stupid electrical apartment wiring and air conditioners

[snoopy369]

Finland

MtG, thanks, I may consider that. It's entirely safe to do myself (as in no fire hazard)? It is separately metered, don't recall if I have an individual whole-apartment lever or not but I think I do; it's Chicago so most everything is quite up to (whatever code is in place during construction), even if they ignore any additional developments Unions are good for that usually

If I don't feel like messing with it myself though it sounds like an electrician could do it reasonably easily. My breaker box actually has a ton of room in it - only 3 circuit breakers (each pretty short) but room for like 10 others, so if there are plenty of wires there I'm sure you could add plenty of breakers. Perhaps I will investigate my landlord's willingness to fix this and/or to let me get an electrician to fix it. Another thing there're plenty of in Chicago is electricians

Thanks!!!

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Asher
Gee, I wonder why electronics in the desert may fail.

They're actually in side building. Also the power was good since it came from American generators instead of the local stuff. The Samsungs just didn't seem up to the challenge of being kept running at full blast for very long without icing up or cutting out for one reason or another.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Finland

MtG, thanks, I may consider that. It's entirely safe to do myself (as in no fire hazard)? It is separately metered, don't recall if I have an individual whole-apartment lever or not but I think I do; it's Chicago so most everything is quite up to (whatever code is in place during construction), even if they ignore any additional developments Unions are good for that usually

If I don't feel like messing with it myself though it sounds like an electrician could do it reasonably easily. My breaker box actually has a ton of room in it - only 3 circuit breakers (each pretty short) but room for like 10 others, so if there are plenty of wires there I'm sure you could add plenty of breakers. Perhaps I will investigate my landlord's willingness to fix this and/or to let me get an electrician to fix it. Another thing there're plenty of in Chicago is electricians

Thanks!!!

If we never hear from you again, we will assume that this experiment of yours killed you.

[snoopy369]

Hopefully my landlord doesn't kill me

[MrFun]

hee, hee

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Finland

MtG, thanks, I may consider that. It's entirely safe to do myself (as in no fire hazard)? It is separately metered, don't recall if I have an individual whole-apartment lever or not but I think I do; it's Chicago so most everything is quite up to (whatever code is in place during construction), even if they ignore any additional developments Unions are good for that usually

There's no fire hazard, just the remote possibility of frying yourself (not likely, even if you get juiced) if you don't turn the master off. I've had to work on hot 480 volt systems (checking problems with sewer lift stations so you couldn't switch the power off, else the **** would keep on rising ), and it can be done, although you do it very carefully. Not at all recommended when you can turn the juice off. Just pay attention to how things were before and make them the same after, except you've distributed wires from one breaker into two.

The front cover of the breaker box is completly safe to take off. The breaker is a slip on/pry off type, where one end slide onto the neutral bus bar going down the side or center (depending on if you have one row or two of breakers) and the other presses in.

Just turn everything off at the master, have someone hold a flashlight if you don't have enough ambient light, and be careful to separate the wires.

If I don't feel like messing with it myself though it sounds like an electrician could do it reasonably easily. My breaker box actually has a ton of room in it - only 3 circuit breakers (each pretty short) but room for like 10 others, so if there are plenty of wires there I'm sure you could add plenty of breakers. Perhaps I will investigate my landlord's willingness to fix this and/or to let me get an electrician to fix it. Another thing there're plenty of in Chicago is electricians

Thanks!!!

If you've got plenty of spare bays, then pull the cover off first to see if there are multiple leads in each. (I'd be surprised if there weren't) That'll at least confirm that you can solve the problem by adding an additional breaker. If you have empty bays, then it's even cheaper - you just need an extra standard breaker, and they're like 6-8 bucks at your local hardware store.

[rah]

Code in Chicago requires conduit, so if you use an electrician it will be a tad more expensive. If you do it yourself, "code, what code"

[snoopy369]

MtG, I appreciate the advice ... I'm still somewhat hesitant to do it myself since it's not my personally owned property, but I'll see what the landlord says. They have a handyman and if I show them what you mean maybe they'll be okay with it (it's a medium sized apartment management company).

[Thoth]

Originally posted by rah
Code in Chicago requires conduit, so if you use an electrician it will be a tad more expensive. If you do it yourself, "code, what code"

If you do it yourself, and there is a fire, "insurance, what insurance". Get a licensed electrician to do the work. It could save you a lot of grief and liability lawsuits down the road.