Wiring a House: For
Pros By Pros Series
Complete No-Nonsense
Guide to Safe Residential Electrical Wiring Written By A Master
Electrician & Home Wiring Veteran
Preface
| Table of Contents |
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Chapter
By Rex Cauldwell
A complete, no-nonsense guide to safe
residential electrical wiring. First published in 1996, this
critically acclaimed reference is revised to account for changes
made in the electrical code. Master electrician and home wiring
veteran Rex Cauldwell gives you the benefits of his professional
expertise along with tips and tricks he's picked up from over 20
years on the job. Recognized as one of the most knowledgeable
practical electricians in the country, Cauldwell takes the mystery
out of every aspect of wiring a house, from wiring a panel to
installing a light switch.
Writing with a keen attention to safety,
Cauldwell's "code-plus" approach to home wiring shows you how to
choose the best tools and materials, which materials to avoid, and
how to wire any room. You'll learn how to install main and sub
service panels, receptacles, GFCIs, simple-to-complex fixtures, and
every type of appliance. You'll also find out how to ground a house
properly, how to run wire in existing walls with minimal damage, and
how to meet and beat national code requirements. New material covers
home generators, lightning protection, and wiring "above code." An
essential reference for everyone associated with residential
construction.
256 pages, 8-1/2 x 11,
Soft-cover
Published 2005
ISBN
978-1-56158-527-4
Preface to the Revised Edition
There are two constants in life -- paying
taxes and changing codes. The purpose of this preface is to assure
my many fans and avid readers that this new edition takes into
consideration all the codes that have changed since I originally
wrote Wiring a House. Here are a few of the more common code
changes:
- One expected change was in marking the
white insulated wire in switch legs. At the time Wiring a
House was written, code did not require the installer to
indicate whether a white insulated wire, such as a traveler in a
3- or 4-way switching circuit, was not a neutral or whether a
common switch was using a white wire for its incoming power.
Code now requires the white insulated wire to be taped (any tape
color except white, gray, or green) to make sure you know that
it is not a neutral.
- One change that I particularly dislike is
the new rule on bathroom receptacles. Now you can put a
whirlpool tub, a bath heater, a heated towel rack, bath lights,
or whatever on a single bathroom receptacle circuit as long as
that circuit stays in that one bath.
- Outbuildings, if they are wired, are
required to use ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs)
whether they are finished or unfinished.
- To keep children from grabbing appliance
cords and pulling the appliance down onto themselves, all
countertop receptacles are now required to be above the
countertop. Exceptions are made for the handicapped.
- Installers are now allowed to use
nonmetallic (NM) cable, in residential installations, at any
grade level. Previously, code had allowed NM for up to three
floors, but there was some debate about whether or not you could
count the basement as one story and the attic as another.
- AFCIs (arc-fault circuit interrupters)
are now required for any circuit in the bedroom. That includes
receptacles, lighting circuits, smoke alarms, and so on.
- Dedicated receptacles in unfinished
basements that feed fire and burglar alarms are not required to
have GFCI protection.
- All 15- and 20-amp 125-volt receptacles
installed outside (you are required to have one in the front and
one in the back) must utilize waterproof covers that keep the
receptacle waterproof even when a cord is inserted.
ABOVE CODE
One major change in this book's revision is the addition of my Above
Code wiring system throughout the book. Above Code is my way of
ensuring that the homeowner has a safe, high-quality, trouble-free,
long-lived electrical installation. An example of using Above Code
is in wiring bathroom receptacles. If you were to simply "meet
code," you could load up a bath circuit with the lights, fan,
heater, and so on. A single hair dryer on a low setting would wind
up kicking the breaker and leaving you in the dark. My Above Code
system shows you how a bath should be wired so that doesn't happen.
In addition, my system tells you how to wire better, what products
to buy, and which ones to avoid.
This revision has a number of other changes. I've replaced
black-and-white photos with color photos to give you a better
understanding of the material. I've reworked artwork--and even
complete chapters -- that didn't have practical applications in
favor of adding information that you could really use. I've also
added color to the line art to give a greater sense of realism. To
aid clarity, I added the chapter "Wiring Room by Room" so you
wouldn't have to hunt all over the book to find the specs to wire a
specific room. Due to their recent popularity, I've also added
chapters on home standby generators and lightning protection.
I think you will be pleased with my new edition of Wiring a
House. New buyers, I hope, will find this edition to be their
"real-life" wiring reference -- the one with the dog-eared pages --
while all those written by desk jockeys will gather dust on the
shelf. For those who already own a copy of the earlier edition, I
hope you will find this edition even more useful and will add it to
your library as well.
Introduction
My family has three generations of electricians
-- I am the third. As a kid, I remember working in spooky old
buildings that had been around since the Civil War. The attics and
basements of those houses were especially scary to me, but it was
the crawl spaces I hated most. While lying in those damp or
dust-choked caves, I remember pulling wires through floor joists
spanned by spider webs clogged with insect carcasses, attempting in
vain to ignore the multilegged thing crawling up my leg--all the
while trying not to knock my head against another darn joist and
hoping the flashlight wouldn't die. Those are not fond memories, but
I learned a lot. And it was literally from the ground up that I was
taught about electricity and wiring a house.
Now I'm both a master electrician and a master plumber and have my
own company. I have written this book from lifelong experience and
knowledge, some of which has been passed down through each
generation. However, there is no one within my family to pass the
gauntlet to -- no fourth generation to pick up the trade. Therefore,
by reading this book, you will become heir to my knowledge and
experience. You, in effect, will become the fourth generation.
Three main themes of the book are safety, design, and materials. If
you're doing the work yourself, I'll tell you how to do it safely.
If you're not doing the work, you'll gain enough information from
these pages to ask educated questions, to understand what an
electrician is doing, and to know whether he or she is doing it
correctly. You'll also learn what makes a good electrical design and
how to choose the best materials -- not the lowest-cost materials --
for your situation.
Safety Is Paramount
As an electrician, safety is a primary concern -- both for my
clients and for me. Electricity can kill, so it's very important to
be alert while working with it and to use safety equipment. I've
received shocks before, and I would not be here today had it not
been for a GFCI-protected receptacle. If you are not competent
working around electricity, hire an electrician do the work.
One of the aims of this book is to help you understand the basic
principles of electricity so that you can give it the respect it
deserves. You'll learn not only how electricity flows but also how
to work according to a plan, so that any wiring job can be done
safely and without fear. Throughout the book I offer safety tips
that could save your life. Wiring can be tricky, so take your time
and don't cut corners.
Tools
Tools are important to any person working in the building trades.
Using the right tool for the right job will make the work go
smoothly and safely. The same holds true for electrical tools;
however, using the wrong tool or a low-quality tool will not only
cause headaches by making the job more difficult, but it also could
seriously hurt or kill you. That's why I devoted an entire chapter
to tool use. In it I give you good background knowledge of
electrical tools so that you will know which tools to buy, and even
more important, which ones not to buy. I also illustrate how to use
tools correctly, not just in the tools chapter but throughout the
book.
Meeting Code Is Not Good Enough
Minimum code means exactly that -- it's the absolute minimum
required to pass inspection. And I'm sorry to admit that on many
jobs even minimum codes sometimes aren't enforced. Most inspectors
are already backlogged and overworked -- they have time only to
check for obvious violations. They cannot trace every wire to make
sure it goes to the right location or even verify that the wire is
the proper gauge. Therefore, you cannot assume that an electrical
system has been installed correctly or even safely just because it
has passed inspection. Sadly, the bottom line is that it's normally
up to the installer or homeowner to know what needs to be done and
to see that it is done correctly. Knowing this, I try to give you
enough information to know right from wrong and what works and what
doesn't, so that you can make intelligent decisions about the design
of an electrical system.
In addition, this book will teach you how to develop a good, safe,
high-quality electrical design, not one that simply meets minimum
code. For example, one time I was called out to rewire a recently
built house. It had passed all electrical inspections, the walls
were up and painted, and the owner had moved in. The contractor had
only been obligated to build to minimum specs. The outlets were
spaced 12 ft. apart, with no receptacle outlet where it was needed
for a specific piece of furniture. A cheap, poorly designed
electrical panel that was 99% full upon completion of the house was
taking all the load it could handle, so nothing could be added (such
as a spa). The electrical system -- in fact, the entire house -- was
built without any consideration for the owner's needs. The owner had
to pay twice: once to meet minimum code and a second time to get
things custom-designed. A good design surpasses minimum code and
takes the owner's needs into consideration.
Low-Bid Jobs Are Cheap -- for a Reason
It may come as a surprise to some people that it is impossible to
obtain high-quality material on a low-bid job. Why? From the
contractor's viewpoint, the object of the bid is to get the job. If
I were to put together a bid that includes good-quality, high-end
material and my competitor makes a bid that includes cheap material,
my bid will be significantly higher -- and I most likely will not
get the job. For contractors, this book will illustrate when
high-end material is appropriate and when you can get by with
average-quality material. With this knowledge, you'll be able to put
together a bid that's reasonably priced, without compromising
overall quality.
As a homeowner, you should know that when you choose the lowest bid,
you may get exactly what you pay for. But if you specify in advance
the type and exact grade of materials you want, so that all
contractors are bidding with the same standards in mind, you can
choose the lowest price knowing that you haven't compromised
quality. This book will give you the knowledge to make informed
decisions about the wiring system in your house.
A Book Written from Experience
This book is unlike any other wiring book on the market. Written by
an electrician for homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, and professionals
alike, it is full of stories and experiences of exactly what happens
when wiring a house. I even talk about some of the common mistakes
that both pros (including myself) and do-it-yourselfers make so that
you can avoid them from the outset.
I've always hated the standard how-to wiring books because, for the
most part, they're not written by practicing electricians. Instead,
some desk jockey rehashes stuff from other books written by other
desk jockeys. These books always pick perfect textbook situations
with photos taken in a studio. They never tell you the problems you
will encounter and what to do when things go wrong--let alone the
experiences of the authors. They can't, because the people writing
the book have rarely done what they're telling you to do. I think
both professionals and novices will appreciate my book because it's
honest -- I've done the work.
Table of Contents
Preface to the Revised Edition
Introduction
1 The Basics
How Electricity Flows
Anatomy of a Residential Electrical System
Wire Gauges
The Wire We Use
Conduit Systems
2 Tools of the Trade
General Tools
AC-Powered Tools
Cordless Tools
Specialized Tools
Safety Equipment
3 The Service Entrance
Choosing a Buried or an Aerial Service
Calculating Amperage and Choosing Cable
Local Requirements
Locating the Meter Base
Buried Service Entrance
Aerial Service Entrance
Connecting the Meter Base to the Panel
4 Panels and Subpanels
Elements of the Main Panel
Picking a Panel
Mounting a Panel
Cable Management
Bringing Cables into the Panel
Subpanels
Balancing the Load
5 The Art of Grounding
Definition of a Grounding System
Protection through Grounding
Choosing the Proper Grounding Materials
Installing a Low-Resistance Panel-to-Earth Grounding System
What Needs Grounding
6 Wiring Room by Room
Stocking Up
Design Considerations and Outlet Box Locations
Pulling Cable in New Construction
Routing Wires in Renovation Work
7 Fuses and Circuit Breakers
Fuses
Circuit Breakers
8 Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupters
How a GFCI Works
Types of GFCIs
Where Ground-Fault Protection Is Required
Wiring GFCI Receptacles
Wiring GFCI Circuit Breakers
Testing GFCIs
Arc-Fault Circuit Breakers
Wiring AFCIs
9 Receptacles and Boxes
Receptacle Boxes
Receptacles
Polarity
Wiring and Installation
10 Switches
Switch Boxes
Switch Grades
Types of Switches
Light Dimmers
Fan Speed Controls
11 Wiring Fixtures
Choosing the Right Box
Incandescent Lights
Fluorescent Lights
Ceiling Fans
Smoke Detectors
Track Lighting
Outdoor Light Fixtures
Recessed Lights
12 Wiring Appliances
Kitchen Appliances
Baseboard Heaters
Electric Wall Heaters
Utility-Room Appliances
Garage-Door Openers
Submersible Pumps
Whirlpool Tubs and Spas
13 Lightning and Surge Protection
Induced Voltage
Direct Strikes
Utility and In-House Surge Creators
Adding Surge Protection
Phone and Coaxial Cable Protection
Protecting Pumps
14 Standby Generators
History of Incorrect Connections
Picking a Generator
Installing the Transfer Switch
Index
Introduction
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