Mr. Sparkle

I used to do it all the time when I was younger, dumber, and did not know any better, those days are long gone.

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captkirk

Im really not trying to be a macho man but since I was a helper, apprentice, mechanic I feel more than adequetly trained in cutting in an overhead service to a home. Now when you get into 277 and up thats a little bit of a different story.

captkirk

I guess all the poco guys are macho men for working live......

MDShunk

Has nothing to do with machismo. It's more like they're properly trained and properly equipped.

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Black4Truck

I do underground services live all the time because dealing with the POCO is a joke.

I line the inside of the meter pan with cardboard to remove the line side from the lugs and tape up the ends with plenty of scotch 33+

Most of the service risers are EMT, even though that was never the POCO code.

They are always rotted off at ground level

Feeders are always short to make it into the new meter pan, so I butt splice and shrink wrap them inside the new 2" PVC riser

220/221

Everyone, everywhere I have worked for the past 35 years works "live"

Then again, "live" is a very broad term. I don't feel the need to shut off a circuit to change a 120V switch or recep in a resi plastic box. I do feel the need to shut off the power if I feel there is a reasonable chance of an incident.

I am more careful than I used to be. I will no longer bolt a big switch onto a hot bus. I will still carefully screw a small 120/240 breaker onto a hot bus.

I will run pipe/cable and terminate circuits in a hot panel. I will not remove a stubborn breaker from an old hot panel. The chance of a phase to phase short in the busing or burned up breaker is too great.


These are decisions I am not afraid to make for myself. I use my experience as guidelines.


WAHT have you been smoking? Your whole career? As an electrician? Really?
I am pretty sure I was troubleshooting at the 3 month period of my career and that's really hard to do unless it's live.


Not in my career/lifetime/area. Standard practice is to use your best judgement, be extremely careful and error on the side of caution. Obviously you shut it down/off when it's practical. It makes the work much faster/easier.

g_core18

Don't worry about it too much. In my first year all i did was the occasional 120 switch or receptacle under supervision. During my second year that kind of stuff became pretty routine and my journeyman would ask if i felt comfortable terminating in a live 120V panel.

captkirk

I see them working on 220 with a pair of leather gloves all the time.

Peter D

They're probably working on 220 because there's too much voltage drop and they have to boost up the size of the transformer. 220 volts is definitely an indication of a problem.

captkirk

cute...

lynx82

I've worked hot a fairly good amount, taking apart 277v lighting splices to remove a light or a switch etc. Terminating or removing wires in panels that can't be shut off, or just plain having to put your hands in a hot jb to pull an old wire out etc. From what i've seen it's pretty common. As for the giant marshmellow suits(especially the ones without ventillation in the mask) it is like drinking a 12 pack and trying to land wires on a breaker. It sucks, but it is in our best interest. I remember reading something from the 1890s in school a while back that something like 1 in 2or3 electricians died on the job before they retired. Of course the precursor to cpr after electricution was a finger in the butt to see if that would wake the person up in the same official manual lol.

captkirk

277....... sh it is getting turned off. No question about it. I wouldnt excpect anyone to work with that hot. Ive done it scores of times and its ZERO fun when you get hit from it. If for what ever reason they have too work hot they are wearing the right PPE.

lynx82

Yeah, i never got hit with 277 but came real close one time. I was in my second year and we were demoing the second floor on a big office building. They wanted to keep the lights up but knock all the office walls down so we were demoing all the switches so the guys could come in and knock the walls down. So the circuit is off(apparently not locked out just taped off) and I'm taking apart a switchleg. As I'm twisting the wirenut on the hotleg the damn lights come on. I flipped on this journeymen(he was a yoyo elevator guy that switched to electrical and was just given jw status). He was layed off shortly after. Another lesson learned that day, lock your own **** out with your own lock...period.

randomkiller

So are you saying that you have splices inside an inacessable place? If you so that is really hack work.

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Toronto Sparky

Getting shocked doesn't hurt..
It's all that molten metal shooting out at you..
You don't get payed to put your life on the line..
I've been in the trade for over 25 years, sure I have worked live many times.
Any blown up a few things over the years.
I just got lucky.
I have worked with a lot of guys that we're not so lucky.

Be safe out there..

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Mike_586

Man I did my first lighting retrofit doing 347V (we use 347/600 for our commercial power) as a second year and all the ballasts were done live. Didn't like it, 347 always had me paying special attention to every single detail, PPE was optional and its the way everyone did things back then.

I've worked on a lot of 347/600 live over the years and in the beginning PPE wasn't even a consideration while I was an apprentice. Towards the end of it guys were starting to use rubber mats, arc shields, linesman gloves and insulated tools. Now its all a huge no no.

Personally I'd prefer something in between what I started out seeing and what we have now, I think it has gone a little too far. But given the choice to go back to being expected to work on all that stuff live again or live with the way things have changed, I'll take having the current laws any day.

Toronto Sparky

I worked in a mall in Toronto Area Jane/Finch , changing ballasts
Seems that there was an addition put in in the 80s and all the new lighting was at 347v.

The store I was working in fixtures were half 120v and other half were 347v. all controlled with a single switch running a contractor.

Good thing that switch was off as I found that 120v ballasts don't like to be connected to 347v.

They didn't blow up but they really hummed well and took the lamps out.

Funny thing was , the only reason I turned off the switch is because I was using tenants aluminum latter (I was too lazy to get the wood one outta the truck)

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Toronto Sparky

You learn something everyday


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv6pE...ture=rec-HM-rn

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Peter D

Working at 277 or 480 volts live is bad enough. Working at 347 or 600 volts live is just plain insanity.

I've been shocked by 277 only once and that was bad....I can only imagine what 347 is like. 480 or 600? I don't ever want to find out.

user5941

120V can kill you just as dead as 600V,anyone who works hot circuits when they can be shut off is just plain stupid.