The Adventures of Building a House
as narrated by
Doug Perkins
11 July 2012
While Chree attended
to another week’s worth of filthy clothes, I finished digging the trench for
the low voltage wire run from the electric panel to the start of the wooden
walkway.Both of those chores took all
morning.After lunch we salvaged the
switch for the dock light and the “weather-tight” junction box from down at the
dock.Turns out that junction box
weren’t as weather-tight as advertized, as it and the switch were quite corroded.Fortunately, there was another weather-tight
junction box with a GFI receptacle on the same post.That box was in okay shape, so I dead-shorted
the wires that energized the receptacle and liberated the box.We’d already determined that the dock
receptacles were fed by circuit breaker #27 in Kate & Dan’s electrical
panel… and that nothing else was connected to that breaker.(A dead-short is created when you twist the
hot, common, and ground wires together, so if someone turns on the breaker for
that circuit, it will immediately trip due to the dead-short, i.e., that line
can never be energized inadvertently.)Unfortunately,
there are other receptacles and a garbage disposal connected to the circuit
(breaker #17) that energized the dock light, so those lines were just capped in
place, pending further machinations of an electrical nature.After raiding the dock for things electrical,
Chree and I installed ½″ PVC conduit from our electrical panel to the head of
the walkway, feeding 12-2 low voltage wire through the plastic pipe as we
went.I elected NOT to glue the conduit
joints, as we may have to pull that run out and reroute it when we build the
house.While Chree back-filled the
trench, I hooked up the 120v / 12v transformer, a new on/off switch in the
salvaged weather-tight junction box, and the first low voltage light.Chree did the honors and threw the switch for
the first time… and the light did NOT come on!Bother!!!!(…and why are you not
surprised????)Chree insisted
that I check the bulb before tearing anything apart.Smart lady!Ending the day on a positive note (for a change!) we moved on to a Porterhouse
steak on the campfire accompanied by garlic mashed and a LARGE G&T… which
certainly hit the spot!With all the
quinine I’ve been drinking lately, I should be well and truly immune to malaria
by now.
.JPG)
While Chree attended
to another week’s worth of filthy clothes, I finished digging the trench for
the low voltage wire run from the electric panel to the start of the wooden
walkway. Both of those chores took all
morning. After lunch we salvaged the
switch for the dock light and the “weather-tight” junction box from down at the
dock. Turns out that junction box
weren’t as weather-tight as advertized, as it and the switch were quite corroded. Fortunately, there was another weather-tight
junction box with a GFI receptacle on the same post. That box was in okay shape, so I dead-shorted
the wires that energized the receptacle and liberated the box. We’d already determined that the dock
receptacles were fed by circuit breaker #27 in Kate & Dan’s electrical
panel… and that nothing else was connected to that breaker. (A dead-short is created when you twist the
hot, common, and ground wires together, so if someone turns on the breaker for
that circuit, it will immediately trip due to the dead-short, i.e., that line
can never be energized inadvertently.) Unfortunately,
there are other receptacles and a garbage disposal connected to the circuit
(breaker #17) that energized the dock light, so those lines were just capped in
place, pending further machinations of an electrical nature. After raiding the dock for things electrical,
Chree and I installed ½″ PVC conduit from our electrical panel to the head of
the walkway, feeding 12-2 low voltage wire through the plastic pipe as we
went. I elected NOT to glue the conduit
joints, as we may have to pull that run out and reroute it when we build the
house. While Chree back-filled the
trench, I hooked up the 120v / 12v transformer, a new on/off switch in the
salvaged weather-tight junction box, and the first low voltage light. Chree did the honors and threw the switch for
the first time… and the light did NOT come on!
Bother!!!! (…and why are you not
surprised????) Chree insisted
that I check the bulb before tearing anything apart. Smart lady!
Ending the day on a positive note (for a change!) we moved on to a Porterhouse
steak on the campfire accompanied by garlic mashed and a LARGE G&T… which
certainly hit the spot! With all the
quinine I’ve been drinking lately, I should be well and truly immune to malaria
by now.
