Hi guys, brand new member looking for advice. I'm an experienced DIYer but definitely out of my depth with electrical so not looking to do this myself. However, I live on a Caribbean island where I need to be able to clearly explain what I want to the electrician or will get a 'standard' set up that doesn't meet my needs - and I need help knowing what to ask for so here I am. I also have to be my own 'code conscience' as there is no code or inspections here. Just as background I have received quotes so far that range from $4,000 - $10,000 for my setup with all kinds of different proposed configurations. Here's the situation, I am building a new house that has a 25kw transformer and plenty of spare panel capacity. I am looking to run a circuit to a dock to power a boat lift, lights and outlets. The boat lift can operate on a 220v or 110v circuit and I want to use 220v for a number of reasons, not least the fact that I need a 650 foot run from the house to the dock. The boat lift has 2x 3/4hp motors and the specs require a 15A breaker on a 220v circuit. It will only be run for a few minutes at a time and it's highly unlikely there would be any other demands on the circuit at the time. My 110v requirements will be permanently wired LED lights for both the dock and underwater lighting. They are designed to run on a regular 110v circuit (i.e. transformer built in) and total power draw if everything is on will be no more than about 700w so less than 7 amps. I'll have a couple of outlets for occasional use - phone chargers, or similar, but no big draw. Cable will be run underground in PVC conduit to the beach and then attached to the underside of the dock. I know I need THWN cable, and my plan is to run it in PVC as much as possible - i.e. attached to the underside of the dock as well as underground. I would like to avoid having any kind of box at the dock for security and because of the saltwater environment, but I'm not sure if that's possible with my 220v and 110v requirements. Switching will be from the house to allow power to be cut to the dock completely when not in use. So here are my questions: 1) Is there a way to safely have 220v and 110v without a breaker? It has been suggested that running cable with two hot wires will allow that to occur safely through a multi wire branch circuit but I'm getting conflicting opinions on that. 2) What gauge cable do I need for a 220v / 15a / 650 foot run? Again, more opinions than I can deal with and I need validation - I believe it should be 4 AWG but am happy to be educated. Also, I am being told by some I should use aluminum instead of copper - but no one can tell me why other than "it's better" (so that's helpful). I also have some quotes for 1,300 feet of cable - i.e. two runs and I have no idea why. 3) I'll put a GFCI breaker in at the house panel but assuming I should also have GFCI outlets on the dock? 4) What else should I be asking about / know that I'm too dumb to realize? Sorry for all the questions as soon as I get here, hopefully they're not too dumb! Thanks so much for reading this. Andy

We were replacing the old three way switches in our bathroom and cut off the old wires without noting which one went to the black screw. The switches control some lights which appear to be located between the two switches. One receptacle has two black and one red wire and the other receptacle has a black, white and red wires. Both receptacles have ground. How can I determine the correct wire to attach to the two black screws on the switch? Is it true it doesnt matter which of the other two wires are hooked to the two brass screws? Thanks in advance for any help!