electrical wiring (House) question

deepee99 wrote:You're better off with a 60-watt Edison bulb, especially now that they're illegal.

Funny, I just bought one of those yesterday at Lowes. $8 or so. I thought it looked cool. It's brighter than I expected.

Can flourescents or ballasts make a whooshing sound?

DeePee ... are you paying attention here?

I've been running my greenhouse with an extension cord for years, just plugging it into an outside socket on the garage. No GFCI, never any issues, and I just love the tingly feeling I get walking across the grass in the rain ...

As an experiment, I'd be interested to know if replacing the inside GFCI with an identical unit would make a difference ... or for that matter, if putting multiple GFCIs in the same line is even advisable.

j4570 wrote:
If you aren't up to running a subpanel (I know it gets involved and people don't like to do it or spend the money), consider two circuits from the house panel, one for lights, and one for shop use.

I did run a sub panel and have two 30 amp breakers for primary 230vac power for saws, welders, etc. Those branch out to dedicated 120vac for smaller tools, lights and such.

Oh. And a greenhouse.

sKiZo wrote:Can flourescents or ballasts make a whooshing sound?

DeePee ... are you paying attention here?

I've been running my greenhouse with an extension cord for years, just plugging it into an outside socket on the garage. No GFCI, never any issues, and I just love the tingly feeling I get walking across the grass in the rain ...

As an experiment, I'd be interested to know if replacing the inside GFCI with an identical unit would make a difference ... or for that matter, if putting multiple GFCIs in the same line is even advisable.

j4570 wrote:
If you aren't up to running a subpanel (I know it gets involved and people don't like to do it or spend the money), consider two circuits from the house panel, one for lights, and one for shop use.

I did run a sub panel and have two 30 amp breakers for primary 230vac power for saws, welders, etc. Those branch out to dedicated 120vac for smaller tools, lights and such.

Oh. And a greenhouse.

And just , exactly, what are we growing in the hot-house of yours? Can we have some for Montana's TubeFest?

Shhhhhhhh ... trying to be a little discrete here ...

sKiZo wrote:Shhhhhhhh ... trying to be a little discrete here ...

HAWWWRRR!
The black line is the C02, yes? Perhaps MontanaWay should separate his white from black conductors similarly. At least he wouldn't care anymore . . . although at such point finding the actual ground could be difficult.

interesting....they look like tomato plants....but smell kinda familiar!!!!!  

For best interference combine one rheostat (dimmer switch) with fluorescent bulbs.  Guaranteed.  Even if on a different breaker, in my experience rheostats can cause issues.

gener8r wrote:For best interference combine one rheostat (dimmer switch) with fluorescent bulbs.  Guaranteed.  Even if on a different breaker, in my experience rheostats can cause issues.

Ya know, that's the one variable I haven't thought of, or eliminated. We do have a dimmer-switch on the dining room lights. Also, the deep-freezer downstairs; both are on different breakers but two more things to kick away.

Thanks!

Hi
Electrician from Canada here. Gfci's work by looking for an imbalance of current between the neutral and line side. So for example, a leakage to ground (maybe through a persons body)would cause the gfci to trip. I think it was around 7ma needed. In any case, hooking gfci together can also cause this griping to happen on the primary gfci. So coming off your homes exterior gfci and then adding one down stream can do this. Best thing to do for your little shop would be to add a small sub panel, burry appropriate size conduit at a depth specified by local codes, here its 18" for no vehicular areas, then you can wire up a nice set of outlets in the shop, separate breaker for your lights (don't use a dimmer as they introduce noise into audio as the scr switches), etc. Check with local codes, pull a permit if required or hire an electrician. Don't use rebar to ground the sub panel, as the service is only supposed to be bonded to ground in one location, that is at your main house panel. Also, #14 is good for 15amps, #12 for 20 amps, and #10 for 30. Although the NEC code might be different than the ESA requirements here. Good luck.