician types. The proper term for a neutral wire is, "Grounded current carrying conductor" and a hot wire would be a "Ungrounded current carrying conductor". Another thing is that when doing derating calculations, for multiple conductors in a conduit, sometimes neutrals are considered current carrying conductor, and sometimes they are not. The difference depends on if the load is considered reactive or resistive. Reactive is when a load has transformers or capacitors in them, where resistive is load with heating elements and such. A general outlet that the load could be anything, is considered, resistive.

I thought that by now there must be such a thing as an over current circuit breaker / GFI combined, but when I asked at the electrical supply shop they stared at me like I was an alien. Does that exist in the US?

In the USA, most homes have a 200A/240V single phase. Some larger homes have 400A/240V single phase systems. Three phase is usually reserved for industry, but can be had in residential, for a cost. Harold is one of the few people I know that have had 3 phase installed in their home or shop.

I live in the state of Washington, and they abide by all the codes of the NEC, "National Electrical Code", then we have the WAC rules,"Washington Annotated Code, and the RCW's "Revised Code of Washington" to follow when wiring. The NEC has recently required GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters) and AFCI (Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter breakers to be installed in residences. They also manufacture a combination breaker that has both. Breakers went from abut 5 bucks to 50 bucks each. The Arc Fault breakers have brain that can detect the signature of an arching connection, and will trip. In the beginning there was a bunch of nuisance tripping. An arc from the brushes of a vacuum cleaner would trip the breaker. The type of circuit determines the type of breaker required. All bedrooms and living spaces require Arc Fault breakers. Any receptacle within 5' of water require GFI, are just some of the examples.

I use to use a isolation transformer, between my test equipment and the unit being worked on, so a floating hot would not toast the test equipment.

A lady just drove up to my house and installed a whole-house surge protector in 2 minutes. What?

I thought they would have to dig up the yard.

They are pretty simple devises. Usually just a little box that has wires connected to each of the busses in the panel. If your panel is surface mounted, even easier yet. Glad you had a nice surprise. That is not usually the case when an electrician comes.

[neanderman]

#5 -- That I did not know! Thanks! I'll review what I've done, but I seldom run more than two NM cables directly next to each other.

[neanderman]

I believe all basement outlets require a GFCI?

Regardless, all of mine are.

[Patio]

GFI are required in areas with concrete floors. Just in case you are running around your shop barefoot.

[liveaboard]

AFCI Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter breakers

Never heard of those; it's always fun to learn something.

[jcfx]

GFI are required in areas with concrete floors. Just in case you are running around your shop barefoot.

I did not know that ! Thats a nother thing to add to my to do list at home.

Patio, thanks for starting this thread, very informative and useful !

[LIALLEGHENY]

"In the USA, most homes have a 200A/240V single phase. Some larger homes have 400A/240V single phase systems. Three phase is usually reserved for industry, but can be had in residential, for a cost."

I can't speak for the rest of the country, but here in NY most homes were built with 100A single phase service or less (older homes that is) I grew up on Long Island , our house built in 1957 (Suffolk county)had a 100 A service. My nerphews house , built in the 90's, again 100A service. My house in Queens, built 1920 ….60A service. When Lilco was running the show on LI and then LIPA, we were denied having 3 phase upgraded to our house. We were told that only industrial property could have 3 Phase, as the localities were afraid people would start running businesses in residential areas. Don't know what the story is now that PSE&G is running things.

[prlawiii]

GFI are required in areas with concrete floors. Just in case you are running around your shop barefoot.

Does that mean in a shop with a concrete floor (in-floor heating) every outlet is supposed to be GFCI?

Herman

[Patio]

Hi Everyone, with regards to what is code and what is not, depends on the state, county and city you live in, in the USA. Everyone of them is different. Most State have a minimum code requirement, and then counties and cities, put there enhanced requirements on those.
I live in Washington state, where they are pretty strict.
Concrete floor that have a covering, do not require GFI outlets, but bare ones do. The principle is that concrete is as good as ground, so it you are standing on it, with bare feet and contact a hot wire, you are not going to have a good day.
When protecting outlets, using GFI, only the first outlet in the string needs to be a GFI, the rest, down stream of it should be connected to the load side of the GFI, protecting all the outlets.

[NP317]

When we wired my new shop (in Oregon with concrete floors) we installed one GFI outlet in each circuit.
I have 4 separate 115 Vac circuits for wall power.
RN

[John Hasler]

Under the current code GFCI is not required in a shop for 220 outlets, hardwired machines, or dedicated outlets.

I know a number of people who have had bad experiences with the outlets with built in GFCI. One of them had the outlet catch fire.

I have no GFCI and have no plans to install any but if I did I would install GFCI breakers, not GFCI outlets.