c/electricians

Finally stopped using wire nuts on everything after 15 years

I used to swear by wire nuts for every connection in every panel I touched. Then I did a service upgrade on a house in Tampa back in March where the homeowner specifically asked for Wagos after he had a nut corrode on his AC disconnect. I figured why fight the customer, so I tried them on the whole job. Honestly they saved me about 20 minutes on that panel alone and I haven't looked back since. Anyone else make the switch and find a specific brand or type that holds up better in hot attics?

Had a stuck junction box in an old house near Portland...

Tried everything with a flat bar and it wouldn't budge. Then I remembered a guy on a jobsite saying to heat the screws with a torch for 10 seconds each. Worked like magic, popped right out. Anyone else do this or is there a better trick?

Those cheap $30 multimeters from Amazon nearly cost me a panel swap

I bought one to keep in my truck for rough-ins and it read 277 volts as 120 on a commercial job in Austin... Has anyone else had a cheap meter lie to them like that?

Fixed outlets backwards for 10 years before I caught it

Was doing a new construction rough-in for a 3 bedroom house in Austin last June. Got all my receptacles in and was moving to the next job. Customer's wife called me over and asked why the ground pin was on top. Told her that's how I always did it. She pulled out her phone and showed me a code reference about upside down receptacles being a safety issue in certain situations. I had been doing it wrong since I started in the trade back in 2013. Felt like an idiot but at least nobody got hurt. Now I check every job spec before I start. Anybody else have a basic thing they did wrong for years without knowing?

Warning: Stop using wire nuts on aluminum wiring in old houses - here's why I switched to Alumiconns after a fire call in Cleveland last March

Used to think wire nuts were fine for everything, even aluminum. Had a service call where a house nearly burned down because of a loose aluminum-to-copper connection with a standard wire nut. The corrosion and expansion over time just made it fail. Switched to Alumiconns with the antioxidant paste after that job. Cost more per connection but I sleep better. Anyone else run into this on older homes built before the 70s?

That advice about always pulling wire instead of pushing it cost me a day in Greenville

My old journeyman, Mike, swore you should never push wire through conduit, only pull it. He said pushing causes kinks and jams every time. Last month I was running 3/4 EMT in a tight attic space in Greenville, and pulling would have meant cutting holes in drywall. I decided to push the wire anyway to save time. It worked fine for about 30 feet, then it kinked bad and I had to pull it all back out. Took me over 2 hours to fix my mistake with a fish tape from the other end. On the flip side, I know guys who push wire all day in straight runs with no issues. So is the old rule about never pushing wire really solid advice, or does it depend on the situation? I'm curious how many of you push wire regularly and get away with it.

Had a panel meltdown in a garage yesterday afternoon

I was swapping out an old breaker panel in a house near Portland. Got halfway through the rewire when I smelled something hot. Looked over and saw the main lug had overheated and was starting to bubble the plastic. Shut everything down fast and pulled the meter. Turns out the previous guy had used aluminum wire on a copper-only lug, and it had been loose for years. Had to replace the whole panel and re-pull the service entrance cable. Cost the homeowner an extra $400 I didn't plan for. Has anyone else run into mismatched materials like that on a seemingly simple swap?

An apprentice in Tacoma showed me a trick with wire nuts I'd never seen

I was working a commercial job over in Tacoma last spring, and this kid fresh out of trade school was helping me on a panel swap. He was putting wire nuts on and using this little twist with his fingers to seat them tighter, not just spinning them on. I'd been doing this 12 years and never thought to do it that way. Has anyone else picked up a simple habit from a green apprentice that just stuck with you?

Found a trick for fishing wire through insulated walls

Had a job in an old house last week. Foam insulation everywhere. Couldn't get my fish tape through. Tried a glow rod, still got stuck. Finally I used a shop vac with a string and a plastic bag. Sucked the bag right through. Pulled my wires in 10 minutes flat. Anyone else done this?

Commercial job in Chicago changed my wire pulling method for good

Had a foreman yell at me for following the old 'lube and yank' approach on a 400 amp feeder pull last Tuesday. Took his advice on using a parallel pulling setup with swivels and we finished 3 hours ahead of schedule. Anybody else had to unlearn bad habits from their early days?

Had a choice between wire nuts and Wagos on a remodel in St. Louis

I was rewiring an old house in the south side and had to decide between traditional wire nuts or those push-in Wago connectors. I went with Wagos because I was working in a tight crawlspace and needed speed. Turned out great until I hit a junction box with 12 gauge solid wire that just wouldn't seat right. Has anyone else run into fit issues with thicker wire in those things?

Just crossed 1,000 joints terminated in my career

Been doing resi work for 3 years now. Hit 1,000 wire nuts and Wagos combined last week on a McMansion in Naperville. Felt weird to count but my journeyman said that's apprentice territory for a rookie. What numbers have you guys tracked that surprised you?

Had to pick between a $70 Wago kit or a $12 roll of wire nuts for a 12-box remodel

I went with the Wagos because I was sick of twisting, then dropped the whole kit down a stud cavity 10 minutes in. Has anyone else paid extra for convenience and instantly regretted it?

My old way of bending conduit was costing me too much time

For years I used a hand bender for every 90 degree turn on 1/2 inch EMT. It worked fine but I was spending 10 minutes per bend measuring and checking my work. About 6 months ago I bought a used Greenlee 555 bender off Craigslist for 400 bucks. Now I can bend a perfect offset in 30 seconds flat. Has anyone else switched from hand bending to a machine and found it changed how you bid jobs?

A journeyman at the supply house changed my thinking on using MC cable in residential

I was picking up some 12/2 Romex last Tuesday at Platt Electric in Tulsa, and this older journeyman looked at my cart and said 'you know you can run MC a lot faster in old work, right?' I've always just used Romex for everything because that's what I learned 10 years ago. He explained that with MC, you don't have to staple every 4 feet, and you can bend it around joists way easier in attics. I tried it on a 1500 square foot rewire job this week, and I swear it saved me about 3 hours on the rough-in alone. The only thing I'm not used to is the extra weight in my tool bag from the cutters and connectors. Has anyone else made the switch from Romex to MC for residential work and found it worth the extra material cost?

Waved off a $40 meter because I thought it was just a fancy toy

Took me three hours to track down a short in a new build near Austin last Wednesday, checking every box and switch with my old analog multimeter. A journeyman on site handed me his Fluke T5-600 and I found the bad device in under ten minutes flat. Anyone else have that moment where you realized you were making life harder for no reason?

Question about voltage drop on a 200 foot run

I got called to a warehouse in Medford last Thursday where a new compressor kept tripping the breaker on startup. The run from the panel was about 200 feet through conduit and the voltage at the disconnect read 198 volts under load. Anyone else see big voltage drops on long runs like that causing nuisance trips?

Found out a 1970s house I rewired last week had aluminum branch circuits nobody flagged

I was pulling a panel upgrade in a split-level built in 1973 and noticed the wire markings. Checked three other rooms and yep, aluminum throughout. Never ran into that in my 15 years doing service work around here. Anyone else still seeing these old setups on the regular?

I was dead wrong about WAGO connectors until I used them on a service call in Cleveland

Old school electrician trained me on wire nuts only. Rolled up to a jammed panel last Tuesday and needed to save space. Three hours later, everything fit perfect. Anyone else switch camps after a tight spot changed your mind?

Had to decide between aluminum and copper wire for a house I was rewiring last week

Showerthought: I was way off about how much power a standard ceiling fan actually draws

Found a chart in an old NEC handbook showing most residential models run under 100 watts, even on high. Always assumed they were bigger loads when adding circuits. Anyone else ever get surprised by the actual numbers on common fixtures?

Just realized the Klein NCVT-3 is way better than the Fluke 1AC for checking live wires

I used both on a rewire job in a Phoenix duplex last month. The Fluke would give false positives near fluorescent lights, but the Klein's dual-range detection was solid and the audible beep was clearer over background noise. Anyone else find one voltage tester just works better for them?

Had to choose between a 12/2 and a 14/2 run for a new bedroom outlet in an old house. Went with the heavier gauge.

The existing wiring was a mix, and the run was about 35 feet from the panel. I figured the extra cost for the 12/2 was worth it for the future capacity, even though the load calc said 14/2 was technically okay. It was a bit tougher to pull through the old plaster walls, but it's done. Anyone run into a similar call on an older home rewire?

Got stuck on a 3-way switch job in an old house and tried two different testers.

I was working on a 1950s place in Tacoma and my regular non-contact voltage tester kept giving me weird readings on the travelers. Pulled out my old solenoid-style tester and it showed the actual voltage drop clear as day, which let me trace the messed up neutral in about ten minutes. Why do they even sell those fancy non-contact ones for serious troubleshooting?

Can we talk about using a tick tracer on a live circuit

I was checking a bathroom fan that wouldn't turn off and my non-contact voltage tester kept beeping at the switch box. My buddy, a 20 year journeyman, saw me and said 'that thing lies more than a politician, go get your meter.' Sure enough, the hot was back-fed from somewhere else. Anyone else get burned by trusting a tick tracer too much?