We had a friend come to us the other day wanting to find a replacement for an old Square D relay.

Square D relay??? Man, that system is from the ’50s. This seemed like it might be impossible, but actually, it’s not. Back in the 50’s, Square D sold some(or all, not 100% sure) of its low voltage line to Pass&Seymour. Pass and Seymour manufacture the modern version of this relay in the 1070B. The old Square D catalog number was 1070A.

Anyway, as you can see from the picture below, the 1070A and B are virtually identical. The only real difference is that the 1070B has a slightly larger shaft, but with its thinner nylon retaining ring, it should fit in the panel as intended. On the inside, the upgrades are somewhat more significant. The old 1070A was AC only. The 1070B can differentiate AC/DC, and the new relay can handle 20Amps, while the old one was rated at 15.

Check out our link to the right (MyElectric) to purchase this relay.

Recessed wall receptacle helps when using kitchens appliances, such as a refrigerator, microwave, stove-top, warming drawer, etc… have minimum back wall space. Our new cabinet depth (24″ deep) refrigerator measures 25-1/2″. To slide tightly up against the back wall, we used a recessed clock receptacle for the power and a recessed water line dispenser for the ice maker. Both of these recessed far enough into the wall for the both connections to be in the wall.

The water line dispenser for the ice maker was easy to find at our local plumbing wholesaler or Home Depot, but the clock receptacle was harder than that. Most refrigerators come with a 5–6ft cord end. The cord end sometimes comes with an angled plug. The problem is that the angle of the cord does not plug into a standard clock receptacle. The answer was a Leviton Duplex device that was longer in recessed length to accommodate the angled cord.