Central Nervous System
In order to install a new breaker box, I needed to disconnect power from the main coming in off the street. My friend Alex is a licensed electrician so he was able to remove the meter from the side of the house which provides the link to the power company.
Once the link was broken, we were able to install a new main feed from the meter into the basement (the old one was damaged), and then connect that main feed to a main cut-off switch in the panel. With the wiring complete to the main cut-off, we were ready to re-install the meter and begin sending power to the circuits in the house.
I needed power in the house to keep the project moving along, but it wasn't convenient to complete the wiring at the time I was getting help from Alex. We had pulled wires for all the downstairs circuits and pulled the necessary feeds for the upstairs circuits, so it was safe to start closing up the walls downstairs. Alex showed me how to neatly wire the panel and completed wiring for one of the downstairs receptacle circuits up to the first outlet in the line. Now I had both knowledge and power--a potentially dangerous combination--and was able to send Alex on his way.
Once the drywall work was done on the downstairs, I was able to complete wiring the remaining receptacle, lighting, and smoke alarm circuits.
A word of caution: Even the most experienced electricians are susceptible to potentially life-threatening mistakes. While we were drilling holes and pulling wires, Alex drilled right into the old main feed that was still providing power to the old panel. Thankfully the outlet that the drill was plugged into had a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt so that in the instant the drill contacted the Main, the Interrupt tripped. How did he happen to drill into the main? When the Foam-Tech guys sprayed their poly-urethane magic on the foundation walls, they covered the old main. There was no way of knowing where the main went once it disappeared into the foam. In hindsight, we should have made sure of the main's path before drilling, or even better, the Foam-tech guys should have flagged the path of the main before covering it with foam.
p.s. The book Complete Wiring (Stanley Complete Projects Made Easy) has been indispensable in helping me through the maze of house wiring.
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