If you have some home electrical wire running through unfinished areas like basements, they need a stronger outer surface. This includes doorbells , most thermostats , and landscape lighting. If you still have a landline telephone, you have special wiring for it. The same can be said for your internet connection. Both your phone and internet use low-voltage wires.
Your telephone and data cables can contain anywhere from four to eight wires. But the most common type of cable used for this purpose is Category 5, or Cat 5. Cat 5 cables are eight wires that are wrapped together in four pairs.
This is actually the most efficient type of cable for a phone and data transmission. Well not exactly a home electrical wire, wiring channels definitely come in handy with home wiring systems.
Also known as electric channel raceways or plastic channels, these extruded profiles help you protect and organize all of the types of electrical wire in your home. But they can also be used in commercial, medical, and industrial applications. Made in a square, round, flat, rectangular, domed, or completely customized shape, electrical wiring channels have a range of applications.
In your home, you use them to prevent tangling, wire damage, and disorganization. Home electrical wire systems are complicated. But understanding its components can help you diagnose problems, complete repairs, plan for renovations, and keep your wiring up to code.
The first things you need to know about your house electrical wire are the basics. You should know how size relates to amperage, how cable-sheath and wire color coding works, and how to read a cable or wire label. But you should also know the difference between wires and cables and when you use a stranded versus solid wire. These include everything from the NM cables powering your outlets to the UF cables powering your outdoor lamp posts.
But your home may also use AC cable in place of NM, as well as metal-clad cable in unfinished places and low-voltage cable for low-power receptacles. For that, you might need the help of a professional. Post Tags: cable types cabling Electrical electrical equipment electrical inspection electrical issues electrical panel electrical wire home wiring wire types wiring. You can also keep up with all of our news and updates by following us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , LinkedIn , and Pinterest.
Join the Happy Hiller Club and get all the perks of membership: Seasonal tune-ups. Priority scheduling. Skip to content Different Home Wiring Types Explained Old house or new, you should be familiar with the type of wiring you have. The latter tend to be more strict and should be followed closely to avoid errors. The Basics of Home Electrical Wire Before we dive into the types of electrical wire, there are some basic terms, labeling, and coding you should know about.
Cable vs. Most modern homes use nonmetallic NM cable that consists of two or more wires wrapped inside the colored sheathing mentioned previously. The package of wires usually contains one or more hot wires plus a neutral and a ground.
To accommodate wiring in an older home or if your wiring just needs work, you can splice the old wires with new NM cable using a junction box that protects wire connections. The larger circuit wires carry circuit voltage that can be really dangerous to touch.
If you have the confidence and want to tackle a DIY wiring job on your own, you need to be prepared with information and tools. If you have old wiring, you probably have a whole set of issues. There are several other common electrical problems that are not restricted to old wiring:. If you have proper electrical training, you should be able to handle most projects. Have you thought about becoming an electrician? Consider enrolling in electrical construction and planning programs Coyne College Chicago.
You may also want to consider electrical construction and maintenance ECM programs in Chicago. Contact Coyne College for more information. Learn the Basics of Home Electrical Wiring. Understanding electrical wiring. How to electrical wires. The main panel is usually right next to or under the meter. This is the central distribution point for the electrical circuits that run to lights, receptacles, and appliances throughout the house.
A circuit, by definition, is a circular journey that begins and ends at the same place, and this is essentially how electricity works. Current begins at a power source, powers the appliance or device along the circuit, and then returns to the power source. Any interruption in this path will render the circuit dead. A circuit consists of a hot usually black wire that goes from the main panel to a series of lights, receptacles, or appliances, and a neutral usually white wire that returns to the main panel.
This greatly reduces shock risk. Most houses have an earth connection supplied by the electricity supplier. Those that don't generally country houses several miles from the nearest town , use a local earth rod instead.
The supplier's earthing terminal or your own earth rod is connected to the CU earth block. Each electrical circuit in the house takes its earth connection from the CU earthing block.
The 17th and later editions of the wiring regulations impose more frequent requirements to install RCD or RCBO protection than the previous 16th Edition. In general, ANY cable which is buried less than 50mm below a wall's surface AND is NOT mechanically protected, or wired in one of a number of specialised cable types that incorporate an earthed screen must have 30mA trip RCD protection. New installations will have two or more RCDs. Older ones may only have one or none.
RCDs reduce the risks of injury from electric shock they don't eliminate it completely , however they can also introduce reliability and issues of their own if not used in an appropriate way. Historically RCDs were usually only used on some circuits rather than all. With a local earth rod , the situation is different in that all circuits must be RCD protected, since a local earth rod is not usually a sufficiently good earth on its own to clear all earth faults.
So RCDs are used on all circuits even in older installations. This is not an ideal arrangement, as a large earth leakage fault on the non-RCD side will cause complete power failure, and sometimes inability to reset the power. RCBOs allow individual circuits to be protected by their own RCD without any risk that a fault in an unrelated circuit could cause it to trip.
However protecting all circuits like this is more expensive. See 17th Edition Consumer Units for details. If any neutral wire is connected to the wrong side, the RCD will trip. Historically, installations using a supplier earth connection will run some circuits directly off the non RCD side of a CU. These include:. All socket circuits, should have RCD protection since Plug-in are the source of almost all electrocutions.
Modern installations will typically provide additional RCDs so that vulnerable circuits i. Sockets may be wired on ring circuits or radial circuits. Mostly rings are used, as they use less copper for most circuit layouts, they have safety advantages over radial circuits sometimes debated , can provide more power, and cover more floor area per circuit. Sockets are on 32A ring circuits in most house installations.
These use a ring of cable ie a loop , so that at the CU 2 cables are connected to the MCB instead of 1. An unlimited number of sockets may be connected on each ring. One ring circuit per floor is a fairly common arrangement, but by no means the only option. Larger houses generally have more rings. Its also common to have a ring dedicated just for sockets in the kitchen since that is where you will find many of the highest power consuming appliances in a modern house.
Spurs are permitted, but sockets should be included in the ring rather than spurred wherever practical.
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