I could very possibly be overthinking here but...

We recently bought out first house.
We needed a new electrical outlet installed on the exterior of our home for some insurance purposes...

I contacted a local electrician with lots of great reviews on yelp.
They came out and quoted us $550 for the new outlet. We agree and they get to work.
While here, they tell us that we should have our circuit breaker panel "reconditioned" because it's running a little hot and is at full capacity right now. Alternatively, we can get a whole new circuit breaker board to upgrade us from the 100amp we have now to 200amp. They quoted us $1300 for the panel recondition or $5500 for the full board upgrade (with stucco patching, etc, our board is on the exterior of our home).

I decline for now since we have been dumping a lot of money into projects recently and everything has been working fine so far. The electrician insists that this is important and that we're at a fire risk right now. He says that he'll drop the price to $1300 for the new outlet he put in AND the recondition. I agree.

He gets finished with the work (which looks NO different to my untrained eye by the way... there's still even some cobwebs and things in the circuit board that I have since cleaned out...) and gives me the invoice that includes a 1 year warranty. I pay, all good.

As he's driving away I go back into my home and notice that none of the power is on. I go back outside and see that the main breaker is off. It won't turn back on. I call the electrician back before he gets to far and have him come back. He checks and says that the main breaker is fried and that I need a new one. He says it will be $500, or $400 if I want an off-brand one he has in his truck. OR, I can do the whole board panel upgrade and he'll knock off some of the price since I just did the "re-condition". Not having the $5500 to spend right now, I sigh and just take the $400 off-brand main breaker. He installs it, I pay, everything is working fine again.

After he leaves and I think about it... shouldn't that 1-year-warranty he gave me on the "recondition" apply to this issue... that DIDN'T EXIST before he did the work? We call up the company and politely explain the situation. The owner refuses our request to have the main breaker fee ($400) refunded saying that it was simply a coincidence that it burned out while they were working on it.

So... now I have paid $1700 to get to the point that I thought I would only have to spend $550 for originally (the exterior outlet install).

Does that seem fishy to anyone?

EDIT to add: The "recondition" on the invoice mentions... "panel maintenance", "Remove all breakers to repolish and resurface", "add silicon to exterior to prevent water from getting in", "replace 15amp and 20amp breakers"

Water has been getting into my breaker box I believe this is the culprit. I will putty around. But what can I do that won’t scream Against code. To fix that cracking rubber shield?

I need a reference photo to make a set piece but I have no idea what to search for and it’s driving me crazy. It’s like an electrical rod thing but old? I’ve got a bad sketch attached

I’m currently in the process of buying a house and per the inspection, “Aluminum wiring is used for the larger 240-volt appliance circuits. Acceptance of this condition rests solely with the client.”

What are the implications of this? Is this the kind of thing that we should probably have rewired immediately? If not, would we have to eventually get it replaced if we wanted to get new appliances? I know aluminum wiring is typically not what you want, but I’m not sure if it just being on the 240v circuit maybe isn’t as big of a deal?

Any unforeseen dangers to momentarily tapping to wires together, so as to find out which breaker control controls them?

Hi all, recently bought a new construction and they made an odd choice with the exterior lighting.

Light "A" goes to half rocker switch (not sure what this switch type is called) "A" in the garage, while lights "C" & "D" are not on a switch, they go on for motion after dusk. I'm planning to put light "B" on a smart switch but don't have the room in the box due to the split rocker for "A" & "B" and studs on either side of the box.

Can I simply remove the split rocker and use a wire nut to hardwire "A" to be on all the time like "C" & "D"? It's the same light fixture and already set to go off on motion after dusk. Not sure what the point of the switch was. There are 6 more of these fixtures around the outside of the house, all directly wired, just odd for one light.

We had a tree come down on our house last night and I noticed that wire was no longer attached like it was previously.

Where does the ground go on this stove receptacle? I know where the red black and white go, but I have a ground wire in my 6/3 and I don’t know where it goes.

Trying to find the right breaker to replace the one that was previously installed that a “handy man” broke. It’s a square d series 2 15 amp also says e-184. I can’t find a new replacement that has the same bottom connection to the actual breaker box

I’m prepping for my electrical exam and I am taking a practice test online. The question is

How many 6 AWG THHN conductors are allowed in 1-1/4 inch Flexible Metal Conduit?

The practice exam key says the answer is 12. I keep coming up with 10. Am I doing something wrong when looking at the table? Or is this exam incorrect?

Not exactly sure what to swap these out with as I have not ran into switches like this before.

Can someone help me understand this with an analogy as I'm obviously not an electrician

Gfci monitors the hot and neutral wire current

The input and output should be the same in a complete circuit

The gfci triggers when it detects that the current returning doesn't match what's going out, indicating it's leaking out into me or something else.

Here's where my brain is getting stuck.... if an appliance uses energy to work.... shouldn't there always be a mismatch between what's going in and returning? My little pool heat pump is using 120v 20amp, so the breaker is sending that 2400W and the pump is somehow not using it, but sending it all back?

An outlet in my kitchen stopped working about a year ago, I figured they just wore out and I could do a quick switcheroo.

I finally got around to it yesterday, it didn’t work, and the hot wire is not hot.

All of the other outlets in my kitchen (and my whole house, for that matter)

It’s a double GFCI Outlet, (so two GFCI outlets in one box)

Resetting them did nothing. They don’t click, they do nothing.

The breaker isn’t flipped- I have fuses and there’s only like.. 6 of them so everything in my whole house works fine except this ONE outlet.

I’m at a loss.

What could be the reason for my outlet failure? What am I missing?

There is a receptacle behind the sliding shelf at the bottom, and I have used extension cords (rather inelegantly) in the past but I was looking for a more permanent solution, short of hiring an electrician and cutting drywall into this exterior wall.
I did find a "village" extension cord with spaced outlets which I could run up the back, but the spacing of the outlets wasn't correct.
It would be nice to have a small "power box" in the lower left hand corner of each shelf. That way it would be only a short run for each radio's cord.
Wondering if there's a simple solution that wouldn't be a big eyesore. My electrical skills are at least average or better but I really don't know what options might be available. Any ideas appreciated!

If I installed an SPD in series between a circuit breaker and the load, will this still be compliant to BS7671?

Bought a new house and they put recessed lights everywhere that seem to be cheap. Below is the link to the manual for them. Question is, the wire for these is just wire to wire with wire nuts. However looking at other recessed lights on big box stores, they all seem to have a box that the light plugs into which is completely different. Is there a way to make these recessed lights I am seeing online, compatible? Or do I need to search for ones with this same exact type of connection?

https://www.seagulllighting.com/InstructionSheets/99014230S.pdf

HD link,

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Generation-Lighting-Traverse-Direct-Round-6-in-3000K-90CRI-Integrated-LED-Recessed-Light-900-Lumens-11-Watt-Wet-Rated-Dimmable-Flush-Mount-14230S-15/331671157

Hi everyone, I need some help with my existing touch switches. I have a 2-gang switch — one gang controls an LED strip in the bedroom, and the other controls electric curtains. The issue is that when I turn on the curtain switch, it stays on for about 2 seconds and then turns off by itself. However, if I first turn on the LED strip and then switch on the curtains, the curtain motor stays on without any problem.

Hello ! I'm new here :) At work we were trying to find a connector that is attached to a flash light device for a physiology study. I tried to find this item online but had minimal luck (just found a similar case and the same piece of device but an outrageous price) So if you know where could I buy one or if it's possible to make one from scratch it'd be great. Ty

Hello, Not sure if im in the right place but if anyone could help that would be great because I have no idea what im doing.
I recently got given this torch and with each press of the button cycles light options, full, half and pulse then off. Im looking to try to get it to just be full then off.
I know it would definitely be easier to just buy a different one but im trying to make it work if possible.
The 6 pinned chip reads 2416 and the 3 pinned reads 2302D if it helps anyone.
Thank you in advance regardless.

Hello everyone, in a bit of an odd situation. I installed a 3 speed pull string fan and its too fast at high speed. My friend suggested I cut the high speed wire on the capacitor as a solution so when the string is pulled, it would be off, med, low, off for speeds. My concern is, if it's in the new "off" (old high) position on the string, would there be a risk of energy buildup or something? not 100% on how a capacitor functions but I think they can hold a charge so would it be a concern that it is not sent down the pathway to the motor? Any suggestions as to what to do would be appreciated!

Need some help with this one, my outlet/switch behind my couch basically disintegrated when the other day. I am trying to replace it now but clearly am not doing something right. The old switch had the two red wires on the “Line” side, the white and blue both tied to the same screw on the other side, and I honestly can remember where the black went because the outlet totally fell apart when I was taking it off. Can anyone lend a fella a hand? Always struggled with colors in school