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pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
The Big Dig of 2020 and my generator project is done. I had to run down there at night just to turn the light on and say 'oooooh'

Thursday the inspector is coming over. Not expecting a problem but in the past these things could be very 'personality driven' so I have a little angst. I have gone down the rabbit hole and am driving myself nuts obsessing over NEC details. I'l be glad to fill in that trench and stop thinking about it.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Got up before the sun, took a long shower, took the dog for a long walk, then went for a drive on the country roads...It was 50 degrees this morning at sunrise, perfect for walking the dog, passed two state troopers on my drive this morning, cruise control was set at 60 mph, five over the posted speed...Beautiful morning for a walk and a drive...

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pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Washed and waxed this thing in the morning when it was cool. I'm not obsessive about it, only waxed it once in four years. Took it for a ride, got home and did virtually nothing. Slept, ate, read. Sometimes you just have to pull the plug.
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Standingstones

Celestial
I was just reading about “gender reveal parties.” I had no idea such things existed. People are firing off pyrotechnics (blue or pink) to announce a baby’s arrival. Unfortunately, these stupid people have been the cause of some of these California wildfires. One in particular burned 7,000 acres of land and numerous house burnings. According to the story luckily no one was hurt or died.

Can anyone lock up these stupid people permanently?
 

The shadow

The shadow knows!
19 years ago today Rikki and I began our lives together. It's been a hell of a ride. Who knew that 3 days later our world would change forever.
19 years. 5 kids. One dog and one rabbit later..
 

nivek

As Above So Below
We were married on Sept 8th 2001
3 days later we awoke on our honeymoon to see our world had changed. (Sept 11th 2001)

I wouldn't have guessed that since you were taking about your marriage and family, honestly I assumed you were referring to a first child on the way...

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The shadow

The shadow knows!
I wouldn't have guessed that since you were taking about your marriage and family, honestly I assumed you were referring to a first child on the way...

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We found that out in dec near Christmas!
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Taking a cue from @nivek I thought I'd try an infection just for hoots. I let my bike warm up in the driveway the other day and as I was putting it away I brushed my bare calf against a hot exhaust pipe. Yikes!

This is why people who are on motorcycles wearing shorts are morons, me included.

Seemed minor but has defied my attempts at keeping it clean. Getting red and hot and tight and I just went for a tetanus shot. Waiting on the antibiotics and prescription topical goo so I can go get it.

Joy. While I'm waiting on Walgreens maybe I'll just slam my d**k in a door just as a fun distraction .........
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Ouch thats gotta hurt, I had a motorcycle in my mid twenties, its been a long time since I've rode one...Hope that heals up quickly...

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The shadow

The shadow knows!
The twins got us a weekend at the Hyatt regency honeymoon suet. They of course will watch the rest of the family.
Then Debbie jokes "you two don't do anything I won't do."
I came back with "And exactly what are you doing young lady?"
She blushed "Allow a girl to have her secrets dad."
The conversation was about to go south when Rikki interceded. 'Bob. and I will enjoy our weekend, thank you."
She whispered something in Debbie's ear a second whispered exchange.
Debbie went to her room followed by her giggling sister.
As soon as they left
Rikki jokingly said "she promised not to do any we won't do."
Leaving us to a long discussion before work..
My head..
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
The electrical inspector just left and I passed, but there was a glitch and my heart stopped beating for what felt like an hour.

I ran a 1" pvc conduit with four #8 wires for the generator inlet and 3 #10 for a 20 a,p cpnvenience outlet, lighting, etc. Oversized it for distance. Plenty of room in the pipe for that, here's the handy conduit fill calculator that tells me that: Conduit Fill Calculator | Southwire.com

He knew there was a problem with feeding more than one circuit to a building on the same property but didn't have a code book handy. Imagine - an inspector that didn't carry a code book. Nice guy, knowledgeable but looked like he just rolled out of bed. So I grab my 2014 code book and the magic pop-tart and I pull up the relevant section 225:

Multiple structures

Where more than one structure is on the same property,
each must be served by no more than one feeder or branch circuit [225.30]. As you might expect, the NEC provides several exceptions.

The first one is “Special Conditions.” You can provide additional circuits for:

  • Fire pumps,
  • Emergency systems,
  • Legally required standby systems,
  • Optional standby systems,
  • Parallel power production systems, and
  • Systems designed for connection to multiple sources of supply for the purpose of enhanced reliability.
Thank The Great Magnet for that exception, I was thinking of maybe crying, pitching a fit, speaking in tongues, hurling around great clods of my own feces ..... the usual .....

The alternative would have been to put a small weather rated panel down there @ 30amps and pull the generator inlet out of that. That would mean wasting about $125 and plenty of materials. So, I gave the nice man the exception and his $110 and they will close my permit out at the town hall. Whew !

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nivek

As Above So Below
The electrical inspector just left and I passed, but there was a glitch and my heart stopped beating for what felt like an hour.

I ran a 1" pvc conduit with four #8 wires for the generator inlet and 3 #10 for a 20 a,p cpnvenience outlet, lighting, etc. Oversized it for distance. Plenty of room in the pipe for that, here's the handy conduit fill calculator that tells me that: Conduit Fill Calculator | Southwire.com

He knew there was a problem with feeding more than one circuit to a building on the same property but didn't have a code book handy. Imagine - an inspector that didn't carry a code book. Nice guy, knowledgeable but looked like he just rolled out of bed. So I grab my 2014 code book and the magic pop-tart and I pull up the relevant section 225:

Multiple structures

Where more than one structure is on the same property,
each must be served by no more than one feeder or branch circuit [225.30]. As you might expect, the NEC provides several exceptions.

The first one is “Special Conditions.” You can provide additional circuits for:

  • Fire pumps,
  • Emergency systems,
  • Legally required standby systems,
  • Optional standby systems,
  • Parallel power production systems, and
  • Systems designed for connection to multiple sources of supply for the purpose of enhanced reliability.
Thank The Great Magnet for that exception, I was thinking of maybe crying, pitching a fit, speaking in tongues, hurling around great clods of my own feces ..... the usual .....

The alternative would have been to put a small weather rated panel down there @ 30amps and pull the generator inlet out of that. That would mean wasting about $125 and plenty of materials. So, I gave the nice man the exception and his $110 and they will close my permit out at the town hall. Whew !

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Looks great, very professional looking work too, I liked how you ran the wires on the garage overhead...I didn't dig as deep as you did when I ran wires to my building but I guess it's needed there to keep the wires below the freeze line?...

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pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Looks great, very professional looking work too, I liked how you ran the wires on the garage overhead...I didn't dig as deep as you did when I ran wires to my building but I guess it's needed there to keep the wires below the freeze line?...

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Thanks. The inspector was very complimentary - it was definite overkill, but that's me. Do it right or don't bother. Nice to get a little feedback on it.

I asked the inspector about depth yesterday. He said 18" is all I needed for UF or for conduit, but I have been told by very seasoned electricians that it's 40" for UF and 18" for the pipe. I know for sure that you have to sink sonotubes for concrete a minimum of 40" around here because you don't want to have your deck heave, yet in Florida my brother-in-law can set his deck on concrete blocks right on the ground. The ocean might swallow them, but that's a different story. I think 18" is the right answer - don't see how frost heave matters much to a buried cable.

All I can say is that I've seen miles of UF get dug up and there is a reason why splice kits are commonly available. I never want to see this thing again, ever. It's about 24"deep. I was just out filling it in .... oooooof .... I even filled it in halfway and then loaded it with two runs of yellow caution tape in case someone in the future goes digging.

This has been sort of fun to me, at least interesting. A project with some meat on the bone, a few technical details, some physical labor. Very, very nice to just start the generator and do a few small things and light the house back up. My old pile has certainly seen benefit from covid.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Thanks. The inspector was very complimentary - it was definite overkill, but that's me. Do it right or don't bother. Nice to get a little feedback on it.

I asked the inspector about depth yesterday. He said 18" is all I needed for UF or for conduit, but I have been told by very seasoned electricians that it's 40" for UF and 18" for the pipe. I know for sure that you have to sink sonotubes for concrete a minimum of 40" around here because you don't want to have your deck heave, yet in Florida my brother-in-law can set his deck on concrete blocks right on the ground. The ocean might swallow them, but that's a different story. I think 18" is the right answer - don't see how frost heave matters much to a buried cable.

All I can say is that I've seen miles of UF get dug up and there is a reason why splice kits are commonly available. I never want to see this thing again, ever. It's about 24"deep. I was just out filling it in .... oooooof .... I even filled it in halfway and then loaded it with two runs of yellow caution tape in case someone in the future goes digging.

This has been sort of fun to me, at least interesting. A project with some meat on the bone, a few technical details, some physical labor. Very, very nice to just start the generator and do a few small things and light the house back up. My old pile has certainly seen benefit from covid.

What's that outlet on the outside of the red building?...Is it single phase 220 or another 110 line?...The shape looks like single phase 220 like a dryer or stove would use...

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nivek

As Above So Below
This post is the first time I have ever connected a keyboard to my tablet via USB to MicroUSB and typed a message...I didn't think the Android OS would accept this keyboard I'm using, which is a full size desktop type keyboard...This is great, I never used a keyboard for my tablet before, gives me another option...

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wwkirk

Divine
This post is the first time I have ever connected a keyboard to my tablet via USB to MicroUSB and typed a message...I didn't think the Android OS would accept this keyboard I'm using, which is a full size desktop type keyboard...This is great, I never used a keyboard for my tablet before, gives me another option...

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Why do it? For a larger display area?
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Why do it? For a larger display area?

No, you must have read my post in error, I'm using the tablet display, I've only connected a full size keyboard to it for easier typing, especially if I have a lot to type and I'm not mobile lol...The onscreen keyboard on my tablet is fine but thumb fatigue if I want to type a lot, I never bought a smaller bluetooth keyboard for my tablet, I've always used the onscreen one before...

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wwkirk

Divine
No, you must have read my post in error, I'm using the tablet display, I've only connected a full size keyboard to it for easier typing, especially if I have a lot to type and I'm not mobile lol...The onscreen keyboard on my tablet is fine but thumb fatigue if I want to type a lot, I never bought a smaller bluetooth keyboard for my tablet, I've always used the onscreen one before...

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So, when you attach the external keyboard the onscreen keyboard still pops up? It would seem desirable if it wouldn't pop up, so that there would be more display space.
 
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