You did what?

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frizbeedog

frizbeedog

Senior Member
Location
Oregon
What's the dumbest thing you've ever done as an electrician or apprentice?


Please do not attempt these stunts at home, we are trained professionals.
 
augie47

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
at least in the top 5 (of mine)

at least in the top 5 (of mine)

decided to go back and check the line lugs on a 25 hp combination starter , after restoring power (fromn a 1200 main) ,to make sure I did it properly I practically stuck my pumpkin head in the starter as I tighten the line lugs bringing my heavy duty screwdriver down on the grounded metal breaker support plate. :grin:
 
dwellselectric

dwellselectric

Inactive, Email Never Verified
Location
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
When I first started out working for my first company the electrican that I was placed to work with didn't like to teach me anything he just said do it this way and when I asked why he said because I said so. Well one friday afternoon we where doing a finish in a beautiful house and the lady was preparing for a big party she was having. He was being a jerk to me that whole day. So what I did was stupid but indeed funny at the same time. I put the nutral and hot on the same side of a receptacle so when he went to put the breaker on it would pop. He was so mad couldn't figure it out. After about an hour or so I ended up fixing it. That was my way of getting back at him without him knowing it.:grin:
 
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splinetto

Senior Member
Location
Missouri
While pipeing in my first furnace I cut the pipe too short and found a coupling in the dummys truck and made it work....I'm sure it looked bad however thats what you get when you don't explain to your cub what to do....
 
Jim W in Tampa

Jim W in Tampa

Senior Member
Location
Tampa Florida
dSilanskas said:
When I first started out working for my first company the electrican that I was placed to work with didn't like to teach me anything he just said do it this way and when I asked why he said because I said so. Well one friday afternoon we where doing a finish in a beautiful house and the lady was preparing for a big party she was having. He was being a jerk to me that whole day. So what I did was stupid but indeed funny at the same time. I put the nutral and hot on the same side of a receptacle so when he went to put the breaker on it would pop. He was so mad couldn't figure it out. After about an hour or so I ended up fixing it. That was my way of getting back at him without him knowing it.:grin:
Click to expand...

Something most dont understand is even a great electrician might be a poor teacher.
 
mdshunk

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
Drove over and broke off a barely visible fill pipe for an underground propane storage tank and caused the evacuation of a neighborhood for 2-1/2 days.

Turned on a newly wired stamping press and smashed up a $200,000 stamping die that happened to be in it.

You could fill some pretty big books with all the dumb stuff I've ever done.
 
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chicar

chicar

Senior Member
Location
Lancaster,Pa
As an apprentice I was left in a basement. Being borred and could not wait to use my new tools,I went to all the j-boxes with ground wires hanging out and cut them. The other wires in the j-boxes was wirenut together,white to white, black to black. I thought I was doing something good. NOT. Luckely the electrician left slack in the wires outside the j-boxes as a work habbit. I was so glad this goff-up could be easily fixed. It was my dads rental property.
 
H

hardworkingstiff

Senior Member
Location
Wilmington, NC
When I first learned about series and parallel circuits (learned, not understood completely) I decided that the Christmas candle decoration should not be wired in series (since when I lamp went out they all went out).

Imagine my surprise when after rewiring the decoration, I plugged it in and the sparks flew and the lights in the house went out. :grin:
 
brantmacga

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
i got my hand between a sledge hammer and a 5/8" galvanized ground rod. it went completely through my hand between the thumb and index finger. it left a cute little scar. that was pretty stupid; and painful. i honestly don't know how it happened.

this next one was done by a helper i had one time, but is so stupid i must post it. he had just moved up from florida and told the boss when he interviewed that he had almost 5 yrs in working for a large commercial outfit around gainesville. in his 4th day on the job we went to wire a new house. i had to leave him w/ my other two helpers and go do another job that was going to take about two hours. the other helpers were supposed to help watch over him. he was instructed to pull the receptacles in the bedrooms and a couple of other rooms. when I got back to the job, he had pulled home-runs to almost 30 receptacles. when I asked him why, he said, "well that's florida code. we have to homerun everything down there." i said "oh really? how the heck do you fit them all in the panel?" -- his answer, "well we use a pretty deep panel. deeper than what you guys use up here. and its got a lot more spaces for all the wires." --- unfortunately, that was the beginning of the end of his employment with that company. don't tell me a lie, just tell me you screwed up.
 
480sparky

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
A president or two back, I was doing some underground work with a backhoe in the front of a new gas station. Had to dig up the underground pipes we had stubbed out for the pumps, dispensers, etc. As soon as I got them exposed, I backed the backhoe out of the way.

I forgot about that big thing on the one end with the chain on it.... you know, the trenching end. I call it the stinger. Some guys call it the chain.

Anyway, that thing went into the window of the store. Didn't shatter like normal plate glass, so I figured it was safety glass, being so large and in a public place.

Turned out the owner had ponyed up for 'bullet-proof' glass.


Ooops! :cool:
 
EBFD6

EBFD6

Senior Member
Location
MA
wired a new air compressor all by myself

piped, pulled wire, terminated starter and breaker. Soup to nuts.

I was so proud of myself.

Turned on power to test it out, watch it run.

OOPS! never even thought to check and see if anyone had filled motor with oil (they hadn't by the way)!:rolleyes:

You can probably figure out the rest.
 
frizbeedog

frizbeedog

Senior Member
Location
Oregon
Since I started this mess, here's mine.

Since I started this mess, here's mine.

Me, an apprentice, one year under my belt, and smarter than everyone else on planet earth. The only guy in history with a bright idea. I honestly don't know how you mortals have survied this long. So journeyman must think I'm smart too, cause he's at the other end of this massive house and I'm out in the garage stringing all the home runs. Well, I get the bright idea that it's such a shame to have to be up in your attic and have to step on all those wires, certainly can't be good for them. So I drill about eight 3/4 inch holes about 2 inches apart in the bottom of all these engineered trusses, only I don't know what the heck an engineered truss is or what it has to do with me or my wires, all I know is that these home runs look awesome, and why has no one ever thought of this before, and boy won't my journeyman be impressed by this, not to mention the inspector as I will certainly earn points for neatness. We'll everyone was certainly impressed, not to mention shocked, bewildered, dumbfounded, and perplexed. But they all agreed on one thing. It sure looked good.
 
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