The Complete Guide to Wiring

339 Pages·2014·42.76 MB·English

The Complete Guide to
WIRING
Updated 6th Edition
Current with 2014–2017 Electrical Codes
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
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Digital edition: 978-1-61058-987-1
Softcover edition: 978-1-59186-612-1
© 2014 Cool Springs Press Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sixth Edition first published in 2014 by Cool Springs Press, a The complete guide to wiring : current with 2014-2017 electrical
member of the Quayside Publishing Group Inc., 400 First Avenue codes. -- 6th edition.
North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401. First edition published        pages cm
1998 by Cowles Creative Publishing, Inc.  At head of title: Black & Decker.
  Summary: “New 6th edition has been revised and updated to be
All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages fully compliant with the 2014 National Electrical Code. Full-color
for the purposes of review, no part of this publication may be photography and step-by-step information covers all of the most
reproduced without prior written permission from the Publisher. common do-it-yourself home wiring skills and projects, including
installation and repair."-- Provided by publisher.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our   Includes index.
knowledge. All recommendations are made without any guarantee   ISBN 978-1-59186-612-1 (paperback)
on the part of the author or Publisher, who also disclaims any liability  1.  Electric wiring, Interior--Amateurs' manuals. 2.  Dwellings--
incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details. Maintenance and repair--Amateurs' manuals. 3.  Dwellings--Electric
equipment--Amateurs' manuals.  I. Black & Decker Corporation
Cool Springs Press titles are also available at discounts in bulk (Towson, Md.) II. Title: Black & Decker The complete guide to wiring.
quantity for industrial or sales-promotional use. For details write
to Special Sales Manager at Cool Springs Press, 400 First Avenue   TK3284.C65 2014
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about our books, visit us online at www.coolspringspress.com.
                                                            2014000449

Acquisitions Editor: Mark Johanson
Design Manager: Brad Springer
Layout: Laurie Young
Edition Editor: Bruce Barker
Photography: Rau + Barber
Photo Assistance: Adam Esco
Printed in China
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NOTICE TO READERS
For safety, use caution, care, and good judgment when following the procedures described in this book. The publisher
and Black + Decker cannot assume responsibility for any damage to property or injury to persons as a result of misuse
of the information provided.
The techniques shown in this book are general techniques for various applications. In some instances, additional
techniques not shown in this book may be required. Always follow manufacturers’ instructions included with products,
since deviating from the directions may void warranties. The projects in this book vary widely as to skill levels required:
some may not be appropriate for all do-it-yourselfers, and some may require professional help.
Consult your local building department for information on building permits, codes, and other laws as they apply to
your project.
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Contents
The Complete Guide to 181
Wiring 6th Edition
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Working Safely with Wiring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
How Electricity Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
19
Glossary of Electrical Terms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Understanding Electrical Circuits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Grounding & Polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Home Wiring Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Wiring Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Wire, Cable & Conduit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 16 20
Wire & Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
NM Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Conduit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Surface-Mounted Wiring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Boxes & Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 24 27
Electrical Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Installing Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Electrical Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Wall Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
31
Types of Wall Switches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Specialty Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Testing Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Receptacles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Types of Receptacles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
58 98
Receptacle Wiring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
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Contents (Cont.)
1111 46 112203
GFCI Receptacles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Testing Receptacles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Preliminary Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Planning Your Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
112226 114593
Highlights of the National Electrical Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Wiring a Room Addition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Wiring a Kitchen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Circuit Maps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Common Household Circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
116760
Common Wiring Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
GFCI & AFCI Breakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Whole-House Surge Arrestors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Service Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Grounding & Bonding a Wiring System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Subpanels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 117860 118848
120/240-Volt Dryer Receptacles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
120/240-Volt Range Receptacles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Ceilings Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Recessed Ceiling Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Track Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Undercabinet Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 220171 221126
Vanity Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Low-Voltage Cable Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Hard-Wired Smoke & CO Alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Landscape Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Doorbells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
221293 222237
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231 235
227 231 234
Programmable Thermostats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Wireless Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Baseboard Heaters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Wall Heaters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
242
Underfloor Radiant Heat Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 238
Ceiling Fans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Remote-Control Ceiling Fan Retrofit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Bathroom Exhaust Fans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Range Hoods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Backup Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
260
256
Installing a Transfer Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Outbuildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Motion-Sensing Floodlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Standalone Solar Lighting System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Repair Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
282 287
Repairing Light Fixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 278 283
Repairing Chandeliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Repairing Ceiling Fans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Repairing Fluorescent Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Replacing Plugs & Cords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Replacing a Lamp Socket. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Appendix: Common Mistakes. . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Conversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
308 314
304 310
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Introduction
his newly updated, 6th edition of BLACK+DECKER Complete Guide to Wiring is the most comprehensive
Tand current book on home wiring you’ll find anywhere. The information you’ll find within conforms to the
2014 edition of the National Electrical Code (NEC) as published by its governing authority, the National Fire
Prevention Association. Typically, most simple home wiring projects are unaffected by the changes to the NEC,
which is updated every three years. But according to top-notch home inspector Bruce Barker, who helped us
update this book for its 6th edition, there are four code alterations that may impact homeowners and their DIY
wiring projects soon. Most local governing authorities use the NEC as the basis for their set of codes, although it
usually takes a few years before the changes are adopted. And local codes always supersede any national codes.
Here are the changes most likely to affect your wiring project, based on the new 2014 edition of the NEC:
1. The available neutral at switch boxes. Some switch wiring methods require that the white wire be used
(and labeled) as a hot wire. A single pole switch at the end of the circuit (a switch leg) is one example. Three-
way and four-way switches are other examples.
New computer-controlled and timer switches need power to operate, which means that a neutral wire is
required to complete the electrical circuit. To allow easier installation of these new switches, the new NEC
requires an available neutral wire in many switch boxes. In most cases, you will just cap the neutral wire and
leave it, looking a bit lonely, in the switch box. To provide this neutral wire, you’ll need another wire. You may
need to substitute 3-wire cable where you formerly used 2-wire cable, or you may need to substitute 2 runs
of 2-wire cable where you formerly used 3-wire cable. Our new wiring diagrams will show you how to do this.
When it goes into effect, this change will apply only to new construction and expanded circuits.
2. AFCI protection for most circuits. Changes to the NEC earlier this century mandated AFCI (Arc Fault
Circuit Interrupter) protection on all bedroom circuits. The new NEC expands this requirement to include
most 15 and 20 amp, 120 volt, receptacle and lighting circuits. Exceptions include the kitchen and bathroom
receptacle circuits and the garage and exterior receptacle circuits. AFCI circuit breakers are required in
most cases. AFCI receptacles are available and may be allowed when it is impractical to install AFCI circuit
breakers.
Adding an AFCI device may not be as easy as installing it. Some AFCI devices may not be compatible with
shared neutral (multi-wire) branch circuits. Some AFCI devices may not be compatible with dimmers,
especially solid-state dimmers. You may want to have an electrician help you when you install AFCI devices.
3. Garage receptacles may not feed other outlets. You may no longer tie into a receptacle in your garage to
power anything outside of the garage, such as an outdoor security light. Also, you must provide a receptacle
for every parking spot in the garage.
4. AFCI and GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) protection for new receptacles. When that old
receptacle blows you may not replace it with a standard duplex receptacle, even if that’s what you had before.
If codes require AFCI or GFCI protection for the affected receptacle you need to provide it.
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