"What Sherlock did this?"

Posted by Stormin Mormon on July 3, 2009, 2:06 pm

Hotwire from a hotplate?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.

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When I wa kid I used bell wire to get electicity to my tree
house. I
tworked well for a lamp and radio. It didnt work so well
when we tried
to use a hot plate.

Jimmie

Posted by on July 3, 2009, 12:28 pm

On Thu, 2 Jul 2009 21:55:19 -0500, in alt.home.repair, "HeyBub"

>WhiteTea77581 wrote:

>> I thought it might be entertaining to see posts of your favorite
>> experience with someone else's "Handiwork."
>> Two of my favorites.
>> 1. My brother and I found voltages of 33 and 66 volts at a house that
>> someone was fixing up to sell.
>> 2. Telephone wire used to wire up a fluorescent light in a restaurant.

At work, one of our computer labs was recently remodeled and got these nifty
new computer tables with built-in power and network outlets. On one of
them, our professional commercial electrical contractor managed to connect
the table's ground wire to the hot supply....

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Due to Usenet spam, emailed replies must pass an intelligence test: if
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Posted by stan on July 3, 2009, 12:56 pm

On Jul 3, 2:28=A0pm, usenet-659f31de7f953...@asgard.slcc.edu wrote:

> On Thu, 2 Jul 2009 21:55:19 -0500, in alt.home.repair, "HeyBub"

> >WhiteTea77581 wrote:

> >> I thought it might be entertaining to see posts of your favorite
> >> experience with someone else's "Handiwork."
> >> Two of my favorites.
> >> 1. My brother and I found voltages of 33 and 66 volts at a house that
> >> someone was fixing up to sell.
> >> 2. Telephone wire used to wire up a fluorescent light in a restaurant.

> At work, one of our computer labs was recently remodeled and got these ni=

fty

> new computer tables with built-in power and network outlets. =A0On one of
> them, our professional commercial electrical contractor managed to connec=

> the table's ground wire to the hot supply....
> --
> Due to Usenet spam, emailed replies must pass an intelligence test: if
> you want me to read your reply, be sure to include this line of text in
> your email, but remove this line before sending, otherwise my filters
> will delete your email with all due prejudice. =A0Thanks!

Many years ago in rural territory here hard drawn twisted copper pair
telephone drop wire (about 12 or 14 AWG) was a favourite for 'a couple
of lights in the barn'.
Then telco started using copper coated steel drop wires. It didn't
like a couple of amps for two 100 watts light bulbs! One story is that
it burnt off spectacularly!
But have never bothered to work out the resistance, voltage drop and/
or current carrying capacity of say, one hundred feet of steel drop
wire to see if there could be any credence to the story!

Posted by John Gilmer on July 6, 2009, 3:39 am

> WhiteTea77581 wrote:

> 1. 33, 66, and almost anything else is believable if you don't know how to
> use a voltmeter. Just poking the leads in the outlet will easily get
> bizarre readings.
> 2. Telephone wire may very well be sufficient. Depends on the power
> requirements of the florescent lamp. I've used bell wire to power 9 watt
> porch lights. Works swell.

Actually, "telephone wire" should not be used for 120 volt wiring.

The "protection scheme" for US wiring is that the entrance panel circuit
breakers server to protect the WIRE against a fault.

In the worse possible scenario, you could have a long loop of #22 'telephone
wire' that developes a fault at the far end.

The fault would only create, say, a 15 or 20 Amp current which isn't enough
to 'trip' a breaker but is enough to nicely heat up the 'telephone wire' and
set adjacent wood on fire.

It might be marginally safe to use "telephone wire" if the wire is protected
by a fuse or CB to a reasonable current on the order of 1 amp or less.
Otherwise, the "textbook" solution is to power the load from a 24 or 12 volt
transformer that contains within some current limiting feature.

Posted by WhiteTea on July 7, 2009, 8:58 am

> >WhiteTea77581wrote:

> > 1. 33, 66, and almost anything else is believable if you don't know how=

> > use a voltmeter. Just poking the leads in the outlet will easily get
> > bizarre readings.
> > 2. Telephone wire may very well be sufficient. Depends on the power
> > requirements of the florescent lamp. I've used bell wire to power 9 wat=

> > porch lights. Works swell.

> Actually, "telephone wire" should not be used for 120 volt wiring.
> The "protection scheme" for US wiring is that the entrance panel circuit
> breakers server to protect the WIRE against a fault.
> In the worse possible scenario, you could have a long loop of #22 'teleph=

one

> wire' that developes a fault at the far end.
> The fault would only create, say, a 15 or 20 Amp current which isn't enou=

> to 'trip' a breaker but is enough to nicely heat up the 'telephone wire' =

and

> set adjacent wood on fire.

> It might be marginally safe to use "telephone wire" if the wire is protec=

ted

> by a fuse or CB to a reasonable current on the order of 1 amp or less.

So, how many house fires have you had?
:-)

Andy

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