Electrical wiring for dummies?

[MNmikew]

Well the new deer shack is built and now the electrical fun begins. I just got an estimate from an local electrician and about died from sticker shock. Is there some resources out there for a clueless newbie on doing this?

I plan on having a electrician hookup the shack from the meter socket and it has to be inspected (Burnett Co., Wisc.)

TIA

Mike

[IFallsRon]

Do an internet search, there's plenty of sources. You can pick up a pamphlet at Fleet, too, that has as much information as you need to know.

You can pull the wires yourself and get everything in position. Your inspector will have to approve every step of the way. If it's rural, you could have a tough time connecting.

[18 inch Crappie]

Find someone to do it on the side and save some green. But you want it done right because a cabin fire just before deer hunting can make a guy cry.....

[JohnMickish]

Just remember the consequenses of it being done wrong. It usually ends up with either the place burned down or somebody dead, or both. The side job route is the way to go, but at least have an electrician do it.

[slotlimit]

Just hire an electrician to put in the panel and get power to it. Get a code sheet from home depot or menards and you shouldn't have any problems.

[Barony]

Menards has a great book that is about 50 pages and explains how to wire almost any basic situation. It's about $5. It has a blue cover and it was in the elec. department. It's a good book for someone who doesn't work w/ elec. a lot.

I agree w/ slot to get an electrician to install the panel.

[chunkytrout]

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Just hire an electrician to put in the panel and get power to it. The rest a monkey could do.

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Actually Slot I'd appreciate it if I wasn't compared to a monkey. There's much involved and we're talking really the only trade that could kill somebody. Leaky roof, you get wet. Bad plumbing, the drain doesn't work. Bad electrical, somebody could get killed. I agree with my fellow sparky. Side job but make sure an electrician does it and get it inspected.

[JohnMickish]

Well put Chunky. I really didn't care for that monkey thing either. Come to think of it I have yet to see a monkey bend concentric sweeps in 4" rigid, know how to check rotation on 480V UPS systems, or be able to land 600 red wires in a PLC cabinet. I have found them to to think they know more than to do however.

[sparcebag]

I took it as refering to pullin wire.the monkey thing.but ya know even a caveman can do it

[harvey lee]

We had the race shop rewired and had an electrician do it. We could probably have done it ourselves but as mentioned above, we didnt want a fire and then find out that it was not up to code and the insurance wouldn't pay.

Better to bite the bullet and have it wired by a pro and then inspected unless you really know what you are doing.

We hired a dude that wires for a living and had him do the evening and weekend type work for about half the regular fee.

[sparkyaber]

Any residential sparky could wire a small simple house in a day, not weeks or months that it would take a weekend warrior. Also it will be done correctly with provision for the future. Just remember, just because the light turns on, doesn't mean that it's done right.

[iffy]

Sparcebag: How did you take Slots remark that way? As referring to pulling wire? Heck, I've seen a lot of very intelligent homeowners, doctors and lawyers for instance, who wouldn't know enough to leave slack in wires, or even what gauge wire to use for a circuit. Never assume someone can handle it. That monkey remark was wayyyy off base.

[slotlimit]

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[slotlimit]

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[chunkytrout]

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You don't want to be compared to a monkey fine. I'll compare you to a criminal.

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Thanks Slot! You have a nice day too.

[chunkytrout]

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I'm sorry electricians but if someone wanted to take the 5 minutes to read on how to put in an outlet, fixture, light switch you just might be out of a job.

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Oh yeah, and lets not forget the 4000 hours of apprenticeship, required CE classes, knowledge of the 1000+ page NEC, the tools, the license, and all the math involved.

[slotlimit]

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We hired a dude that wires for a living and had him do the evening and weekend type work for about half the regular fee.

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Was this Dude a master electrician, with his own insurance. A journeyman or a master electrician can't by law do work anything without having his own insurance or pulling a permit through the company he works for.

[harvey lee]

Yes he was a Master Electrician.

[slotlimit]

With his own insurance? If so maybe you would like to give the poster of this thread the name and information so he can give him/her a call. Unless it's a buddy I think it would be pretty hard to find a Master Electrician, with all the money spent on schooling/equipment/insurance/etc to do a side job for half the pay.

[slotlimit]

MNmikew:

I strongly urge you to do this yourself. I know you can do it. But if you do decide to hire it done as a "Side Job". Be standing right there and learning everything. By law if the electrician doing this job has to be a master electrician with his own insurance or a journeyman/master pulling a permit through the company he is working for. If the electrician doesn't fall into one of these requirments you will have to say you did all the work yourself. The inspecter WILL be asking you questions trying to trip you up to make sure you actually did the work yourself. If he does trip you up he will not pass your hunting shack. Then if you ever want electricity you will have to give up the name of the person who did the work and hire a company (probably the sticker shock one) to do the work. The electrician who took the "side job" will be out of a job.

P.S. An elecrician can't even be on site looking over your shoulder telling you what to do and then you doing the work yourself. This is unless they are a master electrician with thier own insurance.

[harvey lee]

Yes he had insurance and I wouldn't hire someone without.

[lawdog]

Boy slotlimit, I hope you don't need a sparky to come bail you out of a jam anytime soon with that attitude.

Ya a lot of wiring can be done by a person themselves, but that's no reason to insult the electricians and their field. I've done and will do a very small amount of wiring, but whenever its more than minimal, I hire a pro. Even for stuff you can do yourself, there is no reason to insult someone who does it for a living.

Also, if you are going to have an electrician come out and do just the hardest stuff and not let them do the rest, they'll probably charge accordingly and then how far ahead are you???

Good luck on the cabin to the original poster...

[MNmikew]

The guy that did my first estimate was a Master Electrican. I got a couple more contacts for some other local electricans so I hope to get more bids this weekend. I will probably just have someone do this for me and pay the $$$.

[MNmikew]

Thanks for the advice guys! You electricans are a touchy bunch.

[chunkytrout]

Touchy! Who me?

Good luck with your project Mike. Hope it goes well for you.