Friends don't let friends do electrical repairs

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mark32

mark32

Senior Member
Location
Currently in NJ
A good friend recently bought a house and asked me to stop by in order to show me around and install some lights. As we walked through the dining room he points to a freshly made opening in the wall, roughly 4' x 4'

My buddy: Yeah, my brother in law and I cut this in the other day but there was that metal wire stapled to one of the studs so I had to splice it.
Me: Yeah, did you splice it in the attic?
My buddy: No, right here and here (He points to two spots on the wall)
Me: Blah, you buried a splice man, that's not cool.
My buddy: Well what was I going to do, the wire wasn't long enough.
Me: Did you at least use metal boxes?
My buddy: No
Me: Haha, now you have no ground on that circuit
My buddy: So, I just plugged in that vacuum and it worked fine.
Me: I'm sure it did, hey if someone came in here with a plug tester it would say that you have an open ground, that means no path back to the panel in order for the circuit to trip if you had a fault in your three pronged appliance.
My buddy: Hey, Bob Villa isn't going to come in here with a tester and check my outlets.
Me: No but an inspector would, you should have waited until I got here man.
My buddy: Okay let's not get carried away with this. Let me show you the lights I want up.......
 
S

sparky=t

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
mark32 said:
A good friend recently bought a house and asked me to stop by in order to show me around and install some lights. As we walked through the dining room he points to a freshly made opening in the wall, roughly 4' x 4'

My buddy: Yeah, my brother in law and I cut this in the other day but there was that metal wire stapled to one of the studs so I had to splice it.
Me: Yeah, did you splice it in the attic?
My buddy: No, right here and here (He points to two spots on the wall)
Me: Blah, you buried a splice man, that's not cool.
My buddy: Well what was I going to do, the wire wasn't long enough.
Me: Did you at least use metal boxes?
My buddy: No
Me: Haha, now you have no ground on that circuit
My buddy: So, I just plugged in that vacuum and it worked fine.
Me: I'm sure it did, hey if someone came in here with a plug tester it would say that you have an open ground, that means no path back to the panel in order for the circuit to trip if you had a fault in your three pronged appliance.
My buddy: Hey, Bob Villa isn't going to come in here with a tester and check my outlets.
Me: No but an inspector would, you should have waited until I got here man.
My buddy: Okay let's not get carried away with this. Let me show you the lights I want up.......
Click to expand...

a truck with new bigger tires and rims works fine until you have to stop and realize you should not have left the brakes off in order to install the new rims!
WRECK !!
 
chris1971

chris1971

Senior Member
Location
Usa
It's always nice when I have to tell a homeowner that I need to cut open a finished wall to correct someone elses mistakes.
 
cowboyjwc

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
Mine was the classic

"Well whoever the yahoo was that did this, didn't know what he was doing."

"I'm the yahoo."

"See that's my point, and that's why I'm here now."

:D
 
SPARKS40

SPARKS40

Member
Location
Northern Il
Walk away.....let his brother-in-law install the lights too. What do you think is going to happen when the fire starts?? "Well, Mark the electrician was here installing some lights....." Chances are, the previous scab work won't be mentioned.
 
chris kennedy

chris kennedy

Senior Member
Location
Miami Fla.
Occupation
60 yr old tool twisting electrician
chris1971 said:
It's always nice when I have to tell a homeowner that I need to cut open a finished wall to correct someone elses mistakes.
Click to expand...

Just say sorry about the mess.


BainJBox001.jpg


BainJBox002.jpg
 
jaylectricity

jaylectricity

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
Occupation
licensed journeyman electrician
After letting a friend try two times to get the proper dryer receptacle he said, "Can you just run the circuit? Is the receptacle labeled?" I said, "I could tell you how to hook up the outlet but I've seen your handy work."

He laughed. I'll be hooking up the receptacle.
 
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