Not using certain wire sizes

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Coppersmith said:
I was doing a 100 amp subpanel the other day and thought I had enough wire on the truck, but did not so off to Home Depot I ran. Code book said I could use #3, but I just assumed it was a non-stock item. Instead I asked them to cut 30 feet of #2. A second after the wire was cut I noticed the reel of #3 sitting right next to the #2 reel. 30 cents cheaper per foot and a lot easier to squeeze into a crowded main panel. Ouch!
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HD is odd. This Sunday I was prepping for the week, and noticed that the 2-1/2" PVC 90's were half bell-end and half were straight end. I swung by HD to pick up a dozen couplings, and they had almost nothing in 2-1/2" but had some 3" stuff.

The aisle guy asked if he could help me, and then said, "well, 2-1/2" is an oddball conduit size." Now, our local PoCo specs it as a requirement for UG 200a service feeds, and its typically the largest knockout in 200a panels, but everyone's experience varies. I went a block down the road to Lowe's and they had a full line (for a big box) of 2-1/2" in PVC and metal.

Sorry....having derailed, I do hope the OP comes back to give us the engineer's reasoning behind the wire restrictions.
 
Craigv said:
HD is odd. This Sunday I was prepping for the week, and noticed that the 2-1/2" PVC 90's were half bell-end and half were straight end. I swung by HD to pick up a dozen couplings, and they had almost nothing in 2-1/2" but had some 3" stuff.

The aisle guy asked if he could help me, and then said, "well, 2-1/2" is an oddball conduit size." Now, our local PoCo specs it as a requirement for UG 200a service feeds, and its typically the largest knockout in 200a panels, but everyone's experience varies. I went a block down the road to Lowe's and they had a full line (for a big box) of 2-1/2" in PVC and metal.

Sorry....having derailed, I do hope the OP comes back to give us the engineer's reasoning behind the wire restrictions.
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I work a three county area that is highly populated. No matter where I am, there's almost always an HD within 15 minutes. They rarely disappoint me by being out of something, but when they do, another HD store or a lowe's or (heaven forbid) an electrical supply store can take up the slack. Shopping for jobs a couple of days in advance means I'll probably not have to make a special trip anyway.

Lowe's is odd in that they almost always disappoint me because they carry about half of what is needed to do resi electrical work, but also carry a few things that HD never does. I rarely go there.
 
Coppersmith said:
I work a three county area that is highly populated. No matter where I am, there's almost always an HD within 15 minutes. They rarely disappoint me by being out of something, but when they do, another HD store or a lowe's or (heaven forbid) an electrical supply store can take up the slack. Shopping for jobs a couple of days in advance means I'll probably not have to make a special trip anyway.

Lowe's is odd in that they almost always disappoint me because they carry about half of what is needed to do resi electrical work, but also carry a few things that HD never does. I rarely go there.
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Between the two, Lowe's is far worse regarding missing items. Things like not having hubs or ground bars for boxes they stock drives me crazy. I'm not talking about out of stock...some stores simply don't carry certain crucial parts. Employees say that Co. HQ will non-stock slow moving items regardless of whether they're needed to complete an assembly. Corporate red tape....
 
Craigv said:
Between the two, Lowe's is far worse regarding missing items. Things like not having hubs or ground bars for boxes they stock drives me crazy. I'm not talking about out of stock...some stores simply don't carry certain crucial parts. Employees say that Co. HQ will non-stock slow moving items regardless of whether they're needed to complete an assembly. Corporate red tape....
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In a related story...

Many times I have found parts missing from items on the shelf at HD. People just come in, open boxes, take what they want, and leave without paying.
 
ggunn said:
In a related story...

Many times I have found parts missing from items on the shelf at HD. People just come in, open boxes, take what they want, and leave without paying.
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In both stores I have to be vigilant to verify that the bag I pull from a stock box has what's labeled, that the bag wasn't opened, that the item isn't used, stripped of parts, or damaged, etc. I bought a 2-pole 50 amp breaker several weeks ago and upon installing it noticed the screws had some rounding on the slots...it was installed somewhere then returned. So back it went for another.
 
Craigv said:
Between the two, Lowe's is far worse regarding missing items. Things like not having hubs or ground bars for boxes they stock drives me crazy. I'm not talking about out of stock...some stores simply don't carry certain crucial parts. Employees say that Co. HQ will non-stock slow moving items regardless of whether they're needed to complete an assembly. Corporate red tape....
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I asked a Lowe's store manager why they carried so few electrical parts compared to HD. He said their target is homeowners, not contractors.

ggunn said:
In a related story...

Many times I have found parts missing from items on the shelf at HD. People just come in, open boxes, take what they want, and leave without paying.
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I purchased a weather-resistant GFCI receptacle. I didn't notice somebody had opened the box and swapped in a non weather-resistant GFCI until long after I left the store. Guess they wanted to save five bucks thru theft. I hope they rot in hell.
 
Craigv said:
Between the two, Lowe's is far worse regarding missing items. Things like not having hubs or ground bars for boxes they stock drives me crazy. I'm not talking about out of stock...some stores simply don't carry certain crucial parts. Employees say that Co. HQ will non-stock slow moving items regardless of whether they're needed to complete an assembly. Corporate red tape....
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They don't have that big of variety of NEMA 3R loadcenters to begin with in most stores. Even looking online I don't think they have that much variety.

ggunn said:
In a related story...

Many times I have found parts missing from items on the shelf at HD. People just come in, open boxes, take what they want, and leave without paying.
Click to expand...
Or someone returned something that doesn't work, was damaged, or not even the same item that is supposed to be in the box.

Nearest HD or Lowe's are both about 100 miles away from me, but we do have another big box store that covers most of upper midwest area - Menards. I one time bought a three pack of P & S GFCI's from them, put it on shelf in my shop for later use when needed. When that time came I was on job read to install - and find someone returned three of their cheap "private label" GFCIs' in the P & S box. Of course I was probably at least an hour drive away from the store and was not happy at all. Now I check contents of most everything unless maybe it appears to have never been opened.
 
kwired said:
They don't have that big of variety of NEMA 3R loadcenters to begin with in most stores. Even looking online I don't think they have that much variety.

Or someone returned something that doesn't work, was damaged, or not even the same item that is supposed to be in the box.

Nearest HD or Lowe's are both about 100 miles away from me, but we do have another big box store that covers most of upper midwest area - Menards. I one time bought a three pack of P & S GFCI's from them, put it on shelf in my shop for later use when needed. When that time came I was on job read to install - and find someone returned three of their cheap "private label" GFCIs' in the P & S box. Of course I was probably at least an hour drive away from the store and was not happy at all. Now I check contents of most everything unless maybe it appears to have never been opened.
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Around here, Lowe's has greatly reduced their stock of all panelboards. No C-H or GE at all, but they *might* have a small selection of breakers. They have the same shelf space, just keep spacing the boxes further apart as they reduce inventory. Some "warehouse"...
 
LarryFine said:
As an aside, both have stopped selling SE and SER cable here.
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A couple of years ago I was in Lowe's and they had just put a clearance tag on a $1000 reel of 4/0 4/0 4/0 2/0 AL quadplex. I took it home for $500. I've been using it up 10-20 feet at a time. Got about a 1/4 reel left. They still sell 4/0 AL SER here, but they charge a lot more than the supply house.
 
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