Let’s test your electrician skills

These are not-so-easy, but also not-too-hard questions for you to try to answer and
test your electrician skills. Whether you are a novice in a field of electrical
engineering or a professional electrician, these questions will move your brain cells
for sure! To check your results, take a peek for answers at the bottom of article.

10 questions to test your electrician skills (credit: nwelectricandsolar.com)

Let’s start.

Question #1

Building “A” is supplied with 120/240 volt single-phase powerfrom building “B” on the
same property. “B” is supplied from a three-wire with two ungrounded conductors and
one neutral without any metallic water pipe or other metal equipment connections to the
building or equipment ground fault protection installed.

The neutral conductor must:

A. Not be connected to a grounding electrode in the second building

B. Not be connected to a grounding electrode in either building
 C. Be bonded to the disconnect enclosure in the second building and connected to
a grounding electrode
D. Tie into the ungrounded conductor of one of the buildings with a grounding
jumper

Question #2

A feeder runs from one part of a building to another under the floor in two parallel sets
of rigid non-metallic conduits with typeRHW copper conductors size AWG #500 and
is protected by800 ampere fuses. It must have a minimum size copper
equipment grounding conductor in each conduit run of no less than which of the
following:

A. 1/0 AWG
B. 20 AWG
C. 10 amps
D. 5 AWG

Question #3

A surge arrestor for a 480 volt electrical system requires a connecting conductor that
is #14 copper or larger.

A. True
B. False

Question #4
If a single family dwelling unit has 2680 square feet of living space and all of the 120
volt general illumination circuits are rated at 15 amperes, then the minimum number of
circuits required is which of the following:

A. 5
B. 6
C. 7
D. 8

Question #5

A single family dwelling with 2400 square feet of living area has a 120/240 volt three-
wire electrical service and contains the following:

3.5 kW 240 volt electric water heater,

12 kW electric range,
1.5 horsepower 240 volt central air conditioner,
1/2 horsepower 120 volt garbage disposal,
1/3 horsepower 120 volt furnace blower motor, a 1.2 kW 120 volt dishwasher,
and
5 kW clothes dryer.

The total minimum load required for the general illumination, small appliances, and
laundry without any demand factors would be which of the following:

A. 1500 VA
B. 7200 VA
C. 11700 VA
D. 15000 VA

Sharpen up your electrician knowledge (photo credit: electricianqualifications.info)

Question #6

If a three-phase 75 kVA transformer is connected to the primary at 480

volts and 120/208 volts on the secondary, then the full load current of the
transformer secondary would be which of the following:

A. 240 amps
B. 208 amps
C. 90 VA
D. 25 VA

Question #7

In order to correct the power factor, a three-phase, 480 volt, 92 kVAR capacitor
bank located 6 feet from the main service of a3200 square foot office building has a
minimum required ampere rating for the conductors in the capacitor bank of which of
the following:

A. 240 amps
B. 180 amps
C. 150 amps
D. 110 amps

Question #8

In an 8 unit apartment building, each kitchen contains a 3.5 kW 240 volt electric
range. The demand load for the electric service to the building must include an
allowance for the minimum demand load of all of the ranges, which would be which of
the following:

A. 28 kVA
B. 21 kVA
C. 14 kVA
D. 7.5 kVA

Question #9

A retail store has 3000 square feet and 30 feet of show window. The service is
a 120/240 volt single phase 3-wire service, and there is an actual connected lighting
load of 8500 VA.

There are a total of 80 duplex receptacles. Given these facts, the total calculated load
is which of the following:

A. 9000 VA
B. 12200 VA
C. 16200 VA
D. 28400 VA

Question #10

A project requires the installation of twelve 1.4 ampere, 120 volt, fluorescent lights
fixtures on two 20 amp branch circuits, as well as three 120 volt, 5.6 ampere
electric fans on individual circuits in a building with a 120/240 single phase three-
wire electric service.

The minimum neutral current allowed for these loads is which of the following:

A. 0 amps
B. 5.6 amps
C. 16.8 amps
D. 33.6 amps

Answers
To prove your electrician skills, your results should be the same as provided
answers. NEC articles mentioned in answers you can observe in a free draft
version of NEC 2014 //

NEC 2014 FREE DRAFT

1. C – Reference Section [250.32(B)(1)]

2. A – Reference Table [250.122]
3. A – Reference Section [280.21]
4. A – Reference Sections [210.11(A)] and [220.423(A)] for minimum load
requirements. Divide the load by 120 volts, then divide this value into the
 circuits to determine the number of circuits required.
3 VA ÷ 2680 feet 2 = 8040 VA;
120 volts × 15 amps (per circuit) = 1800;
8040 ÷ 1800 4.5 (rounded up to 5)
5. C – Reference Table [220.3(A)] to see that 3 VA is required for every
square feet of living area.
2400 square feet × 3 VA = 7200 VA.
The small appliance load in Section [220.11(C)(2)] is 1500 VA and comes to
2 small appliance loads.
1500 VA × 3 = 3000;
Section [210.11(C)(2)] requires 1500 VA for a dwelling laundry circuit.
7200 + 3000 + 1500 = 11700 VA.
6. B – Use formula Csecondary = 75kVA × 1000 / 1.73 × 208v = 208 amps
7. C – The first step is to calculate how much current will be going to the
capacitor bank once it is energized, which is the same formula you would
use to calculate the full load current of a transformer, except you need to
use kVAR’s instead of kVA.
Ccapacitor = 92kVAR × 1000 / 1.73(3 phase) × 480v =110.8 amps
Next you need to find the minimum ampere rating of the conductors in the
capacitor bank using the requirement in Section [460.8(A)], and you will find
that the ampacity cannot be more than 135% (which is 1.35).
Multiply the capacitor current of 110.8 × 1.35 = 149.58 rounded up to 150
amps.
8. B – Reference [Section 220.17] lists a demand factor of 0.75 for four or
more appliances.
8 ranges × 3.5 kW each = 28 × 0.75 demand factor = 21 kVA
9. D – Reference Chapter 9, Annex D, Example D3
10. A – Balance the load by placing 4 fixtures and 2 fans on one circuit and 8
fixtures and one fan on the other as shown below:
LEG 1 LEG 2
4 Fixtures 5.8 amps 8 fixtures 11.2 amps
Fan 5.6 amps Fan 5.8 amps
Fan 5.6 amps
Total // 16.8 amps 16.8 amps

Reference // Electrician’s Exam Study Guide (Purchase at Amazon)