I've been waiting and waiting...
And waiting some more.
The life of being an electrician's wife is that I get to see him fix everyone else's stuff while my list of electrical stuff, that I want done, gets to wait until Bob feels like doing it. And, I get it. He gets a payoff to do other people's stuff.
The payoff for doing this is saved gas and money having to run into town to the laundromat every 7-10 days. We don't have to worry if someone used something that is going to making my ridiculously sensitive skin flare up in a rash. I can wash our bedding a bit more often than what we do because it truly is a pain to strip the bed down with these cats and dogs...well, dog. Sasha can't jump up onto the bed anymore because she's going to be 15 years old in December.
I want to be able to stock on laundry soap. I won't be making my own as that's the quickest way to ruin an HE washer and, going off the opinion of my husband who does appliance repair (he's not just an electrician), the homemade is NOT the way to go.
I told Bob that the main thing is to get the washer hooked up. We're opting to not install a water heater at this time. I have a small one. It's like 2.5 gallons. I just don't feel it's necessary. I can wash everything just fine in cold water. If Bob wants to wait a bit before hooking up the dryer, I'm okay with that, too. I have a clothesline and I just ordered 100 clothespins. I like to hang my stuff out anyhow. I like how it smells.
I'm going to attempt to give my explanation as to how this all got installed and I'll be asking Bob for clarification.
We started yesterday at the Home Depot.
Bob's like a kid in a candy store at that place!
Just a note here. Electrical parts and supplies are not cheap. Wire is freaking expensive! The cost of electrical wire fluctuates daily, too. For a 250-foot roll of #12-2 copper wire, it's $268. One year ago, that same wire was $109.
This is the sub-panel. Bob installed it first. This is actually called a sub-main because our main is out on our power pole. This has a quad breaker, 2 pole 30 and 2 single pole 20 amp breakers that Bob installed. These are for the dryer, the washer and a general receptacle for whatever we may need it for. This feeds the metal shed where the washer and dryer will be.
I helped Bob do some wire pulls. That was interesting and, honestly, it made my arm sore. I couldn't imagine pulling wire for hours on end. This has a 30-amp, 240 circuit and 2 20-amp circuits in this pull. I fed it and Bob pulled it.
These are the conduit runs that Bob installed. One is in 1-inch conduit and it's underground and the other is 3/4-inch flex run on top of the ground and attached to the shed. If you didn't know that he did that conduit run, you'd never know it was there underground. The conduit run only took Bob about an hour. He's got some SKILLZ!
This is when Bob was getting ready to mount the junction box on the side of the shed, that will feed the wire run into the shed. He's got a couple of really super cute helpers, too. Rose is the chocolate one and Sasha is the black one. They are both purebred Australian kelpie dogs.
Rose is supervising Bob, who is mounting a junction box onto the side of the shed.
Here is the junction box finished.
This is the inside part of that junction box that Bob mounted on the outside of the shed. Don't pay any attention to this washer and dryer set. They are being sold. I actually have 2 sets at the moment. Don't ask! We're installing front loaders. So, if anyone needs a set, and you're local, let me know. I'll sell 'em cheap!
Here is Bob mounting the 30-amp dryer receptacle.
This is where Bob made up the washer receptacle.
The wires coming out are going to be for the extra receptacle he's going to install in there...in case I want a light or a heater or whatever. It'll be a dedicated 20-amp circuit.
This is the finished electrical install. We still have to get the water there. That won't be too hard. We're going to draining into a daylight ditch to water fruit bushes with. Since we're on a well, every bit of water conservation we can do, we will. So, within a few days, I'll be up and running and being able to wash laundry at home. It's been a long time!
Thanks, Bob!
