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[2024 CODE UPDATE] Ask me anything about home electrical requirements, electrical code, wiring, devices

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Oct 26, 2003
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exrcoupe wrote: As I noted previously, we're going to rewire the entire house to remove/upgrade from aluminum. Would it worth the cost of upgrading service to 200A. I am hoping eventually to get an EV, so a charging station at home would be nice. How would I actually do this and what might be the estimated cost? Here's some pictures of the current panel. Yes, fuses....
Cost difference between 100A and 200A panel isn't that huge, it is just that you may need to upgrade the incoming line too.
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EscaBoi wrote: Previous owner added these lights under the kitchen cabinets. Can anyone offer advice on how to remove these lights? There aren’t any screws from above. Afraid to pull too hard and damage the cabinet.
Unplug it first then just pry it with a big flat head screw driver, probably taped on with double sided 3M adhesive pad.
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Oct 26, 2003
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ChicoQuente wrote: It would not be practical and a waste of money. If you decide to upgrade down the road someone is still going to have to take the new panel off the wall to replace the conduit from meter base to panel. You would also need to replace the 200A breaker in your new panel with a 100A breaker. You can’t use a bigger breaker than your service is rated for. If you don’t upgrade the service then the wires are only rated for 100A and therefore must be protected with a 100A breaker.
If you don’t want to go ahead with the upgrade now I would just go with a panel change rated at your existing service.
200A now is the better time to do it instead of 100A service.
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Jun 21, 2003
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divx wrote: 200A now is the better time to do it instead of 100A service.
I know this. I already told the poster that, however they responded asking if they could basically do a partial upgrade.
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Jul 4, 2006
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divx wrote: Wait your house is new within 1 year old and some idiot didn't allow dedicated circuit for a gas range? Why is no one fired?
Well I know it's a best practice but is it to "code" in Ontario?

I suspect they're going to say that that the 110v plug is just to power on the LCD display on the stove and to ignite the gas so it can be combined.
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Oct 26, 2003
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ChicoQuente wrote: I know this. I already told the poster that, however they responded asking if they could basically do a partial upgrade.
In our business we do not give client options we don't actually want them to pick Smiling Face With Sunglasses
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Apr 26, 2003
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ChicoQuente wrote: It would not be practical and a waste of money. If you decide to upgrade down the road someone is still going to have to take the new panel off the wall to replace the conduit from meter base to panel. You would also need to replace the 200A breaker in your new panel with a 100A breaker. You can’t use a bigger breaker than your service is rated for. If you don’t upgrade the service then the wires are only rated for 100A and therefore must be protected with a 100A breaker.

If you don’t want to go ahead with the upgrade now I would just go with a panel change rated at your existing service.
Yeah for sure we're changing the panel when we re-wire the house. Just trying to look at options thinking ahead. I'll probably never have issue with 100A, but I tend to overplan/overbuild things just in case.
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Apr 26, 2003
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divx wrote: Cost difference between 100A and 200A panel isn't that huge, it is just that you may need to upgrade the incoming line too.
From what the GC quoted, the upgrade to a 200A service would be like $5-6K on top of the rewiring job. I have no clue if that's in line or not? Guess it all depends on what the city charges, but he said that'd be the rough cost to pull the meter from the city and upgrade.

Again, questioning if it's REALLY necessary if all I'm thinking about in the future is to have an electric car and maybe solar panels, but everything else in the house is pretty standard. Single kitchen but with two fridges, upright freezer, and the other standard appliances.
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Jun 21, 2003
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divx wrote: In our business we do not give client options we don't actually want them to pick Smiling Face With Sunglasses
I suppose if that's your goal. I just hop on this thread to give advice, not seek people's business. I'm just trying to help out.

At the end of the day it's not my decision to make or bill to pay so I am just giving the advice of what I recommend the person takes. I have no concern for what decision they make.
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exrcoupe wrote: From what the GC quoted, the upgrade to a 200A service would be like $5-6K on top of the rewiring job. I have no clue if that's in line or not? Guess it all depends on what the city charges, but he said that'd be the rough cost to pull the meter from the city and upgrade.

Again, questioning if it's REALLY necessary if all I'm thinking about in the future is to have an electric car and maybe solar panels, but everything else in the house is pretty standard. Single kitchen but with two fridges, upright freezer, and the other standard appliances.
You have to keep in mind that your cost is going to be hire because you're having a GC take care of it. So they are taking the quote from the electrician and slapping another xx% on top of that for their pocket. It would have been cheaper to hire the electrician yourself.

Do you happen to know if the GC actually had the electrical contractor look in to it and give a quote or did he just ballpark it on his own? Personally I'd get the electrical contractor to provide a written quote so you can make an informed decision. That price seems pretty high to me, unless hydro is charging a lot on their end. If there is already a panel replacement in your original scope of work that would also make me thing this quote is high. There is more work and material for an upgrade versus just a swap but the upgrade shouldn't be $5000-6000 more than the panel swap.

Also, solar panels have no bearing at all on your service size. If you go with solar panels you will have a completely different setup installed and it will have nothing to do with your current service size or panel. I have never worked in that field myself however my understanding of MOST solar installations is that you will have panels installed, wired up to a new service meter installed on your home and wired back to the grid. Essentially the hydro you produce you are selling back to the hydro company to offset your own hydro bill.
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Oct 26, 2003
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exrcoupe wrote: From what the GC quoted, the upgrade to a 200A service would be like $5-6K on top of the rewiring job. I have no clue if that's in line or not? Guess it all depends on what the city charges, but he said that'd be the rough cost to pull the meter from the city and upgrade.
Again, questioning if it's REALLY necessary if all I'm thinking about in the future is to have an electric car and maybe solar panels, but everything else in the house is pretty standard. Single kitchen but with two fridges, upright freezer, and the other standard appliances.
Underground trenching gets expensive, I can see it been a pain to replace buried lines. If you want to stick with 100A then you need to do a load calculation to see how much power you can allow for EV charger. 40A might be sketchy. You may end up with only 20A breaker.
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Jan 13, 2017
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Hello everyone, I'm looking to finish my own basement and getting an electrician to do some work for me. I'm in the west GTA and looking for a ballpark figure I should expect to pay for an electrician to come in and wire up 40 pot lights. I'm in the framing stage right now so everything is wide open. Looking to put in those $10 slim LED potlights. Anyone know how much this will cost me roughly?
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Sep 12, 2017
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I have a dedicated ceiling garage opener outlet. But I'm thinking I'd like to install a jack-shaft style garage opener, which gets mounted at the side of the garage metal shaft. Is it legal for me to extend this dedicated-ceiling-outlet myself all the way next to the garage shaft?

If so do you have any resources to share on how to do it properly by code?

If not what is the cost of an electrician to come to the house and extend the connection?

Thanks for your advice.
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Apr 26, 2003
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Electrical vs network wiring question. I ran my own network wiring in the basement before the walls are all closed up by the contractor but today the electricians came in and finished roughing in the electrical runs to the main floor because we're rewiring the house. They ran the electrical wires along the same route that I ran my CAT6a wiring. They saw the holes and thought they could use them. I used white wiring, but guess they didn't know it was network wiring. Is this going to be an issue with interference?
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Oct 26, 2003
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exrcoupe wrote: Electrical vs network wiring question. I ran my own network wiring in the basement before the walls are all closed up by the contractor but today the electricians came in and finished roughing in the electrical runs to the main floor because we're rewiring the house. They ran the electrical wires along the same route that I ran my CAT6a wiring. They saw the holes and thought they could use them. I used white wiring, but guess they didn't know it was network wiring. Is this going to be an issue with interference?
It will cause interference but I don't know how bad since it is against code so no one does it in the first place.
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divx wrote: It will cause interference but I don't know how bad since it is against code so no one does it in the first place.
Against code for the electricians or for me running my own network cabling?
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exrcoupe wrote: Against code for the electricians or for me running my own network cabling?
They can't share the same pathway, I don't know where you get electricians who doesn't know that.
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exrcoupe wrote: Against code for the electricians or for me running my own network cabling?
The electricians may be against code for the size of hole and how much cable is in there. They definitely shouldn’t have done that. It was lazy on their part. Also make sure they never ran more than 2 2-conductor NMD cables in a hole as that would be against code.

EDIT: Also they are the ones against code not you as you were there first. If it is against code it’ll get nailed by the inspector on inspect anyways... assuming you hired legit guys that pulled a permit.
Last edited by ChicoQuente on Oct 30th, 2020 6:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Apr 26, 2003
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divx wrote: They can't share the same pathway, I don't know where you get electricians who doesn't know that.
Agreed. I'll make comment to the GC to talk to the electrician. Even I know that and that's why I drilled through about a dozen joists to carve my own route.

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