I bought a new MiniMax FS41 Jointer/Planer & a MiniMax MM20 Band Saw , plan on a SawStop PCS TS soon
I had to hire a electrical contractor to put in a sub panel for adding 120V & 240V lines into the Garage . The house is a old (1955) GI Bill spec house , single level on a foundation /crawl space , 2 car garage , 3 bedroom .
12 years ago I had a solar power system installed on the south roof area (4Kw) @ that time they added a new main panel & did away with 1955 fuse box .
Little did I know they put 20 amp breakers in place of the fuses , should have used 15 amp for my house wire size . one series of circuit was over head lights into the garage door way, laundryroom ,kitchen lights, dining room lights ,rear porch lite . all are over head lights on the run ,the run branched from the dining room on , I had added another outside light to the porch light . anyway when I had the garage light & power upgraded for the new machines . I asked if they could look at my Kitchen lights as they would flicker & one quit working years ago . they start looking for the failure & kept opening up the fixture boxes To find the they were getting hot & discolored , the one nearest to the branching dining room fixture the one above the stove the wire were burnt back 9 " to where they were just bare wire (they looked like blcck insulation but really was black from heat oxidation) , the Sheetrock above was black , baked & crumbly .
long story short had the 15 amps been inplace the run would have tripped when the wires overheated .
the Electrician was shocked to see how burnt the lighting fixture junction boxes were , he said we were a hair away from a major fire , he had never seen a junction/fixture box that bad . He was amazed that the bare wires weren't touching . He took a pix ,he said he had to show the "other guys" what really bad looks like .
Had I never bought those MiniMax machines , I would have never found this problem until the Fire Marshal did his post fire inspection
Next week they will re-wire the full run that is burnt & inspect the other runs as well , replace runs that are needed sailing back the 20 amp breakers to 15 amps . I'm also adding a dedicated 20 amp run to my home theater system .
My Wood Working hobby actually will have saved me from a huge disaster