*** Quoting Roy J. Tellason from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***
 CS> 200amps
RJT> Not bad.
 CS> 4 switches say '30', 5 say '20',, 4 say '15', and 4 slots are 
Forgot to add, GAS heat.  Not using electric for anything other than a blower 
unit.  (grin, otherwise i suspect I would need 250 amps and be minimal safety 
factor in cold times).
 CS> unused, 2 with breakers unlabeled that appear by testing, to go 
 CS> to no existing outlets (and we tested to be sure they werent 
 CS> the furnace or AC).
RJT> You'll never pull all of your circuits to the capacity marked on the 
RJT> breaker, though.
True.  I'm slowly chewing thru the file i got from you.  Not far enough yet 
to ask any questions, but be ready for a mini-flood of them once I am done 
.
For the moment the only tips I have to trade back, is one that confuses lots 
of home owners but is actually easy to do.  If your seal about the toilet 
goes bad, you can get the new seal kit for about 2$ (Local price) and you 
just lift the old one, scrape the old 'gunk' off, then put the new seal down 
and replace the toilet over it.  Best to have some corkwood about if you 
replace the toilt too, as that will make a neat leveling material that will 
grow with the house as it shifts.  Seals normally last 10 years.  Many folks 
end up spending 200$ for a plumber plus the cost of a new toilet unit for 
what is actually a 2$ job and about 4 hours work for a *first timer at it*.
RJT> Another thing you can do if you're careful is to remove the cover on 
RJT> the breaker box.  Then you'll be able to _see_ whether some of those 
RJT> "unused" breakers actually are unused,  or what...
Thats what we did yesterday.  Unused.
We were pretty sure of this from the previous owner.  he had started the 
project, gotten to the point of box replacement, but hadnt finished it all.  
There are 4 breakers there, not connected to anything at all.  IE:  Instead 
of leaving those portions of the box empty, he put in units that can be, but 
are not yet, connected to anything.  ALL the leads are just tied up and 
sitting there.  Call it switches that dont connect to anything at all, 
anyplace, put there in place of blank faceplates.
 CS> 2,000$ or 5,000$ or 500$?  Its 7 outlets which have old type 
 CS> wiring, not using the grounding plug.
RJT> It's been so long since I had to use the services of an electrician 
RJT> that I really couldn't begin to guess at it.  The rates those guys 
RJT> charge are going to be different in different areas,  too.
Ok, ah well. I'll hope then for 500$ for the porch.  
While I was underway (I'm Navy so go to sea for extended times) hubby had an 
outlet added to the kitchen to support a new dishwasher.  Apparently it was a 
simple job.  Cost was 50$ but he was also a friend of the family so it may be 
more to have bigger work contracted.  (yes, this friend is a real live 
electrician.  In case no one noticed, I'm scared of chewing-gum-bailingwire 
type electrical works).  Normal cost for same level work in area is 60$.  (we 
got a price cut for not only being friends, but being totally agreeable to 
'awkward' hours for the work.  In this case 6am and Don had to watch his kids 
for an hour but Don enjoyed every second of it, and we ended up keeping the 
kids for the day just 'cause they were fun and liked our 3YO).
                                       xxcarol
--- Telegard v3.02
---------------