Welcome to the electrical channel. To start this off i did a service change yesterday for a semi flush 100A panel. The panel was a zynsco (notorious fire hazards) for an eaton. The exterior was stucco and the interior is wood studs.

The autists will notice labels. Those are to signify opposite phasing

As someone whose limits are installing ceiling fans this is terrifying

this is my newest apprentice

@Deleted User you get used to it. I did this live. The transmission lines were not turned off.

Come Monday i will be changing the condenser (outdoor) and the evaporate coil (inside attic). I guess ill be sharing that in here or another channel

If anyone has any questions about electrical or HVAC im here to help.

Hello i'm a 30+ yr master electrician and general do it yourselfer. Happy to help you guys out anytime

Nice

thanks man, this'll make it 10 times easier to see the good info

Roger that

In a few hours ill have new content

I came home from work day before yesterday and found a house very hot even though the air conditioner was set to be running. Upon looking at the outside unit I found it humming but neither the compressor nor the circulating fan running. The humming of the motor indicated to me that it was trying to run but was having difficulty doing so. I killed the power and opened up the control side and checked the capacitor. I found it it was swollen and out of shape which is an indicator that it is bad. Sometimes they were rupture other times they will look fine although they are bad. If it is not physically altered you may have to take it to a air conditioning supply house to have it checked for you. The capacitor cost me approximately $18 and is quite simple to change out. And could save you quite a bit of money on a service call and mark up from an HVAC contractor

This is a picture of the new capacitor installed if you will notice it isn't swollen

The capacitor is a component that helps the motors to start and run efficiently

👌ty

I carry turbo capacitors. You may find the versatility helpful in the field @Deleted User

Gregs right an $18-$60 part installed averages $400-$450 installed out here

Well heres half the install of today. The customer asked if we could come back tomorrow so they could have family time

Nice!

What causes the capacitor to swell?

Age and demand. When a compressor sits for 9 months without use the oil in the refrigerant sludges to the bottom. Then you hope to turn the system on. The mechanical side tries to move, but the electrical side doesnt know that the mechanical side is struggling so it tries hard and dies

Exactly. One thing you have to remember is electricity is a very powerful thing. Many times when a component fails there will be physical damage that you will be able to see on many of the components. Burns, discoloration, melting, etc.

But the actual swelling. Pressure? Temp change?

@William Kenney – MD a capacitor stores static electric energy in a dialectric space... literally lighting in a bottle. When and electric motor is mechanically locked the electrical system will generate more, without ampacity monitors devices will literally overheat. See the by prodruct of electricity is heat. Our NEC is technically NFPA volume 70. The national electric code is written by the national fire protection agency

this is arc damage on a 100A main breaker.

Any low voltage questions, I know a bit. I started out as a low voltage tech in my current company.

Still carry scissors and a punch tool? @Infineon

Always. Plus crimpers and a toner.

Always a fun time.

@Infineon dressing racks is so tedious. BTW have they made a toner that reads thru mag shields yet? I had a hospital contract years ago where a guy cut the labels off in the server room on cat6a with mag shields.... fml that was ridiculous to ID

Digital toners will. I use a pretty cheap toner from Fluke that will tone through anything. (Cheap by Fluke standards, at least)

That will read thru mag shields?

Yeah, I've even had it pick up through metal conduit and from behind 4 inches of concrete.

Holy shit

I've yet to find a place that won't pick up a wire.

Please shoot me the model info

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N2S6RPY?tag=price15591-20&ascsubtag=wtbs_5976d3d691ad221f1efeb225

I have the older model of this one.

Has RJ45 and RG6 barrel connectors

Well i know the toner im buying next time someone wants a needle in a server room haystack found

Will even test the line too.

My toner is for mostly tracing underground 120v-480v

I'm not sure if it's on this model, but mine also has plugins for banana clips

Yeah, the highest I'll touch is 220

And even then, I'm not supposed to

But even then it can be difficult to trace underground work

Its funny that people freak about higher V

Voltage and current are inversely related

Meh. It all shocks the same. It's just not under our contractor's license.

I hear that

Do you fusion splice also?

Not personally, no.

I can terminate fiber though.

I feel like i wasted my time with fiber, certs but rarely get the work for it

Sc and st?

Yeah, fiber's exploding around here so it's actually pretty easy to find work as AT&T is pulling it to all the current businesses and ressies

And usually just SC

But I've done fiber patch panels that are in ST

When i was in the military i worked with a system that was fiber for engineering spaces on an aircraft carrier. Got out and barely touched glass

Ha. I didn't do any of this tech stuff in the service. I was combat arms

Nice

Got out and needed a job. Got picked up for an IT help desk and worked my way up from there. Eventually outsourced and got into low voltage from there.

Well anything you can learn that will let you eventually contract is good imho

Beginner question here: I'm currently working on rewiring the lighting in my basement; at present it's a mess of different fixtures, wiring, and breakers. My question is how many 100watt bulbs can I run off a 10amp breaker. Ideally I'd like 9 or 10 lights; should I upgrade to a 15amp, or will the 10amp handle that load?

@Izat - VA#3390 take the total wattage of the bulbs and / 120 volt that will give you the amperage of that circuit. you really want to keep the load on the breaker at 80% so with a 100 watt light bulb you're looking at 8 bulbs. It goes the same with CFL bulbs or LED bulbs. You take the total wattage and / your voltage to get your amperage

Your voltage in your residence should be 110 volt but for little pad you can use 120.

To go a little deeper if the wire is 14 gauge wire you can change that 10 amp breaker to a 15 amp breaker. If it is 12 gauge wire you can bump your breaker size to a 20 amp. A 10 amp breaker is not used these days. 15 20 30 at cetera are the applicable sizes according to code

I know the math does not work out exactly on that but that'll get you right in the ballpark

Awesome, so upgrading to a 15 amp breaker would be sufficient for 10 lights