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Professional Handyman Services in Casa Grande
Important Tips Q&A
Can you use a 15 Amp receptacle on a 20 Amp circuit?
Answer: Yes and no.
Here is why!
Section 210 of the National Electric Code states:
- If you have a 15A circuit with a single device, the receptacle must be a 15A configuration.
- If you have a 20A circuit with a single device, the receptacle must be a 20A configuration.
- If you have a 15A circuit with multiple duplexes, the receptacles must be a 15A configuration.
- If you have a 20A circuit with multiple duplexes, the receptacles can be 15 or 20A.
A single device is a single round receptacle. Not a double duplex you see in your home. When Section 210 speaks of single receptacles its addressing dedicated circuits powering devices like home vacuum systems and sump pumps.
Item #4 addresses, for the most part, the two required 20A appliance circuits in everyone’s kitchens. This is a minimum requirement. Larger kitchens can have more. The makers of kitchen appliances are aware of this limitation and remain in accordance with Section 210. If not, Underwriters Laboratories will catch it and your product won’t get UL listed.
All being said, I have replaced darkened, partially melted 15A duplexes many times. They were obviously overheated and over worked. This leads me to the next question:
Are pigtails a code violation?
Answer: The National Electric Code neither encourages nor discourages the use of pigtails.
So, what is a pigtail exactly? In the drawing below in the next website frame, you see a set of two wires entering the J-box then exiting the box. This is a standard daisy-chain configuration you will see along the walls of your home and above your kitchen countertops. Power comes into the J-box and then exits to the next box down the line.
In the drawing below in the next web site frame, the third set of shorter wires is the pigtail. Just strip the sheathing, round over the wire and place the two on the appropriate screw on the duplex.
This is the fix to the previous question: Can you use a 15A device on a 20A circuit? When you terminate the incoming wires and outgoing wires to all four screws of the duplex, all the power of that 20A kitchen appliance circuit passes through the 15A duplex. When you add a pigtail, it can’t. All it can see is a toaster or a coffee pot. Not the full current of the 20A appliance circuit. And every discolored and partially melted 15A duplex I found over the years was wired with the four-screw method, not the pigtail method. See the drawing in the web site frame below
Although you will pass inspection either way, the pigtail is a much smarter method. Like Smoky Bear often said: “I’m smarter than the average bear!” So work smarter than the average bear.
Pigtail Diagrams
Important Tips Q&A
Are you sick of your garage entrance door slamming shut yet?
Fire code requires you to have self closing door for your garage entrance door. Gasoline cars have a potential to catch fire. Albeit a small chance but we still need to comply. Therefore, we install a spring-hinge to close the door.
So, the wider the opening the greater the boom. I find myself reaching for the door at the last minute to slow it down. But when I miss, there is great ka-boom and a shimmy of pictures on the wall. Spring-hinges are cheap and do the job. But there is a better option.
Now I’ve been looking into door closers. The kind you see in schools and commercial buildings. They make residential door closers’ to my surprise. They look exactly like the commercial closers with the bulky body and the spindly arms.
They have three models, a light duty, medium duty and heavy duty. They come with two adjustment screws. One adjusts how slowly the door closes. The other adjusts the last minute striker speed. This can overcome any resistance for the door to latch.
I looked into a couple of makes and Dynasty stood out. You can find it on Amazon for $44.95.
The install is straight forward but if you need someone to install it, give me a call.
Are the rules for smoke detectors contained in the National Electric Code or Building Code?
The answer is quite clear. Hint: it’s not in the National Electric Code. It’s in the Building Code. That’s right, and it gets even stranger. Only electricians can install them. And builders cannot. So why is this case? I have asked and have never received a convincing answer.
So, it’s just the way it is, and that, is that. You just have to learn other codes and adapt. And this exists in many other trades also. Like fire suppression in restaurants and commercial buildings. Many other things have to be installed by electricians using their code. Not them.
Well, what are the basic rules? There must be a smoke detector in every bedroom. A no brainer I know. But the code doesn’t specify where in the room. So we usually install them somewhere within three feet of the door. There must be a smoke (Trade talk.) at the top and bottom of any stairway. Again, no specification to locate the smoke. We usually center in the stairway around three feet out. There must be a smoke in the common hallway of the bedrooms. One is all that’s required, but you can have more if you want to spend unnecessarily. Bonus: If the smoke at the top of the stairs just happens to be in the common bedroom hallway, it has a dual purpose. It can serve the top of the stairway rule and the common bedroom hallway rule. I have passed many inspections that way.
If you can’t find a spot on the common bedroom hallway ceiling to fit a smoke, here is what you can do. Why couldn’t you, you may ask. I have run into this in the past. The ceiling was just too busy with an attic access bulkhead, light fixtures, whole house fans and other stuff. In that case you can mount it on the wall. Now I’m going by memory here and I didn’t bother to look it up. The smoke must be mounted within 12 inches from the ceiling. Correct me if I am wrong. Now I’m doubting myself, It might be 18 inches.
Where can’t you have a smoke detector? In a kitchen for obvious reasons. You could have nuisance trips from cooking and it would drive you crazy.
That’s about it!
Important Tips Q&A
Are Entablatures relevant today?
Entablatures have existed for millennia. The Greek revival period was replete with them. The Federal period stood proud with them. And the French revival period added their twists and turns in imaginative ways. But does it still have relevance today?
I was brought up in a place where it was in abundance. I didn’t appreciate it as a young man. It was just the way it was, without any further consideration. But my memory is full of entablatures. The Cornice, the Freeze and the Architrave. Flying buttresses arched high over driveways. And the lower corners of buildings had boulders, called Koining. This gave way to the amazing brick work in the Flemish Bond and the English Bond. A true thing of beauty. I go back now and then to visit family and drive for hours appreciating the architecture. The place was Grosse Pointe Michigan. Not to mention much of Detroit also.
Even the sweeping stairways had a touch of the Federal period and Greek revival. The newel post had a fluted Plinth at its base, bedding molding, a frieze then a touch of a capital. Even a peek inside the bowels of its structure was a thrill. During a remodel we gazed inside. A big curl of wood from a hand plainer caught our eye. A discarded pack of Lucky Strikes laid on its side. And a dusty bottle of Schaefer beer still stood upright. How many years had they been there? It all stirred the imagination.
Here in this town, it seems devoid of entablatures. All the houses I see have little to none. Including my own. It catches one’s eye without being conscious of it. Unfinished, enters the mind. The narrow trim strikes you as if something is wrong. And what the big box stores offer doesn’t have much additional width. I’m thinking of more deserving areas like a double-door entrance to a master bedroom or grand entrances. The smaller trim is fine for the kids’ rooms and the hallway closet. But a Fourier and entrance to a library are more worthy candidates.
I think there is plenty of room for elements of entablatures around windows and doorways. It’s just become elusive. And with cookie-cutter building, we have just lost our way.
Entablature Architectural Examples
