About PASCACK VALLEY ELECTRIC Bob Mossman Expertise Licensed Master Electrician (29 years) 6165B Contractor in Closter New Jersey with 38 years total experience in Residential - Commercial - Industrial work. Emergency Service - General trouble shooting and repair work - Paddle fans - Kitchen & Bath exhaust fans - AC lines - Smoke detectors - Telephone lines - Cable TV lines - Computer network cabling - Exterior lighting - Recessed lighting - Security lighting - (200 - 150 - 100 amp service up grades) - Electric Heat - New circuits - New appliance hook ups - Back up generators - and more ! FREE ESTIMATES 201-358-1552 www.pascackvalleyelectric.com
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Experience Licensed contractor in Closter New Jersey.
Education/Credentials "The Frank Williams School of Electrical Construction". My dear old boss is 96 and still going God Bless him. I started working for "Tenafly Electric" right out of high school at 19. He was tough but I learned more working for him in 8 and half years than most guys. We did mostly industrial work while doing some commercial and residential so I was fortunate to be exposed to all 3 areas of electrical construction. The guys I worked with were all good guys and I stay in touch with some of them still. Most of us went into our own buisness's which says something about the caliber of the guys I worked with. We had some interesting clients : Wella Corp. of shampoo fame, Farah Fawcett etc, I didn't buy shampoo for 10 years, it was a great place to work. Pan Am the X airline just before they went under, another great place to work, nice clean environment. C&C Metals, the largest button manufacturer in the US, a not so clean environment but a very interesting place to work, lots of machine's cranking out buttons of all kinds but you had to be on your toes, it was a potentially dangerous place to be . All kinds of action going on around you.
Question i purchased a mobilehome a couple years ago.i had never heard of aluminum wiring or that it was dangerous until one of my wall plugs in my bedroom caught fire,i then became aware that there was "two" types of wiring ,one of which is a fire hazard ,and the type i have ...my mobile home is a double wide 60 ft long..i turned my largest room into a small upholstery shop where i do auto upholstery. I have always had problems with all my lights dimming whenever i turned my upholstery machine on, one day i lost all the power to my shop, noneof the plugs worked , so i checked the plugs that were on that curcuit and discovered the one in the bedroom that scorched the wall and melted the plastic recepticle . .. since i am a self-employed,single mom ,who is always broke ,i cant afford to do much, but here is what i am doing ,please tell me if this will work and be safer until i can afford to do more... i got (2) 20 amp breakers,100 ft of 12/2 wire,conduit,new recepticles and the type of plastic plug-boxes that are intended for outdoor use. i ran the wire under my mobile home from the first breaker to a hole i drilled in the floor of my shop in an inconspicuos corner but where i could plug my upholstery machine in,,from the other side of the recepticle (the brass,silver/green screws) i ran another 12/2 wire back down thru thesame conduit/under the floor to another spot in my shop and put the same type box ,but with 4 plugs..from the other 20 amp breaker i ran (under mh) 12/2 wire to another hole i drilled not too far from the first one ,but for my washer and dryer since they are about 3 feet from my upholstery machine (my dryer is gas) i ran conduit up the wall with another grey plastic box ,..so i now have a 20 amp breaker running my washer and dryer ,and another 20 amp breaker running only these two blugs in my shop,,i dont have any exposed 12/2 wire ,its all in conduit that is metal strapped to the wall ,with nice plastic boxes/faceplates etc... it just doesnt look "pretty" like it does all snug inside of the wall ,but i dont care about cosmetics, before ,all the plugs in my shop and laundry room were all on the same curcuit ,i'm just lucky there was never a fire. ,i would like to run more "jumper-wires off of my new plugs to other places so i can plug in everything that i use alot ,like my frig and my water-cooler, my ceiling fans etc..this would improve my safety some ,wouldnt it ? if eventually the only thing that the original aluminum wiring operated were a few light switches? i'll put solid faceplates over all of those old wall plugs so they are never used again?..with my budget and immediate need to resolve this issue,so i can work, did i make the best choice? ,are there other alternatives that would have been better ?
Answer Deanna,
You certainly did the right thing for the machines in your make shift shop because those items needed the new wiring you installed. In other words even if your existing wiring was Ok it may not have supported those loads.
Now you can make your existing wiring safe again, it will just take some time to do but the good news is it will not cost you much in materials. You'll need what they call "crimp on butt splices"
which are available at HD or Lowes. You'll also need the crimping tool and some # 12 AWG stranded copper wire in the appropriate colors , also available at HD or Lowes. What your going to do is "crimp on" new stranded copper "tails" to the existing aluminum wires which will eliminate the connection problems to the switches and receptacles. You should at least change all the receptacles when you do this and the switches as well, they are not expensive and when your done you'll have a much improved electrical system.
So to answer your questions you shouldn't need to do extra wiring if you install the "tails" to your exisitng wiring. This would be your best, easiest and cheapest way out of your situation. If the existing wiring for your washer and dryer is not a separate circuit then you should install a new circuit and receptacle for it and blank up the existing receptacle or just don't use it. The guys in the electrical dept at HD or Lowes could help you further with this when you actually go to purchase the materials and tools. I admire your initiative.
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