Save Time & Money By Hiring Local Licensed Master Electrician

Hiring a Professional Master electrician can be expensive and is often the reason people try doing their own electric wiring themselves. I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly results of these efforts. I have come to the conclusion that electrical wiring is not something an untrained person should attempt.

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Hello, I was one of a couple master electricians whom started answering questions from people online before all the money players began charging fees. I always did it for free. Well I am back again after several year long break. Please share and get your friends to visit. I am starting another public knowledge forum about other home service topics. It will be free also. The public Q&A site address is  ask.electricalanswerman.com***Write down that it is a 'Public' type forum, the public will be sharing their knowledge not myself. I will moderate the best I can to make sure it stays a home services type forum.  If you want to ask me question please make a request using the contact forms on either site. Hope you found the answer you are looking, don't forget to spread the word and subscribe!

It is so important that before attempting to DIY basic electrical wiring projects, people be made aware of how dangerous electricity is and how important safety is for you, your family and family home. 99 percent of the time, I recommend to customers they should hire a licensed master electrician over doing there own electrical wiring. Not doing this will usually end up costing even more money than before and increase the risk of bringing your family into danger without even knowing you’re doing it.

Here is an example. To earn the opportunity to work with a well-educated Licensed journeyman electrician is usually very difficult to carry out when starting out as helper. Most anyone giving electrical field a try are required to work 2 years minimum before given the opportunity to enter school or obtain a position to consistently work with a licensed journeyman electrician. Licensed electricians are serious about the electrical trade and before you are allowed to gain entrance into the few private industry electrical construction schools, many test are given, both on the job and in their school setting. Union Electrical schools are the best Industrial electrical construction schools in North America. Look it up! Once accepted as indentured apprentice you are allowed to demonstrate your abilities daily for a few years, then hope after all that time working you get accepted into their five year private industrial electrical school. (9 months a year, class twice a week) while under the immediate direction of a licensed Journeyman electrician everyday at work. The teachers are usually Electrical Engineers that have went through this school at some point in their career. The teachers usually worked at surrounding Industrial plants as DuPont, FORD and GM. These programs have mandatory man-hours worked and are equal to a Associate degree in Electrical Engineering. Credits do transfer over. Along with school and working a mandatory 2000 hours a year not much time for playing. And after graduation we are required to attend many more schools throughout our career. Electrical field is the only field where you must either keep up with new technology or get out of the business. All these things should show anyone why it is very dangerous for any untrained person to attempt doing their own electrical work. It is much more dangerous than any other trade.

Here are 3 very basic questions frequently asked by property owners:

Question 1: I installed a plug but no ground wire. Why is it only 2-wires? Will it work? No it will not do the job if you are selling your home. It will work if you have no inspections and want to take a chance burning up all your electronics. A 3-wire system is really needed.

  • no easy answers, it will take a complete rewire if inspectors are on their way.
  • There is no 100% safe fix but you can get by just adding a couple of 3-wire circuits. That is if no inspectors are coming and you own the property.
  • Can I use the neutral for the ground? Someone told me I could do it to save money.

The neutral is mainly used for one purpose, it carries the unbalanced load back to the neutral in main electric breaker panel. The green ground wire carries any overload back to a grounding system through main panel and dissipate through-out the earth.

note: Check the wiring throughout the the house and look for 3-wire circuits; thats one run of romex with one black, one white and green inside of the sheathing. You may have one 3-wire circuit and a small ground system that may have been installed in the past just to take care of freezer or window AC. Register to ask questions.

To troubleshoot if you have a ground somewhere: get Volt-meter from the local electric supply house. Wired-in appliances like dishwashers, garbage disposal, dryer, window AC unit. These types appliances are usually wired by dedicated circuits(one wire straight from breaker box that does not connect anywhere else except that one appliance) and these circuits are sometimes installed at later dates after house was built. Check for grounds in the dedicated circuits because usually the best place to look for a circuit with third green ground wire. Light switches are the less likely place a ground will be found.

To get help looking for a grounding system, register.

Please Click Here to read Registrations instructions to prevent you any delays in asking me questions!

What is the NEC? National Fire Protection Association. It is updated with new additions and changes every 3 years. Anywhere from 200-400 sections and sub-sections are revised every three years. We are required to study every new procedure, what material the new procedure uses and if any changes were made to the process. Studying changes in a new NEC handbook made so every change is marked with new illustrations material. Over 1100 hundred pages counting all illustrations made up the 2009 NEC. Studying a little everyday to keep up with hundreds of changes every 3 years. Current copy of National Electric code at local electrical supply house. It covers regulations that govern the entire electrical construction industry in North America. It covers everything from wiring dams to billion dollar solar farms and windmills. It takes paying for classes to learn how to read NEC properly. These classes usually consist of new technology technical data, installation changes.

Question 3: Can I do my own wiring and get questions answered by a local licensed electrician? You can try, but Licensed Master electricians have bonds to keep up and because of that, they may not get involved in owner projects.

Most states do not allow homeowners to do their own wiring. Some very isolated areas may let you because lack of funds to enforce building codes inspections. Check with your State Building codes office for questions. Every state has some sort of building codes office.

Nowhere are you permitted to do wiring in “commercial” buildings unless you are licensed.

If you are allowed to do your own wiring, be careful and understand the risk.

The electrical inspector will know that you’re an amateur and will expect questions.

Make a good decision and do electrical work safe if you choose to do it yourself.

Please Click Here to read Registrations instructions to prevent you any delays in asking me questions!

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