r/AskElectricians

Hi! Just to preface this, I have very limited knowledge of all things electricity related, so please be kind 🙏

My partner and I are looking to have our air conditioners controlled by smart plugs for Alexa integration. We already have 15 amp smart plugs that we would like to repurpose for this, in the interest of saving money, but we’re unsure if they’re safe to use for air conditioners.

Two of our ACs are plugged into 15 amp outlets. The ACs themselves, per the specs on the side of each, draw 7 amps. Does that mean that it would be safe to use a 15 amp smart plug with it, since it’s only supposedly drawing 7 amps? Are there any other considerations I’m not aware of that would make this unsafe?

Another option my partner has found is using an infrared blaster to just remotely turn the AC on and off without dealing with the outlets at all. I’m assuming this is safer all around and we will probably wind up going with this anyway but I would still like to know more about the smart plugs, especially since the IR blasters will require us to spend a bit more money.

Thank you in advance!

Maryland recently legalized plug-in solar. Max 1,200W, has to be cord-and-plug into a "standard outlet" with no interconnection agreement. So the microinverter is 120V and lands on a single-pole breaker, meaning it only injects onto one leg, L1 or L2 depending on which slot the breaker takes.

I've got a 200A split-phase service. Central AC is 240V, everything else is 120V spread across both legs.

My question: if the inverter is dumping 10A onto L1, and at that moment my load is mostly on L2, does that power actually get used? Or am I only offsetting whatever happens to be on the leg I'm injecting into?

My understanding is that it works fine, because:

• L1 and L2 are just the two ends of one transformer.
• 240V loads are wired line-to-line, so injected current on L1 flows straight through the AC compressor and out on L2. Never touches the transformer.
• The meter reads both legs and sums them, so net import drops by whatever I generated regardless of where it entered.

Conclusion I'm working from: one 120V circuit on one leg offsets whole-house consumption, and there's no reason to try splitting injection across both legs.

Am I right? And is there any second-order reason to care about leg balance? If not, that would mean that a 240v plug in system may be able to cover both legs?

For brief context I am in college right now and the only reason I am doing it is because I work for the college as a security guard. I only pay $5 per credit right now and then books so it’s only like $400 per semester for me to go. I am projected to receive my finance degree in fall of 2028 and how the job market is looking I am not sure if I want to actually pursue a career.

All of my friends are either electricians, plumbers, or welders. They all love it.

I have two main concerns. One is it too late? And two I literally have no clue how to use power tools let alone know what the technical names for them. You can make fun of me all you want but I am the first one in my family to go to college and my parents have just worked customer service or were educators so I need some advice.

I am actually fairly handy at most things having to do with kind of home repair. I hate calling somebody for this that and the other. They say they'll be there at X time and x + 3 hours later they call me to tell me it's going to have to be put off till tomorrow. So I would prefer to learn about the thing and do it myself.

The one area I've refused to mess with other than replacing like switches or plugs is electricity. Maybe this is because I got electric shocks twice as a kid. I'm a little afraid of it.

I follow this Reddit because I would like to know and be more confident about modest electrical tasks. I've noticed a couple of trends here.

Even about fairly simple questions, the contributors here often disagree wildly about what is the appropriate thing to do. Indeed, it's fairly usual for one person to make fun of the other person's answer as being dangerous and uninformed. That is not reassuring.

Another thing which happens quite often is people say your house is going to burn down. Call an electrician. Well, as you must know calling an electrician is not cheap. Many people really don't have that option. They're already almost underwater. That doesn't mean to me that people should undertake dangerous tasks that they can't handle, but it does mean that they should try and be able to take tasks that they can.

So, how does a guy like me who wants to learn more about electricity electricity do so? Between books and YouTube, I've been able to master to an adequate degree. A lot of challenges that pop up if you own an old house. But I have not been able to do so with electricity. The books that I've looked up are often too simple and basic on one side or as in the books that give the codes for electrical installations, too complex and to presumptive about what you already know.

I wonder if anybody can recommend not one book, but perhaps a series of books that go from the infantile (what is current? What are volts? Etc), through a kind of narrative overview, even with a little history, to explaining more complicated problems and perhaps even a basic understanding of my local code.

I suspect this can't be done with one book but with a series of books. I know this is a lot to ask and this has been a long post. I'm sorry if it's inappropriate here.

Hi, I recently bought new lamps at IKEA, but every lamp i plug into the wall directly trips my breaker. At first I thought I had a faulty lamp so I returned it but then I got a new one and the same issue. Interestingly, the lamp is the only thing that triggers it. I plug other things into the same socket and it's totally fine. Additionally, if I plug it in through a surge protector there's no issue. I did the math and I should be pulling around 1100 watts if everything on the circuit is running at full power and given that it's a 15 amp circuit I read online that those were supposed to be good with up to 1800 watts so I doubt it's an issue of pulling too much power. Also when I plug in the lamps the plug gets chipped because there's a big spark so it pretty much fries the lamp permanently. Had some guys come in and take a look and they said the breaker looked good nothing was burnt everything looked new, and they checked the outlets and everything looked normal. They even tried swapping out an outlet and still the issue persisted. I would love any help or feedback that people might have because while the simple solution is to just plug in the lamp through a surge protector (which is what I plan to do) I would prefer not to have to buy a surge protector for each of the outlets in my apartment while also being able to rest easy knowing that if I plug something in it won't have a 50/50 chance of just being instantly cooked. Thanks so much!

Fair warning, I have some understanding of this stuff, but I know I am mostly ignorant.

I bought a kiln. It is most commonly sold in a 240v version, but I bought the 208v 3 phase version because that is what we have in our shop. I am not convinced they did the conversion right.

The kiln usually has four elements, two are 4kW, two are 3kW.

All the relays are ganged together so it's either all on or all off, so I will omit the relays for this discussion. They change the elements when they do the conversion, so the 208v elements should still be 4kW and 3kW.

In the 240v version all four elements are in parallel from L1 to L2. Dead simple.

When they converted it to three phase they put a 4kW and a 3kW in parallel on A-B, a 4kW and 3kW in parallel on B-C, and left C-A unloaded.

It draws 43 Amps on B and 22 Amps each on A and C. Downrate the breaker for a continuous load and we've got it on their recommended 60A breaker with appropriate wire gauge.

Is that big an imbalance acceptable? It seems dumb to me.

High school math says put a 4kW on A-B, a 4kW on B-C, and parallel the two 3kW on C-A. It'll be closer to 32 Amps on A & C and 26 Amps on B....

High school math does NOT actually describe reality and tell me if I have a valid complaint.

I was looking at the NCSCB Personal Certification Program for Medium Voltage Cable Splicers and wondering if anyone here took it and if it has helped you with job opportunities? Or if anyone recommends other MV trainings/certifications. Thanks

I’m upgrading my 20 space 100 amp breaker panel to a 40 space 200 amp panel. I don’t plan on adding any loads at this time, but my 100 amp is full and instead of upgrading to a 30 space 100 amp I figured it’d be smart to just go 200 amp and future proof it I guess. It’s a house in the Midwest built in 2006. I already had the power company come out and they said I already have a 200 amp meter installed and all the wires can handle the upgrade so the electrician and I don’t need nothing from the power company besides the disconnect & reconnect.

I hoping from some input and to help me with any questions I should ask the electrician. I know nothing about electrical. It’s a small business (he’s the owner/electrician and he’s licensed/insured)

He gave me an estimate to upgrade the 40 space 200 amp panel and adding a regular 120v outlet in the garage that’s about 10’ from the breaker panel for $1,800. It seems low…maybe that’s because nothing needs to be done by the power company and the meter is already 200 amp ready. Is there any questions I should ask him if he’s replacing whatever needs replaced for a 200 amp upgrade?

Any help is appreciated. Only questions I’ve got are these so far ⬇️

Are you pulling all the permits?

Are you replacing the line from the meter to the panel to a thicker gauge wire?

Please add any questions I should ask. Thanks in advance

I'm replacing an existing 1980s-era 150A main panel (GE) with a new panel which will become a main-lug subpanel to a new service. The current main has a Siemens subpanel that was added a few years ago as part of a renovation that is located on the other end of the room. I'm debating the benefits / drawbacks of going with ABB or Siemens for the new panel and am curious what others think "matters". Both options are 30-space with PON, plenty of bus room, etc. (so, very similar from a utility perspective).

On one hand using ABB would allow me to re-use the breakers in the current panel (where appropriate) and the panel price (including some "bonus breakers" in a package deal) is about $50 less. It has an Al bus, though :(

On the other, the Siemens panel would keep the whole home in one ecosystem even though I'd end up with a bunch of used GE breakers and have to buy multiple new ones (which are a bit pricier than the ABB). It also has a solid copper bus and although I think their front panels are a little goofy, the panel feels a little more 'solid' than the ABB...but that is pretty subjective.

What would you do in your own home and why?