*** Quoting Roy J. Tellason from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***
 CS> completely untrained in anything electrical.  This work, and 
 CS> even the survey are beyond the skills we have to *safely* do.  
RJT> Actually,  you don't need a meter to see if an outlet is live,  a 
RJT> lamp will do just as well.
True, but we know enough at least about electrical things to check it that 
way if we needed to.  Thats how we know what grounds are functional and what 
ones are just '3 prong looking'.
 CS>  Last owner rewired a good bit of it, but not all.
 CS> I think we have more outlets than our power box can handle. 
RJT> What's the rating on your main fuse or breaker?
200amps
4 switches say '30', 5 say '20',, 4 say '15', and 4 slots are unused, 2 with 
breakers unlabeled that appear by testing, to go to no existing outlets (and 
we tested to be sure they werent the furnace or AC).
RJT> It's not a question of how many of them are going to be in use,  but 
RJT> of how much power is being pulled on the whole circuit.
True.  The primary rooms *are* rewired.  Previous owner had it done same time 
as he ripped out all the walls, to insulate the house.  He literally had the 
wires all replaced in those rooms as it was so easy to do then and installed 
the best insulation I have ever seen, then lovely real wood patterned walls.
RJT> is concerned there are an awful lot of variables involved,  and 
RJT> inspecting the site is really the only way that can be estimated.  If 
RJT> new wire has to be run,  for example,  it's going to cost more than 
RJT> if existing wiring can be used.  And that's only one variable.  I'd 
Yes, but I was looking for a general idea.
Lets say for example, wires have to be replaced and all outlets on the porch, 
and connected to an existing *decent* powerbox.  Now the porch is such that 
getting to the outlets will be easy.  Don and I can take down the interior 
'walling' in less than a day and put it back up in about the same amount of 
time.
2,000$ or 5,000$ or 500$?  Its 7 outlets which have old type wiring, not 
using the grounding plug.
 CS> Oh, rooms we know are rewired and all prongs working: Kitchen, 
 CS> Living Room, Computer room, Laundry area of Garage.
RJT> That sounds to me like most of the worst of the job is already done.
Yes.  The left over locations are 2 bedrooms and the porch as well as wanting 
later to add more outlets to the 2 bathrooms and the garage area.
Area with most outlets is the porch.  Areas needing more outlets are the 
bathrooms (no outlets believe it or not) and the garage (one outlet only but 
it's fully grounded if i didnt mention it and this is other than the laundry 
room outlets).
Basically it's safe now as every area with heavy use, is well covered and the 
other areas, are just lamps etc.
RJT> That's a little strange,  as if I were doing wiring the last thing 
RJT> that I would do is put those breakers in the box.  The next-to-last 
RJT> thing is to attach the wire for the hot side of the line to the 
RJT> breaker,  and I'd *much* rather do that while that screw I'm going to 
RJT> is not live.  
Wouldnt know.  Was done by previous owner...
RJT> FAQ_ELEC.LZH   42598 12-09-95  [   1] FAQ on electrical wiring
Cool!  I'll grab it.
                                       xxcarol
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