Posted: 6/24/2014 12:57:35 PM EDT
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We are building a new house, and I will need to add a new outlet for the jackshaft garage door opener. I want to make sure I don't electrocute myself. My understanding is that I can flip the main breaker on the panel, fish the 12/2 romex through the top where all the other wires are and pull a little extra out. Then run it over to near where I need it. Go down, cut the whole for the old work box and install it, stick my fish stick/pole up through the hole and into the attic space, cut my wire to length and attach it and pull it back down into the box. Install the gfci receptacle, put the face plate on. Then go back to the panel and strip the wires and hook them up as needed, using my new 20 amp breaker. Here's where I want to make sure I'm safe, I can hook up to the neutral bar and all that since the main breaker is flipped, right? The only shock hazard is touching the main lugs at the top, where they attach to the main breaker.
I have a good clamp meter and everything, so I should be able to make sure I'm doing this safely. I want to do it on it's own circuit because I may add soffit outlets or something like that later for xmas lights or something. I may for simplicity's sake just go off of the existing ceiling outlet, it's probably only 10-15 feet from where I need this outlet to be. If I do that, screw the soffit outlet idea  .
Here's a pic of the panel. 
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Yep. But be warned, those main lugs can be mighty pesky when fishing into the box.They also like to reach out and grab your arm when you are terminating to the neutral. ETA: Also looks like somebody forgot to put the bushing on your male adapter that the service feeds through. ETA2: Since I have already started my own little game of "spot the violation", I will also mention that I see a white that is being used for a hot, but has not been reidentified for use as an ungrounded conductor. You might as well take care of that while you are there. |
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Those two lugs at the top will still be hot with the main off.
I wouldn't shut the main off and most professionals wouldn't either. It would be fine to go off the ceiling box if that is the only thing on the circuit. I assume it is a Liftmaster and they don't really draw that much current. The light will still be plugged into the ceiling box. Only the lugs down the center where the breakers plug in are hot. They will be cold with the main off. The neutral and ground lugs will be at zero or ground potential, regardless of the main switch position. You sure have a lot of empty positions. Mine is completely full and I had to add a sub panel.
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Quoted:
Yep. But be warned, those main lugs can be mighty pesky when fishing into the box.They also like to reach out and grab your arm when you are terminating to the neutral. ETA: Also looks like somebody forgot to put the bushing on your male adapter that the service feeds through. ETA2: Since I have already started my own little game of "spot the violation", I will also mention that I see a white that is being used for a hot, but has not been reidentified for use as an ungrounded conductor. You might as well take care of that while you are there. Quoted:
Yep. But be warned, those main lugs can be mighty pesky when fishing into the box.They also like to reach out and grab your arm when you are terminating to the neutral. ETA: Also looks like somebody forgot to put the bushing on your male adapter that the service feeds through. ETA2: Since I have already started my own little game of "spot the violation", I will also mention that I see a white that is being used for a hot, but has not been reidentified for use as an ungrounded conductor. You might as well take care of that while you are there. Thanks for the heads up on the bushing. It MAY be there now, I don't know...I took this right after it was installed and possibly before it was inspected. I will check it for sure. You might notice, I also got a free fork, so it was pretty rough at that point! As for the white being used as a hot, are you talking about the top right breaker? |
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Quoted:
Those two lugs at the top will still be hot with the main off. I wouldn't shut the main off and most professionals wouldn't either. It would be fine to go off the ceiling box if that is the only thing on the circuit. I assume it is a Liftmaster and they don't really draw that much current. The light will still be plugged into the ceiling box. Only the lugs down the center where the breakers plug in are hot. They will be cold with the main off. The neutral and ground lugs will be at zero or ground potential, regardless of the main switch position. You sure have a lot of empty positions. Mine is completely full and I had to add a sub panel. Good to know that I'll be pretty safe without touching the main lugs. You are right, liftmaster 8500. I made a lot of work for myself to have a clean ceiling  . I think it'll be great though.
It's nice to have the extra space, I want to put some 220 outlets in the garage, so I'm getting my feet wet and learning with this simple garage door deal. |
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NathanJK Electrical Contractor. Email Bridgeport CS and request a free sample for product evaluation. They've always mailed me product samples by request
Catalog Page Contact Us 
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NathanJK Electrical Contractor. Email Bridgeport CS and request a free sample for product evaluation. They've always mailed me product samples by request Catalog Page Contact Us http://www.electricalnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Bridgeport-1.jpg Sweet, that's exactly what I need!! I ended up having to splice into an existing outlet. Getting a fish stick through that double top plate was impossible. They sealed it all with foam stuff, and you can NOT punch through that crap easily. I could have drilled a new hole maybe with a flex bit (maybe not though....it's pretty tight down there where they roof comes down to the soffit). I didn't want to spend ANOTHER 50 bucks to find out if that would work or not. The project is all done, so I am happy! Our neighbor showed me how he did his extra garage outlets, he went out the bottom of his box. If I add anymore, I'll do the same and just run conduit on the surface. I'm going to turn the 3rd car section into a small workshop, so that would be perfect for the 2 220 outlets, and several 20a 110 outlets I want. |