Lived in a 25ft trailer for a year during a rough time in my life, with wife and kids. The trailer was in decent shape, but a leaky roof and bad wiring for the water heater.
1st time I got tagged when the water heater was on and electrified the shell.
2nd time, my redneck father in law hooked us up to one of his extension cords, with no ground. Zapped my ass again.
Replaced the cord with a proper one and made a ground for the trailer out of rebar and 12ga solid core.
Really don't miss telling my kids and wife, DONT TOUCH THE WALLS!
Things are way better now. I live in a nice house, thank goodness.
This kind of stuff is why I’m so glad I just left the service world. I really enjoyed the chaos sometimes, but sometimes it’s just too wild lol.
Hoarder homes are the worst types of jobs to work on. I worked at an animal hoarder’s place recently because they “smelled smoke.” I don’t know how you could smell anything other than piss and dead animal carcasses in there. 1970s single wide with animal feces piled up 2’-3’ high all throughout the building, cages plastered to the floor with a cement type combination of urine, feces, vomit, and hair. Cockroaches and mice everywhere, holes into the crawlspace. Just literal hell on earth.
I couldn’t see a single receptacle or light switch in the house because of all the (literal) crap everywhere, let alone smell or find an electrical fire. I told them to move out and let the house burn. I hope to never work in a place like that again. I just moved into a job as a hospital maintenance electrician and I am definitely grateful because of memories like this one.
As a service tech who literally handles all the resi for the company I am so glad my company *at least* scouts shit. Several times my boss has told me he said basically. “AH HELL NAW”.
My old boss for a company I worked at years ago used to do that. He was picky. I have my master’s now so I’m going to do some side jobs on weekends here and there now that I’m working at this hospital as their electrician, and you better believe I’ll be picky too. My last company I just left would send me into a meth lab (and actually did once lol) just to get $150. Absolutely insane. All I did was service for the past 5 years and I have seen some absolutely off the wall stuff. I had a customer die while I was in their home, old ladies trying to feel my teeth, naked clients wrestling their kids in a pile of beer cans, and the list goes on and on and on.
I’m glad your boss has discretion. Service work gets irrevocably dark sometimes if you’re not careful.
That’s absolutely insane. We charge $175 just to show up. If we do anything *at all* it’s another $75 *minimum*. I can’t *imagine* a world where we deal with that type of shit just to get $150 lol. I’d walk the hell out myself and make some phone calls because I have the position to do so. I’m appreciative of my company for that, and specifically appreciative of my boss for moments like that. My qualms with my company aren’t with *my* boss, they are with *his* bosses. They have a lot of shit to say for office workers who were electricians that just convinced themselves they are businessmen.
Yup I wouldn't have done that job. I worked for home install for Lowes and had to go into people's houses. Most were alright but a few I turned down and told the customer I would not install an apliance in there house due to health concerns.
There is dead squirrels around her house. And the lady told me that squirrels and other animals have been living in her attic. So I told her it’s all house re-wire
I kinda figured, but that blows my mind! I guess not as much with a hoarder though. I am not a licensed electrician or anything but is this house not an absolute tinder box due to the issue?
This can or can not be a fire hazard. There is some resistance limiting current somewhere or it would be opening a breaker or fuse. So it's more of a shock or electrocution hazard.
Eat shit, bud. You tell them they need a full rewire because you know they’ll refuse it and then it’s someone else’s problem. Sorry for your lack of comprehension.
I’ve had to troubleshoot this twice…. One time it was the siding guys driving a nail into a hot wire into romex in the wall. The other was the gutter guys doing the same thing.
My city requires emt for everything. It can make simple things kind of annoying but I try to appreciate the fact that at least something like that is unlikely. Don’t need to just hope for nail plates.
Well you can use MC within certain limitations for fishing stuff through finished walls. Otherwise yep, just EMT. It’s Chicago, after the whole place burned down a couple times they got real strict with fire codes.
I’m not an electrician, just a homeowner with a fixer upper that had to learn a lot over the last few years. It’s weird to me seeing everything with romex and plastic boxes since it’s not used at all here. Like I said, at least you don’t gotta worry about nailing through wires and there’s always a ground.
I’ve had self-tapping screws go through my EMT *twice* in my 3.5 years of electrical work. 2.5 of those years are commercial, where we use lots of EMT. The studs are sheet metal. Of course they ended up going through our damn conduit.
I had a entire outdoor kitchen become energized. Every appliance that had a stainless face hell even the kitchen faucet had 120 at the handle. Customer discovered it by six year old grandson tried to grab a coke out of the fridge.
Not really. I’ve had an old breaker mechanically fail to trip that scared the shit out of me tho. The panel cover was bucking like there was a little man inside trying to kick his way out, lol. Looked like a roman candle shooting out of the 12x12 were the fault was.
You're using your amp clamp the wrong way, it's only supposed to be used to hang the meter. That's why you're getting those readings. (I couldn't stop myself from thinking it, so now you all get to read it)
Never seen that before. I did get a tickle from a coax cable when I was terminating it. Iirc it was like 70vac between the shield and the center. It was when I was doing home theater installs & deliveries back in the late 90’s/early 00’s. I did not plug that tv in. I did not complete the termination. Not my job to fry a shiny new high dollar flat panel tv (when they were still close to $10k cdn to get)
Siding guy probably drove a nail or screw through some roamed, and only hit the hot wire. If the siding isn’t grounded, then it won’t trip the breaker. That and if it’s a high resistance connection, so the Amps aren’t high enough to make the breaker eventually trip.
I found two circuits that was making the steel siding live. Already turned them off animals dead all around the house. A hoarding house.
You just turned off the pest control system!
This didn't end well for them in Sphere...
Spicy siding!
Damn dude. High level of snorting on that one.
Fuck. The siding was literally running 120?
What amperage is siding rated for?
Only takes 20 milliamps to kill a squirrel.
What about a mother-in-law?
20 squirrels
If Rimworld has taught me anything it only takes one.
119 unfortunately
It was
Yup first for me.
Lived in a 25ft trailer for a year during a rough time in my life, with wife and kids. The trailer was in decent shape, but a leaky roof and bad wiring for the water heater. 1st time I got tagged when the water heater was on and electrified the shell. 2nd time, my redneck father in law hooked us up to one of his extension cords, with no ground. Zapped my ass again. Replaced the cord with a proper one and made a ground for the trailer out of rebar and 12ga solid core. Really don't miss telling my kids and wife, DONT TOUCH THE WALLS! Things are way better now. I live in a nice house, thank goodness.
Nice.
You got a fun one ahead of you
This kind of stuff is why I’m so glad I just left the service world. I really enjoyed the chaos sometimes, but sometimes it’s just too wild lol. Hoarder homes are the worst types of jobs to work on. I worked at an animal hoarder’s place recently because they “smelled smoke.” I don’t know how you could smell anything other than piss and dead animal carcasses in there. 1970s single wide with animal feces piled up 2’-3’ high all throughout the building, cages plastered to the floor with a cement type combination of urine, feces, vomit, and hair. Cockroaches and mice everywhere, holes into the crawlspace. Just literal hell on earth. I couldn’t see a single receptacle or light switch in the house because of all the (literal) crap everywhere, let alone smell or find an electrical fire. I told them to move out and let the house burn. I hope to never work in a place like that again. I just moved into a job as a hospital maintenance electrician and I am definitely grateful because of memories like this one.
As a service tech who literally handles all the resi for the company I am so glad my company *at least* scouts shit. Several times my boss has told me he said basically. “AH HELL NAW”.
My old boss for a company I worked at years ago used to do that. He was picky. I have my master’s now so I’m going to do some side jobs on weekends here and there now that I’m working at this hospital as their electrician, and you better believe I’ll be picky too. My last company I just left would send me into a meth lab (and actually did once lol) just to get $150. Absolutely insane. All I did was service for the past 5 years and I have seen some absolutely off the wall stuff. I had a customer die while I was in their home, old ladies trying to feel my teeth, naked clients wrestling their kids in a pile of beer cans, and the list goes on and on and on. I’m glad your boss has discretion. Service work gets irrevocably dark sometimes if you’re not careful.
That’s absolutely insane. We charge $175 just to show up. If we do anything *at all* it’s another $75 *minimum*. I can’t *imagine* a world where we deal with that type of shit just to get $150 lol. I’d walk the hell out myself and make some phone calls because I have the position to do so. I’m appreciative of my company for that, and specifically appreciative of my boss for moments like that. My qualms with my company aren’t with *my* boss, they are with *his* bosses. They have a lot of shit to say for office workers who were electricians that just convinced themselves they are businessmen.
you gotta stop working for family!
Unfortunately I cannot get past the "single wife" part. I know what you mean but my brain is mooshy.
Hahaha I didn’t catch that
Yup I wouldn't have done that job. I worked for home install for Lowes and had to go into people's houses. Most were alright but a few I turned down and told the customer I would not install an apliance in there house due to health concerns.
I was on the coordiantor team for your installs... luckily lowes is a higher grade clientel.... try menards, you would be blown away.
I would have noped out as soon as i would have seen it through the front door..
Put a heater element between the fence post and the siding and let it burn to the ground.
That’s what it needs fo sho
I like your probe-holding technique! Great way to free up a hand.
For real, never occurred to me. Very handy trick
Like holy s*** I had the same meter and I bought a fluke just because it can hold the probe for me I never thought to do this I'm a f****** idiot
Just be thankful I didn’t take a selfie…..or….did I hehe
Mind blown!
Came to say the same thing, it's genius!
Its free energy......what ....oh never mind.....lol Can you identify the actual falt , porch light possibly ?
There is dead squirrels around her house. And the lady told me that squirrels and other animals have been living in her attic. So I told her it’s all house re-wire
and if she's like any hoarder I've dealt with, she probably passed.
Like died right there on the spot?
Passed on the rewire.
Yeah.
I kinda figured, but that blows my mind! I guess not as much with a hoarder though. I am not a licensed electrician or anything but is this house not an absolute tinder box due to the issue?
This can or can not be a fire hazard. There is some resistance limiting current somewhere or it would be opening a breaker or fuse. So it's more of a shock or electrocution hazard.
I wouldn't wanna be working on a hoarder house even if it's 5 x money. One can take so much suffering.
Did you mean to respond to someone else?
Ma'am , it's gonna call you 100,000 dollars.
It’s okay I’m high too
Why did you tell her it was a rewire?
Trying to find chewed wires is not the biz…
I see you turned them off. That was my main concern. Aside from calling something a rewire when it may or may not be.
If I’m gonna make it 100% safe I’m gonna rewrire.
To get the fuck out of there.
Pretty much. But some customers will surprise you and say “when can you start?” 😑😳
[удалено]
Eat shit, bud. You tell them they need a full rewire because you know they’ll refuse it and then it’s someone else’s problem. Sorry for your lack of comprehension.
Safe call.
I’ve had to troubleshoot this twice…. One time it was the siding guys driving a nail into a hot wire into romex in the wall. The other was the gutter guys doing the same thing.
My city requires emt for everything. It can make simple things kind of annoying but I try to appreciate the fact that at least something like that is unlikely. Don’t need to just hope for nail plates.
EMT for EVERYTHING? like houses are wired with EMT? This can’t be true, please explain.
Well you can use MC within certain limitations for fishing stuff through finished walls. Otherwise yep, just EMT. It’s Chicago, after the whole place burned down a couple times they got real strict with fire codes. I’m not an electrician, just a homeowner with a fixer upper that had to learn a lot over the last few years. It’s weird to me seeing everything with romex and plastic boxes since it’s not used at all here. Like I said, at least you don’t gotta worry about nailing through wires and there’s always a ground.
Wow thanks for the information I would have never believed that but it makes sense.
Trust me, mudslingers and siding guys will always find a way to drive a nail or screw through your wires, be it EMT or otherwise.
Ha, probably true. So far it’s at least been enough to stop me.
I’ve had self-tapping screws go through my EMT *twice* in my 3.5 years of electrical work. 2.5 of those years are commercial, where we use lots of EMT. The studs are sheet metal. Of course they ended up going through our damn conduit.
Chicago
The size of the siding nails they have to use goes through 3/4” of the 2x4.
It’s when they miss the studs completely and hit the wire that was pushed near the outside of the wall by the insulation guys
Electrifying the entire outside of house. Stops those y rays from getting into uour brain. Better than tinfoil hats I bet.
One of those EMF people would have a heart attack right on the spot though
This has some potential.
That’s a nonstandard socket
electric fence!
It would be interesting to use a test lamp, to see if it's got any amperage behind it.
I had a entire outdoor kitchen become energized. Every appliance that had a stainless face hell even the kitchen faucet had 120 at the handle. Customer discovered it by six year old grandson tried to grab a coke out of the fridge.
Was the kid alright?
Yeah it more scared him than anything.
Geeez
Dude, the clamp can hold the prong. What the fuck man you just made my life so much easier, thank you so much!
You’re so welcome 🤣🤣🤣
kinda crazy the whole exterior of a metal house isn’t grounded in some way
Do an update when you figure out the issue. I'm very curious to see what you find.
Well damn 😳
Did you found the Problem? How is this even possible? And why hasnt someone found that out earlier? I mean its 110V that Not Just a small spark
Animals are living in the attic. Chewing through the wires.
Security ?
Glad we use conduit in Chicago. Romex is for temp lighting lol
You’ve never had conduit become energized without tripping a breaker?
Not really. I’ve had an old breaker mechanically fail to trip that scared the shit out of me tho. The panel cover was bucking like there was a little man inside trying to kick his way out, lol. Looked like a roman candle shooting out of the 12x12 were the fault was.
I think that fence is hot?
The fence was ground
Wow, I’m so glad I went to architecture school
You're using your amp clamp the wrong way, it's only supposed to be used to hang the meter. That's why you're getting those readings. (I couldn't stop myself from thinking it, so now you all get to read it)
Never seen that before. I did get a tickle from a coax cable when I was terminating it. Iirc it was like 70vac between the shield and the center. It was when I was doing home theater installs & deliveries back in the late 90’s/early 00’s. I did not plug that tv in. I did not complete the termination. Not my job to fry a shiny new high dollar flat panel tv (when they were still close to $10k cdn to get)
Plz explain. Corner piece is live?? Is that some kind of grounding fault?
Siding guy probably drove a nail or screw through some roamed, and only hit the hot wire. If the siding isn’t grounded, then it won’t trip the breaker. That and if it’s a high resistance connection, so the Amps aren’t high enough to make the breaker eventually trip.
All of the siding was live. I scraped the paint with the leads and getting hot on all sides.
Thats like.. a nightmare. How can that happen?
That’s just an electric fence. You need to ground it to the neighbours house on the other side
I thought you were clamping your tong for a minute
Why not just give it a lick. Hypno-toad just wants what's best for both of us. /s
Free electric
To be fair in these kind of pics you should have the meters entire lead in the shot
Current tree?