Indicative Location of

Utility Elements:
Air conditioner, Electrical Outlet
& Switches
 Air
Conditioner
Air Conditioner is a system or a machine that treats air in
a defined, usually enclosed area via a refrigeration cycle in
which warm air is removed and replaced with cooler and
more humid air.
Where should air conditioner be placed?

Air conditioner must be placed in a shady

spot on the east or north side of the house,
where it will receive less direct sunlight. Or in
the cooler side of your house.
 What is the height required for air
conditioning?
The proper room size is 10’ L X10’ H for 1 Ton Air-
con.
In a 10 feet high room, a split type AC should be
installed at 7-8 feet for the best cooling performance.
For a window type AC, the best height is 3-4 feet from
the floor. If you are fixing the AC very close to the wall
or in an airtight room it will trip due to high head
pressure, as heat dissipation can’t happen. Distance
How much space do you need around an air
conditioner?

At least 2 feet clearance around the

equipment and at least 5 feet above it. Covering
the top of the unit actually lowers efficiency
and heats up the space around it. Air
conditioners need intake and exhaust air to
operate efficiently.
WHY AIR CONDITIONERS DOES
PLACED AT THE TOP OF A ROOM?

Density of cold air is higher and hence would

settle downwards cooling the space much more
evenly. Imagine an air conditioner placed at
lower level it will not be able to cool the hotter
air upwards because it would be against the
natural circulation.
What are the possible mistakes to avoid in
Air conditioning?
BUYING TOO BIG AN AIR CONDITIONER.
Bigger isn’t always better. Many homeowners are
inclined to get bigger air conditioner, assuming it will
make the home colder faster. However, an oversized air
conditioner won’t generate uniform temperatures or
reduce humidity. It will also run inefficiently by cycling
on and off quickly. Of course, a unit may also be too small
to properly cool to space.
PUTTING THE AIR CONDITIONER IN A HOT
SPOT.
It may seem convenient to put air conditioners in an
unused spot on the southwest side of the house.
However, such placement will make the unit work too
hard. Instead, install the air conditioner in a shady spot
on the east or north side of the house where it will
receive less direct sunlight.
HIDING THE AIR CONDITIONER.
The air conditioner may not be pretty, but neither are
excessive summer electric bills. Don’t try to hide air
conditioners behind shrubs or other plants. They will
IGNORING MAINTENANCE.
Many homeowners ignore the basic A/C
maintenance that can improve efficient and comfort,
and extend the life of air conditioner. You must clean
or replace the filters at least every two months and if it
used constantly or a filters a lot of dust, you must
check it often. And also, check and clean the
evaporator coil once a year.
LEAVING THE AIR CONDITIONER ALL DAY.
Use a programmable thermostat or individual unit
timer to start cooling off the house before you get
BLINDLY CLOSING UNUSED VENTS.
It many cases, this can decrease the efficiency of
a central air conditioning expert before closing off
any parts of the house for the summer. Also be
careful about closing off any rooms that may have a
thermostat.
TURNING THE TEMPERATURE WAY DOWN.
If you are comfortable at 78 degrees, don’t come
home and turn the thermostat down at 70 degrees. It
will not get you to 78 any faster. It will just skip past
HEATING UP THE THERMOSTAT.
Make sure lamps, televisions, stereos or other heat-
generators are not close enough to the thermostat to
accidentally drive up the temperature reading and
overwork the air conditioner.
NOT USING CEILING FANS AND OR RUNNING
THEM BACKWARDS.
Many people think their air conditioner is a
substitute for ceiling fans. Instead, they should be used
in tandem. According to Energy Star, make sure the fan
is switched to push air downward (typically counter-
USING THE WRONG FANS.
On the other hand, exhaust fans in the kitchen and
bathroom can push cool, conditioned air out of the
house. They should not be used more than absolutely
necessary in the summer.
 Electrical
Outlet
An Electrical Outlet or Receptacle is a socket that
connects an electrical device to an electricity
supply.
RECOMMENDED WALL & COUNTERtOP
LOCATIONS FOR ELECTRICAL RECEPTACLES
(OUTLET)
- THE SIX FOOT RULE FOR RECEPTACLES
ALONG INTERIOR WALLS.
A basic guideline for locating and spacing electrical
receptacles in a residential building is that at no spot
along the length of any building interior wall should the
distance to the nearest receptacle be more than 6 feet.
This means you are placing walls receptacles at 12 foot
HOW HIGH SHOULD AN
ELECTIRCAL OUTLET BE OFF THE
FLOOR?
NEC 210.52.A.2. A common height for wall
outlet is between 12 to 16 inches to the bottom
of the device. In rare instances, outlets are still
installed in baseboards and in the floor with
proper box/covers.
HOW LONG DO ELECTRICAL
OUTLETS LAST?

If your home is equipped with GFCI outlets,

there are a few things you should know. Most
GFCI outlets will last for about 15 to 25 years,
but in certain circumstances, they can fails
after 5 years.
HOW MANY OUTLETS DO YOU
NEED IN A ROOM?

By today’s standards, a bed room should

have one outlet for each 12 feet of wall and at
least one outlet on each wall. This may be an
older building that predates current electrical
standards. However, numerous extension cords
create a fire hazard.
DOES EVERY WALL NEED AN OUTLET?

Hallways more than 10 feet long must have

at least one receptacle. If the wall is less than
24 inches wide, an outlet is not required.
Placing an outlet on walls less than 24 inches
wide is your choice. Either 15A or 20A tamper-
resistant outlet, depending on the amperage
carried by the wire servicing that outlet.
 ELECTRIC OUTLET REQUIREMENTS:
TUB-SHOWER CLEARANCE: Keep electrical outlet
at least 3 feet (1 meter) away from a tub or shower.
ELECTRIC BASEBOARD CLEARANCE: Keep
electrical outlets offset above and to the side of vanity
sinks, not right over the sink.
ELECTRIC BASEBOARD CLEARANCE: Keep
electric outlets off to one side, not right over electric
heating baseboards to avoid overheating and possibly
OUTLETS IN FLOORS, IN COUNTERTOPS:
Generally we do not mount electrical outlets
flush in countertops or floors, though in some
codes and jurisdictions the inspector may require
that special (protected) floor-mount electrical
outlets be installed in order to meet the
requirement that electrical outlets are available
within 6 feet in any direction along a wall, and
where no “wall” is available to install such
GARAGE ELECTRICAL OUTLET
LOCATION: In the garage electrical outlets
should be 18” or more above floor level.
HOW MANY WIRES CAN YOU
CONNECT TO AN OUTLET?

The switch box shown has a total 8 “wires”

– one for each of the four insulated wires, 2 for
the switch, 1 for all the bare ground wires, and
one for the cable clamps. The jumper wire
does not count as a conductor. You’d need a
3x2x3-1/2 – inch device box if you were
 Electrical
Switch
An Electrical Switch is any device used to
interrupt the flow of electrons in a circuit. Switches
are essentially binary devices: they are either
completely on (‘”closed”) or completely off
(“open”).
 HOW HIGH SHOULD ELECTRICAL
SWITCHES BE FROM THE FLOOR?

The National Electrical Code specifies that

each room in a house should have at least one
switch to operate lights in the room, but it doesn’t
say anything about how high the switch should
be. Many builders position switch boxes so the
bottom of the box is 48 inches above the floor.
HOW MANY ELECTRICAL
SWITCHES A ROOM SHOULD HAVE?

The Code does not require more than one

wall switch in each room, additional switches
are often installed in rooms having more than
one door (or entry). Although only one switch
is required.
HOW DO SWITCHES WORK IN A
CIRCUIT?

Electrical circuits only work when the

electricity is free to move through in a
continuous loop. Once that loop is broken, the
electricity is cut off. This is where the switch
comes in. an on/off toggle circuit breaks the
current when it’s in the “off” position.
Electrical switches defined as?

Switch types are commonly abbreviated for

brevity, so a single-pole, double-throw switch
would be referred to as an “SPDT” switch.
Double-pole, double-throw “DPDT” switches
are commonly employed as internal polarity
reversing circuits. Switches of up to four poles
 TYPES OF ELECTRICAL SWITCHES
IN THE HOME
WALL SWITCH BASICS: The wall switch is one of
the most common and important electrical devices in
the home. There are several different types of switches,
and although they may look the same when they are
installed with their faceplates intact, the various
switches look and function differently on the inside.
Most of the common types of switches come in
different styles, such as toggle, rocker, slider, or push-
 SINGLE-POLE SWITCH is the general-purpose
workhorse of switches. It is used to control a light,
receptacle, or other device from a single location. A
characteristic feature of a single-pole toggle switch is that it
has on and off markings on the toggle. This is something
you will not find in three-way or four-way switches.
However, some styles of single-pole switches (notably,
rocker style switches) do not have on/off markings.
A single-pole switch has two brass-colored screw
terminals that are connected to the hot, or power-source
wires. These wires are usually black. One brass terminal is
designated for the incoming hot wire from the power source,
 THREE-WAY SWITCHES are always used in pairs and
allow you to control a light or receptacle from two different
locations. These switches have no on/off markings because
the on and off positions will vary as the switches are used.
The three-way switches has three terminal screws. The
hot wire from the power source connect to the darkest screw
terminal marked “COM” for common. The other two
terminals are called travellers and are interchangeable. For
purposes of safety, it is important to remember that travellers
are always hot wires. The switch also has a ground screw.
Three-way switches are usually found at both ends of a
staircase, in garages or basements that have two entries, in
 DOUBLE – POLE SWITCH is commonly used in
industrial applications but can be found I some home
wiring systems. Like the single-pole switch, a double-
pole switch has on/off markings and controls a device
or equipment from one location. The main difference
is that a double-pole switch has four hot brass
terminals, instead of two, plus a ground terminal.
This allows the user to connect it to two pairs of hot
wires from a 240-volt circuit.
Double-pole switches are commonly rated for 30
amps, compared to 15 or 20 amps with standard
 FOUR-WAY SWITCH is used between two three-way
switches to provide control for an outlet or light fixture from
three or more different locations. If you want to have control
from more than three locations – for example, five locations –
you would still use two three –way switches (one on each end)
and three four-way switches between two three-ways.
The four-way switch looks similar to a double-pole switch,
except it has no on/off markings. It has four terminals plus a
ground terminal. The four terminals are usually brass-colored.
There is no “COM” or “common” terminal, as is found on a
three-way switch. The four-way switch functions as a switching
device for traveller wires between the three-way switches.
While not commonly used, four-way switches are sometimes