💡Thought Shares

c/electricians

16

miles_hall•1mo ago

Had to choose between a $400 Fluke meter and a $80 Klein, I picked the Klein and here's why

So my old meter finally gave up after 8 years of abuse, dropped it off a ladder one too many times I guess. I went to the supply house last Wednesday and stood there for 20 minutes wrestling with whether to drop the cash on a Fluke T6-600 or just grab the Klein CL800. The Fluke guys in the truck were telling me I'd regret not spending the money, but I just couldn't justify it for residential service work. Grabbed the Klein for $82 and some change, been using it for a week now on three different service calls. It reads voltage just fine, the clamp works good on 200 amp panels, and honestly if it breaks in two years I can buy two more for what the Fluke cost. Has anyone else gone with the budget option and been surprised how well it works?

12

cora518•1mo ago

Pro tip: A customer made me realize I was overcomplicating panel labeling

I was swapping out a panel last Tuesday for a 70 year old lady in Oak Park. She watched me for a minute then said "why do you need all those numbers when the lights are right there?" I just laughed but then I started thinking about how I spend 20 minutes mapping circuits with a toner when I could just flip breakers and mark them by room. It hit me that quick visual labels make more sense for the homeowner anyway. Anyone else find a simpler way to label a panel that doesn't take forever?

8

piper_kim•1mo ago

Hit 2,000 hours of service calls this month and it finally clicked

I crossed 2,000 hours on my service van meter last Tuesday. That number surprised me because I started tracking just for tax reasons. Turns out I spent about 800 of those hours just driving between calls in the suburbs around Denver. It made me realize I should batch jobs by neighborhood way more carefully. Now I group three to four calls in the same area instead of taking random ones all over town. Has anyone else tried batching their route and seen a big change in time?

17

mia700•1mo ago

Why does nobody talk about how many electricians have tinnitus?

I was at a supply house last Tuesday and the guy behind the counter was saying how 3 out of 4 sparkies he knows have constant ringing in their ears. I looked it up later and the CDC says electricians have one of the highest rates of hearing loss among trades. Never thought about it until he mentioned it but now I'm noticing it everywhere. Anyone else deal with this or am I the only one who ignores earplugs too often?

13

amy_anderson•1mo ago

That time a homeowner argued with me about wire color for 20 minutes

I was doing a panel swap in a 1970s house up in Maplewood and this guy kept insisting the white wire going to a switch should be hot because his buddy told him so. Tried explaining code to him, showed him the nec book, and he still said I was wrong. He actually stood there and measured voltage from the white to ground and said see it's hot. Took me pulling out the switch and showing him the neutral bundle to finally shut him up. Has anyone else had a customer just refuse to believe what's in front of them?

3

danielnelson•1mo ago

Wasted $400 on a cheap conduit bender - don't make my mistake

I bought a no-name conduit bender off Amazon about 3 months ago, thinking I was saving a bundle. It was like $400 instead of the $800 for a Greenlee, and I figured hey, steel is steel, right? Wrong. The first few bends were okay, but after maybe 20 uses the handle started to wobble and the shoe got all scratched up. Then I had a 3-inch offset that came out at 47 degrees instead of 45, totally throwing off my run in a commercial job over on Oak Street. The foreman saw it and made me redo the whole thing, cost me 2 extra hours. I ended up buying the Greenlee anyway, so I lost that $400 plus the time. Has anyone else had luck with a cheaper bender or am I just an idiot?

5

marywilson•1mo ago

That apprentice's question about bonding jumped me off yesterday

He asked why we bother with the water pipe bond on a house with PEX and I ended up spending 45 minutes explaining how a metal water main can still energize through the street side, which made me realize I should teach these basics more often instead of just doing them.

4

tara642•1mo ago

That one Tuesday where I found 7 hidden junction boxes behind drywall in a single house

Was roughed in a rewire last month on a 1950s ranch in Denver and I swear every wall had some capped-off cluster of wires buried under fresh sheetrock, took me half the day just to find them all before we could even pull new runs, has anyone else dealt with that many surprises in one house?

15

miller.rowan•1mo ago

TIL I hit 10,000 feet of wire pulled this month and it hit me different

I was just keeping my head down running MC in a big warehouse job outside Denver and the tally came up yesterday. Has anyone else had that moment where the numbers sneak up on you and make you realize how much sweat went into them?

12

charlescraig•1mo ago

That journeyman in Phoenix told me my wire strippers were garbage

I was stripping 12 gauge Romex with the same cheap pair I had for 5 years until a guy on a commercial job pointed out all the nicks I was leaving in the copper. He handed me his Kleins and showed me how much cleaner a good tool cuts without scoring the wire. Has anyone else had to replace their go-to tool because a coworker made you look at your work differently?

10

quinncarr•1mo ago

Tried using a laser level for the first time on a job in Akron

I usually stick to my old bubble level but I gave a Bosch GLL 30 a shot last week on a kitchen remodel. Got the whole layout done in half the time but accidentally left it on for 2 hours and killed the batteries. Lesson learned - always pack spares or get the rechargeable one. Has anyone else switched to laser and hated going back?

17

diana617•1mo ago

I don't get the hate for push-in connectors on residential jobs

Last month I wired a whole basement remodel with Wagos because the homeowner wanted it done fast. Three years ago I would have twisted and taped every joint, but after 400+ connections not a single one has failed on me yet. Has anyone actually had a Wago fail in the field or is it just old-timers being stubborn?

9

karen_sanchez49•1mo ago

Pro tip: I was grounding water heaters wrong for years

I was at a job site in Austin last month and the inspector pointed out my grounding wire was wrapped around the cold water pipe instead of being bonded to both the hot and cold. Turns out I've been doing it that way since I started 6 years ago and nobody ever caught it. Has anyone else had a basic code rule they somehow missed for way too long?

11

joel_jones•1mo ago

Can we talk about the janky grounding job I saw at a grocery store in St. Louis last week

Whoever ran a bare copper wire across a drop ceiling and taped it to a sprinkler pipe should have their license pulled, has anyone else seen hack work like that in commercial spots?

18

corablack•2mo ago

Just realized I was stripping wire with the wrong notch on my strippers for 5 years

Was on a job at a house off Maple Street in Portland last week and a kid helper pointed out I was using the 12 gauge notch for 14 gauge wire. My cuts were always a little jagged but I figured that was normal. Anyone else have a basic tool habit they did backwards forever?

21

joel_clark37•2mo ago

Overheard a building inspector talking about AFCI breakers and jumped in

I was grabbing supplies at the supply house on Tuesday and overheard an inspector named Dave saying he's red-tagging every panel in the new subdivisions out east because guys are mixing up AFCI and GFCI requirements. He mentioned that one crew in Phoenix got hit with 12 violations on a single job site. Made me double check my own work and sure enough I found two breakers swapped in a panel I did three weeks ago. Has anyone else had close calls with those new code changes?

8

spencer782•2mo ago

Used to spend 45 mins finishing a panel cover...

Back when I started, I'd tape off every single breaker. Then wipe the whole can down. Took forever. My journeyman at the time said "stop wasting time, nobody cares." Now I just hit the cover with a dry rag. Customers never said a word about it. Anybody else streamline their panel finish work?

21

parker_palmer44•2mo ago

Hit 500 feet of 3/4 EMT in one shift and felt like a machine

I been running conduit for about 4 years now, mostly commercial jobs. Last Thursday we had a rush job at a strip mall near Tulsa and I just got in the zone. By the end of the day I bent and hung 500 feet of 3/4 inch EMT by myself. That's the most I ever done solo and it surprised me because usually my hands cramp up around 300. I was using a Milwaukee bender and didn't even stop for lunch. Any other guys track their footage or just me?

26

quinna89•2mo ago

Just found out arc flash boundaries are way bigger than I thought

I was looking up NFPA 70E stuff last night and saw the arc flash boundary for a 480v panel can be like 20 feet with high fault current... has anyone else actually measured theirs on a job site?

6

spencer981•2mo ago

Old master electrician showed me something on a service call back in 2015

I was working with this guy named Frank on a panel swap in an old house over in Oak Park. He must have been 65 and had been doing the trade since the 70s. He showed me how he bends conduit using nothing but his knee and a tape measure, no bender at all for small offsets. I thought he was messing with me until he did a perfect 30 degree bend in 10 seconds flat. He just said 'the book tells you one way, but your hands know another way.' It stuck with me because I still use that trick on tight attic jobs where you can't fit a bender. Any of you guys have an old timer show you a weird trick that actually works great?

7

murray.jana•2mo ago

Overheard a foreman say he fires guys who don't own a knee pad

Told the apprentice on my crew today that if his multimeter clips are busted he's getting sent home, and the kid looked at me like I had three heads, does anyone else treat basic tool maintenance as non-negotiable on site?

1

avery_jackson•2mo ago

Stop using push connectors on 3-way switches in old houses

Did a rewire on a 1950s house in Tacoma last month and kept getting intermittent flickering on a 3-way. Tried everything, new switches, new bulbs, checked neutrals. Finally swapped out the push connectors for backwired screw terminals and bam, problem solved. Those push connectors just don't hold tight enough on older wire that's got a bit of oxidation or stiffness. Anyone else run into this?

15

kelly638•2mo ago

Swapping to a torque screwdriver saved my wrist on a 50-panel job last month

I used to just muscle every terminal screw in by hand on commercial panels. After tightening about 40 breakers on a Square D 42-space panel, my wrist was killing me and I kept stripping brass screws. Picked up a Wiha torque screwdriver for like 60 bucks and set it to 20 in-lbs. The difference in consistency and speed was crazy, no more backing out to re-tighten. Has anyone else made the switch and found a specific brand they like?

7

anderson.piper•2mo ago

Can we talk about how much easier panel changes are now with those push-in breakers?

I remember doing a panel swap like 5 years ago on a 200 amp Square D in an old house and it took me most of a day just wrestling wires and screwing in breakers. Now with the new plug-on neutral panels and those push-in breakers, I did the exact same job last month in about 4 hours. Saves my fingers too, no more jamming a screwdriver at weird angles. The whole thing feels way cleaner and I get fewer callbacks for loose connections. Anyone else notice how much faster these new setups go compared to the old style?

2

avery_jackson•2mo ago

PSA: Check your wire nuts on old ceiling fans

Had a ceiling fan in a rental property short out yesterday in Phoenix. The previous guy used those little orange wire nuts on a 12-gauge circuit and one just crumbled when I touched it. Almost started a fire in the attic. Has anyone else run into these older plastic wire nuts getting brittle after a few years?