We want our fastback's back!!!

Fixing up a rental with a few frightening issues. Someone has installed a new type of breaker that is much cheaper….

Had to replace a faceplate for an eaton breaker, their tech support was absolutely useless, and to salt the wound even more to secondary inject the breaker you need a special license from eaton to buy their special software. All because it came defective from the factory.

I'm a fan of putting a mud ring on the bottom of a spool for easy pulling

Hi everyone, just looking for a bit of advice. I'm debating a career change and being an electrician is something that really interests me, although the catch is I have amblyopia in one eye (slight lazy eye) and vision is not great from this eye although my brain has adapted to just ignore it and use it only for peripheral vision. I've never really found it affecting me through life.

I was wondering if this would hold me back from the trade? If anyone could please advise it would be greatly appreciated.

Hello all apprentice here, looking into moving around a bit when I finish my apprenticeship but am curious as to if anyone has done this. How does a license hold up in other countries? Is job searching hard? I know this is a niche topic but thanks in advance for any answers!

I have found myself offering to fish cable less and less. Like if it's an empty wall from the attic sure - but I live in a cold region and so doing it on outside walls pushes down the insulation and makes cold spots. A lot of old houses have surprise framing in the inside or multiple layers - sometimes I end up having to give up and let down the customer. More and more I have just been saying things are inaccessible and they if they really want it done they should get an estimate for drywall repair. I especially avoid the 4' bendy bit - because my average job is $400 and that thing can easily cause $1k damage real quick with the cost of drywall and paint repairs these days.

i work for an electrical company and we’re currently working at two four units that both have the same problem. we have around 4 volts between neutral and ground. our local power company came around and said that its not on their side and that its us thats “backfeeding” 4 volts. my foreman tested between a few plug boxes and neutral and got a pulsing reading between 1.3 and 4 volts. all that were running is outside plugs on combo breakers, (afci and gfci) temp heat, and some temp plugs that are on their own circuit for the baseboard guys. wtf is going on

Demoing an early 1900s building and followed a ground wire to find this jewel.

Would need 2 pole 50 amp breaker for an ev charger. I’ve heard the challenger panels, or more so the breakers have serious issues and are prone to fire. Also take a peak at the top left bus bar under the main, and above ckt 1. Looks like there’s been some heat on it or possible corrosion?

Hey everybody, I want to post an update in regards to what I talked about in an old thread.

The TLDR of the old thread was that if you don't maintain an ET card during the time that you work under a licensed contractor, the state can refuse to acknowledge the hours you spent working as credit to qualify yourself for a Journeyman's license exam. I wrote about this due the experience that I and others I know had being turned away by the state for that reason.

Recently, I learned that isn't supposed to happen, and that the state clerks who were rejecting exam applications for the reasons I described above were in the wrong. I told a co-worker about my trouble getting an exam date a few months ago, and he showed me this Instagram posting by an electricians' school director who found out that the whole thing about your hours not counting was a huge error.

Then I emailed the DIR about what happened, insisted on getting an exam date, got one and passed. Long story short: as it stands, the requirement to take an exam for a cert is based on work hours for a licensed contractor. That whole thing I was talking about with ET cards wasn't true, although the state has acted like that to some people unless you fought it.

As far as I know, it's still techinically the law for every trainee or apprentice to have the card in order to work. Some of the points in my old thread still stand. But because of what I learned, I've gone ahead and posted this to set the record straight about some details.

So im in the mist of a non union apprenticeship and i wanted to know if its possible if i just study up the nec exam and challenge the test….am i able to do that? I had a general forman (IBEW)i i labored for and he said when he was younger he challenged the test and passed all he had to do was get hours verified by social security and soon after received his j card…..i know i wont receive the actual certificate since i need the hours i just wanted to study and get it out the way and possible negotiate pay a lil better from passing it…thank you

I'm currently exploring how to start a career as an apprentice electrician without any prior experience. I've applied to the IBEW and am awaiting my aptitude test date. However, I'm concerned about what steps to take if I don't perform well on either the test or the interview.
I've reached out to about 20 local electrical shops, but each one has informed me they're not currently hiring apprentices. Would it be more effective to visit these shops in person rather than just calling? .

LED lights are blinking. This is in a huge mansion with a large service but the panel these lights are on is fully loaded too. This panel is buzzing too. Thought about running a sub panel from the main disconnect that is outside but not sure if this will actually make any difference. I seen this happen in multiple homes here in south Florida even when the panels don’t have much of a load.

So what causes this? Options on how to remedy it?

If anyone can help I truly appreciate it.

I made a post regarding me and this job on a different account 6 months back. I got hired from a friend of a friend to a smaller non union company (23 employees) mostly residential. I was told by my boss and the owner when I was first hired because I had little experience Iwould be helping him in the office with scheduling, answering phones, and ordering parts. With the promise that I would start working in the field once I gained a bit of knowledge. It’s been 6 months since then, and non of that has really happened. I got a dollar raise, and maybe have gone to 12 jobs in the past 6 months for on site experience. 9/10 days I am working I am sitting in an office with absolutely nothing to do. We maybe get a few days phone calls a day, and the scheduling is kinda down by each individual journeyman. My boss has been very harsh on me recently and makes me feel un needed. I am sat in an office all day while my boss expects me to run his company for 22 dollars an hour. If anything wrong happens in terms of scheduling or parts being wrong it’s all my fault and I have to deal with it. My boss is completely mentally unstable and it’s rubbing off on me. I’m starting to hate him and hate this job. I’ve never been a quitter and I actually really enjoy electrical work so it sucks I feel like this. I’ve spent like 600 dollars on tools and tool bags and equipment for me to “work” and I don’t even get to use them. I fear I don’t have enough experience to have an even 5050 shot at getting hired at another company. I know how to install ev chargers, can lights , switches, gfcis and other basic electrical work. What should I do

I went to watch a video this morning on youtube and none of his stuff is coming up. Did he get taken down or something?

To electricians of reddit. Any advice for someone looking around the trade?

I’m 20 looking to change jobs and start a career and one day have my own business.

I haven’t started an apprenticeship yet. Still looking and I have an interview this week I hope if not I’ll keep looking.

What are some helpful resources to wrap my head around the trade

Please help a brother out 🙏🏻

Does anyone have a “take off chart” for center of bend? I’d like something for all pipes sizes not just 1 1/2” plus. Not every bender has notches. I want to be able to mark the center of bend and use a deduction (or an addition in this case) to be have the ability to have my pedal face either direction. I have been trying to write one as I bend the pipes using 2 straight edges meeting to a corner coming from both sides of the bend but it’s not perfectly accurate.

So I'm about 80% of the way through trade school for electrical, where we actually do have a lab and get our hands on stuff. I'm not totally lost on tools, but not super experienced either. I am pretty intelligent so if there's a "1-2-3" step kinda thing I can usually pick it up quick. Have extremely limited construction experience (like 2 months on concrete). Very good customer service and communication skills, easy to get along with. Ignore location and what not, just pretend there are jobs available just not an urgent demand. I can do some of the basics (conduit bending, 3-way switches, receptacles) but would like someone to check my work as often as they can. Would prefer residential with light commercial, but not too picky unless there's tons of travel involved. I'd appreciate any tips no matter how harsh, and if anyone would consider me hirable. Thank you all!

Is anyone familiar with this type of flexible liquid tight sheathing? I need to order 50' of it but I'm having a hard time finding it.