DIY Electrical: wiring a new 120v circuit.

[FONT=&quot]DIY Electrical: Wiring a new 120v circuit.

[/FONT]I will be adding pictures in later on today, I wanted to get this posted up. I will also be adding another thread for a 240v subpanel and 240v outlets, its pretty much the same as this, just that you will use 12-3 with ground, so that you have 2 hot leads (black and red) the white lead is common, and the bare lead is ground.
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no electrical guide would be complete without the obligatory warning about killing yourself doing this, so here it is.



I am not an electrician, building inspector, or have anything to do with this in real life. If you have questions or concerns about the information presented in this document, please contact a licensed electrician.


If at any point you do not understand what I am saying, read it again until you do, spend some time on Google, Wikipedia, or wikihow.com and seek the answers. I learned all of this from the internet, so I know the information is already out there….




Instructions for adding an additional 120v outlets on a new circuit.


Things you will need (this list has a lot of tools on it that may not apply to your situation, or may be lacking tools that you need. Use your discretion when purchasing items)


electric drill

1-Inch Spade Drill Bit
needle nose pliers
wire sheath cutter
wire strippers
fishtape, or glow rods
drywall saw
flashlight
screwdrivers
ELECTRICAL TESTER

wire nuts rated similar to this one Ideal Wire-Nut (at least 2-12ga)

12-2 w/ground wire electrical cable

That’s 12 gauge wire with 2 insulated conductors and a bare ground. I recommend 12 gauge as it is rated for use up to 25 amps, sufficient for a 20amp circuit. you should buy this in the 50 or 100 foot boxes, try not to have splices in it (that means buy longer than you think you will need)


120v 20 amp dual outlets (also known as NEMA 5-20R outlets. See link and look for the 5-20R's face)
http://www.nooutage.com/images/nema-config-1ph-250v.gif


20 amp one pole circuit breaker
like this SQUARE D One-Pole Tandem Circuit Breaker, 20 Amp


dual or larger outlet boxes
2 Gang Square PVC Outlet Box


you can also install digital or mechanical timers into the circuit to control devices

like the ones pictured here
Intermatic T101 Heavy-Duty Contractor Grade Time Switch

cable staples
GB ELECTRICAL PS-225J INSULATED CABLE STAPLE
or
GB ELECTRICAL MS-1575 METAL CABLE STAPLE 9/16"


the reason to use the 5-20R outlets is to run outlets appropriate for the wire gauge, you could use 5-15R in a pinch, but per the national electric code use the 5-20R.


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Now that you have gathered your materials, you will need to run the 12-2 wire from your Electrical Main panel to the area of use. Be careful, when running it as attics can be confining, hard to breathe in, and very hot. Crawlspaces can have dangerous insects and animals, as well as standing water and toxic molds. Use your judgment.


On the cable run, always go the shortest safe route possible, and avoid severe bends and any kinks in your cable. You can secure the cable to structural members with cable staples like this GB ELECTRICAL PS-225J INSULATED CABLE STAPLE or this GB ELECTRICAL MS-1575 METAL CABLE STAPLE 9/16"


if you know how to use a fish tape or glow sticks, you are more than welcome to fish the wire into the wall cavity and use remodel wall boxes to create professional looking wall outlets. for the rest of us, take your drill and put in a 1" spade bit, and punch a hole thru the ceiling or floor into the room you are using, be sure to drill in an area that has nothing on the other side, check for wiring, pipes, and other obstacles.

Feed the wire from ceiling or crawlspace through the hole. Be sure you leave enough to go up the wall a few feet, so you can mount at chest height or even eye level. Insert the wire into the outlet boxes you are using on the backside under the premade tabs. Terminate the wire into the outlets or timer, stripping to the manufacturer’s recommendation, and making sure that all connections are tight. Most outlets have screw clamps on each side; usually the top screws on each side are connected to each other, as are the bottom ones, with the ground being by itself. You can use these extra taps to wire multiple outlets together. Remember that they are sharing the same breaker, so plan if you need to add more than 1 circuit for your amperage.


attach the black wire to the tap labeled hot, and the white to the tap labeled common, the bare wire is attached to the green screw, for grounding.


you will need to determine how you will get the other end of the cable into your Electrical main panel, I cannot cover all of that topic. (Just be sure you turn the main off before working around it. You can die from electrocution, or burn your home down.)


Once you have the other end of the wire into your electrical main box with sufficient length to reach 2 points and be safely routed around the breaker faces, you can trim to length the wire. The 2 points are

1. the breaker location you have installed the 20 amp single pole breaker into
2. the common bus bar (a metal strip with lots of screw heads in it, probably with multiple white and green cables clamped into it.)

Once you have routed your cable neatly in the box, keeping it off of the breaker faces, you can strip the sheathing of the cable as far as you need to, then cut the black wire to fit neatly in the installed breaker, and cut the white and bare wire to fit neatly into the common bus bar. Strip the ends to manufacturer recommended depth, insert the stripped ends, and tighten all screws to manufacturer recommend tightness. After this end of the cable is secured, and the outlets / timers are secured in your location of use, you are ready to load test your new circuit. Making sure that you have replaced all cover plates and checked your system for loose connections, turn your main power breaker back on, and then turn your newly installed breaker back on. Go inside, and check that your outlets and timers are working; you can use an electronic tester for this, or use something simple like a small lamp or clock radio.


Congrats if your shit works, if it doesn’t, you need to turn the breakers off and take it all apart, checking for problems or errors.

Thanks User I just decided that today I will need to upgrade my wiring from my subpanel to my outlets to 12 awg and 20 amp receps.

Did not know it was Code... cool thanks a bunch.



Also I would like to add to this DIY that I found if you need more than one recep off of one circut not to series them, you need a splice box so that the loads from one outlet arent going through another outlet just the wire, maybe user can detail this.

Apparently it helps with overall reliabitly of the receps and the overall circut.

A couple of suggestions for folks that are going to do things like this. Buy a good battery powered light or two. It would be nice if you had a way to hang one right over you main panel, it gets really dark and silent when you turn off that main switch.
Secure your wire by the main panel leaving 2 1/2 feet of slack. Always put a loop ( minimum 6") in your wire between the main panel and your recepticle. That way if there is a problem you still have a little slack, cut the bad out and start over. Check your wire nut connections by giving a slight tug on the wires seperatly, then wrap if with electrical tape, pull the tape to tear it, its made to stretch and tighten around your connection. It also wise idea to wrap the sides of your receptical with electrical tape. Remember ALWAYS TURN IT OFF AT THE MAIN PANEL FIRST. That way when you are ready to test it you will be far away from any open wires. Plug something in to your new circuit that make a sound, like a vacuum cleaner or radio, you will hear if its working, turn it off and go secure all recepticles and covers, then run your check one more time. Your are saving money by doing the work your self, buy good tools with the money you save. VV

You guys are awesome, and yeah PIGTAIL was the word I was looking for.

Thanks for sharing that it can be in the same box.

I'm an electrician do you still need any help with this?

How can you tell if you have an open spot in your breaker panel.I have a slot that looks like a breaker would slide in there. I would love to run a dedicated line to my room. I would feel so much better.

please all be carefull. remember electrical work is not a hobby and can hurt you. if your not sure what to do please ask and then if still not sure get proffesional help.

Therellas said:

How can you tell if you have an open spot in your breaker panel.I have a slot that looks like a breaker would slide in there. I would love to run a dedicated line to my room. I would feel so much better.

Click to expand...

A breaker will fit in there if you remove the knock-out. But before adding an additional breaker you should see if your service can handle it. What I mean by this is, if you want to add a 20 amp circuit for your garden you have to make sure your service can supply the amperage. Sometimes there will be panels with 5 empty spots for breakers but there is not enough juice to meet the demand. In most newer homes or homes with an upgraded panel there will be room for additional circuits unless the work was done by an idiot. If you don't know how to properly check how many amps your panel is currently using you probably shoulden't be adding the circuit yourself. But if you are serious about this addition I can tell you step by step how to do it.The checking itself is fairly easy but some people are intimidated working on live panels. Just let me know you are serious before I write it all up. You will also need an amp clamp.

subscribed.

thinking about doing this, I've got a little "socket like thing" on the outside of my house. but when you open up the front panel thing the only thing there is a thick white wire. I followed the external wire covering and it goes to a great big kitchen/bathroom outlet that I never use in my shed. It looks new and since I don't see any boxes looking like they change the volts or anything so I think that it's 120v and I can finally bring a heater to my grow room.

Reading that it sounds really stupid, can someone give me a 1 - 10 reading of how difficult this is? (I don't think that I have to worry about killing myself because at my old house I changed out some light switches and outlets.)

dum said:

subscribed.

thinking about doing this, I've got a little "socket like thing" on the outside of my house. but when you open up the front panel thing the only thing there is a thick white wire. I followed the external wire covering and it goes to a great big kitchen/bathroom outlet that I never use in my shed. It looks new and since I don't see any boxes looking like they change the volts or anything so I think that it's 120v and I can finally bring a heater to my grow room.

Reading that it sounds really stupid, can someone give me a 1 - 10 reading of how difficult this is? (I don't think that I have to worry about killing myself because at my old house I changed out some light switches and outlets.)

Click to expand...

Thick white wire? do you mean romex? is there more then 1 actual wire inside the big white one? There should be atleast 3, white,black and green/bare. If there is this would be an easy job, mabye a 1-3 depending on your electrical knowledge. You must be sure its 120 volts, if its going to a kitchen it could be a stove outlet which is 240 volts but I doubt that. If there is more then 3 wires inside the romex (thick white cable) it will be more difficult. Any questions just ask or PM me.

I'm a dumass, the wire I was looking at is completely differnt, what I have is is a 120v GFCI outlet, if I follow the pvc pipe that it gets its power from I end up in my grow room (without a doubt) and I have yet to look inside that pvc pipe.

I do have some rewiring expierence, at my old condo I replaced all the outlets and light switches, I replaced the outlets flawlessley but I screwed up on a 3-way light switch. I think that hooked a ground to a positive charge because everytime one switch was off there were two outlets that wouldn't work. this will be my first GFCI outlet though, I've read that the volts are the same but the amps and watts are different calling for a different gage wire. I will probably get back to you when I take a look inside the PVC. On monday I will probably get started by taking a look at the GFCI outlet in my shed.
Is this going to be harder than a standard outlet?

jordan65 said:

How many amps do you need? If you need 20 you must use 12 AWG wire if you want efficient operation., 15 amps you can use 14 AWG. A GFCI is not that complicated, just make sure you connect the Line and Load properly, its usually marked on the back. To take it out is exactly the same. One thing I always do if Im replacing a GFI is cover the terninals with electrical tape so they dont hit the side of the box. If you have anymore questions let me know.

Click to expand...

I almost have everything set up now, one thing that I was just going to wing but would like to ask you about is I have one black and one red and one green and one white wire. I know were everything goes except I thought that I was was supposed to have a red or black not red and black. I'm trying to hook up the blacks (two, one for load and one for line) but only did it once for a test and the load wasn't hooked up yet. It's really hard to do this because I'm working with wires inside suck a small box. I guess my question would be, "what do I do with the red wire if the black one is hot?"

So even if home son isn't interested in following thru... I am. I'm converting the attic space into a dedicated garden.
I put in ceiling stairs and cleaned out twenty years of spider webbing. Didn't step thru the ceiling once! The housr wiring is strung in old grandfathered hard wire. Two solid wire runs in the ceiling feed all 5 rooms. The braekers were blowing when I ran the Heater (1000W), the Vacuum cleaner 12 amps and the over heAD LIGHTING. The Connections are in parrallel and Not romex. And a 250 watt halogen work light. Me thinks after I get the wiring sorted out that i'll put in plywood flooring and be set to grow. since the house is old, the landlords Foreign, and nobody wants to call codified Inpecters....it's best if I do the work myself. Gotta be perfect though. my landlady gets pissy when her cottages burn down.

So Ya, Mr. Electrician,sir your help and advice would be sorely appreiciated.

Cato Zen said:

So even if home son isn't interested in following thru... I am. I'm converting the attic space into a dedicated garden.
I put in ceiling stairs and cleaned out twenty years of spider webbing. Didn't step thru the ceiling once! The housr wiring is strung in old grandfathered hard wire. Two solid wire runs in the ceiling feed all 5 rooms. The braekers were blowing when I ran the Heater (1000W), the Vacuum cleaner 12 amps and the over heAD LIGHTING. The Connections are in parrallel and Not romex. And a 250 watt halogen work light. Me thinks after I get the wiring sorted out that i'll put in plywood flooring and be set to grow. since the house is old, the landlords Foreign, and nobody wants to call codified Inpecters....it's best if I do the work myself. Gotta be perfect though. my landlady gets pissy when her cottages burn down.

So Ya, Mr. Electrician,sir your help and advice would be sorely appreiciated.

Click to expand...

Sorry, by grandfathered wiring do you mean knob and tube style? Also what is your service drop?
ps sorry for the late reply, I can assure prompt replys from now on.