On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:09:03 -0700, Smitty Two
wrote:

In article ,
wrote:


It's easy to use a lot of wire in a new home, especially if you're
fond of home runs. I'm a fan of doing things that are useful and make
sense. Using #12 on low-power circuits isn't worth wasting money on,
particularly if it's borrowed money. It may seem like a small thing,
but by the time most people have paid off their home loan, they'll
have worked at least an extra week to pay for that wasted copper.
Anybody who can't think of something better to do with that week or
the income, should seek suggestions on Usenet. :-)

Wayne

I'm confused. You have a separate circuit for every light? And you scoff
at people who waste copper? I must've misunderstood some part of this.

We live off-grid. That means we have to be frugal with electricity.
For example, at our last place (on-grid), the living room had five 75W
incandescent pot lights, all on one dimmer switch. Our present living
room has three 12W CF pot lights, each with it's own switch. The
breaker panels were located so that the heavy wire runs were short,
main panel runs to the welders and air compressor are only about 10'.
Subpanel runs to the kitchen are about 20'. Next largest load in the
house are the 700W 230V heat pumps. Triple runs (one for each
inverter) to the office and home theater areas. So, like many custom
homes, we did use a lot of wire, but it was mostly #14 which I bought
on sale for $13 per 250' roll (12 years ago). Floor plan here
http://www.citlink.net/~wmbjk/images/main/floorplan.jpg. Main panel is
in the garage on the wall behind the car. Subpanel is in the living
room on the backside of the kitchen wall. BTW, the inverter that
serves most of the home theater stuff plus 3 computers, is only 500W.
It would have been a bit silly to divide that up into multiple runs of
#12. And all of those components would use the same power if they were
on-grid.

Wayne