Wrapping Split Bolts: Rocket Science?
Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 6:03 pm
The quest for adequate shop wiring is nearing completion, assuming I don't fry myself before I finish. I had a real electrician run #2 copper from the house to the shop, and now I have 100 amps out there, which ought to be good enough for the foreseeable future. I made them use big conduit, so I can lay bigger wire if I ever want to.
Excuse me if I am going over old ground. I can't remember.
I paid a king's ransom for copper instead of aluminum, and then when they were done, I only had about 6" of slack inside the main panel in the shop. They also gave me some bad advice. I said I was concerned about having a panel that only took 4 big breakers (including the 100-amp breaker that fed it), and the electrician said I could do all sorts of stuff with quad breakers, and it turned out to be grossly exaggerated.
I found out I could free up the spot the 100-amp breaker was in by using a frame size breaker at the top of the panel. I got myself a 100-amp QOM1 breaker, and I prepared to install it. This is when I realized I did not have enough slack. I looked up solutions online.
I saw that the standard answer was split bolts, so I bought two huge ones. I researched the right way to tape them up. I didn't just guess. I had used smaller ones in the shop in Miami, so this was not my first time. Anyway, I used Scotch 33 tape and a weird heavy tape I was advised to use for split bolts. I put a heavy layer of 33 on the bolts, then a pile of the other tape, and then more 33. I ended up with masses of tape, wire, and copper the size of tangerines. I also greased the wires before I tightened the nuts.
Now someone is telling me I need a professional electrician to redo the taping. Has anyone here heard of this? Seems nutty to me. I'm not trying to keep radiation inside a fusion reactor. It's just a couple of 250V wires. If, by some miracle, something makes it through the layers of insulation and touches metal, the breakers will pop immediately. I don't see why I should spend money and sit around waiting for someone to do something this simple.
Now that the QOM1 is installed, I'm replacing my nearly new subpanel. It won't accept a frame-size breaker. I'm putting in a 125-amp panel that has room for 6 breakers and a second QOM1. I have two 20-amp and one 50-amp socket running off the main panel, and I intend to install enough receptacles so I can run just about anything without a long cord. As soon as I get the second panel redone, I'm hanging the phase converter on the wall so I can get my lathe moved in.
Should be nice, apart from the lack of air conditioning. I'm seriously considering one of those little lithium fans.
Excuse me if I am going over old ground. I can't remember.
I paid a king's ransom for copper instead of aluminum, and then when they were done, I only had about 6" of slack inside the main panel in the shop. They also gave me some bad advice. I said I was concerned about having a panel that only took 4 big breakers (including the 100-amp breaker that fed it), and the electrician said I could do all sorts of stuff with quad breakers, and it turned out to be grossly exaggerated.
I found out I could free up the spot the 100-amp breaker was in by using a frame size breaker at the top of the panel. I got myself a 100-amp QOM1 breaker, and I prepared to install it. This is when I realized I did not have enough slack. I looked up solutions online.
I saw that the standard answer was split bolts, so I bought two huge ones. I researched the right way to tape them up. I didn't just guess. I had used smaller ones in the shop in Miami, so this was not my first time. Anyway, I used Scotch 33 tape and a weird heavy tape I was advised to use for split bolts. I put a heavy layer of 33 on the bolts, then a pile of the other tape, and then more 33. I ended up with masses of tape, wire, and copper the size of tangerines. I also greased the wires before I tightened the nuts.
Now someone is telling me I need a professional electrician to redo the taping. Has anyone here heard of this? Seems nutty to me. I'm not trying to keep radiation inside a fusion reactor. It's just a couple of 250V wires. If, by some miracle, something makes it through the layers of insulation and touches metal, the breakers will pop immediately. I don't see why I should spend money and sit around waiting for someone to do something this simple.
Now that the QOM1 is installed, I'm replacing my nearly new subpanel. It won't accept a frame-size breaker. I'm putting in a 125-amp panel that has room for 6 breakers and a second QOM1. I have two 20-amp and one 50-amp socket running off the main panel, and I intend to install enough receptacles so I can run just about anything without a long cord. As soon as I get the second panel redone, I'm hanging the phase converter on the wall so I can get my lathe moved in.
Should be nice, apart from the lack of air conditioning. I'm seriously considering one of those little lithium fans.