[Fivedoor]

So, I have the ability to do my own electrical work, but not being an expert it takes me some research, time, and effort that would be much easier for an expert... so I figured I would have my new NEMA 6-50 receptacle professionally installed. Until I got the estimate that is!

To put a 6-50 plug 5 ft from my breaker box in the garage was going to cost me $450!

I will be doing it myself for less than $100 in parts and a bit of sweat. I already did he research and ordered the part from Amazon.

Later,

Keith

PS: Electrician is a co-worker... I wonder what he charges people who work elsewhere?

 

[CallMeBoltDriver]

Why did you opt for a 6-50 plug instead of a 14-50?

 

[Dimitrij]

So, I have the ability to do my own electrical work, but not being an expert it takes me some research, time, and effort that would be much easier for an expert... so I figured I would have my new NEMA 6-50 receptacle professionally installed. Until I got the estimate that is!

To put a 6-50 plug 5 ft from my breaker box in the garage was going to cost me $450!

I will be doing it myself for less than $100 in parts and a bit of sweat. I already did he research and ordered the part from Amazon.

Later,

Keith

PS: Electrician is a co-worker... I wonder what he charges people who work elsewhere?

Recently I have made a rule that I would not order from an online marketplace anything that can potentially kill me, if I can buy it in a brick-and-mortar store.

I think a good way to resolve the $450.00 query is to obtain a couple alternative quotes, which would give you some pointers about the local rates that electricians charge.

 

[XJ12]

Yep. Less than $100 bucks is about right for doing it yourself. Now, don't do what I did. Do it with a live panel so the wife doesn't know you're rewiring the house. I just didn't want to wait for her to leave the house. She was a little suspicious when the automatic timer on the coffee maker was a little off the next morning. Took her a few weeks before she happened to notice the plug in the garage. She asked if that's supposed to be done by a licensed electrician. My response, "not sure, I think a home owner can do their own work." After she asked a few more times and the house didn't burn down she stopped asking. That was a close one.

 

[redpoint5]

PS: Electrician is a co-worker... I wonder what he charges people who work elsewhere?

I've got a friend who assumes that since I'm a friend, I would be happy to pay full price for anything he wants to sell. Different people have different expectations about what their relationship means. I won't sell anything to a friend; it's all free to them.

Kudos on taking on this job yourself. It's initially intimidating, but ultimately very easy to do.

She asked if that's supposed to be done by a licensed electrician.

In my view, licensed doesn't mean unable to make mistakes. It means it costs more, and runs approximately the same risk of failure as anyone else genuinely attempting to do the job right.

 

[GregBrew]

Yep. Less than $100 bucks is about right for doing it yourself. Now, don't do what I did. Do it with a live panel so the wife doesn't know you're rewiring the house. I just didn't want to wait for her to leave the house. She was a little suspicious when the automatic timer on the coffee maker was a little off the next morning. Took her a few weeks before she happened to notice the plug in the garage. She asked if that's supposed to be done by a licensed electrician. My response, "not sure, I think a home owner can do their own work." After she asked a few more times and the house didn't burn down she stopped asking. That was a close one.

I look at electrical work as having three levels:

Unsafe
Safe (to code), but not permitted
Permitted

Having electrical work done cheaply by a "handyman" often results in "unsafe" that has a tendency to burn down houses and/or electrocute someone.

Having "permitted" work done by licensed electricians is the most costly, but you are pretty much assured that the resulting work will be safe and to current building standards.

The work I do is in the "safe" category. I check the NEC, and adhere to local building standards. A little history, though: I had the luxury of having completely rewired my house as part of a remodel. *Everything* was replaced, as I had aluminum wiring before. I worked alongside a licensed electrician, and the entire project was inspected and done to current building codes. (We found some unsafe stuff that would make your skin crawl and lose sleep.) I learned a *lot* during the 18 month project.

Since that time, I've done quite a bit of work around my other house, rewiring outlets and fixtures. They are absolutely safe and to code, just not permitted. Being a retired EE and high school teacher, my time was free, and the cost was just the fixtures, wire, and wire nuts. I already had all the tools from the remodel.

I can only stress that you need to be careful and recognize the severity of the danger should you fail to do something correctly. The basics are pretty simple, but remember: Your life, and the lives of your loved ones depend on your (or the licensed electrician's) skill.

 

[borkbork]

licensed electricians are also insured. so if your house burns down, at least you can blame them and collect on their insurance, in addition to your own.

 

[Chwkev]

Experience like GregBrew indicated (working with a licenced electrician on a major project) can certainly be valuable for learning safe ways to do electrical work. My favorite electrician (who has been a firefighter for the past twenty-five years) offers the following advice when asked for pointers (by do-it-yourselfers) on home wiring projects: “Make sure you have working smoke detectors on all floors of your home and in all sleeping areas. We don’t mind coming to put out a fire at your house, but we prefer to have you and your family waiting at the curb for us when we get there!” :-D

 

[Chwkev]

Why did you opt for a 6-50 plug instead of a 14-50?

I installed a 6-50 plug because I anticipate most places where I travel to (visiting friends) I will have easier access to welder plugs (6-50) in their shops than dryer plugs in their basements (when I take my EVSE) with me).

 

[California]

Having electrical work done cheaply by a "handyman" often results in "unsafe" that has a tendency to burn down houses and/or electrocute someone.... I worked alongside a licensed electrician, and the entire project was inspected and done to current building codes. (We found some unsafe stuff that would make your skin crawl and lose sleep.).

Dad's advice was just bulldoze this little farmhouse after he was gone. Everything added after the house was built - indoor plumbing, and the electrical system - seems to have been done by someone doing a specific project for their first time. Dad used the place as a summer home, and now I do. It's too simple to be a primary residence.

I've been fighting a losing battle for 20 years (Presently, replacing deck planks) and still haven't gotten to the wiring under the house.

The first photo is down where grandma stored her preserves, before a later remodel made access difficult.

Now I'm getting to the age where I have the same advice to my kids, when I'm gone knock the building down and start over.

Pretty much everything was done 'strangely'. I went looking for why a chrome coffee percolator (with a non-polarized cord) tingled. This was a clue.

 

[cleavet]

...I went looking for why a chrome coffee percolator (with a non-polarized cord) tingled. This was a clue.

A couple of years back an overhead lightbulb broke in my kitchen. Imagine my surprise when my attempt to rotate the base out with a pair of pliers resulted in a loud BANG and a shower of sparks. It turned out the builder had reversed the hot and neutral wires coming from the switch.

I will not work on anything electrical in my house without a careful test beforehand with a multimeter or one of those plug testers. That just about includes plugging in appliances or changing bulbs.

 

[DaV8or]

A couple of years back an overhead lightbulb broke in my kitchen. Imagine my surprise when my attempt to rotate the base out with a pair of pliers resulted in a loud BANG and a shower of sparks. It turned out the builder had reversed the hot and neutral wires coming from the switch.

I will not work on anything electrical in my house without a careful test beforehand with a multimeter or one of those plug testers. That just about includes plugging in appliances or changing bulbs.

In addition to plug testers, I highly recommend the pen type electric sensors like this one-

This is really useful for working in gang boxes with lots of connections in them. You may think you have all the relevant breakers off, but there can be surprises because very few people in the world actually know how their house is actually wired and who knows if an electrician somewhere along the way didn't either screw up, or do something creative.

 

[borkbork]

Pretty much everything was done 'strangely'. I went looking for why a chrome coffee percolator (with a non-polarized cord) tingled. This was a clue.

wow... yeah, definitely always follow dad's advice. that's scary.

 

[TimBolt]

Dad's advice was just bulldoze this little farmhouse after he was gone. Everything added after the house was built - indoor plumbing, and the electrical system - seems to have been done by someone doing a specific project for their first time. Dad used the place as a summer home, and now I do. It's too simple to be a primary residence.

I've been fighting a losing battle for 20 years (Presently, replacing deck planks) and still haven't gotten to the wiring under the house.

The first photo is down where grandma stored her preserves, before a later remodel made access difficult.

Now I'm getting to the age where I have the same advice to my kids, when I'm gone knock the building down and start over.

Pretty much everything was done 'strangely'. I went looking for why a chrome coffee percolator (with a non-polarized cord) tingled. This was a clue.

Knob and tube wiring! Yikes! Is that still live?

The house I grew up in had some knob and tube wiring, it was built in 1905, and the last of the knob and tube was replaced in the 1960’s.

Knob and tube isn’t inherently unsafe, but any wiring that’s nearly 100 years old really needs to be replaced, no matter how well it was installed and maintained.

 

[keeperchris]

I spent $1000 for two 14-50 plugs (two plug-in cars). Original quote was for $700, but that assumed our panel had room to add new breakers.
I didn't mind too much - it was paid for by Tesla returning my M3 deposit.
Plus we have saved about $1100 in fuel costs over the 6 months of our dual plug-in car ownership.
Kudos to those who can/will play with circuits. I'll limit myself to changing light fixtures.

 

[redpoint5]

I didn't mind too much - it was paid for by Tesla returning my M3 deposit.

AKA, paid for by yourself. The federal government makes people feel like they are getting free money when they get a portion of their own tax money back, without interest.

 

[keeperchris]

AKA, paid for by yourself. The federal government makes people feel like they are getting free money when they get a portion of their own tax money back, without interest.

Duly noted. Definitely paid with our own money, returned from a 1.5 year zero-interest loan to Tesla.

 

[California]

Knob and tube wiring! Yikes! Is that still live?

Sure. But now instead of two plug fuses feeding house, the knob & tube first generation of wiring is fed from two 15 amp breakers in a 200 amp panel that was presumably signed off before PGE dropped the larger feed to it.

There are clearly 4+ generations of updates everywhere, not just electric. Last year's crisis was multiple geysers near the barn. I trenched and replaced the rusted water mains. One geyser was a pipe that went to the house basement then was capped there, still under pressure but abandoned 50 years ago when the new well had its own pipe to the house. Prior years, similar surprises.

The windmill in my avatar is real. I recall as a child watching it power a pump-handle-type well pump. Grandparents were 50 years ahead of the modern wind power era. They weren't poor, just entertained by proven technology.

But back to EV electrics - I have 100 amp service from that 'new' (60's) breaker panel to a sub-panel in the barn and a 50 amp welder circuit there. This seems to be code-quality work. For welding it works fine, no drama. I'll get a licensed electrician to inspect everything before using an EV charger there.

 

[GregBrew]

Dad's advice was just bulldoze this little farmhouse after he was gone. Everything added after the house was built - indoor plumbing, and the electrical system - seems to have been done by someone doing a specific project for their first time. Dad used the place as a summer home, and now I do. It's too simple to be a primary residence.

I've been fighting a losing battle for 20 years (Presently, replacing deck planks) and still haven't gotten to the wiring under the house.

The first photo is down where grandma stored her preserves, before a later remodel made access difficult.

Now I'm getting to the age where I have the same advice to my kids, when I'm gone knock the building down and start over.

Pretty much everything was done 'strangely'. I went looking for why a chrome coffee percolator (with a non-polarized cord) tingled. This was a clue.

Oh dear gawd! Hope that critters don't like what insulation remains!

 

[GregBrew]

In addition to plug testers, I highly recommend the pen type electric sensors like this one-

This is really useful for working in gang boxes with lots of connections in them. You may think you have all the relevant breakers off, but there can be surprises because very few people in the world actually know how their house is actually wired and who knows if an electrician somewhere along the way didn't either screw up, or do something creative.

Yup. Just about every outlet or switch box in my other house had a pass-through junction within it that had nothing to do with the outlet, switch or light socket that landed in the box. Invariably, they were on a different breaker, and I discovered it with one of the pictured testers. In zero cases, the wires within the wire nuts were properly twisted together prior to the wire nut installation. What were the original installers thinking? SMH