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Willie Kool
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Postby Willie Kool » Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:40 pm

However there is a dryer outlet in the garage so I think I'm in business
Just need a dryer and a turkey and you will be...

willeyeam
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Postby willeyeam » Wed Nov 24, 2021 2:28 pm

How do I tell if I have 30a available? The garage has a separate fuse box.

Gas would be cheaper to run?
Add up the total amperage of all the breakers and subtract it from the main one would be the easiest way. I assume you mean breakers and not fuse box.

Gas pipe alone is probably like $2.50 a foot. Excavation, installation, hook up.. Could get pricey also.

My guess is there was a wood burner in there for a reason :lol:
Update. Only 15a available. However there is a dryer outlet in the garage so I think I'm in business
Yep. That should work for a big one like dodint posted which I believe was 240v
Confirmed. So dumb question. But whatever.. I've been cool with undertaking most things around my house but have been scared to **** around and find out with electrical work. Get an electrician to hardwire this thing in or is that an easy enough job?

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:00 pm

However there is a dryer outlet in the garage so I think I'm in business
Just need a dryer and a turkey and you will be...
@NAN

Dickie Dunn
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Postby Dickie Dunn » Wed Nov 24, 2021 4:46 pm

Talk about a happy **** Thanksgiving.

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:11 pm

How do I tell if I have 30a available? The garage has a separate fuse box.

Gas would be cheaper to run?
Add up the total amperage of all the breakers and subtract it from the main one would be the easiest way. I assume you mean breakers and not fuse box.

Gas pipe alone is probably like $2.50 a foot. Excavation, installation, hook up.. Could get pricey also.

My guess is there was a wood burner in there for a reason :lol:
Update. Only 15a available. However there is a dryer outlet in the garage so I think I'm in business
Yep. That should work for a big one like dodint posted which I believe was 240v
Confirmed. So dumb question. But whatever.. I've been cool with undertaking most things around my house but have been scared to **** around and find out with electrical work. Get an electrician to hardwire this thing in or is that an easy enough job?
It is easy enough, I would say. It can be intimidating but it's not difficult. My guess is you'd need like 10/3 wire, the heater will probably specify. Kill the main breaker, pop the old dryer breaker out, run your wire from the heater and into the panel and hook it up to the breaker.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:28 am

Bought a frost-free upright freezer this morning at Home Depot ($80 off for Cyber Monday), with delivery for Wednesday. Now I need to go ahead and run Romex to the location I want to put it. Finally going to be able to buy frozen stuff from Costco now.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 9:12 am

I just spent 30+ minutes reviewing code changes for basement freezers and GFCI. Manufacturers say don't put it on a GFCI circuit, but updated NEC code says nah dawg, you need GFCI. It looks like there's an exemption if it's a single receptacle on a dedicated circuit that isn't easily accessible (directly behind the freezer), so that's what I'm rolling with. My spare romex is a few feet short, so unfortunately I need to spend a few bucks on a new roll.

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 10:09 am

Yeah, run a dedicated outlet for it.

Source: am a guy who lost hundreds of dollars worth of food when a gfi tripped.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 10:10 am

I was going to add a smart outlet/alarm if I did GFCI, but **** that ****. It makes zero sense to me that GFCI is being required for appliances like fridges and freezers.

shafnutz05
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Postby shafnutz05 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:31 am

Yeah, run a dedicated outlet for it.

Source: am a guy who lost hundreds of dollars worth of food when a gfi tripped.
Ditto.

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:31 am

I learned a few years ago that the dolt that wired my house put the outlet in my garage where my freezer is, on the same circuit as outdoor outlets and the water heater. Sucked balls when snow/rain tripped the circuit and I had no hot water and almost lost all the frozen meat. Took me forever to figure it out, too

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:35 am

GFCI is also required in garages, so I assume that's what happened to you, too. You don't need dedicated circuits, but if you have a large fridge or freezer on a 15a line, I could see why it happened. I thought about running 12/2 on a 20 for this, but that's just spending money for no reason, since this is dedicated, and the freezer only draws 1.7a (and max 5-6 on start).

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Mon Nov 29, 2021 1:18 pm

GFCI is also required in garages, so I assume that's what happened to you, too. You don't need dedicated circuits, but if you have a large fridge or freezer on a 15a line, I could see why it happened. I thought about running 12/2 on a 20 for this, but that's just spending money for no reason, since this is dedicated, and the freezer only draws 1.7a (and max 5-6 on start).
Yep, on a GFCI. It's really a terrible place to have a freezer, but right now our basement is a kid's playpen and no room for a freezer. Either way, there's only like 2 outlets in the basement. They really skimped on making the basement useful when they built this house. There were no stub ups for water and the aforementioned 2 outlets.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 2:05 pm

The only thing lacking in my basement, outside of outlets in general, is a drain. Our water line is about 4' above ground in the basement running to the street. So when I drain my water heater, I do so in the sump. Which I guess is fine, as it allows me to perform my annual sump pump testing, so two birds.

Nuge
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Postby Nuge » Mon Nov 29, 2021 6:10 pm

Speaking of sump pumps, has anyone here replaced one and how often? We've been in our house for 6 years. I've replaced the float once and done nothing else to it. It runs pretty frequently. The internet tells me that the average lifespan is 7-10 years. That seems pretty often to me, but I don't want to wait until it fails.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 6:11 pm

Finished wiring up the outlet. My panel is 60% full, but man is it tight in there. I had to run the common up where the grounds were because I didn’t want to fight with the other wires down low. Glad the neutral bar accepts both ground and neutral, because I think I’d be in bigger trouble if it had a separate ground bar.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 6:13 pm

Speaking of sump pumps, has anyone here replaced one and how often? We've been in our house for 6 years. I've replaced the float once and done nothing else to it. It runs pretty frequently. The internet tells me that the average lifespan is 7-10 years. That seems pretty often to me, but I don't want to wait until it fails.
I haven’t, and I question anyone who says they only last 7-10 years unless they’re running all the time. If it fails, it’s a simple swap.

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 6:46 pm

Finished wiring up the outlet. My panel is 60% full, but man is it tight in there. I had to run the common up where the grounds were because I didn’t want to fight with the other wires down low. Glad the neutral bar accepts both ground and neutral, because I think I’d be in bigger trouble if it had a separate ground bar.
My electrician laughed when I told him I wanted a 400 amp service and 2 200 amp panels up and down stairs. This was why.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:14 pm

Finished wiring up the outlet. My panel is 60% full, but man is it tight in there. I had to run the common up where the grounds were because I didn’t want to fight with the other wires down low. Glad the neutral bar accepts both ground and neutral, because I think I’d be in bigger trouble if it had a separate ground bar.
My electrician laughed when I told him I wanted a 400 amp service and 2 200 amp panels up and down stairs. This was why.
That’s crazy overboard, though. :lol:

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 8:04 pm

Is it? Ill be here forever, God willing. If I end up with 2 or 3 electric vehicles, a detached garage that I want to weld and run a big air compressor, it'll go quick. I think it was an extra $800 for it. Worth it in my book.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:33 am

I meant it was if all you wanted to do was make it easier to wire, which is how I took your initial post. Now that you mention electric vehicles, a welder, etc., yeah, it makes perfect sense.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:46 am

Speaking of electric, a 12.75 kW solar panel roof with a single Powerwall (3 days backup) is just under $26k for my house. This would generate 110% of my power needs, according to the calculator. I don't know if we'd actually get a credit for power sent to the grid, but if I assume 100% of my power needs can be met by solar, that means that the break even point for the roof would be in year 16. That's still not good enough, IMO.

Dickie Dunn
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Postby Dickie Dunn » Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:01 am

We actually went ahead with solar and had panels installed last week. Will overproduce to 115% of our current electrical needs, 26% federal tax rebate, whatever the hell the state tax rebates are, market rate for selling back to Penn Power, and locked in at the same price as our current electric bill. Too good to pass up.

We also have a comparatively small system as the back of our house gets hammered with direct sun and all of our panels are on the back roof and aren’t visible from the street. If it was a situation where we would have random solar panels all over the roof I would probably want a better deal.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:03 am

We actually went ahead with solar and had panels installed last week. Will overproduce to 115% of our current electrical needs, 26% federal tax rebate, whatever the hell the state tax rebates are, market rate for selling back to Penn Power, and locked in at the same price as our current electric bill. Too good to pass up.

We also have a comparatively small system as the back of our house gets hammered with direct sun and all of our panels are on the back roof and aren’t visible from the street. If it was a situation where we would have random solar panels all over the roof I would probably want a better deal.
Tesla or somebody else? And did you get batteries?

count2infinity
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Postby count2infinity » Tue Nov 30, 2021 10:05 am

After my long ordeal with getting a front door, they're finally here on this snowy morning doing the install... :lol:

Cant wait to be done with this. The old door is currently out and they're installing the new one as I type this.

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