The solar 120 percent rule is the reason a quote for panels suddenly turns into a quote for panels and a new electrical panel. It is one line of arithmetic, it takes about thirty seconds, and almost nobody explains it…
A 100 amp service EV charger installation is the job most homeowners are told they cannot have. You ordered the car, you called an electrician, and the first thing he said was that your panel has to go. Twelve thousand…
If your house went up between about 1965 and 1973, there is a fair chance the wire behind your outlets is aluminum rather than copper. Somebody has probably already told you it needs to come out. An electrician, a home…
Somewhere between the offer and the closing, an inspector writes one line that stops everything: the home has a Federal Pacific panel, replacement recommended. No explanation follows. You search for it and within ten minutes you have read that your…
Ask around and you will be told that these panels are dangerous, that they cause fires, that they should come out. What you will almost never be told is what actually happens inside the breaker at the moment it is…
Can you turn off your solar panels? Not entirely, and the part that stays live is the part running across your roof. Now put solar panels on the roof. Flip the same breaker on a sunny afternoon, walk outside, and…
The short answer Wire derating is what happens between the number in the ampacity table and the number you are actually allowed to use. Bundle several current carrying conductors in one raceway and they cannot shed heat, so the allowed…
Old house wiring: do you really need to rewire? The short answer Not every old house needs a full rewire. In many homes the wiring itself is still sound and the real problem is the panel, the missing ground, or…
The short answer: the wire size for a 300 foot run is decided by voltage drop, not by how much current the conductor can carry. A conductor that is perfectly legal for the load at 50 feet will leave you…
Read enough of them and you notice that every electrical inspection report contains the same list. Different states, different decades, different builders, and still the same findings. Almost nobody fails an inspection because of something exotic. The dramatic findings, the…
