Strange Practices

[quogueelectric]

When cutting in panels wired in mc cable I usually put a 1/4 in eyebolt in a cordless drill and untwist the wires in reverse this makes them lay perfectly straight and ready to land in the panel. Watch your fingers this will break them for sure if you are not careful.

 

[hillbilly]

I was thinking today about some of the "out of the ordinary" practices I've seen over the years. One that stands out is that I worked with a guy that when wiring a MWBC, would lay out the full length of the run on the floor. Then he would take the 3 or 4 (# 12's) and put the end of them in a drill motor, have another guy holding the wires on the other end and subsequently turn on the drill and end up with a twisted bundle of wire. He would then pull the wires into the conduit. I always thought that would violate 110.3 (5) at the very least but he never gave it a second thought. I'm sure there are a plethora of other stories out there.........

I used to know a guy who would identify breakers by shorting out the conductors at the load to make the corresponding breaker trip.:smile:

It was not me.....I have never done that.

steve

 

[monkey]

I used to know a guy who would identify breakers by shorting out the conductors at the load to make the corresponding breaker trip.:smile:

It was not me.....I have never done that.

steve

Howz that spose to work on a FPE?

 

[Hendrix]

Howz that spose to work on a FPE?

or on ITE breakers

 

[Twoskinsoneman]

I used to know a guy who would identify breakers by shorting out the conductors at the load to make the corresponding breaker trip.:smile:

It was not me.....I have never done that.

steve

I worked with this jackass who used to do that all the time and it bugged me ALOT. I hated it and he knew it and I think that's why he always did it. One day he did on a circuit that apparently had a bad breaker because it threw the main breaker in the sub panel. Standing in the dark I was LMAO.

 

[brian john]

well it depends on the wire. Spinning some #10 thhn in a drill shouldnt do too much damage, but something thats finely stranded could sustain some damage. I have a bunch of #12 UL1015 awm, ill try sticking some in a drill.

Did you use twisted POWERING CONDUCTORS or twisted AUDIO CONDUCTORS.

If you used twisted power conductors I want to know the magic involved there.

 

[KentAT]

...and end up with a twisted bundle of wire. He would then pull the wires into the conduit...

But I bet he would never factor in the additional circuit length (and voltage drop) that was added by twisting them there conductors

(or maybe he did consider it and this was his way of selling more wire :grin

kent

 

[infinity]

When cutting in panels wired in mc cable I usually put a 1/4 in eyebolt in a cordless drill and untwist the wires in reverse this makes them lay perfectly straight and ready to land in the panel. Watch your fingers this will break them for sure if you are not careful.

We do that too. A good fast way to unwind the longer lengths of conductors and at the same time take out all of the twists.

 

[ohmhead]

induction phase to phase ?

induction phase to phase ?

Well just a little question we need explained in detail if you can ? How a twisted 60 hertz low freq circuit in a panel is a benefit to us ? I can see audio sound or high freq stuff above say our common power freq of 60 to 400 cycles and i just do not see it needed in a vfd why ? I personally think this at power levels at 60 hertz that it would be a induction issue from phase to phase in a panel on three phase comments ? best to ya i just might be wrong ?

 

[e57]

I have had to order a custom twisted feeder.... (Theres a thread around here about elevator feeders buzzing not long ago) And you can order custom smaller branch circuits bundled and twisted. IMO so long as you're not going through an LB it seems easier to pull* - less friction I guess. Pretty much every cable short of 12/2 Nm is factory twisted in the jacket, I have always wondered why the rest were, short of that ONE? But doing that on-site with a drill.... While unothodoxed, it seems really cumbersome, error prone, time consuming, and hardly worth the effort. While I can not say it is a violation of any code, including anything in 110.3... It does seem like a waste of time for the average circuit.

*I used to work for this old guy who always did a wierd twist of conductors going into LBs LL's and LR's who would put a half or full twist right at the fitting before you pulled the other side and zip tie or tape it there to hold it - never really figured out how it worked, but he would count out the bends on the other side of the fitting, then twist the conductors at the fitting one way or the other - then roll out the head end flat. But when you pulled it - it would get the conductors laying flat in the fitting everytime - with really no effort.... Right when the loop was getting close to the fitting he would pull off the tie that held that twist and they would all spring flat and pop right into the LB and all equal! It's a trick I never figured out, and never seen anyone else do. (But the idea there was not to have them twisted... Something he was very particular about.)

 

[jrannis]

I was thinking today about some of the "out of the ordinary" practices I've seen over the years. One that stands out is that I worked with a guy that when wiring a MWBC, would lay out the full length of the run on the floor. Then he would take the 3 or 4 (# 12's) and put the end of them in a drill motor, have another guy holding the wires on the other end and subsequently turn on the drill and end up with a twisted bundle of wire. He would then pull the wires into the conduit. I always thought that would violate 110.3 (5) at the very least but he never gave it a second thought. I'm sure there are a plethora of other stories out there.........

I would call that............. grounds for termination, or a one man lay-off