ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Residental homerun

I could do my name in cursave EMT. Being at $3 a stick I don't want to waist it now. We average a foot of pipe for every SF of custom house. Thats with tall cielings and too many tings in your way for an easy run. If you can't do about 300' a day in the upstairs including drilling and hanging lights and boxes than your not pulling your weight. A great piper will do about 450' a day. Thats with better than average quality.

Some shops go low quality and much more pipe. You wont find 1 made offset in one of those houses. Nothing is pariell or strait. They will conect 1 side of the stick, nail it down, then start bending the other end where it needs to go by hand.

Homeruns we NEVER put it in an unfinished attic. If you can make it in 360 a walk in closet light works well. I like it when the HR pipe points down from the cieling. It nicer to pull. Otherwise an outlet. We try to use 1900 extensions. If it makes the job easier (putting the wires in the box) then the $0.75 extension is worth it. If a worker costing $30 an hour that is $0.50 a minuite. Plus your guy is not frustrated from trying to cram all the wires in the box. We also try to use deeper boxes for switches so you can put in dimmers latter with less struggle.

Tom


Tom

I tend to take a different design direction.

I figure a 20amp 12g circuit is limited to about 75', breaker to last device, by voltage drop considerations. That is not much more than around a good sized room.

I put in lots of 50amp subpanels. Most manufacturers have nice panels that holds 8 half sized breakers. They are small enough to be covered by a picture or mirror. 8 breakers are enough for 600-800 sqft.

My main only feeds the subpanels and 220v loads. No need for it to be large.

Tom states the trade well for the Chicagoland area. There is so much new home construction going on that the builders electrician moves from one house to the next, often with the same floor plan. After a few of them it gets like factory work and they crank it out. Unfortunately, like factory work, the work is rated and you better make rate.

I'm doing commercial condominiums that are getting fairly routine after two services (4 X 200-amp 3PH) and ten units. Like factory work, you tend to look for new tools, or new methods that will save you a little time.

In this area many of the homes are duplexes, and if the community doesn't require EMT for single family dwellings, they will require it for duplexes.

Dave

George,
[qoute]They are small enough to be covered by a picture or mirror.[/quote]
What about 110.26?
Don

I did some work in Joliet I am from Va. if I had known that the conduit is the norm in residential I would have loved to seen these artists in action I am just blown away by this.