Lamp Parts

Lots of people have been coming to me with broken lamps, the trick is to find out what part is malfunctioning, usually it is the wiring. Lamp parts can be bought and replaced, and the lampholders and wires are found at any hardware store.

Flood Lights

Motion Sensor flood lights are excellent for security. They turn on automatically, at night, when ever they sense movement. This will scare off intruders and also give you a heads up if something strange is going on in the yard.

Creative Light Fixtures

Here's a light fixture using a baking pan for the canopy. Very cool!

Spring Music Rally

Thank you everyone who came out to our 4th annual spring music rally on friday. It was a party for sure!

Line Voltage/ Low voltage

Here is an old sub panel conduit run. The low voltage cable that feeds the phone line was run through the air wrapped around the sub feed wires. Here it is actually strapped on the conduit that supplies the panel. It is now common practice to run low voltage wires and line voltage wires at least 6 inches apart to avoid interference.

Labelling wires

Before I changed out this old federal pacific subpanel I made sure to label all the wires so that none of the phases were crossed, it is very important to do this BEFORE disconnecting the wires from all the breakers because its easy to get them all confused.

Old Service

Here is an old sub panel service entrance. Lights were dimming inside the house when any circuits were being used. I climbed on the roof to check out the service entrance because the sub panel was new and all of the neutrals wires were tightened in the lugs. A hornet flew out of the weather head when I removed it, and it was full of its nest. The neutral and hot were laying on top of each other because the plastic holder had broken. If the hot and neutral touch, there will be a short. One hot leg, and the neutral that was laying on top of it, had black marks, indicating some shorting. For now, until I replace the weather head altogether, I taped the neutral and hot leg wires extensively. I will also re-splice the neutral because the aluminum wire right near the splice is rusted dramatically.

Federal Pacific Fire Hazard

Here is a Federal Pacific Electrical panel that is in use. The breakers rarely trip but the circuits are quite often overloaded, causing the wires to heat up. The job of a circuit breaker is to close up the circuit when too much power is being drawn. The Federal Pacific Electrical panel and breakers were recalled because they do not perform properly and have caused many house fires and tragedies. I am installing a Murray brand panel in place of this F.P.E. Murray is a new brand for me to use so I will document my process and keep you posted on the results!

Outdoor Switches

This old outdoor switch was another part of the deck remodel. The switch itself was exposed to the elements, causing the wiring to deteriorate. I replaced this old style with a new outdoor switch cover and attached it to the deck post. This will keep the wiring safe from rain.