I was swapping out a ceiling fan in a house built in 1993 and the wire nut just crumbled when I twisted it... turns out the plastic gets super brittle after a few decades in the attic heat. Has anyone else run into old wire nuts failing like that mid-job?
He told me last spring after my third nuisance trip on a 200 amp panel in Phoenix that I was getting false readings from a bad connection, and sure enough that paste fixed the whole thing, has anyone else had an inspector flag them for skipping that step?
Back in 2018, a 60 year old master electrician named Gene in Denver told me to always pull one extra ground wire on every run. I thought he was just being old school, but three years later I had a job where a ground broke inside the conduit and that spare wire saved me a whole day of pulling new cable. Has anyone else had a mentor give advice that felt outdated but actually paid off big time?
Said they always fail eventually compared to the screw terminals, and it held up until a load kicked on and the wire just pulled loose has anyone else seen this happen often or is this guy just set in his ways?
Been fighting with a 100-foot run of 1-inch EMT for a week, kept getting stuck about 30 feet in. Tried lube, tried a fishtape, even tried a vacuum. Yesterday my old timer coworker told me to use a shop vac with a rag stuffed around the pull string at the far end to create a seal. Pulled the whole bundle of 3 10-gauge THHN through in about 10 minutes flat. Can't believe I wasted all that time when the solution was that simple. Anyone else got a weird trick for stubborn pulls?
Was wiring up a new GFCI in my own kitchen and the tester caught a bootleg ground that had me scratching my head for 20 minutes. Has anyone else had that weird buzzing sound from a miswired receptacle that sounded totally different than the tester indicated?
I've been slapping in standard breakers for years on bathroom and bedroom circuits. Thought AFCI was just code bloat to sell more parts. Then Jerry down the street had a drill bit nick a wire in his wall and the whole place almost went up. Fire chief said a regular breaker wouldn't have tripped in time. Now I swap them out on every panel I touch. Anyone else change their mind after seeing one actually work?
Went back and forth with my partner last Thursday after a job in Akron where aluminum would've saved us $180 on a 200 amp residential service. He swears by copper for reliability and ease, but the price difference makes me wonder if aluminum is fine for most houses these days. What's your take on using aluminum vs copper for main feeders in residential work?
I was swapping out a faulty breaker in a panel at an old house over on Oak Avenue and my fiberglass ladder slipped on some wet concrete. I caught myself on the wall stud and only dropped my screwdriver, but it shook me up enough to double check everything. Anyone else have a close call that changed the way you set up ladders?
I had a call last Thursday in a house over in Wichita where the panel was from 1972. Everyone online says you gotta rip out anything old and replace with new AFCI/GFCI stuff. But that old Square D QO breaker still tripped like a champ when we needed it to, saved the homeowner from a short in their basement wiring. Has anyone else found older breakers that just work better than some of the new ones you see failing after a year?
Had a 7am residential call for a tripping AFCI breaker, traced it to a chewed wire in a crawlspace full of mouse droppings and standing water. Took me 4 hours to fix what should have been a 45 minute job. Has anyone else had a week where every simple call turns into a disaster like that?
Last Tuesday I was swapping out a ceiling fan in a 70s house in Denver and the wire nut literally crumbled in my hand, so now I always pack a tube of Noalox and some twist-on connectors rated for aluminum just in case - anyone else run into this on remodels?
I rolled up to a service call in a 70s ranch house outside Austin. The homeowner said lights flickered and a few outlets just quit. I popped the first cover plate and saw it right away, every single outlet was backstabbed with those little push-in holes. I counted 27 outlets in that place and every one had at least one loose connection. The kitchen circuit was so bad the neutral wire just slid out when I touched it. I spent the whole day swapping them over to screw terminals and pigtailing the boxes. Who actually thinks those backstabs are a good idea for a long term install? Has anyone else run into a whole house full of them?
Spent 45 minutes chasing a dead leg on a resi panel in Austin last Tuesday before I realized the main was tripped, has anyone else wasted time on something that simple?
I was at a supply house yesterday waiting for an order and this guy in line was telling his friend he didn't need a permit for a panel upgrade because he was just swapping parts. Just swapping parts. I hear stuff like that more often lately and it really bothers me. A panel swap is a major change and skipping the inspection means nobody catches bad work or unsafe conditions. Has anyone else noticed more homeowners trying to DIY major electrical work like this?
I was out at a strip mall near Camelback last week doing a service call and noticed the grounding rods on like 4 units were totally corroded. These places were built in the 80s and nobody ever checked them. One of them had a ground reading over 25 ohms which is just asking for trouble with today's electronics. Has anyone else run into this issue on older properties in their area?
I was finishing up a panel swap in a 1980s house yesterday near Austin, and one of the new AFCI breakers just... didn't trip. I had a dead short on a circuit from a nail through a wire, and the breaker stayed on for a good 10 seconds before I flipped it manually. The wire was glowing red hot by then. I checked it with a meter after - the breaker was brand new, a Siemens model from a batch I got at the supply house 2 weeks ago. I called the manufacturer and they told me there's a known issue with a batch of them not sensing arcing faults correctly. Have any of you dealt with bad AFCI breakers from a specific lot number recently?
For like 10 years I just grabbed my strippers and yanked, always nicked a few strands on 12 gauge. A guy I worked with on a job in Bakersfield last month showed me to twist the wire back and forth while pulling the stripper off. It leaves the copper perfect every time. Anyone else learn a basic trick way later than they should have?
I bought one of those smart load center panels from a startup company about 6 months ago. Figured it would help me monitor circuits remotely for this big remodel in Austin. The app crashes every other day and the WiFi module died within 3 months. Customer service told me to reset it 12 times before they admitted it's a known issue. Anyone else get burned by these internet-connected panels yet?
I mean, I spent years second-guessing every weird reading because the book said one thing. But after 1000 calls in Phoenix last summer, I started trusting my Fluke meter more than the schematic and fixed a 3-phase issue in 10 minutes that would've taken me an hour before. Anybody else hit a number where something just clicked?
I had to wire up a living room last Tuesday and couldn't decide between old work boxes and the plastic cut-in style for the switches. I went with the cut-in boxes but one came loose after I put the drywall screws in too tight. Do any of you have a clear winner for existing walls?
Had a brand new house last month where the breaker for the kitchen receptacles kept tripping. Spent 4 hours chasing my tail checking every outlet and junction box, everything looked clean. Finally pulled the island plug and found a loose screw had been pinching the ground wire against the box during install. That little oversight took me 6 hours total to find, on a job that should have been done in 2. Anyone else had a simple defect eat up an entire day like that?
I stopped by a site I used to work at back in 2009, a big warehouse conversion downtown. Back then every guy on my crew had a pair of Klein lineman's on their hip, it was like a uniform. This time I counted 12 guys on the floor and not one of them had them. Everyone is carrying these fancy multi-tools or battery crimpers now. I even asked a young guy about it and he said he never learned to twist a splice, he just uses push-in connectors for everything. It kind of threw me off because I still use my old lineman's for anything from bending conduit to pulling staples. Has anyone else noticed the trade losing some of those older hand tools?
Walked into Brew & Grind on 4th street last week and noticed their outlets are all daisy-chained with those cheap 15-amp receptacles. Got me thinking about how often we overlook basic code compliance in older buildings getting a fresh coat of paint. Has anyone else spotted something sketchy in a local business and had to decide whether to say something?