Gallery of Lights
The Site => General discussion => Topic started by: gailgrove on October 13, 2011, 04:13:16 PM
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Hey everyone! It turns out my Grandmothers is going to be having her old fuse box and meter base (from around 1960) replaced! It will remain a 100 ampere service but at least it will all be safe and new. I'm not doing it (too bad it couldn't of needed replacement in a few years :P ) but it's an electrical contractor doing it. I'm going to be able to stay home from school that day - next Wednesday to watch everything! I'm going to be posting before, during and after pictures. It will be exciting, there will be three electricians (2 master and 1 apprentice) two linemen and an inspector at her house throughout the day, of course there will also be no electricity all day either - the only one thing I'm not looking forward to. :P
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Nice. does your grandmother have older lights in here home? those would be interestign to see too. :D
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Cool, be sure to take pics of both the old and new installs. Some older service panels are quite interesting.
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Ask if you can have the old panel and stuff! AND IF SO, POST PICS!! :D
Those kinds of things are always cool to play around with (at least to me), and I restored one from the 30's, back to new condition!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3V5sasXJdg
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Thanks everybody! I'm going to see about keeping the old box, I hope to get some before shots tonight and I'll take during and after ones too.
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I hope you'll get the old stuff!
When I was 7 or 8 I've been able to keep our old 200A fuse panel (with a main breaker). Unfortunately my parents threw it away a few years later...
And if you can get the meter socket, you could go to your local power company's offices and ask if you can get an old meter! With some luck you'll find a 120V meter, but a 240V one will work fine as well.
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Alright the pictures are up! I'm hoping to keep the old equipment.
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I hope you can get the old stuff too, I have a old GE round meter base lying around somewhere but it wasn't from my service though.
I kinda want to put a old meter in it too.
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Alright guys it turns out that it will be happening tomorrow instead of Wednesday (since it is forecasted to rain then). Which means I likely wont be online at all, but don't worry I will get lots of pictures and hopefully the panel and assorted other things! :D
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Try getting pics of any interesting old lights she may have in her house too. :D ;)
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Cool see if you can save some of the old wiring too, some old wiring setups were pretty interesting.
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The wiring actually looks somewhat modern in her house, the very old type of loomex still has a ground and ironically the outlets where installed ground pin up! Something that is only starting to be done now.
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I thought that ground facing up thing was optional?
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I've never seen the grounds up in a house before. Personally i don't like it. When i was younger the three prongs reminded me of a face. When the grounds are up the face looks upside down lol.
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Yeah I prefer seeing ground down too, it looks better but I believe some people like ground up because it has a smaller chance of shorting out the outlet if something metal falls on it.
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I never said ground up was code but it seems to be the preferred choice now for commercial wiring. I install them both ways, it depends on where the outlet is and what my mood is. Anyways I will shortly be posting the pictures of the finished project, and I have kept the panel and disconnects!
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AWESOME! Can't wait to see them!! :P
I was able to keep (gone now though) a few old breakers when an electrician replaced them, and I asked if I could have them. He said "Sure, you own them anyway, I couldn't take them without your permission, it would be stealing".
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Ground up is actually a recommended installation. Even more recommended if you use metallic plates...
Ground down is NOT recommended....but not AGAINST the code.....we all are used to ground down because the majority of installations has been ground down.....
But it's really grounding up thats safer!
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I remember browsing in some electrical forum and seeing long arguments about whetever ground up or down is better. ;D
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Let's mount our outlets sideways then. ;D
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Oh sure, neutral or hot end up then?
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It should be nuetral, but the hot is up on the outlets outside my house. :o
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Yeah but most outside outlets have the hinge for the cover on the top. :P
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The cover on the outlets here is metal.
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Mine is plastic.
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My grantparents have metal covers too except they have standard outlets with no ground!!! :o Their house is very old and only a few outlets have grounds added to them.
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O_o they should either add a ground or use plastic wallplates for now.
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Walplates? i was talking about those covers that go over the outlets on the outside of the house.
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They make plastic ones too.
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Yeah. My aunt and uncle have those. They have plastic fresh water lines too instead of copper ones like my house. I guess cheap is really the way now. :8)
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My house is still copper, I guess plastic water lines wasn't common in the 80s.
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My aunt and uncle's house was finished in 2008. My house was finished in 2003, so it must have to do with the fact that the contractors are too cheap to purchase copper pipes.
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Well it's like that with most modern stuff so I'm not surprised...
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Like the fact that their JB sockets are plastic while the ones in my house are keyless ceramic.
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Well you know they tend to cut corners now in almost everything nowadays...
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Yep. now everything is actually MADE to fail at one point so you have to replace it. It allows the big corperations to drain our wallets. >:(
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Google "planned obsolescence"
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Yeah. i forgot the term he used. :-[
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There was really good online documentary on that, I forgot the link but see if you can find, it's worth the watch.
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This one's good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2KLyYKJGk0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2KLyYKJGk0)
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Here's the one I was talking about, it's even lighting related. :P
Video Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HnW6Mm5sUI)
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Here it was steel piping that was galvanised ( and which would last for around 40 years) then copper pipe ( 100 year life) and now plastic piping ( bloody copper stripping ba$$$$$s that nick it with impunity).
At a house i lived in when I was young we replaced the piping with new, and dad used stainless steel pipe, as it was cheaper than copper pipe at the time, and would last essentially the life of the house, and then some. Only drawback was it was hard to work with, and you had to use brass compression fittings for everything.
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I watched the whole video. Beside the fact that I couldn't understand half of it, the English part that i could understand was very informative. The government is telling us to cut down on what we throw out when they're promoting planned obselescence. >:( :8)
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Yeah some products are even programmed to stop working like printers after x cycles of use.
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That should really be illegal. i mean there is NO logical point to planned obselescence. >:(
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The logical point is lots of people get rich, that is the only reason it exists. The way this world runs is centred around money and everything else comes second. That is the cold hard truth. :8)
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Yep it only allows the companies to get rich. :8) And Niall is right this is why they make junky lights nowadays. :8)