**NA**. Lessons learned over one week **NA**

Flymeariver

Flymeariver

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Display name:
Justin
I will admit that I am not the brightest out there, I would guess by a long shot. I am neither a plumber or an electrician but I am a Integrity Tech in the Natural Gas industry and a FBO lineman when I can on the weekends....but I have learned interesting stuff this past week:

Lesson 1----When replacing a water spicket, do not push and pull on on the feeder lines.....especially at 5:15 on a Sunday when Lowes closes at 6:00:mad2:
I did not realize water lines don't flex but I sure know now after replacing quite a chunk of busted water lines under the house thanks to my non skills. Perhaps I can now add plumber to my resume?? :yikes:

Lesson 2------When installing new wires into a outside electrical box, it is wise to shut off the main power to the unit. :sad: I managed to shock my self pretty good today while installing new security lights on the house and the resulting wire to the main breaker. I thought there was no risk unless I touched the wires at the top of the box...but I know better now :hairraise: Now that I just about electrocuted myself but did successfully install three new lights, perhaps I can add electrical experience to my resume?

Now I know this was long and boring, but what stories do yall have of your lessons learned working around the house?
 
warthog1984 said:
Shocking yourself working on the breaker box?

Buy a Lottery ticket - you should be dead.
Click to expand...

Yea, sure didn't feel good. Shut off the breaker main breaker to finish up. Sure was a valuable lesson considering my friend said I got very lucky.
 
Muriatic Acid will fix just about anything.

DO NOT DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING THINGS:
1. It is a fantastic drain cleaner. Like unreal. It just dissolves everything in seconds
2. Soap scum on the shower? Bam!
3. Anything goopy, funky, growing, or sticking to anything? Done!
4. Bored? Pour a half cup on some aluminium foil (outside) and step back.

Gravity
If doing something high, always use a ladder. Never a step stool.
2 years of pain, shoulder surgery, and 6 months of recovery because I used the step stool and not a real ladder (which was next to the step stool) when trimming crepe myrtles

Saving Money
You can probably do anything yourself and save a bunch of money if you don't mind the sweat equity.

I had a guy come do an evaluation on cooling my house down. He showed me where my ducts were leaking into the attic. $800 to seal them. I googled it and for $20 in supplies from Home Depot, I was able to do it myself.

McGuyver
Running wire down a wall?
Tie a magnet to the end of the wire, use a magnet on the outside of the wall to drag the internal wire where you need it.

Consider the source
If you are working with any water related items, turn the water off at the source.
My neighbors got quite a laugh when I sprinted out of my garage soaked from head to toe in my clothes and frantically opened the water valve box in the yard and turned the water off w/ my vice grips.

Wallpaper removal / texture
ALWAYS hire someone else to do this. It is the worst possible thing you can do with regard to home ownership. Don't even consider doing it yourself. It will never not be a huge pain in the azz.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Muriatic Acid will fix just about anything.

DO NOT DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING THINGS:
1. It is a fantastic drain cleaner. Like unreal. It just dissolves everything in seconds
Click to expand...

I do this one routinely. Far cheaper than drano. Also, my brother works as a pool supply retail guy, so I can get it fairly cheap!
 
mkosmo said:
I do this one routinely. Far cheaper than drano. Also, my brother works as a pool supply retail guy, so I can get it fairly cheap!
Click to expand...


It smells better too :goofy:
I had to evacuate my master bedroom for a few hours after pouring way too much in the shower drain. It was God Awful.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
It smells better too :goofy:
I had to evacuate my master bedroom for a few hours after pouring way too much in the shower drain. It was God Awful.
Click to expand...
Yeah, been there too haha. Usually I just plan to leave the room for a few hours when I do it, or I just play very carefully with quantity. I have had some hair clogs that no amount of muriatic acid wasn't enough and I had to make a wire hangar snake since I don't keep one around.

Why do girls shed so damn much?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Wallpaper removal / texture
ALWAYS hire someone else to do this. It is the worst possible thing you can do with regard to home ownership. Don't even consider doing it yourself. It will never not be a huge pain in the azz.
Click to expand...


Or just tear down the wall. It's easier than removing wallpaper properly.

I hate ****ing wallpaper.
 
Flymeariver said:
I will admit that I am not the brightest out there, I would guess by a long shot. I am neither a plumber or an electrician but I am a Integrity Tech in the Natural Gas industry and a FBO lineman when I can on the weekends....but I have learned interesting stuff this past week:

Lesson 1----When replacing a water spicket, do not push and pull on on the feeder lines.....especially at 5:15 on a Sunday when Lowes closes at 6:00:mad2:
I did not realize water lines don't flex but I sure know now after replacing quite a chunk of busted water lines under the house thanks to my non skills. Perhaps I can now add plumber to my resume?? :yikes:

Lesson 2------When installing new wires into a outside electrical box, it is wise to shut off the main power to the unit. :sad: I managed to shock my self pretty good today while installing new security lights on the house and the resulting wire to the main breaker. I thought there was no risk unless I touched the wires at the top of the box...but I know better now :hairraise: Now that I just about electrocuted myself but did successfully install three new lights, perhaps I can add electrical experience to my resume?

Now I know this was long and boring, but what stories do yall have of your lessons learned working around the house?
Click to expand...

For lesson 1, remember that your house has PVC water pipe and just plan to replace it since it is all brittle now. Uniform building code doesn't allow the old PVC pipe to be used much anymore since it gets brittle over time.

For lesson 2, no biggie - 110 generally doesn't seem to kill folks though it does tingle a bit. Even 220 isn't horrible. Now 400 volts and up can get real interesting as in dead. I had a guy exposed to about 480 volts on a jobsite. I say "exposed" because everything was built to code and the electrical box that had a dead short inside was "grounded". When I got to the jobsite the guy was walking and talking but STILL ON THE FRIGGIN' JOBSITE. I about lost it with his supervisor and they were immediately on their way to the emergency room. The problem with the higher voltage shocks is that the damage may not be immediately fatal but is a short time later as the body tries to "reset" its electrical system. The hospital kept the guy on monitor overnight...

So the lesson for everybody else who hasn't been around industrial electrical - if exposed to voltage over 220, go directly to the emergency room, do not pass go and don't set around waiting for someone to tell you what to do. Best transport would be ambulance but maybe not wait if it's a long response time.
 
You're nuts...220 will bite you hard. Respect it, never believe it is no big deal.
 
This weekend I replaced the seal under my toilet. No problem there but there was a leak. It turned out that the bowl had a hole that had been patched and all my cleaning knocked out the patch. In feeling around I ran my finger tip over the hole and shaved off the end. Porcelein can be very sharp. After a couple of bandaids I got back in with some silicon and all is good again.

A tip: to remove the old wax seal, use two paint stirring sticks-one to scoop and one to scrape it into the trash.
 
Clark1961 said:
have you lived where 220 is the norm?
Click to expand...
There is 220 right in your breaker box. The two hot legs are 110 each and out of phase with each other so that you get 220V. It is used to power the larger loads in your house like the HVAC, Oven, etc.

I've never been electrocuted, but I have touched some sharp wires before...
 
Clark1961 said:
ld PVC pipe to be used much anymore since it gets brittle over time.

For lesson 2, no biggie - 110 generally doesn't seem to kill folks though it does tingle a bit.
Click to expand...

Anyone working on electrical stuff should know Ohm's Law. Sure, 110 might not kill you if your skin is dry enough, but get a bit of moisture involved and the resistance drops and that 110 volts will kill you dead. It only takes about 15 milliamps across the chest to stop the heart, and 15mA isn't much at all. It's a thousandth of what the 15-amp breaker will let you have before it pops.

Dan
 
Clark1961 said:
For lesson 2, no biggie - 110 generally doesn't seem to kill folks though it does tingle a bit. Even 220 isn't horrible. Now 400 volts and up can get real interesting as in dead. .
Click to expand...

You gotta be careful about this. I'm no electrical engineer, so take this with a grain of salt, but the amount of volts isn't necessarily the issue, or a safe harbor. It's the current-- measured in amps, that you have to watch out for.

Ohms law:

I=V/R, where I=current (measured in amps), V=volts, and R=resistance.

Those really cool looking balls with the electricity in them (plasma lamps, or plasma globes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_globe) that move based on where you move your fingers are extremely high voltage, but the amps are minimal.

As volts go up, the electricity is more likely to jump the gap, though, meaning that you can get shocked by being farther and farther away from the source.

I am sure that some EE will cringe at the above. Feel free to add clarification/correction. Thanks.
 
I have 3 times I can remember getting zapped. 1st was while messing with a 110v receptacle. It actually got me good enough that I will never mess with anything without throwing the breaker first. 2nd was while working on an old chevy truck, it had a bad miss so I was poking around under the hood with it idling and grabbed a plug wire :hairraise:.. 3rd was an old push mower I had it rigged so you did not have to hold the bar for it to run. There was a crack in the spark plug boot and it would get snagged on stuff and pull off the plug I grabbed it to put it back on :yikes:
 
Dan Thomas said:
Anyone working on electrical stuff should know Ohm's Law. Sure, 110 might not kill you if your skin is dry enough, but get a bit of moisture involved and the resistance drops and that 110 volts will kill you dead. It only takes about 15 milliamps across the chest to stop the heart, and 15mA isn't much at all. It's a thousandth of what the 15-amp breaker will let you have before it pops.

Dan
Click to expand...

PPC1052 said:
You gotta be careful about this. I'm no electrical engineer, so take this with a grain of salt, but the amount of volts isn't necessarily the issue, or a safe harbor. It's the current-- measured in amps, that you have to watch out for.

Ohms law:

I=V/R, where I=current (measured in amps), V=volts, and R=resistance.

Those really cool looking balls with the electricity in them (plasma lamps, or plasma globes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_globe) that move based on where you move your fingers are extremely high voltage, but the amps are minimal.

As volts go up, the electricity is more likely to jump the gap, though, meaning that you can get shocked by being farther and farther away from the source.

I am sure that some EE will cringe at the above. Feel free to add clarification/correction. Thanks.
Click to expand...

The bigger issue is where you are grounded. If you close a 110v circuit with a couple fingers on the same hand, you're going to get a nasty shock. If you touch a live 110v while standing in a pool of water, you're dead. Do the same with a 480v lead, you're going to be dead with fireworks. (I knew someone that did that, it wasn't pretty.)

I'm not an EE, but close enough.
 
PPC1052 said:
You gotta be careful about this. I'm no electrical engineer, so take this with a grain of salt, but the amount of volts isn't necessarily the issue, or a safe harbor. It's the current-- measured in amps, that you have to watch out for.
Click to expand...

Of course one should always be careful with electricity. Follow the rules and 110 and 220 aren't a big deal. Don't ground yourself which means don't make yourself the path of least resistance to the earth. Keep one hand in your pocket or behind your back which means don't make an electrical path across your heart. Don't sit on yer butt and work which again keeps the electrical path away from your heart as long as you're wearing insulating shoes or standing on a rubber/wood mat.

Be smart and don't waste worry on the things that sound scary but aren't. Do worry about making an electrical path across the heart. Do worry about high potential energy situations and the higher the voltage the higher the potential energy with industrial systems.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Anyone working on electrical stuff should know Ohm's Law. Sure, 110 might not kill you if your skin is dry enough, but get a bit of moisture involved and the resistance drops and that 110 volts will kill you dead. It only takes about 15 milliamps across the chest to stop the heart, and 15mA isn't much at all. It's a thousandth of what the 15-amp breaker will let you have before it pops.

Dan
Click to expand...

Last I remember, it takes 30mA for vfib, and a fair bit more (300mA) to actually stop a heart outright. Not a lot of power, sure, but the differences change the math a fair bit.
 
When I was a kid I used to take stuff apart. Was taking apart a clock and thought I would 'cut the red wire' with a knife to see if the little light would stay on. Yes, the clock was still plugged in...

To this day about the closest I get to doing 'electrical work' is changing a lightbulb. If I HAVE to do something I kill the power to the entire house.

Now plumbing, I can do! Ive put in an entire sprinkler system, changed out a toilet, sweated copper pipes together, put in disposals.
 
The other one that will hurt you bad is telecom -48VDC plants. DC will make your muscles contract so you hold on, and arc welding with a human limb is not a pretty thing.

Closest I ever got to screwing up on a telco plant was dropping a screwdriver from about six feet up onto a couple of exposed terminals below.

The screwdriver only bounced off but there was a hole blown in it and chunks of molten metal splattered nearby on the relay rack.

We had an idiot try to pull some 8 gauge stuff after he made it live, across the top ladder trays above a series of enclosed racks. Once they started arcing to the racks he got smart and stopped and held them up with some tape and a broom handle while standing on a ladder until someone found him about three hours later. Night shift guy by himself. Made for funny jokes as his expense for months, but at least he stopped and just kept the wires from touching any more fully grounded cabinets until someone could the the circuit off.

Best course of action on any electrical is good old lock-out/tag-out. If you don't need to work on it live, and rarely is that truly necessary, just don't. Shut it off and make sure it can't be turned back on, then do the work.
 
P.S. No we don't know why he didn't just tape off the ends and then tape down the wires away from each other and climb down. Best guess was that he scared himself so bad he just didn't want to move.
 
LOL.

The other day I decided to replace a ceiling light fixture. Turned it off and figured with the switch off, no problem.

But, I decided to put on thick THICK rubber gloves and use insulated tools, just in case.

Took the old fixture down and was surprised that when I took all the wires off, the light in the adjacent bathroom went off. I really was getting confused about what was hot, what was white, black, or green....


I wired the new fixture, screwed the wire nuts on real tight and wrapped a lot of black electrical tape on them and stuffed it all into the box and put my new fixture in place. But I have no idea why it was still hot.

Shut off the main.
 
Mason said:
LOL.

The other day I decided to replace a ceiling light fixture. Turned it off and figured with the switch off, no problem.

But, I decided to put on thick THICK rubber gloves and use insulated tools, just in case.

Took the old fixture down and was surprised that when I took all the wires off, the light in the adjacent bathroom went off. I really was getting confused about what was hot, what was white, black, or green....


I wired the new fixture, screwed the wire nuts on real tight and wrapped a lot of black electrical tape on them and stuffed it all into the box and put my new fixture in place. But I have no idea why it was still hot.

Shut off the main.
Click to expand...


Shared neutral across two unbalanced loads on opposite phases. It's not allowed by code in most places unless the two hot leads are run through a "ganged" breaker that will trip both circuits in case of a short, since either circuit shorted could have higher current than the shared neutral is rated for.

If you go find the breaker that kills the light you were working on, you'll probably find that it's two ganged breakers and it'll kill that light and the other one when both are thrown.

No reason to guess on the wiring. A cheap non-contact voltage tester and a cheap VOM will clear up any misconception pretty fast. Well, assuming there's any power there after throwing the breaker, which is the correct way to work on things, not just the wall switch.

If it's not a ganged breaker, and it's a shared neutral, you have a safety issue that really should be addressed.
 
The smart ones dig up the copper grounding halos around the tower sites. Sure has cost the tower companies a lot of money both in lost copper and in installing video surveillance.
 
denverpilot said:
Or just tear down the wall. It's easier than removing wallpaper properly.

I hate ****ing wallpaper.
Click to expand...

YES!

We bought a steamer to remove our own wallpaper. It did work, but what a mess and it took a good bit of time. I would definitely agree that taking the wall down is quicker and less messy.
 
Lesson: If it takes technical skill, hire someone. Although I was proud of myself for installing a new doorbell button recently without incident.

I can look at my finished basement and tell which room was my amateur attempt compared to the rest of it where I hired professionals.
 
MotoFlier said:
3rd was an old push mower I had it rigged so you did not have to hold the bar for it to run.
Click to expand...

Anyone remember the OLD mower engines that had a little metal tab next to the exposed top of the spark plug? To stop the engine you pushed the tab against the top of the plug grounding it out. Miss a little, and ol' sparky would get you. :hairraise: :lol:

Edit: Here you go, look at the black strap just to the right of the spark plug, you push that against the top of the plug to kill the engine.

g77CB.jpg
 
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