i hate existing repair

[bb29510]

had to replace a worn 110 outlet, inside the box was a capped off 220 too, and it pop on me. could figure out why it was hot, the circuit breaker was off, the volt meter said zero, look in the box, a regular outlet box and there a 220 like a rattlesnake. the 220 was on two circuit breaker. not one pinned together but two seperate pinned breakers ten inches apart.

i hate going behind others on old buildings

 

[nadogail]

Sometimes you wind up walking into an Ambush. That is often true when the person you are following didn’t have time to do their job in a thoughtful manner.

 

[thammel]

I totally get it. How about when neutral is the hot wire....another time when I've been buzzed. I finally learned to always check with my proximity tester first.

 

[Zeke]

If you didn't have a touchless tester in one hand and the other on your knee, you should stay away. Then your DVM for your next step. The fact that you call it 220 tells me you're not an electrician.

 

[ArcReactorKC]

So is this building a 208/120Y system? That is the only way I can see you would call a conductor a "220" wire. Even then it would be 208vac or a "high leg"

At least they capped it off, assuming you mean they put a wirenut on the end of the conductor.

 

[Norcal]

So is this building a 208/120Y system? That is the only way I can see you would call a conductor a "220" wire. Even then it would be 208vac or a "high leg"

At least they capped it off, assuming you mean they put a wirenut on the end of the conductor.

208Y/120V is not a "high leg" system, any phase to neutral is 120V, and phase to phase is 208V, with 240/120V 3Ø the "B" phase measures a nominal 208V, but phase to phase is 240V, the high leg is not used as line to neutral voltage, so it is not a 208V system.

 

[ArcReactorKC]

208Y/120V is not a "high leg" system, any phase to neutral is 120V, and phase to phase is 208V, with 240/120V 3Ø the "B" phase measures a nominal 208V, but phase to phase is 240V, the high leg is not used as line to neutral voltage, so it is not a 208V system.

You are correct, I was reading a print and thinking while typing.

 

[ycgoat]

Sharing a neutral was not unheard of once upon a time, even in residential settings; Neither is people moving circuits with in the panel to make room for additional circuits. The golden rule is to assume everything is energized, I never trust a contactless tracer unless I can witness a live/dead/live test. Color codes are a nice formality for helping to identify which wire is which in a new installation but in an old setting colors fade and change over time they can be misleading even without people changing things.

 

[75gmck25]

I have a double light switch at the bottom of the stairs in my living room, one switch turning on the light going up the stairs and one turning on the overhead light in the living room. However, due to various changes in the wiring during renovation, these lights are now on two different circuits.

I always try to remind myself that I must turn off two breakers to shut off all the electricity to that wall box, but have forgotten at least twice and only realized my error as my fingers brushed across the terminals of the switch that was still powered.

 

[AA/FC]

Sounds like a Multiwire circuit...

 

[Noltz]

Went to pull out old ceiling fans today for someone, got a little tickle from the hot wire with the switch off (admittedly, breaker was not).
Turns out someone switched the neutral side. Fun.

 

[Jim greengo]

I totally get it. How about when neutral is the hot wire....another time when I've been buzzed. I finally learned to always check with my proximity tester first.

That's why you're supposed to wrap it with black tape on both ends of circuit.

 

[Lassen Forge]

We had one like this, where someone had a 3 wire 240 system to a box, they broke out a 120 leg at the box, used wire nuts over the 3rd leg, and who the fuc knew which breaker was what. Also had unmarried breakers for the 240 circuit, so you could kill one side and not the other, but NOTHING was effing labelled when we got there...

Then again, the frankensteins brother who came after this unusual for now but within code way back in the dark ages in the 20's or 30's ( had common neutral to ground knob and tube still in place (chase THAT stuff - ha ha ha) , tying in to the hot side of the fuse box blocks to put in a breaker box using recycled single wire conductors (I guess to "match the ambience" of the K&T - real dope fiend electrical s#!t) - We ended up having the whole house rewired because while it (usually) worked, it was a bit spooky...

 

[Chukster]

I have a double light switch at the bottom of the stairs in my living room, one switch turning on the light going up the stairs and one turning on the overhead light in the living room. However, due to various changes in the wiring during renovation, these lights are now on two different circuits.

I always try to remind myself that I must turn off two breakers to shut off all the electricity to that wall box, but have forgotten at least twice and only realized my error as my fingers brushed across the terminals of the switch that was still powered.

Map all your circuits & put a chart on your breaker box. Be as descriptive as necessary.

Also, you can fine-point Sharpie the backs of cover plates. Or Brother labels.

 

[bwringer]

We had one like this, where someone had a 3 wire 240 system to a box, they broke out a 120 leg at the box, used wire nuts over the 3rd leg, and who the fuc knew which breaker was what. Also had unmarried breakers for the 240 circuit, so you could kill one side and not the other, but NOTHING was effing labelled when we got there...

Then again, the frankensteins brother who came after this unusual for now but within code way back in the dark ages in the 20's or 30's ( had common neutral to ground knob and tube still in place (chase THAT stuff - ha ha ha) , tying in to the hot side of the fuse box blocks to put in a breaker box using recycled single wire conductors (I guess to "match the ambience" of the K&T - real dope fiend electrical s#!t) - We ended up having the whole house rewired because while it (usually) worked, it was a bit spooky...

Sounds about like my Mom's house... which was built in 1995, not 1935.

The original owner built and wired (and plumbed) the place his own self out of recycled bits and bobs from dumpsters and junkyards. The place was terrifying, but Mom managed to die of causes other than an electrical fire, and as far as I know it is still standing somehow.

 

[CoogarXR]

The fact that you call it 220 tells me you're not an electrician.

I don't know about that- sometimes it's a regional thing. Everybody around here says 110/220. I don't know why. Maybe because it's less syllables when spoken in hillbilly "one tin and two twunny".

 

[Meursault74]

I don't know about that- sometimes it's a regional thing. Everybody around here says 110/220. I don't know why. Maybe because it's less syllables when spoken in hillbilly "one tin and two twunny".

I get that. I hear people say "guac" when referring to the avocado based dish. That's one syllable versus 4 in guacamole.

Speaking takes so much energy these days they need to conserve it.

 

[Walkers]

Repair work is one of my favorite things to do. You get to challenge you knowledge, your hunting skills, your problem solving ability, and then try to come up with a cost effective solution. Going behind amateur DIY just adds to the fun.

 

[Zeke]

Repair work is one of my favorite things to do. You get to challenge you knowledge, your hunting skills, your problem solving ability, and then try to come up with a cost effective solution. Going behind amateur DIY just adds to the fun.

Agree 100%.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Repair work is one of my favorite things to do. You get to challenge you knowledge, your hunting skills, your problem solving ability, and then try to come up with a cost effective solution. Going behind amateur DIY just adds to the fun.

same here... many in the industry cannot do troubleshooting and dont know how.... so can charge more for this service plus you are looked at as the hero since others either turned down the work and couldnt figure it out

 

[Sumboodie]

My place was half *** wired from the start.

I mean who wires a shop with only 2 circuits for outlets, no welder wiring, etc.

They setup a 20 amp 240 run for an air compressor.
Then at some point unhooked that, tapped into that feed and powered a washer and dryer, as well as pulling power off 1 leg for the lights and added outlets for the apartment.

I moved the fridge to clean and found they had run the 240v wiring to the side of the fridge, presumably where the washer/dryer was planned originally.
They they spliced off that, shoved the whole mess into the wall and ran a length of UF wire along the wall into the next room.

And what's further irritating is I paid money for an inspection AND had an electrician come in to go through and sort out the wiring. As there was a bunch of other stuff.

It's extremely frustrating as how far does one go trying to fix stuff.
Pull half the building apart to do it correctly?

 

[alfredeneuman]

Unfortunately everything from a "Romex only" new house construction worker to CNC machine programmer/troubleshooter falls under the category of Electrician

 

[Packard V8]

Then, there's plumbing. Our almost-100-year-old house has cast iron, galvanized, black iron, copper, blue/red PEX, and black plastic. Takes a garage full of fittings and valves, as who knows which will need what next.

jack vines

 

[alfredeneuman]

I mean who wires a shop with only 2 circuits for outlets, no welder wiring, etc.

I would if I knew it was all that I would ever need.

 

[sparky 1971]

My favorite is when I get called out after Harry Homeowner has already attempted to fix whatever it was. I have to figure out what he did and put it back the way it was before doing the troubleshooting. Even better is when they won't admit to ever touching it. "It just happened" they say. For example, I had a service call where the bedroom light wouldn't work, but shutting the switch off caused the breaker to trip. After getting there, before I even looked at it I asked if anyone messed with it. Nope, it just started happening the day before yesterday. The first thing I saw upon entering the bedroom was white plates over ivory receptacles and a white switch plate mounted over an upside down white switch. I asked who changed the switch and of course the answer was nobody, I've lived here 10 years and it's always been like that. When I turned the switch over I dropped one of the screws but when I bent down to pick it up I came up with two 6-32X3/4 screws, only one of which was modern, the other was an old slotted head. I handed him the old screw, telling him that either nobody has ever run a vacuum, or someone changed the switch and by the way, the switchleg terminal was shorted out against the side of the box, flipping it down was actually turning it on. $300 please. Another time, the last contractor I worked did home warranty work and I got sent out for a ceiling fan that all of sudden quit. I got there and asked the woman that lived there where the switch was. She pointed to a single switch at the front door. I thought that was weird since that should have been the outside light. I turned the switch on and the fan did nothing so I climbed the ladder and dropped the canopy to find no wires at all. Someone had screwed the fan to the ceiling and thought the warranty company would take care of the rest. Of course further questioning led to nothing but denial and more lies so I just left but on the way out noticed the outside light was on.


EDIT: I was wrong about the switch, I got that job mixed up with another. The switch was upside down, but the hot wire was wrapped around the screw with the switchleg stabbed on the same terminal. The ground wire was wrapped around the other screw. The light had a burned out bulb.

 

[BreeStephany]

My favorite is when I get called out after Harry Homeowner has already attempted to fix whatever it was.

My favorite is very similar with a slightly scary twist. I was a part of a 3+ year build of an industrial project that was significantly automated. The things I saw that were done by the company's in-house maintenance team, R&D team and department heads were a little terrifying... especially considering the primary voltage of the facility was 277/480.

After MANY lengthy discussions from myself, my employer, a third-party electrical engineer and automation team with the company on the dangers and general liabilities of having unqualified personnel working on electrical systems, they finally started listening...

Still find occasional modifications when I go out, mostly to automation gear. Some of the things I saw them do over time to 277V lighting circuits were truly terrifying.

The best service call was to tell them "NO, you can't have this residential oil heater that CLEARLY states "DRY LOCATION ONLY" in an industrial environment with 105% humidity... of course it is tripping the GFCI you have it plugged into and NO, I won't remove the GFCI receptacle and replace it with a standard receptacle."

 

[SlappyWhite]

Sounds like it was a split-duplex at some point and someone previously, in their infinite wisdom, moved a hot from the ganged breaker to another one.

 

[Metal-Marc]

had to replace a worn 110 outlet, inside the box was a capped off 220 too, and it pop on me. could figure out why it was hot, the circuit breaker was off, the volt meter said zero, look in the box, a regular outlet box and there a 220 like a rattlesnake. the 220 was on two circuit breaker. not one pinned together but two seperate pinned breakers ten inches apart.

i hate going behind others on old buildings

Pic of rattlesnake?