Wires

I like electrical work, in general. See the workshop and the outdoor light. Where I have drawn the line is working inside breaker boxes and working with 240-volt circuits.

Rubicon crossed. I've now done both, albeit with trepidation. They had a 50-amp 240V line going out to the hot tub. The wires stuck out of the conduit and were buried in dirt when I found them, so yikes, but they ran to an exterior breaker box that served as a shut-off switch (and they were off). The shut-off runs back to the main breaker box, which has also been off as long as I've been here.

Before the junk guys showed up, I cut the conduit so that I could have them take it. I used the saws-all, and it was comical. The 8-gauge stranded wires resisted mightily and the conduit vibrated, so it looked like I was being electrocuted in a cartoon. I looked for flashes of my skeleton, but that didn't happen.

Yesterday, I opened the breaker box, disconnected both sets of wires from the buses and (eventually) disconnected the exterior box from the wall, leaving the 240v wires sticking out. This isn't Romex, these are individual black, red, white, and ground wires.

I think this backs up to a high outlet on the inside.

The next step is to direct these wires inside and close up this hole. Inside, we'll use them to power a new 240V electric water heater for Casey's bathroom. My problem now is not that I'm afraid to work on 240V, just that I really don't want to work in the hella-narrow closet. Perhaps I can direct Casey, or we can get an electrician. Stripping and fastening 8ga wire is a pain, too. Maybe its only 10ga, but I much prefer 14ga Romex.

Something like this, only the bottom hole should be vertical, without the left angle, for 50-amp.

Theory article: https://makezine.com/2016/11/02/understanding-240v-ac-power-heavy-duty-power-tools/