I swapped out a junction box on a 220v AC unit last month and used Wagos instead of wire nuts. The heat buildup was noticeable after 20 minutes, so I switched back to nuts and it stayed cool. Anyone else see this on high amp circuits?
Older guy on a job in Cleveland told me to stop using wire nuts on solid wire and start using Wagos instead. He said I was spending too much time twisting and taping. I switched about a year ago and I haven't looked back, saves me maybe 10 minutes per box. Any other small tool changes that made a big difference for you?
Warehouse in Charlotte, 30 foot ceilings. I needed to change out 12 ballasts. My gut said rent a scaffold but the boss said just use the ladder. I spent 4 hours moving that thing around, almost fell twice. The scaffold wouldve saved me 2 hours easy and my back wouldnt hate me today. How do you guys usually decide which one to use for high ceiling work?
I was stripping down a junk water heater from a 1980s house in Cleveland last Tuesday, and I decided to weigh the copper lines and valve assembly out of curiosity. It came to 4.7 pounds of clean copper, which at scrap prices is around $18 - way more than I expected from something that small. Has anyone else ever weighed the copper out of an old appliance and been surprised?
Had a service call last Wednesday at a strip mall in Gary. The main breaker on a 400 amp panel was arcing bad, smelled like burnt plastic soon as I opened the door. Turns out the 4/0 aluminum feeder was only hand tight on one phase from the last guy. I torqued it to 275 in-lbs per the sticker and rechecked the other two, they were way loose too. Anyone else find loose lugs on brand new gear or is it just the older stuff?
I know everyone swears by wire nuts, but after doing 15 panel swaps last month alone, Wagos save me so much time. No twisted copper, no tugging to check, just push and go. Anyone else switch over and not look back?
I was rewiring a house built in 1971 last month. Read online that the special AlumiConn paste would make splices safe. Applied it to every junction box. Two weeks later the homeowner called saying lights flickered. Opened it back up and found corrosion already forming on three connections. Learned the hard way that paste is only for certain conditions, not all. Has anyone else had this stuff fail on them?
I was on a job last week in an 1890s house and the homeowner wanted to rip out all the old knob and tube. I told him it's a fire hazard, standard advice. But then his 80 year old uncle showed up, retired electrician, and said knob and tube is fine if the insulation isn't cracked and it's not overloaded. He ran it for 50 years without a problem. Now I'm second guessing how quick I am to condemn it. Anyone else had an old timer change your mind on something?
I was putting in a 100A subpanel for my garage workshop and had to decide between copper and aluminum for the feed. Copper was gonna run me like $450 for the 50ft run, but aluminum was only around $120. I ended up going with aluminum since I could use the extra cash for more outlets and lighting. Just made sure to use Noalox on all the connections and torque everything to spec. It's been 2 months now and no issues at all. Anyone else use aluminum feeders for their garage or shop builds?
I pulled into the shop parking lot after my last job yesterday and checked my work phone. Turned out that was call number 1,000 for the year. I just sat there for a minute honestly. Started doing residential service work back in February and never really kept count. But seeing that number pop up made me realize how many kitchens and bathrooms I have been inside this year. From a lady in Santa Fe who had a light switch wired to her garbage disposal to a guy in Albuquerque who wanted three phase put in his garage for a CNC machine. It has been a lot of miles and a lot of panel swaps. Anyone else ever hit a weird milestone like that and feel kind of surprised by it?
Been dreading this job for weeks. Old 1960s Pushmatic panel in a downtown diner, had to swap it out before their health inspection next month. Took me and my apprentice about 9 hours total, but we got it done without cutting power to the kitchen for more than 45 minutes. The owner bought us lunch, a bacon cheeseburger that actually hit the spot. Anyone else have a panel swap that took way longer than you planned?
I was trimming out a new residential build over in Arlington last spring and the foreman walks over and yanks a wire nut off a splice I just finished. He held it up and said I was over-tightening and risking breaking the copper strands. I honestly thought tighter was always better for a solid connection. He showed me a dozen failed joints he'd seen where the strands snapped right at the nut from people cranking down too hard. Now I twist until the conductors start to bind together, then stop. I also switched to using the pre-twist method he recommended before capping. Has anyone else had a bad habit they had to break after someone pointed it out on the job?
I was working on a rewire in a 1960s ranch house in Phoenix last Tuesday and kept fighting with the low pitch in the attic. Couldn't get my drill in straight to bore holes through the top plates. On a whim I grabbed a 18 inch long 1/2 inch flexible bit extension from my Milwaukee kit and it let me angle the drill way back while still getting a clean hole. Saved me at least 45 minutes on that part of the run. Any of you guys ever use those long flex bits for awkward spots like that?
I did a full house rewire last month in Austin and decided to try Wago lever nuts on half of it and old school twist nuts on the other half. The Wago side went way faster, like probably saved me 3 hours total just from not having to twist and tape. But I'm wondering if anyone's seen them fail long term. The old timers at my shop swear they're garbage but I'm sold on the speed.
I was at Lowe's picking up some 12/2 last Saturday and this older guy maybe 70 stops me. He saw me struggling with a pair of strippers and says 'kid, you're overthinking it.' He grabbed my linesman's and stripped a clean inch off in one motion no nicks at all. Now I save maybe 10 minutes per job and my hands don't hurt as bad at the end of the day. Has anyone else gotten a trick from a stranger that actually stuck?
I was skeptical about spending extra on those diagnostic GFCI outlets for the sump pump circuit, but after finding one tripped due to a tiny nick in the wire insulation during a storm last night, I'm a believer. The water never even got a chance to rise because the outlet caught the fault before the pump could short out. Has anyone else had a cheap component fail in a way that cost them more in the long run?
Everyone in my crew swore by the hammer tacker for Romex. So I dropped $280 on the M12 stapler thinking it'd save time. First two floors went fine, then it jammed so bad I had to take it apart on a ladder in a 95 degree attic. Learned that tool is great for open walls but useless when you're working in tight spaces. Anybody else had better luck with theirs?
I was wiring a house up in North Carolina last week and the panel ended up behind a bathroom door that swings inward, making it a real pain to work on, and has anyone else noticed builders doing this more often lately?
New construction house, kept tripping the breaker on a lighting circuit. Finally found it after ripping open three junction boxes, just a loose neutral that was barely touching. Anyone else had a simple fix turn into a half day headache?
I always hated dealing with MC but he showed me this trick with a roto-splitter and now I'm actually faster on my rough-ins in Fresno. Has anyone else switched up their go-to cable just based on a random tip like that?
I always told homeowners to rip out all aluminum wiring. Then I had coffee last month with a retired electrician named Don who worked on houses from the 60s and 70s. He showed me photos of solid copper connections he'd seen corrode worse than any aluminum splice he'd fixed. Said the problem was never the wire itself, just bad installation and dissimilar metals. He had a point. I still prefer copper but I'm not as quick to condemn the aluminum stuff anymore. Has anyone else worked with houses where the aluminum wiring actually held up fine for decades?
Did a full rewire on a 12-unit building downtown. Installed Siemens arc faults on every circuit like code says. Had 8 nuisance trips in the first week. Tenants were pissed, landlord was calling me every day. Spent hours swapping them out for regular breakers and adding AFCIs at the panel instead. After that, zero trips in 3 months. I get the safety thing but these things are way too sensitive for older wiring. Anyone else find a brand that actually works without false tripping?
I was in a rush last month wiring a subpanel in a garage remodel and figured my old Fluke was fine, but I grabbed a cheap no-name multimeter I'd bought online for a quick continuity check. It read 120 volts on a line I knew was dead, so I touched the bare wire and got a nasty tingle that threw me back into the drywall. Turns out the meter's leads had bad insulation and it was giving false readings. You have any horror stories from bargain bin tools that almost got you killed?
I used wire nuts for 10 years straight, thought they were the only way to go. Then I did a service call in a condo where the homeowner had swapped everything to lever nuts. At first I thought it was lazy, but after fighting with a tight box that had 6 wires in it, I realized how much easier they made changes. Now I'm torn because wire nuts are cheaper and I trust them more for solid copper, but lever nuts save so much time on rewiring. What do you all use day to day and why?
I bought this brand new automatic wire stripper last month thinking it would speed up my rough-ins. Paid $200 for it from an online supplier. First job I took it to was a kitchen remodel in Denver and the thing kept jamming on 12 gauge romex. It stripped the insulation wrong half the time and actually nicked the copper on two runs. I spent more time fiddling with it than just using my old strippers. Called the company and they said I can't return it because it was used. So now it's sitting in my truck, a $200 paperweight. Has anyone else fell for one of those fancy tools that just made things worse?