My journeyman told me to always torque the main lugs on a 200 amp panel to 250 inch-pounds, no exceptions.

I thought it was overkill for years until a service call in Tempe last Tuesday where a loose lug had cooked a bus bar. He was right, and I spent the whole afternoon replacing the panel. What's one piece of 'old school' advice that saved your bacon?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jennifer1mo ago

Yeah, my old foreman drilled into us to always pull a permit for a water heater swap, even the simple ones. I rolled my eyes until a city inspector red-tagged a whole basement finish because the homeowner had done an unpermitted swap that failed code. That was a very long, very expensive week.

hall.joel1mo ago

Sounds like a freak accident though. Most swaps go fine without all that red tape.

ellis.faith1mo ago

My grandpa always said to put a dab of never-seize on trailer hitch balls. Thought it was dumb until I saw a rusted one shear clean off on I-10.