c/electricians

Shoutout to the journeyman who watched me wire a 3-way switch backwards for 2 years before finally speaking up

I was consistently getting callbacks on switch boxes where travelers were landing on common and it was a guy from a different crew who casually pointed it out after seeing me do it on a remodel at the Miller Street project, so did you figure out your biggest blunder through someone else's observation or by finally reading the damn manual yourself?

Just realized a loose neutral can mess with your whole afternoon

I was troubleshooting a flickering light in a house off Elm Street last Tuesday. Pulled the switch and found a loose neutral on the backstab connection, barely hanging on. Tightened it up and the flicker stopped, but then the owner said her microwave had been acting weird too. Checked the panel and same issue, loose neutral on the breaker. You ever find one loose connection and then start finding them everywhere?

Just noticed how many new guys ignore grounding rods on residential jobs

Last week I was on a new build in a suburb outside Austin and I saw two different apprentices skip the full grounding rod install. They just drove it in a few inches and called it good because the inspector wasn't coming for another week. I had to stop and show them how to use the clamp properly and make sure the rod was all the way in. This is the third time in the last month I've caught someone trying to rush through this step. I get that we're all under pressure to finish fast but grounding is one thing you don't cut corners on. Have you guys noticed more of this slipping through on newer crews?

Had to choose between a new panel or a subpanel for that old house on Maple Street

I was working on a 1950s house last month and the owner wanted to add a mini-split and a hot tub. The old 100 amp panel was already maxed out. I told them we could either spend $2,800 on a full panel upgrade to 200 amps or just add a 60 amp subpanel for $900. They went with the subpanel to save money. Now I'm dealing with a main breaker that keeps tripping when both the AC and the hot tub kick on at the same time. Anyone else have to talk a homeowner into the bigger job and fail?

Caught a hot neutral on a 3-way install in Phoenix last week

I was wiring up a simple 3-way switch setup in a house built in 1978. Thought I had the power killed but my tick tracer lit up on the neutral wire when I touched it. Turns out someone had tied the switch leg into the neutral bundle in the box about 20 years ago. Took me an hour of tracing wires to figure out where the phantom voltage was coming from. Has anyone else run into bootleg neutrals in your older job sites?

That day last month when a whole panel swap went perfect and I finished 3 hours early

Ngl, I was dreading this 200 amp upgrade at an old house in Portland because those always have some hidden mess, but every wire pulled clean and the inspector passed it on first look. Has anyone else had a job just fall into place like that?

Swapped from wire nuts to Wagos on a big job and I'm never going back

I was rewiring a 40-unit apartment building in Denver last month and decided to try Wago lever nuts on half the circuits while using wire nuts on the other half... the Wagos took me maybe 30 seconds per connection versus 2 minutes with twisting and taping. By the end of the project I saved about 6 hours of labor total. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a big difference in speed?

I was reading the 2023 NEC and found something about AFCI requirements that blew my mind

I was looking through the new code book a buddy left at the shop last Tuesday and saw that basically every room in a house now needs AFCI protection. I thought it was just bedrooms and living areas but they added kitchens and laundry rooms too. Has anyone else run into this on a recent rough-in and had to go back and swap breakers? I'm trying to figure out if the inspectors near me are actually enforcing it yet.

Why I think spending big on a greenlee 555 is a waste

I dropped $900 on a Greenlee 555 bender last year thinking it would be the best thing for my conduit work. Honestly my old manual bender from Klein does the same job for most runs under 1 inch and it never jams up on me. The 555 is great for big jobs but for everyday residential work it just sits in the truck. Has anyone else felt like the hype on these powered benders is overblown?

Picked a $20 Klein screwdriver over a $5 cheap one last month when my helper's broke in a panel

The cheap one stripped out on the second junction box and I had to finish the whole house rough-in with just the Klein, honestly feel like I should've tossed the budget set years ago, has anyone else had a cheap tool just totally fall apart mid-job?

Rant: Last Tuesday was the worst day I've had on the job in 20 years

I was doing a service upgrade in an old house near Topeka and hit a live knob and tube wire that wasn't marked on any print. Took me 4 hours to safely isolate it and rewire around it, lost a full day's pay on the quote. Has anyone else run into surprise cloth wiring in old homes that wasn't in the inspection report?

That $200 Milwaukee band saw blade snapped after 3 cuts on brite line conduit

Picked up a new 44-7/8 inch blade for my deep cut band saw at the supply house last Wednesday. Third cut into some 3/4 inch EMT and the teeth just gave up, blade twisted and snapped. Took it back to the counter and the guy tried telling me it was user error from too much pressure. I call BS on that, I've been using these saws for 10 years and that blade was garbage from the factory. Has anyone else had a brand new blade fail that fast?

Walked into a new build yesterday and counted 14 smurf tubes stuffed into one 2x4 stud bay

Some apprentice must have been having a rough day because there was no way that was passing inspection. Have you guys seen a lot of builders pushing the limits on conduit fill lately?

I finally had to pick between stranded and solid for a big job and almost wrecked the whole panel

Went with stranded on a 200 amp panel swap in a warehouse near Austin last week because I thought it'd be easier to pull, but the terminals kept loosening up on me after I'd already torqued them down and I ended up having to redo 12 connections - has anyone else dealt with stranded wire pulling loose on lug-style breakers?

Unpopular opinion: Using a tone tracer on live circuits saved me way more time than following lockout procedures on a remodel last month

Okay, I know this sounds bad, but hear me out. I was working on this old house from the 50s over in Springfield, wiring was all over the place, no labels on anything in the panel. I needed to find which breaker fed this outlet in the kitchen so I could run a new line without killing power to the whole floor. The boss wanted me to shut down the whole panel and label everything after three tries of flipping breakers and checking what went dark. But I got impatient. I grabbed my Klein tone tracer and ran it hot on the wire. Found the right breaker in like two minutes flat. No shorts, no zaps, nothing. But I know the safety guys would flip out if they knew. So is it really that bad if you know what you're doing? Or am I just asking for trouble later? Anyone ever get burned on a live tracer job?

Can we talk about the old way we used to fish wire through finished walls

I was running a new circuit in a 1960s house last week and realized my old steel fish tape was way better than those modern glow rods... the flexibility just ain't the same anymore. Spent 45 minutes fighting that fiberglass stick before I gave up and dug the old tape out of the van, got it done in 10 minutes flat. Anybody else notice the newer tools just don't hold up like the stuff we started with?

Best week ever or worst week ever? Let me tell you about my Tuesday.

Last Tuesday I had a call to swap out a breaker panel in a 1920s house in Pasadena. Took one look at the old Federal Pacific and figured it'd be a 4 hour job tops. Three hours later I found knob and tube hiding behind some drywall, a corroded neutral bar, and the homeowner asking if I could 'just patch it up' until next month. By 5pm I'd finished the panel swap, found 2 hidden junction boxes, and walked out with a $1200 check. Same day, different sides of the trade. Anyone else have a day that swung both ways like that?

Debate: Should we charge extra for old knob and tube removals or bundle it in the quote?

Last month I had a job in a 1920s house in Oak Park where the homeowner was cool with me pulling all the old knob and tube for an extra $400. But then last week, another customer got super upset when I added it as a separate line item halfway through the job. Some guys I know say always bundle it upfront to avoid sticker shock, others say itemize so they know what they're paying for. What do you guys do when you run into old wiring that needs to come out?

I finally got hit by a floating neutral last Friday

I was troubleshooting a flickering light in a 1950s house in Columbus, and found a loose neutral in the main panel that was arcing against the box. It took me two hours to track down because the voltage readings kept jumping around. Has anyone else dealt with a floating neutral that acted intermittent like that?

That 3-way switch setup in an old house took me 5 hours last Tuesday

Got a call for a light in a hallway that wouldn't turn off right. Old Victorian in Asheville. No neutral in the boxes. Had to trace the whole loop with a toner because someone used 3 different colors for travelers. Pulled my hair out for 4 hours before I found a junction box buried behind drywall. Another hour to rewire it clean. Ended up labeling everything with tape and a sharpie just to be safe. Anyone else run into nightmare old knob and tube retrofits?

Warning: cheap LED dimmers burned out on me after 2 weeks

I picked up some no-name LED dimmer switches off Amazon for a job in a rental house last month. They were half the price of the name brand ones so I figured why not. After two weeks the tenant called saying lights were flickering and one switch actually got hot to the touch. I pulled them out and found melted plastic inside the switch box. Now I only use Lutron or Leviton dimmers even if they cost more. Has anyone else seen cheap dimmers fail like this on a job?

Strip screw terminals on a GFCI the wrong way once and never again after a call back in Atlanta.

Was at a house off Briarcliff Rd last month. Homeowner said the GFCI in the laundry room kept tripping randomly. Pulled it out and saw the wires were wrapped half under the screw with like 1/4 inch of copper showing past the terminal. That's how I used to do em too. Now I use the backwire holes on the Leviton ones. Never had a tripping call since. Anyone else had trouble with wrap around on GFCIs?

Spent $180 on a pair of Knipex wire strippers and they paid for themselves in a week

I was burning through the cheap blue handled strippers from the hardware store every few months. Finally dropped $180 on the Knipex auto strippers last month after my third pair broke mid job. First week I had them I did a 400 amp service change and stripped every wire without a single nick. The time savings alone made them worth it. Anyone else find one tool that just made you wonder why you waited so long?

That one inspector in Des Moines who told me to stop using wire nuts on aluminum

He handed me a packet of AlumiConn connectors after failing my panel inspection, and I have to admit they work way better. Has anyone else had to completely swap out their termination method after a failed inspection?

My apprentice asked me why we still use the old way to test for voltage on a three-phase system.