If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
|
Posted by on December 10, 2006, 12:07 am
On Sat, 9 Dec 2006 20:20:18 -0700, "James \"Cubby\" Culbertson"
>
>>
>
>>
>> I have found over many years rehabing my house and in others that
>> Murphy's law applies:
>>
>> The longest scrap of Romex you have will always be 6" too short. :)
>>
>> Yes, I save the cut-offs.
>>
>> Harry K
>>
>
>And a corrolary to Murphy's law that seems to apply to me most: As soon
>as I toss that short cutoff, I'll need it!
>
>I tend to keep stuff that's 3ft or longer I suppose. It doesn't take up
>much room and has actually paid off in some cases, and not in others.
>
>Cheers,
>cc
>
Certainly you don't need a lot of it but short pieces of "free" copper
wire are handy for tying things up. In an emergency it can even be a
halfway decent hose clamp. I usually have a bucket of wire scraps
around the shop.
Hobby and artist folks seem to love solid copper wire. I know a guy
who makes sculptures from it.
|
 
| |
Posted by Evo on December 8, 2006, 11:19 pm
Eigenvector wrote:
> Since finishing my basement, I'm left with odds and ends of Romex 12/2.
> My feeling is to toss them out, none of them are really all that long, but
> it leaves me wondering - what's the minimum length of Romex that you'd
> keep for
> another job (if the opportunity presented itself)? I think for me, 10
> feet would be tempting - it would be a stretch, but it would/could bridge
> the gap between two outlets.
>
> I don't even entertain the idea of splicing Romex together.
Think the scrape price for copper is pretty high. Are you pigtailing your
outlets, then keep some dump the rest.
RV
--
"You can lead them to LINUX
but you can't make them THINK"
|
|
Posted by Eigenvector on December 9, 2006, 12:33 am
> Eigenvector wrote:
>
>> Since finishing my basement, I'm left with odds and ends of Romex 12/2.
>> My feeling is to toss them out, none of them are really all that long,
>> but
>> it leaves me wondering - what's the minimum length of Romex that you'd
>> keep for
>> another job (if the opportunity presented itself)? I think for me, 10
>> feet would be tempting - it would be a stretch, but it would/could bridge
>> the gap between two outlets.
>>
>> I don't even entertain the idea of splicing Romex together.
> Think the scrape price for copper is pretty high. Are you pigtailing your
> outlets, then keep some dump the rest.
>
> RV
Naw I'm not pigtailing. The old stuff is all copper Romex with 18(?) gauge
ground conductor - so it isn't useful in my eyes.
|
|
Posted by mm on December 9, 2006, 1:47 am
On Fri, 8 Dec 2006 17:56:30 -0800, "Eigenvector"
>Since finishing my basement, I'm left with odds and ends of Romex 12/2. My
>feeling is to toss them out, none of them are really all that long, but it
>leaves me wondering - what's the minimum length of Romex that you'd keep for
>another job (if the opportunity presented itself)? I think for me, 10 feet
>would be tempting - it would be a stretch, but it would/could bridge the gap
>between two outlets.
I used a two foot piece once iirc.
After I put a switch in a wire going to an outside light.
The neighborhood electrician, with my acquiescence, put a light on the
side of my end-of-group townhouse, which faces the woods. I could
tell when the special bulb needed replacement because it would
interfere with weak AM radio stations. Later they changed the fixture
to one that was motion activated, but it seemed that the light on a
low setting ALL the time, and bumped up to Full when I walked by.
That means it interfered with weak AM stations all the time at night.
I didn't want the electrician coming out when the ground was wet,
stomping on the grass and putting the ladder legs inches into the
ground (extension ladder, it's about 17 feet up.) So I put a switch
into the line. To turn off the light until the yard dried out.
Putting a switch in would actually lessen the amount of wire needed,
if it weren't for needing to run both pieces into the box. Even
taking up any slack I could find, the wire that was already there was
about 2 inches short. !! So I just needed a piece to go from the new
switch to where the old wire was attached. I think that was just
enough to span the space between adjacent rafters, 16 inches, plus a
little extra at each end.
I had just the right piece.
>
>I don't even entertain the idea of splicing Romex together.
Good. A violation of code, even when done in a box, at least in NYC.
|
|
Posted by mm on December 9, 2006, 2:00 am
On Fri, 8 Dec 2006 17:56:30 -0800, "Eigenvector"
> I think for me, 10 feet
>would be tempting - it would be a stretch, but it would/could bridge the gap
>between two outlets.
BTW, for me it would be the other way around. If I gave away ten
feet, I could buy a ten foot piece later. What I would hate to have
to do is to buy 10 feet when I only need 2 feet.
Of course I have a basement, and three liquor boxes (after itemizing
below, it was more than 3) and one and a half dresser drawers just
devoted to wire. 1) Heavy duty cords, 2) Wire with ends (special
ends, not counting AC plugs or outlets), 3) Coaxial cable, which I
will need soon to run cable to my computer (and maybe to run cable
from the DVD in the computer to the VCR in the bedroom?) 4) Heater
wire and non-electric wire, such as picture wire, piano wire, etc. 5)
non-heavy-duty cords with plugs on the end. 6) And maybe one could
count: functioning extension cords. 7) Two high tensile strength,
waterproof, maybe heavy duty extension cords I made long ago from a 3
foot diameter spool of wire, 100 feet and maybe 150 feet iirc. 8)
Single conductor and more-than-2 conductor wire. 9) A still-in the
original package 12" roll of 12 gauge single conductor solid blue
wire, and a package of 4-conductor phone wire. 10) miscellaneous,
including some flat antenna wire.
I almost always have the wire I need without having to go to the
store. I like it that way.
|
Page 3 of 5 < 1 2 3 > last >>
| Similar Threads | Posted | | Energy Saving -Saving our Climate | August 23, 2007, 4:03 am |
| Saving $ on the gas bill | December 1, 2005, 2:03 pm |
| Saving on having the furnace set at.... | December 10, 2006, 9:17 pm |
| Saving Old Bathtub | January 8, 2007, 5:29 pm |
| Saving My Fireplace | October 1, 2007, 11:56 pm |
| Good solution for saving gas | October 1, 2005, 4:40 am |
| Energy Saving Bulbs | January 8, 2006, 9:45 pm |
| Re: Articles on saving money | December 13, 2006, 10:11 am |
| Saving deck supports | December 23, 2006, 5:33 pm |
| Saving existing linoleum? | July 30, 2007, 10:44 pm |
|
|
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap