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How-To

Electrical Retrofit — Working with Old Wires

Start clean and work safe when expanding off of existing circuits.

By Matthew Millham Issue 273 - Feb/Mar 2018
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      Extending existing electrical circuits to add additional boxes for a garage workshop can be made easier by using Electrical Metallic Tubing, or EMT.

      Starting the retrofit is easy. Start by shutting off the circuits you’re going to tap. As California electrician CJ Nielsen explains in “Crash Course in Conduit” in FHB #273, he uses a breaker finder with a transmitter and receiver to locate which breakers he needs to turn off. To be safe, he checks the boxes he’s going to tap with two different testers, just to be sure they’re off before he removes them.

      Then he removes the old devices and clips off any exposed copper so he can start fresh. Often, he finds wires terminated on the back of receptacles. There’s nothing inherently wrong about that—it passes code—but if the device fails, it can take down other devices on the circuit. Nielsen prefers to splice his connections with pigtails. This method ensures continuity within the circuit even if a device, such as a wall outlet, fails.

      For even more information, check out this feature article, Crash Course in Conduit, in FHB #273.


      Electrical Conduit Series Introduction

      • Video 1: Electrical Retrofit – Working with Old Wires
      • Video 2: Surface-Mount Electrical Box and Conduit Layout
      • Video 3: How to Bend and Mount EMT Conduit
      • Video 4: EMT Conduit – Run Wires and Install Devices
      Previous: How to Wire a Bathroom: Running Cable to the Boxes Next: Cutting Boxes into Existing Walls and Ceilings

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      View Comments

      1. Mthoodcustomhomes | Jan 10, 2018 11:28pm | #1

        Excellent video! As a carpenter I appreciate any information I can glean from my subcontractors and firmly believe that we all should understand a basic level of each other's job. Thanks for the good video of how an *intelligent* electrician works!

      2. Suburbanguy | Jan 14, 2018 02:54pm | #2

        I'm not an electrician and codes vary by region but those pigtails would appear to add extra conductors to the total number entering the box.--might put it over the maximum allowed. (Sorry, don't have my electrical code book handy.)

      3. user-6816541 | Mar 17, 2018 08:35am | #3

        @suburbanguy
        Fortunately for you the guy in the video IS an electrician.

        The pigtails neither enter nor leave the box so they don't count. NEC 314.16.x.

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