I used to absolutely hate hanging ceiling fans, Considered it my most dispised electrical job, it seemed that no two ever went up the same... a million tiny part... balancing the blades... etc. etc. Well after finally finishing a big job today, my new most dispised job is hanging Track Lights. I had forgotten what a royal pain in the bu** they are!
Troubleshooting a control cabinet where the wiring is probably 50 years old, not labeled, rats nest full of wire nuts with a bunch of guys standing around wondering when the machine will be up and going again.
Chasing faults in a system that I didn't install and has no as-builds. Pick a device. Inspect the device. Take apart the splice and ring out each conductor to ground. Pick a branch to follow. Chase the wire above the ceiling to the next device or splice. More often than not, the fault magically clears at some point.
Troubleshooting Ethernet also sucks, because any problem is assumed to be a physical layer issue. I was on a job installing a general announcement system a while back. The whole thing had several hands in it at one time or another (of course) and at startup we had tons of rooms not showing up. Wiremap the feeds and fix the bad ones (just redoing RJ45s and swapping ports). Still had issues. Obviously we know everything's now good on our end, but continue wiremapping and doing all sorts of tests to appease the customer and the data contractor. Sure enough, it was a VLAN issue -- nothing to do with us, IT just forgot to set up a port, but a whole day wasted nonetheless.
I don't like working in extreme elements, but I don't do it often enough where I despise it. But the worst memory I have is working in a steel plant above the ovens. Have to wear a hoodie, mask, and gloves just to bear the radiating heat. Over time, the metal on your tools got hot. All the material got hot. The scissor lift cage got hot. I remember taking down a chugger we had mounted to 4" rigid. It hurt, but I hurried just to get it over with. When I finally undid it and let it drop into the lift, I couldn't make my hands stop burning. My gloves and clothes had absorbed enough heat that they were burning my skin all on their own. Stepping out into the 88 degree summer day felt like stepping into a chiller.
On the opposite end of the spectrum: pulling aluminum 350s and 500s (iirc) in the freezing cold at a solar farm. Trying to wrangle it when you got towards the end of the reel with frozen hands. A bunch of us were basically lined up in a row with the wire over our shoulders, marching forward as we fed it in.
Man... This thread made me think of all the crap I don't usually think about. This trade sucks, guys.
Trying to explain to customers that the problem happened because their IT people did a port audit and closed all ports outside what they considered normal, deeming them a security risk. IT opens the port and everything is back to normal, until the next port audit.
I had to do it so often that I got pretty good at it.
Energizing anything in a 'high energy' system for the first time, especially closing in a breaker for a co-generator that uses PTs for synchronization.
Not only the safety aspect but if something goes majorly wrong, it can be several hundred thousand or even several million dollars lost in just a few milliseconds.
Energizing anything in a 'high energy' system for the first time, especially closing in a breaker for a co-generator that uses PTs for synchronization.
Not only the safety aspect but if something goes majorly wrong, it can be several hundred thousand or even several million dollars lost in just a few milliseconds.
That is why they make phasing sticks. I have Live-Line phased new installations up to 13.8kv several times. I can't imagine anyone closing any system tie breaker for the first time relying on PT phasing only.
You still replace ballasts? I just wire to 120V direct led tubes, I tell them I don't work with vapor bulbs any longer. Much better for everyone and easier. The hassle is making sure you have the tombstones handy for the lamp type. Kaching as well.
I dislike working in freezers or working in direct sun. I also dislike closing in new equipment or equipment that has had a hard fault but that's nothing compared to having to do a presentation or head a safety class.
Im slightly un-social and i prefer to fly under the radar. Give me a rat nest panel with no prints and im a happy puppy.
I dislike working on any project that is poorly managed. Every other trade depends on us to do our job so they can do theirs. As such, it's important that I know about EVERYTHING that's going on so that I can anticipate everyone's needs before they ask me for it. We're one of the first trades on site and one of the last to leave so it's easy to blame us for anything that goes wrong.
So in a lot of situations I have to be the bigger person and correct some of the stuff that I didn't screw up. I don't mind bending over backwards if it makes everyone else job easier but when I start getting "dumped on" or my feet get held to the fire because I'm kind enough to answer my phone while the other trades duck and dodge their responsibilities, that's where I draw the line and stop being nice.
I'd be a rich man if I had $100 for every time I got hammered for not having my wiring roughed in on a wall that hasn't even been built yet. 😄
I dislike working on any project that is poorly managed. Every other trade depends on us to do our job so they can do theirs. As such, it's important that I know about EVERYTHING that's going on so that I can anticipate everyone's needs before they ask me for it. We're one of the first trades on site and one of the last to leave so it's easy to blame us for anything that goes wrong.
So in a lot of situations I have to be the bigger person and correct some of the stuff that I didn't screw up. I don't mind bending over backwards if it makes everyone else job easier but when I start getting "dumped on" or my feet get held to the fire because I'm kind enough to answer my phone while the other trades duck and dodge their responsibilities, that's where I draw the line and stop being nice.
I'd be a rich man if I had $100 for every time I got hammered for not having my wiring roughed in on a wall that hasn't even been built yet. 😄
A client and his GC recently jumped us after a final for not moving some existing track lights.... there was absolutely no mention about moving them on the plans or in the scope of work.
I dislike working on any project that is poorly managed. Every other trade depends on us to do our job so they can do theirs. As such, it's important that I know about EVERYTHING that's going on so that I can anticipate everyone's needs before they ask me for it. We're one of the first trades on site and one of the last to leave so it's easy to blame us for anything that goes wrong.
So in a lot of situations I have to be the bigger person and correct some of the stuff that I didn't screw up. I don't mind bending over backwards if it makes everyone else job easier but when I start getting "dumped on" or my feet get held to the fire because I'm kind enough to answer my phone while the other trades duck and dodge their responsibilities, that's where I draw the line and stop being nice.
I'd be a rich man if I had $100 for every time I got hammered for not having my wiring roughed in on a wall that hasn't even been built yet. 😄
Ok, the job's in August on a sunny day on a smelly rooftop accessible by extension ladder infested with cats and the client will meet your there with their designer and the GC I think, because there's no prints, so design-build some track lighting next to the exhaust from the RTUs.
How 'bout working on a good job---mcc, rigid, HV terms, spring time weather----and one the crew-members hates the foreman,GF, company owner,his own wife, everyone around him, break time complainer---doesn't that ruin it for everyone else?...been on a few of those.
100 degree attic here would be a pleasure.
Try 150, 180.
I've never measured temps in attics around here, but it's much more than 100F.
Depending on who you ask, temps get well above 150F and as high as 180F.
Hydrate!
Florida and TX are just like that. I remember one TX job where a vaulted ceiling was modified (6 inch rock wool insulation). We added thermal barrier on the drywall, then fir out 1.5 inches, added rigid foam with thermal's barrier reflecting back to the ceiling through an air gap and then....sheetrock again. The air conditioner finally cooled the room. When I was adding a box extender and installing the ceiling fan I actually BURNED my finger on the original box, it was metal and had to be 200 degrees or more.
I left the problem with the engineers who did nothing.
With attic in those two states 15 minutes in the usual maximum time that I feel is safe. Rehydrate and cool can take half an hour some days, especially in humid FL.
Two way switches are impossible to know how to orient them. Should it be one switch up and one switch down for ON, both switches same position = OFF. Either way, the OCD in me will have me running to both ends of the circuit to be sure the switches are in the right positions after installation or just in normal use.
What really sucked the worst was doing work in slumloard rentals. The only reason they wanted to fix **** is because the fire marshal or building inspector told them the work had to be done or they couldn’t rent the place out. And they were always wanting the work done on the cheep and would be real slow in paying.
What really sucked the worst was doing work in slumloard rentals. The only reason they wanted to fix **** is because the fire marshal or building inspector told them the work had to be done or they couldn’t rent the place out. And they were always wanting the work done on the cheep and would be real slow in paying.
Having to do new commercial with no print,waiting to have one drawn and stamped but never comes and the county inspectors look other way. Just a simple resturant,with 800 amp and 6 sub panels. full service kitchen. Just do IT! Nice site drawings but nothing for trades.
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