Randy Millspaugh - Electrical Contractor

Today this article will be about recessed lighting and we will use your kitchen lights as an example. There

are so many topics we could discuss under lighting that we will discuss one type of lighting at a time. In the

future this author will be writing about pendant lighting, security lighting, bathroom lighting, outdoor lighting and pretty

much every kind of home lighting that seems most popular right now.

Lets start with your kitchen lights. Are you tired of that same old lighting you have in your kitchen? You

would be suprised how easy it is to install a few recess cans in your kitchen and how good your

kitchen will look .

Lets say you have one light in the center of your kitchen. We would take this light down and use the

wire there to feed your new recess can. At that spot you would cut a 6" circle or whatever size your can

is. You will get a template with your recess can. You can use a drywall saw or you can buy an adjustable

drywall cutter, which works really great if you have a cordless drill. Just make sure power is turned off and

you stuff the wire out of your way so it does'nt get cut. Once you have this big hole cut take a look up in the ceiling

with a flashlight.

When you see which way the rafters are running you can add 1 or 2 more lights easily if you wish. You

would measure where you want your lights and cut another hole or holes. Then you can feed your wire

from your starting point to the new cans. The recessed cans come with a junction box so you can easily do your

splicing.

Then put your trim and bulb in and admire your new looking kitchen !!

Posted Oct 03 2008, 01:50 PM by Randy Millspaugh with no comments

Filed under: Electrician, lighting

Installing DDC , Automated Building Systems HVAC & Energy Management Systems

This consultant started installing DDC systems during the construction of Denver International Airport in

or around May of 1990. We installed KMC line of controls on Concourse B and the Central Plant including

controls for the boilers , chillers , cooling towers , VFD's , pumps, fans etc. It was on the job training and I

did'nt really get an understanding of what I was installing for many months because I was kept so busy

running conduit, pulling wire and mounting devices. It was an excellent way to learn controls because we wired

up the controls on everything from A - Z.

We also did work in Class 10 - Class 100 clean rooms and built

Fab 5 at ATMEL in Colorado Springs from the ground up. I worked at Siemens Building Technologies and

we did alot of work in hospitals, labs, The Air Force Academy, Ft. Carson, Fitzsimmons, Peterson AFB,

Ball Aerospace and Hewlett-Packard to name a few.

The biggest project I personally supervised was at

Buckley AFB inside the most secure part of the entire base. We had to have an escort with us every time

we entered the building because of the highly classified top secret locations we were working in.

The job entailed taking out the existing DDC system which dated back to 1985 thru

1997 and installing Automated System controls. The old systems communication between control panels

was coax cable and we had to remove that and pull in 22-2 twisted CL3P. The ethernet is fiber optics

which we had to convert to Cat. 5 with Black Box to the routers.

There were over 5,000 points on this job

that had to be verified and documented in conjunction with Raytheon who was the General Contractor on

this job. We ran into many different controls on this job from Honeywell to Johnson Controls that sometimes

had to be cross referenced to be replaced .

Posted Oct 02 2008, 08:10 AM by Randy Millspaugh with no comments

Filed under: Temperature Controls, Thermostats, DDC, HVAC, Automated Bldg systems

Residential Wiring Solutions - Aluminium Wiring Problems

This article addresses homes wired with aluminum wiring and associated problems

this kind of wiring causes. The most common problem I encounter with aluminum wire is

that it becomes very brittle over the years and either breaks in half or the insulation around

the wire actually overheats and starts melting.

So usually when a homeowner calls me they say that a circuit in the house is not working ( we'll say the upstairs bedroom outlets for an example ).

The first place to check if you have this problem is in your circuit breaker panel. Be very careful and

take the cover off the breakers and get a flashlight , a small maglite works the best. Then carefully inspect

the wires as they go into the circuit breakers. Look for wires that look overheated and melting and

look down the middle of the breakers for any signs of arcing , black scorch marks , etc.

If you find a wire that is melting you will need to turn off the breaker , pull this wire out of the breaker,

cut off the bad wiring , restrip the wire and put it back in the breaker. If you see black marks or signs of

arcing you probably will need to replace this breaker.If you are lucky this will take you less than an hour and you are good

to go again. If you are'nt lucky then finding the problem can be very time consuming.

The bad circuit

will have to be isolated ( find and mark with a small piece of tape ) all the outlets and switches that

are not working. Again it is a good idea to turn off the power when you are working on your electricity.

Then you will need to unscrew these outlets and switches from the wall until you find one that looks burned

out or you find a broken wire. This can take several hours as you can imagine.

The best thing you can do to avoid

this happening to you is to convert the aluminum wiring to copper wiring at every outlet and switch. You will

need to buy some #12 awg and # 10 awg copper wire, red wirenuts, some anti oxidation cream and I would recommend

throwing away all your old outlets and replacing them with new ones. Good luck with this project, it will make

your house much safer.

Posted Oct 01 2008, 12:42 PM by Randy Millspaugh with no comments

Filed under: Aluminum wiring

Various residential wiring projects including adding telephone wiring

This article is about residential telephone wiring. Many customers I have talked to here in Aurora,Co have needed an extra telephone line for their computer , fax machine , satellite TV reciever, or business phone etc.

The first place they think to call is Qwest or their local phone service and are shocked by how much the phone company charges to install a simple little wire and a phone jack. Believe me it is easy and inexpensive, especially if you have a crawl space or attic access.

The telephone wiring can be run in the attic or crawl space and then dropped down the wall that you need the jack and you won't even see the wiring. Alot of times the phone company will run it along your carpet where it can be seen and still charge you an arm and a leg.

You don't necessarily need a licensed electrical contractor or electrician to install phone wiring but if

you don't think you want to tackle the job yourself it is probably cheaper to call an electrician versus your local phone company.

Posted Oct 01 2008, 09:17 AM by Randy Millspaugh with no comments

Filed under: telephone wiring, Electrician: residential wiring: local phone service

Randy Millspaugh - Electrical Contractor

Master Electrician and Licensed Contractor with twenty eight years of experience as an electrical contractor well versed in all phases of a variety of electrical systems installation, repairs and maintenance. Installation and maintenence of automated building systems, temperature controls and various electrical system components in both commercial and residential structures. Experienced with all major manufacturers including Siemens, Allerton, Johnson Controls and Automated Logic components, as well as many other popular controls....

Posted Sep 03 2008, 09:46 AM by Randy Millspaugh with no comments

Filed under: Tradesman

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