Last month I pulled a panel cover in an older house near Portland and found the entire back of the bus bar charred black, but the homeowner swore nothing was wrong. Two days later another call where a junction box had been arcing inside a wall for weeks and nobody noticed until the smoke came through the drywall.
Man, I was that guy who used push-in connectors on every junction box for like 3 years straight. Thought they saved time and were just as good as screw terminals. Then last fall I got called to a house in Portland where a push-in had arced out inside a ceiling box, melted the wire nut and almost started a real fire. The homeowner said they heard popping for a week before calling. Now I only use push-in connectors on solid wire in lighting fixtures or ceiling fans, never on 12 or 10 gauge in walls or outlets. I strip and wrap everything else on the screw terminal with the loop going clockwise. Has anyone else had push-in connectors fail on them, or am I just paranoid now?
Been an electrician for about 4 years now and I always stripped wire with my lineman's pliers or a cheap hand stripper. Then last month I was on a job in Austin rewiring a whole house and the old timer I was working with handed me a self-adjusting wire stripper. I thought it was dumb at first but I used it for a couple pulls and it cut my time by half on each box. I was stripping 12 and 14 gauge by feel and messing up the copper all the time. Now I barely touch a pair of lineman's for stripping unless it's some weird situation. Has anyone else had a tool they ignored for years that turned out to be way better?
Spent 45 minutes trying to get a red wire nut to hold on three 10s in a j-box today, kept spinning loose no matter how hard I twisted. Learned the hard way that you gotta pretwist the copper tails on anything over 12 gauge or you're just wasting time - anyone else run into this?
I stopped by an old building on 42nd Street last week to help a buddy with a light fixture. Place was built in the 20s and they still had those old screw-in fuse panels in the basement. Got me thinking about how different things were when I first started... We used to pull wire through knob and tube without a second thought. Now everything has to be arc-fault and tamper-proof. Any of you guys run into old systems that make you stop and remember how far we've come?
I thought spending $400 on a meter was a waste when you could get a Klein for $60. My journeyman handed me his Fluke 87V to troubleshoot a VFD that kept tripping. I spent three days chasing a ghost with my cheap meter. Turns out his Fluke caught a 2 volt transient my meter didn't even register. Replaced the drive and never had the issue again. Bought my own Fluke the next week and it's still working 12 years later. Any of you guys had a cheap tool cost you more time than it was worth?
Wasted 6 months chasing phantom hot spots on a commercial panel in Phoenix before I borrowed my buddy's Flir and realized my cheap camera was reading 95°F when the real temp was 110°F, has anyone else had a cheap thermal tool lead them down a wrong path?
Honestly, after 8 years in the trade I just passed 500 residential calls in my truck with zero callbacks for a mistake, and my foreman actually stopped to say 'good work' which surprised me more than the milestone itself. Anyone else keep a tally or just forget about them once the job is done?
Back in '98 when I was green, we used to run BX cable through everything and now it's all NM-B with AFCI breakers required in every bedroom, and the old sparky who taught me would probably cuss out the inspector for even bringing up arc faults, but honestly after seeing what old cloth wire does to a house fire risk I get why they changed it, anyone else notice how different the code book feels every 5 years?
Last month I bought one of those high-end multi-function toner tracers thinking it would save me time tracking down a short in a finished basement. Spent almost 3 hours following the signal and it kept jumping all over the place. Turned out my old analog toner I had in the truck for 10 years found the break in 10 minutes flat. Anyone else had bad luck with those digital tracers?
I was swapping out an old outlet in my sister's kitchen last Saturday and noticed the GFCI was tripping every time she ran the dishwasher and microwave together. Looked it up and found out a single GFCI can handle up to 20 amps, but most people don't check the load. Turns out her circuit was pulling 19.7 amps at peak, which is right on the edge of the breaker rating. Has anyone else run into hidden overloads like this after a simple outlet swap?
I was helping on a big remodel in a church basement outside Cleveland, and this old timer showed up to swap a 200 amp panel. He used nothing but Wagos for the whole thing, no wire nuts at all. I always thought Wagos were for light fixtures or quick repairs, but watching him land 30 circuits in about 20 minutes changed my mind. Anyone else ditch the twist-on connectors after seeing a pro run with push-ins?
He said I was using the wrong color for 12-gauge solid and showed me how to pre-twist ends like he's been doing since the 70s. Anyone else have an old timer call you out on something you thought was fine?
Was swapping out an old outlet at a house built in the 70s. Pulled the cover off and there it was - a rusty flathead just sitting in there, probably from 1985. Gave me a solid laugh before I tossed it in my scrap pile. Anybody else find random tools in weird spots on the job?
I was swapping out an old outlet in a 1970s house and the breaker just lit up when I flipped it back on, no signs of damage before that. The wire looked fine but the bus bar had some black marks I didn't notice at first. Was this just old equipment failing or did I miss something obvious in my check?
Last month I posted asking about tapping off an existing subpanel for a new shed run. This old timer in the comments told me I was reading the code wrong and my wire sizing was off for the voltage drop over 180 feet. I brushed him off at first lol but then I actually measured the run and checked 310.15(B)(3)(a). He was dead right. I would've undersized the conductors by two gauges and probably had a fire hazard within a year. Has anyone else gotten a reality check from a forum comment that saved their bacon?
I spent 3 years jamming the same purple wire nuts onto every switch I installed, until last month a senior guy saw me doing it and laughed. He said those are meant for aluminum wire, not copper. Have you ever used the wrong connector for years without knowing it?
I switched to a veto pro pac and can actually fit a whole day's worth of tools without it sagging. Has anyone else ditched the cheap bags and seen a real difference on site?
I was doing a panel swap at a house in Denver and my helper asked why I was nicking the copper so bad. I been using my lineman's pliers to strip 12 gauge for a decade and always had tiny cuts in the wire. He handed me his Klein auto strippers and I couldnt believe how clean it came out. Took me like 20 seconds to get used to the action but now I feel dumb for fighting with my old method all these years. The stripped wire looked brand new and went into the breaker way smoother. Has anyone else dealt with realizing your basic technique was trash after watching someone younger show you a better way?
He told me to just wrap electrical tape around the nut and squeeze it tight before twisting it on. I tried it on a junction box last Tuesday and the nut spun right off when I tugged the wires an hour later. Anyone else ever have a relative give you a shortcut that ended up causing more work?
Had a customer in Denver insist on them for a whole kitchen remodel, and after spending 45 minutes trying to get a dimmer switch to sit flush without the screws, I switched back to regular plates on every job after that, anyone else run into alignment issues with those things?
I just realized that's basically 38 miles of running wire through conduit in the last 5 years and it kinda blew my mind, has anyone else ever tracked how much wire they've pulled over a career?
I had a day last Tuesday that made me question everything. Went to replace a three-way switch in a house near Denver, simple 15 minute job turned into 3 hours because the previous guy used the common terminal as a traveler. Then my voltage tester died halfway through, and I dropped a screw into the carpet. Has anyone else ever run into a switch that was wired so wrong it didn't even make sense?
Had a rough patch last month where I was lucky to get 1 panel change done in a day. Between bad weather and crappy wire management from the 70s it was brutal. Yesterday hit three houses in a row, all neat old work, and I was back home by 5. Anyone else find their pace just suddenly clicks after a slump?