How To Install a New Basement Circuit | Ask This Old House

[@Mr-Chris]

I would like to see a video that shows breaking down several rooms that are all tied into an overloaded breaker. Mapping out the circuit, breaking and capping off the daisy chain in strategic areas, adding a new breaker, running/fishing new wire to those rooms. Example I had 4 bedrooms all tied into one 15 amp breaker. An electrician came in and broke down each room to run on their own dedicated 15 amp. He added 3 new breakers, fished wires from the breaker box all the way through either the attic or from below to strategic areas. I thought it was cool, but wish I could have seen how it was done.

[@Greenredfield]

Not that difficult, just labor intensive. Running new wire the most challenging part.

[@DordiHOTS]

that's not a very common issue, it would never pass code in the first place, 4 rooms all tied to one 15 amp breaker? lol

[@jsiebs]

@@DordiHOTSYou’d be surprised. Not uncommon in older homes.

[@OGCJ10]

How much did you pay for something like that?

[@justtisha]

Agreed!!

[@Lawman212]

My god, what a clean basement.

[@stevepettersen3283]

Everything on TOH/ATOH is unbelievably clean. Who wants to be embarrassed on national TV? The houses under construction you would rarely see that IRL.

[@vapeurdepisse]

Some of us like a clean basement...

[@Bremend]

​@vapeurdepisse well then what's the basement for?

[@danielmcardle3476]

I like this electrician. Best of all, he does not ask for payment!

[@JohnC-fx4ue]

He asks the women for a different form of payment, but maybe not this one,

[@somewhatboxes]

maybe the single most impressive part of this video is the how heath successfully ignores all the other random stuff that people here got fixated on, and actually focused on fixing the problem the homeowner asked for help with in the first place.

[@natersalad889]

Im so glad our kitchen has 3x 20 amp outlets on the backsplash of the kitchen, and theyre all on their own circuits. Our last house has this similiar problem of running our coffee maker would trip the gfci if a space heater was plugged in the kitchen wall outlet too and running

[@patty109109]

You run a space heater in the kitchen

[@biglewdog411]

Our pellet stove is on the kitchen circut with wayy too many outlets. Had to run an extension cord to the office circuit for a temporary fix.

[@cheeseisgreat24]

I’ve done this myself so many times in my old home, I’ve run probably 6-7 brand new circuits and re-run several of the old ones to update the wiring so I can stop having breakers trip. I still have several more to do, because the person who sold us the home had it updated to be **just barely** code-compliant, but I didn’t make it a sticking point on the sale because I knew I could update them all myself, and then I could have them be how I wanted them to be.

[@Bremend]

My house had a mix of 2 wire duplex outlets instead of outlets with a ground, but the house was sold as is. There were ground wires in each of the boxes. I don't know why they didn't just use duplex with ground outlets, but it was easy to fix...

[@ja8898]

I would have liked to see the additional circuit breaker added and wiring up the breaker in the box too.

[@robertbamford8266]

Ditto. That was a “Wait! What?” moment. It is what I have the least confidence in my ability to avoid disaster.

[@davidmatke248]

They never show the good stuff...

[@hathawaydj1]

There's quite a few good videos out there that show this...

[@ja8898]

@hathawaydj1 yeah, I've replaced my whole panel. But the video is called how to install a new circuit, and the breaker is part of that circuit.

[@hathawaydj1]

@@ja8898 true enough

[@peter-hr1gl]

shows how easy it is IF you have panel access and access to route wires effectively. If you have an external panel and require conduit running up a wall and then into an attic in order to put in a new circuit, it's a total PIA and cluster (often requiring an electrician or possibly a permit depending on locality). Loved a former home where I could do this myself, but no more.

[@javiergalvan2604]

Another great video guys 🎉😊

[@mitchcohn1800]

Love this channel 👍

[@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440]

The plug tester can’t trip the Gfci if theirs no ground as it puts hot to ground!

[@csimet]

0:05... I spit my coffee out. No way the cage is unlocked in the wire isle these days with the cost of copper. It takes 30 minutes to find someone who has the key.

[@DoEverythingDerek]

I must live in a good area they don’t lock up anything lol

[@jackmyhre8759]

I noticed that to. And at Lowe’s I noticed that the combination on the locks is just the store number which can be found on the website or some ads in the store. If no one’s around I just unlock the cage grab my romex and checkout. Same for the whole wire you can buy by the foot. The machines passcode is also the store number. Saves me a LOT of time instead of having to find someone.

[@jimb8601]

Let’s montage past the technical and most useful stuff people should see.

[@SallowDawn]

Same thing I thought. This video is useless

[@owenmercer5443]

That is the best lit basement I have ever seen'

[@semlohde1]

Why can't I find an electrician who will find this stuff out and tell me!! This is a fun video, and informative. I just found my attic fan is dead, I want to add a on/off switch to it instead of just it's thermostat. Oh I do not like electricity, I always screw up and it bites me. I swear, oh yes I do, I put a meter on the wires and showed no juice. I unwound some electrical tape, touched something and it all but blew me off the ladder. Enjoyed your video..

[@tonymanero5544]

Did you determine which circuit was fan was connected or plugged in to?, and then turned off the circuit. You avoided getting killed. It was that dangerous.

[@JeronimoStilton14]

You need a non-contact voltage tester, don't do meter testing for voltage, and ensure your circuit is actually off. If you have something else on the branch, plug a small light or a radio into it, so you can hear and or see it turn off, then sniff it out with the non contact, the guy above is correct you could have died.

[@gilbertramirez4294]

How do you replace the LED if it goes out? it's not like a light bulb replacement. Do i have to buy a whole new unit?

[@josephgdraper]

Did I miss a step where you added GFIC to the kitchen outlets?

[@iuyozx]

He undid a Clark Griswold wire job.

[@dgre334]

In our area, the sump pump must be on a dedicated circuit. In appears the dehumidifier is going to continue to share this new circuit

[@tycox8704]

A dehumidifier isn’t an essential appliance like a sump pump. An inactive sump pump could allow flooding. An inactive dehumidifier would only allow the air to be muggy.

[@dgre334]

@@tycox8704 I agree completely. I was only commenting that our code calls out a dedicated circuit for a sump pump to avoid any overload due to sharing with any other device.

[@JohnnySmoove]

OMG THANK YOU FOR A NEW UPLOAD

[@carlosaranda7749]

Doing any residential electrical work is easy but much codes to follow

[@jrpritchard1622]

hey heath what brand of torque screwdriver did ya uses on the breaker install where can one them

[@stenbak88]

Electricians always want to tell the customer where things should go rather than making the power work the way the homeowner needs

[@walterulasinksi7031]

With all due respect, I would have also separated all the outlets and the lighting circuit into individual circuits, thus forever creating a safe situation as people forget and can still place a heavy draw appliance creating an overload on the original circuitry.

[@jackspencer8290]

This video makes me appreciate living in an area where the code requires wire-in-conduit instead of nm cable. Much safer and more robust.

[@Egleu1]

He put the circuit in conduit.

[@jackspencer8290]

@@Egleu1 I’m talking about fastening nm cable to a board vs. running wire inside a conduit (ems raceway to be technical about it). I’ll take the latter.

[@Egleu1]

@@jackspencer8290 if you're going to get technical at least use the right term. It's EMT not ems.

[@jackspencer8290]

@@Egleu1 Yes, sir!

[@Egleu1]

@@jackspencer8290 don't flatter yourself.

[@ntsecrets]

Assuming he used a gfci or afci breaker - didn’t mention how he addressed that.

[@rupe53]

at roughly 6:10 you can see a new breaker with the reset / trip button.

[@ncooty]

Indeed, everything is easier when you can access and run everything through a basement.

[@nighthawkj30A4]

The Old house i used to live it was like this except it was a dryer. Would stop working.

[@adamortega3620]

I would put a 90° turn on the top of the conduit. Put a threaded conduit connector, threaded coupling and an nm connector. I would strip the nm cable after the connector and run it bare down the conduit.

[@Egleu1]

why?

[@adamortega3620]

@@Egleu1 to avoid running wire with any type of sheathing in conduit.

[@morlamweb]

@@adamortega3620 code allows for short runs of NM cable in a conduit. why go through all of that extra work and expense for nothing?

[@bnasty267]

You can't strip NM and use the individual conductors without the jacket like that. Now, we all know those are just solid THHN wires inside NM, but they aren't labeled for that use, thus it's against code. Just leave it in the outer jacket - the few feet you're allowed to run cable in a conduit like this isn't going to be a problem for heat/fill.

[@TR-ut3yh]

Code states that the NM jacket shall extend into the box all the way through the conduit

[@eddysecco166]

When plugging a cord into a socket, why is it necessary to wear eye protection?

[@rupe53]

It's not, but he started off drilling into concrete... and working overhead where dust can fall from the old joists.

[@billyfran1]

Not enough info on electrical box changes. Otherwise !

[@kalijasin]

Its being overloaded. Toaster oven and dehumidifier should be on their own separate circuits.

[@michaeljavert4635]

I saw this on PBS. So first thing... It doesn't matter if there is a GFCI or not. With no ground in the 2 conductor asbestos (silver) coated wire, there is no ground protection, so even if a GFCI was present, if not grounded, it would not work with that tester. Second thing I noticed is you drilled holes in her stones. It would have been better to go into the wood part under the stairs. Also, in a basement, a GFCI should be used per NEC. I didn't see that the breakers are GF or AF CI so I was confused by that. It also appeared from what could be observed that there wasn't a GFCI present on any of the kitchen outlets either. Per NEC GFCIS are required in kitchens, bathrooms, basements, garages, porches, outdoors, and wet areas. Only a refrigerator, at least in my area are permitted to not have a GFCI.

[@alexknight7191]

If you look at 6:10, you can see the reset button on the breaker. So it is either GFCI or AFCI. As for a GFCI outlet on old, ungrounded wire, I thought you could add a one as a stopgap on an ungrounded run, so long as you put the "No equipment ground" sticker on it.

[@rupe53]

@@alexknight7191 ... right, you can install a GFCI on a 2 wire, but that tester won't trip it.

[@michaeljavert4635]

@@alexknight7191 You can satisfy code with a "NO Ground" sticker on a GFCI outlet in most places, but it also looks like he did a new home run with 12 / 2 with ground. So in that case, no sticker would be needed but still GFCI must be used. I didn't see a button but since he seems like a good electrician I'll take your word for it. Just wish they made that more clear in the episode. While my eyes fail on the small details I catch the glaring ones.

[@dtaposse8858]

U gotta link to the bender

[@mwkp38]

Rather than shifting the coffee machine, and putting it where the customer doesn’t want it, I’d prefer to see the two sockets swapped in the joint boxes below?

[@johnsmith-sw7ii]

Romex inside a metal conduit is illegal!!! Could have run Romex to a junction box and then single wires down to the receptacle box>

[@rupe53]

code allows for short runs of NM in EMT for protection. From the rafters down is considered a short run.

[@teeing9355]

Code says you can run Romex in Conduit, as long as it's not in a damp location (ie underground or outside).

[@moosepasshippie]

NEC 334.15 (B) Cable shall be protected from physical damage where necessary by rigid metal conduit, intermediate metal conduit, electrical metallic tubing, Schedule 80 PVC conduit, RTRC marked with the suffix -XW, or other approved means. Where passing through a floor, the cable shall be enclosed in rigid metal conduit, intermediate metal conduit, electrical metallic tubing, Schedule 80 PVC conduit, RTRC marked with the suffix -XW, or other approved means extending at least 6 inches above the floor. Conduit or tubing shall be provided with a bushing or adapter that provides protection from abrasion at the point the cable enters and exits the raceway.

[@hugoramirez4740]

That was an easy one ahh.

[@mikehouser5430]

Plenty of Room in that box panel

[@mikemacdonald2032]

Funny how this same guy just used a 3' long piece of 1/2" conduit as a sleeve in another video. Cant use nmd in conduit...just run bx if you want protection and be code compliance

[@luke_miller]

When did Brendan Fraser join This Old House? 😂

[@evanallen5377]

Hanging things right on a wire? Well, who would ever.... Me, I've done that

[@michaelbaumgardner2530]

A day in the life of an electrician

[@Christoph-sd3zi]

Who is this guy?

[@ncooty]

That is a suspiciously empty basement. That's the sort of place TOH hosts go missing. Be careful out there, fellas.

[@jej3451]

00:06 It's sad that they had to cover up the prices and open a locked gate before Heath could make a video of buying romex.

[@rupe53]

They must have just moved in (no clutter) and based on fairly new looking kitchen; I'm guessing she bought from a flipper who did everything else on the cheap.

[@tycox8704]

They? Most likely a single female. That would explain why the basement isn’t cluttered, and why she consulted This Old House for a simple electrical problem.

[@rupe53]

@@tycox8704 ... hey, just like in reality TV, some of this is staged in advance to make an acceptable TV show. For all we know, the people are actors and not the owners. BTW, if you are familiar with the original TOH, the home was owned by the producer of the show.

[@liskaerik]

Good video but the description doesn't match what is happening. "In this video, This Old House plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey installs a reserve tank so a homeowner can finally fill their tub with hot water for a relaxing bath."

[@xploration1437]

It was probably in the whole episode.

[@liskaerik]

True :P

[@the_hood_cat_5553]

That looks like asbestos wiring ???

[@ccadama]

For a electrician, I'm surprised that Heath didn't unplug those cords by holding the plugs instead of yanking the cords. Sets bad example.

[@ThatToast]

The only way i ever unplug anything is by pulling the cord, never has hurt anything

[@c0mputer]

@@ThatToast I usually grab the entire appliance, hold onto it and run away from the outlet and yank it all off.

[@HaploBartow]

@@c0mputer I knock the wall down instead so the receptacle box falls away from the appliance, pulling the plug out of the outlet

[@Guardducks]

Johnny 5 over load. Johnny 5 need bigger wire.

[@Its_crazyadamla]

That will be $7,000 😮

[@mattbartolovich8228]

7,000?

[@jackspencer8290]

Lol. True.

[@mattbartolovich8228]

@@jackspencer8290 after I saw it however I realized

[@HaploBartow]

Yeah, because he grabbed a 250ft run of 12-2 wire when a 25ft run would have done fine.

[@ryk3899]

This Old House Theasauraus..... "Allllright" "Sounds great" "Go ahead" "Makes sense" And such n such

[@djamelhamdia134]

That was actually funny!

[@mae2759]

Lol! Don't forget Richard saying "full city water pressure".

[@johnstraley9057]

"Sounds good"

[@jackmyhre8759]

@@mae2759and “Self sealing membrane” - Tommy.

[@jongreen9250]

That's amazing, he didn't have to wait around for an hour to have the cage unlocked to get the wire.

[@seabass3104]

No one lives in that old house…..

[@SomeDudeQC]

They got married

[@danielvenkat6267]

Literally doesn’t show how anything is done at all. And he didn’t even give her a double gang outlet. I’d say this is a subpar job.

[@saeedsobhani1981]

After all years of studying complex circuits analysis, complex mathematics and physics, all the electricians has to do is running some wires in the walls and make some connections? I never fully understood school 😮

[@ianbutler1983]

You think people learning the electrical trade are doing complex mathematics and physics? They are not. They have no need of those things.

[@adamortega3620]

Complex math and physics in school is for electrical engineers. Electricians learn basic math and physics.

[@inthedarkwoods2022]

She needed them safety glasses to unplug that extension cord.

[@william.shilling2969]

you hack you didn't ground the box properly with the required green ground screw but wrapped the ground around the Topcon screw. this old hack house. hacks tape devices

[@CornThaddieusThy3rd]

bro shes just asking for her house to burn down. Thank goodness for circuit breakers.

[@Jacobwashere77]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@eyehear10]

Happy to see you wrap the receptacle with electrical tape. Now make a video convincing these curmudgeons

[@eyehear10]

@@Kevin-mp5of so you’d fire Heath

[@jamedlock83]

Anyone know if this woman is single? She's absolutely gorgeous!

[@Greenredfield]

He did a fine job helping her. But I feel bad this lady doesn't have a husband who can take care of this for her. Either by identifying and solving the issue, or dealing with contractors. You can see she really had no idea. Also, maybe go above and beyond and install a second basement outlet on that same fresh circuit on another wall.

[@xploration1437]

Meow

[@xploration1437]

@@Kevin-mp5of 🐈💨