Post

dobisan
@dobisan.cc

So I in the left column you push the braker to the left to turn off but in the right column the off state is right? Or in the right column all the breakers are turned off? Or is it the opposite? /o\

Varun Nangia
@vnangia.bsky.social

As a fellow owner of an old-house, I recommend just abandoning hope and having an electrician run new ✨upgraded✨ wiring. Bonus: old wires were not 15A rated and had charring so y’know, less fire risk too.

Neil Turner
@neilturner.me.uk

We bought a house that had been rewired around 2010, and nope, still the same problem. It used be that our fuse box was in a cellar accessed by climbing through a small door under the sink, and there was no phone reception down there...

Varun Nangia
@vnangia.bsky.social

In fairness, when we Yanks say “old house,” we might mean built during the interwar years, but when you Brits say “old house,” it might predate the States, so completely understandable it’s a bit more complex!

Barbara Roseman
@broseman.bsky.social

When we had solar installed we added backup battery to support 75-80% of the house. They had to add a whole new panel for just the parts it covered and move things around. It’s a revelation to know what most of your circuits control.

Brett Bobley
@brettbobley.bsky.social

For years, I had a question mark next to breaker 18. Couldn't find the circuit. Last week, I had a contractor demo my bathroom and there it was hidden under the floor: a 20 amp outlet I'd never seen before. Breaker 18.

Anil Dash
@anildash.com

We have three breakers which do no discernible thing, and one whole room which I think it’s impossible to shut off with a breaker. Can’t tell which is more terrifying.

Darrel “Carnivorous” Plant
@darrelplant.bsky.social

When we renovated our 120-year-old house back in the oughts (after living here for a dozen years), we found a live knob-and-tube wire to nowhere. It’s so old, when they had a fire, the insulators on the edges were covered in soot, but they’d replaced them where there was the most damage.

SJ Kurtz
@erniekdesigns.bsky.social

Our 1907 knob and tube was in great shape in 1996. Grateful that in the previous remodel in the 70s, no one added aluminum wiring. They just disconnected and boxed in the lead trap below the first floor toilet.

Richard Martin
@zomby2d.bsky.social

I had to make a chart of what breaker controls what. I got a bunch of weird combo like bathroom light + office west wall outlet + bedroom east wall outlet, or basement lights + driveway light + TV outlet

Sleeplessone
@sleeplessone.com

I wish I had a weird layout like that. Our townhome apartment is upstairs, downstairs + garage, kitchen. This unfortunately means we couldn't run an AC at the same time we were using our computers as it would blow the circuit.

Ray Radlein
@radlein.bsky.social

The GFCI in our downstairs powder room inexplicably also controls the outlet two floors up in our attic that has our main network backbone switch plugged in to it. Like, plug in one of those heated scent diffusers for the bathroom and suddenly half our house network goes offline

Chaotic Brain Person
@chaoticbrainperson.bsky.social

Which once again raises my question: What would actually happen if you turn off gravity? Would the earth fall apart? Or are the other forces strong enough to Keep it together? What would happen to the air/us/planetary systems? What if we turn it back on after an hour or so?

Nealer 🇨🇦
@acanuck.itch.io

A switch to turn off social media sounds pretty good Set up two wifi routers, one of which blocks ALL social media sites, and the other is only turned on for two hours every day

Davy Pottel
@drpottel.bsky.social

We live in a 150 year old house. Just got the panel replaced as part of a kitchen renno. The number of breakers that have ‘?’ as the label, written by a professional electrician, is unconscionable.

Roy Batty 🎃-post 🤖
@nuclearbob.net

Once had a house from 1890 with the whole history of wiring in it. All the 3-prong outlets in the house seemed to be on the same circuit, so if I was running the bedroom air conditioner and my office computer (both on the second floor) and turned on the microwave in the kitchen: down they all go.

Oh, the Inanity
@jmcrowell.bsky.social

We have one like this: why are the upstairs bathroom outlets on the same circuit as the microwave? Just because they share an adjoining wall? Countless trips down to reset the breaker because someone was drying their hair while the microwave is in use.

Demonac
@demonac.bsky.social

This is pretty close to my circuit box, if you replace the Thermodynamics off-switch with "The other half of the house, but not a geographical half so much as 50% of all fixtures/outlets distributed at random throughout"

Demonac
@demonac.bsky.social

It's probably common enough in old-assed houses like this; one circuit is "the whole house" from the early days, and it was all on one circuit. Then later tiny house gets an addition, then decades after that the power gets redone, adding more outlets/fixtures circuits every time until you get a mess

Bouba's Delivery Service
@fernmonkey.bsky.social

Well, now I understand what's going on with the wiring in our prewar Dutch house. We have this electrician called Wim who's semi-retired but keeps us on the books because whenever we call him out, he always finds something interesting.

Jason
@hashrocket.bsky.social

A house I moved into one time had a breaker box with no labels. Twenty switches that did “something” and you just had to guess. Over the course of a couple of years I gradually got them labeled and then I moved out. You’re welcome random stranger who moved in after me.