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I'm a licensed electrical contractor, and I have seen two recently-remodeled kitchens where the electrical was done very poorly -- or not at all. Besides not doing any electrical updates at all, some of the other common mistakes I see are:
1) Wiring an over-the-range microwave oven with the existing wiring feeding the range hood. This is usually wired to one of the lighting circuits (thus rated 15 amps), so it will inevitably trip a breaker when other loads are operated at the same time. The proper way to handle this is to run a new dedicated 20A line to a new breaker.
2) Wiring all the new countertop outlets to the same circuit. Code requires two such circuits, and they are required to be evenly distributed (same or nearly the same number of outlets on each circuit). And each outlet must be GFCI protected by installing one GFI receptacle for each set, for the rest to be protected downstream.
3) Wiring dishwashers to one of the circuits in (2) above. These must also be wired to a separate 20A circuit.
4) Wiring garbage disposals to lighting circuits (or new lights to the existing disposal circuit). Again, a no-no per the Code. These are required to be on a dedicated 15A circuit.
5) Using the wrong size wiring for outlets and/or appliances. I have had to rewire a number of circuits where someone unqualified wired them using the wrong size wiring (such as 14AWG on a 20A circuit)
I wish kitchen remodeling companies were aware of this, and would use licensed electricians to do all their wiring, rather than relying on the carpenters to do the work, who THINK they know what they're doing but really don't.
I find it interesting that people who actually do this stuff for a living make mistakes like this. I'm just an amateur working on his own house but even I know to check the NEC codes and know things like the proper gauge wiring for various sized circuits, modern code requirements, etc.
In my home the refrigerator and the washing machine share the same 20 amp circuit, which is also the same circuit I have my microwave on, so I probably wouldn't try running all 3 at the same time... meanwhile there's another 20 amp circuit on the far side of the kitchen that from what I can tell controls the 2 receptacles along the kitchen table and nothing else. It's a 1977 house so it obvious there's other things that don't meet modern codes such as both bathrooms sharing one 15 amp circuit for the receptacles, when code requires 20 amps for each one, and a couple other issues.
I've got the entire house's circuits mapped so I know what I can and can't do that may trip breakers until I get a few more circuits added and the breaker box replaced down the road.
Sounds like they did unlicensed work on the OP's job.
What you are calling a mistake, most will call it grand fathered. Unless the local code requires the entire electrical system be updated to current code, it's not a "mistake". Amazingly there are hundreds of thousands of houses wired to the old code but have yet to burn to the ground. Guess they're just being stubborn. Yeah, ideally, the GC would bring the job up to date. But he also would like to keep his guys working. If he updates the system, you're adding what might be several thousand dollars to the cost of a remodel. If Joe is bidding on upgrading the system and Bill isn't, guess who is going to get the work? What was acceptable many years ago is no longer acceptable today is not the fault of the GC or the home owner. That's the way our local inspection dept looks at it unless it is something like KT wiring. Then they throw a shoe and turn the lights off until it's fixed.
I find it interesting that people who actually do this stuff for a living make mistakes like this. I'm just an amateur working on his own house but even I know to check the NEC codes and know things like the proper gauge wiring for various sized circuits, modern code requirements, etc.
In my home the refrigerator and the washing machine share the same 20 amp circuit, which is also the same circuit I have my microwave on, so I probably wouldn't try running all 3 at the same time... meanwhile there's another 20 amp circuit on the far side of the kitchen that from what I can tell controls the 2 receptacles along the kitchen table and nothing else. It's a 1977 house so it obvious there's other things that don't meet modern codes such as both bathrooms sharing one 15 amp circuit for the receptacles, when code requires 20 amps for each one, and a couple other issues.
I've got the entire house's circuits mapped so I know what I can and can't do that may trip breakers until I get a few more circuits added and the breaker box replaced down the road.
Sounds like they did unlicensed work on the OP's job.
The mistakes are often done by people who "do" electrical work but in fact are not electricians. Also the NEC book is issued for qualified people not amateurs or diyers. It's not bad that you try to read it but often diyers do not know how to interpret it and understand the terminology used. It is worded specifically for industry professionals. It's like an average person trying to read a law book or a medical book it's not for them.
What was acceptable many years ago is no longer acceptable today is not the fault of the GC or the home owner. That's the way our local inspection dept looks at it unless it is something like KT wiring. Then they throw a shoe and turn the lights off until it's fixed.
That's interesting, because use of knob and tube wiring isn't a code violation; it's just dumb.
My microwave uses the same circuit as the kitchen ceiling lighting. If I were using incandescent bulbs it might be an issue, but with today's modern LED lighting I don't feel that the ceiling lights pull enough power to justify a separate circuit.
I've seen things like that over the course of the 10 years or so I was doing electrical. I've even seen much worse, such as bare pipe being used as a neutral when the wire shorts out "somewhere".
My own house, built in the 1960's, has it's share of patchwork wiring. Slowly been going through it to bring it up to proper code, and that's been fun to see how it's been wired over the years. I haven't seen anything unsafe yet, but just circuits that strangely jump around. (lighting in one room does one random receptacle 50 feet away)
Just curious. Has anyone seen this before. When I moved into my house I noticed that the guest bathroom had no GFCI outlet. I put a GFCI tester in the outlet, pressed the buton and heard the GFCI outlet in the Master bath trip. Both bathrooms are on the opposite sides of my house. This seems odd.
My microwave uses the same circuit as the kitchen ceiling lighting. If I were using incandescent bulbs it might be an issue, but with today's modern LED lighting I don't feel that the ceiling lights pull enough power to justify a separate circuit.
OK, but what other loads do you have on the circuit? I'm sure the circuit includes some wall outlets in the general living areas (living room, bedroom, etc). I did an amp draw on a microwave circuit once, and it was showing 13 amps. Do you really want to place such a load on a 15-amp circuit? I wouldn't advise it.
Just curious. Has anyone seen this before. When I moved into my house I noticed that the guest bathroom had no GFCI outlet. I put a GFCI tester in the outlet, pressed the buton and heard the GFCI outlet in the Master bath trip. Both bathrooms are on the opposite sides of my house. This seems odd.
Yes, that is typically how they were wired in the 70's and 80's when GFI's were first required. They wired one circuit to power all bathrooms, garage outlet, and outdoor outlet (everything that was required to be GFI at the time). And it was usually 15-amps, not even 20. This was a penny-pinching scheme so they only had to use one GFCI device, but it caused a lot of inconvenience for homeowners with tripped breakers.
Nowadays each of those areas needs to be on a separate 20-amp circuit.
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