Talked with a retired electrician last weekend at Home Depot

He saw me grabbing Romex and asked what my project was. I said running a new circuit for a workshop. He told me he's seen too many diyers undersize their wire. Said he got a call 10 years ago from a guy in Portland whose 14-gauge wire melted inside a wall. Made me rethink my whole plan. I swapped to 12-gauge after that conversation. Anyone else get project advice from strangers that made you change course?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_barnes372d ago

That retired electrician story reminds me of helping my buddy wire his basement last year. He had this old spool of 14-gauge he wanted to use for a few outlets and I told him the same thing, just swap it out. Then he found out his dad had the exact same conversation with a guy at a hardware store back in the 90s about undersizing wire for a garage. Three generations of dads getting scared straight by strangers in orange aprons.

faith_lopez482d ago

What's wild is how nobody talks about how that old wire might not even be copper anymore. Some of that vintage stuff had aluminum mixed in and you'd never know until it started a fire.