4th Annual Christmas Tree Build - 2019 Edition

Forgive me
I’m no treehugger
We’ve only had artificial my whole life
I’d rather plant one but Christmas trees don’t do good down here. Could trim a cedar like others do

 

So we figured out why the circuit breaker was tripping when the Christmas lights were on...

Whenever my dad gers on the treadmill in the basement, the treadmill by itself draws a ton of power; He also had the lights on in the basement, along with a 61-inch HDTV and a fan. All of the GFI/GFCI outlets in our house are on the same circuit, and the Christmas lights are plugged into one of these outlets, which is in turn on the same circuit as basement outlets. As soon as my dad got on the treadmill, it overloaded the circuit. Now, the Christmas lights have to go off when my dad exercises or when my mom uses her hairdryer. As long the treadmill isn't in use everything is fine, but it's pretty pathetic that a house built in 2016 can't handle all of that electrical load if you ask me!

 

Too many things on the same circuit. Without knowing I'm betting it's a 15 amp line, and it sounds like it's one of those funky routes that most everything is plugged into. My previous house had a similarly weird run: from the breaker it went to the master bath, then the back porch, then the guest bath, then the garage and finally the front porch. Couldn't open the garage door and run a hair dryer at the same time, and heaven help you if you wanted to run either if it was raining outside and the garden lights were on.
I solved it by finding a relatively underused circuit in the dining room, and adding an outlet on the end of that line for the garage doors.

Current house is a 1961 rancher with a grand total of four breakers for the whole house. I run LED lights because I'd prefer to not burn down in the middle of the night.

 

Four separate breakers?!?! I'm jealous of the fact that you're in an early sixties rancher! I love ranchers! Was you house originally fuse box or always circuit breaker?

 

Just checking it out

 

Always circuit. Also the house is primarily gas powered. Oven, dryer, water appliances and furnace are all natural gas which helps with the bills. Actually I lied, I just went back and looked. 7 breakers, including the A/C compressor.

It's a funky little house, but I dig it.

 

I like funky little houses...

Do you mean seven panels, or seven switches? When I think breakers, I think the big gray box in the basement with all of the black toggle switches. My house had two separate central air-conditioners, each with their own dual breakers...

 

7 switches, all in a tiny box in the 3rd bedroom closet. None of that will pass modern code. It's one of those deals that is grandfathered legal for repairs and selling the house. But if I modify it, like if I happened to install an extra breaker, Im supposed to bring the whole house up to modern regs.

 

@Plain Jane Taco,
This is an excellent thread...KUDOs !!

 

Thanks brother. 4th year for it. It's always fun.

 

Broke out the Lionel trains for this one.
The tree ended up at 9’ tall. I had to cut a foot and a half off the bottom to get it to stand up. Couldn’t bring it in the front door, so I lifted it up onto the back deck and in through the French doors.

 

That's a big ass tree!

 

I'm always a sucker for a real train set. I debate every year in wherever to pull mine out. Decided against it this year for the first time in a long time, and now I regret it.

 

Nice!

 

Alright people. 1 week to go.Let's see though trees and decorations!

 

My parents requested that I remove the photos of the outside of their house (they’re overly paranoid). Finally got the tree up a couple days ago, and will be doing my Christmas village in a day or two; Photos to come!

 

Neices only think they getting doll furniture.



Nope, it's a small arsenal of nerf guns with enough darts to trash a standard size house. My sister is going to really appreciate that...