A beautiful MC job. . . .not really. .

[charlie]

Ever see a lineman try to be an electrician?

Yes, once, and it was scary

Me too, several times. The problem is that a lineman knows how to work with medium voltage and maybe high voltage but it is all outside overhead or underground. Since they know how to safely do that work, 120 volts or 240 volts is no problem . . . right? :roll:

 

[chris kennedy]

On the flip side, someone who's spent their entire career bending conduit most likely couldn't wire a house properly to save their life.

I wouldn't go that far, but I for one am not very good with NM. I've seen a number of roughs our resi guys have done and they put me to shame.

It takes a great deal of patience to work with romex, something I lack.

 

[Chenley]

Had an EC do a job like that around here. It was a small job just feeding a sub-panel and running maybe 4 lighting/receptacle branches. All MC cable with no means of support anywhere, the MC was practically still coiled in the attic of the place. From what I heard through the grapevine the inspector threw a fit and about pulled licenses over it.

The inspector here is pretty easy going if he knows your work. But if you piss him off or he sees something that doesn't agree with the code, he will go over the entire job with a fine tooth comb.

 

[480sparky]

I wouldn't go that far, but I for one am not very good with NM. I've seen a number of roughs our resi guys have done and they put me to shame.

It takes a great deal of patience to work with romex, something I lack.

OK, I think I need to qualify this statement. I'm not saying all pipe-n-THHN guys can't wire houses. They just usually don't do it enough to be effective or efficient at it.

 

[EBFD6]

All I can say is WOW!

I think the security panel is my favorite part!

Leaving the code out of it, my 7 year old can tell from those pictures that it's not right. If I saw an install like that in a residential setting, I would automatically assume DIY. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever consider that a "professional" electrician did work like that!

 

[EBFD6]

OK, I think I need to qualify this statement. I'm not saying all pipe-n-THHN guys can't wire houses. They just usually don't do it enough to be effective or efficient at it.

I agree, I am a commercial/industrial electrician. I do about 75% pipe, 25% mc. The only residential I do is side work, and guys that do resi full time can definitely work circles around me, I am very inefficient and slow. That being said, very few resi guys around here can do pipe work that I would accept on one of my jobs. I have worked with guys that were mostly resi and then got hired and sent out to a commercial job with me running pipe, there's a lot of "take it down and try again, that looks like crap". This trade is so vast that very few are good at everything. Most can do anything, but getting it done and being good at it are two very different things

 

[mivey]

Ever see a lineman try to be an electrician?

You could write a book on this. Some of them do some of the sloppiest looking junk, and know just enough code to be dangerous. Another problem: the customers think these guys are the experts since they work with the POCO.

 

[growler]

OK, I think I need to qualify this statement. I'm not saying all pipe-n-THHN guys can't wire houses. They just usually don't do it enough to be effective or efficient at it.

480sparky, I would add that when I did my first residential job I had a residential partner with 35 years of experience that learned from his uncle going back to the 1930's. He was able to give a lot of help in learning to deal with not only new residential contruction but also dealing with oder homes ( his uncle had wired many of them when they were new ).

To jump straight from commercial or industrial would be hard without some sort of help.

If a person understands that they may not know what they are doing there is nothing wrong with seeking help from a qualified person.

If this person in the OP doesn't now how to do commercial work then he shouldn't be doing it. He should get a good commercial electrician to learn from.

That job looks like crap and being licensed doesn't make a person qualified. Having training and experience make a person qualified.

Don't get me wrong folks, I have much more respect for residential electricians than I once did. Thje problems faced in residential are not the same as commercial or industrial but they do take some getting used to.

 

[mivey]

...Since they know how to safely do that work, 120 volts or 240 volts is no problem . . . right?

That is so true. The attitude of some of these guys is amazing. They want to wire houses like they wire some of the street and security lighting around town...what a nightmare.

 

[480sparky]

Me too, several times. The problem is that a lineman knows how to work with medium voltage and maybe high voltage but it is all outside overhead or underground. Since they know how to safely do that work, 120 volts or 240 volts is no problem . . . right? :roll:

I used to have a neighbor that was a lineman. He wired up his hot tub with URD and a bare ground strapped to the bottom of his deck.

 

[quogueelectric]

I ran into a similar situation on a date the girls friends boyfriend was a lineman and we went to have lunch on his big new boat. After seeing the entire dock was wired in triplex and I had just finished wiring a big commercial dock the proper way. While I was eating and drinking on his boat it just came out of my mouth. What hack wired this dock? He said "I wired this dock What is wrong with it?" It made for a very uncomfortable afternoon I just wanted to jump in the water and swim away if I didnt think I would get electrocuted I probably would have.

 

[stickboy1375]

I used to have a neighbor that was a lineman. He wired up his hot tub with URD and a bare ground strapped to the bottom of his deck.

All poco guys are the same, the wire everything with URD...:grin: If its FREE its for ME!

 

[emahler]

All poco guys are the same, the wire everything with URD...:grin: If its FREE its for ME!

AMEN Brotha!

 

[mivey]

...What hack wired this dock? He said "I wired this dock What is wrong with it?"...

Hoof in mouth disease? I tend to be pretty blunt at times but if I had a dime for every time I just blurted out what I was thinking...:smile:

 

[brantmacga]

His houses may be a picture of perfection. House Ropers don't generally do good pipe work, so that's why they probably used MC.... it's as close to Romex as they could (legally) get for the job.

No his houses are just as bad.

 

[LawnGuyLandSparky]

This was more like a McJob...

 

[480sparky]

This was more like a McJob...

See Marc's post.

 

[Karl H]

Looking at these pictures I can't help but, think. Art.330 is only 2 pages long front and back. You would think SOMEONE on the job would have read it,like maybe the OWNER of the company. I can hear it now,"Hey Bob!, these plugs are faulty,the holes are too small to back stab!" (if they even used #12 MC)
I hope the church only paid a 1/4 of the price an honest EC would charge.Then learned the age old lesson,"You get what you pay for."

 

[charlie]

All poco guys are the same, the wire everything with URD . . .

AMEN Brotha!

I hope you don't paint all electric utility guys with the same sloppy brush! ​

From the electric utility side, I have dealt with some pretty poor electrical contractors, as you guys know. There are some very good linemen and other employees who are good licensed electricians. For what it is worth, I have never worked in the Line Department but I did hold a Master Electricians License (Block & Assoc. exam) in Indianapolis and I do know a little about the trade.

 

[Karl H]

Linemen typically just have "Different" approach when it comes to low voltage side work. My buddy is a lineman in Texas.Works 13.9k daily. But,wears gloves when changing out a recept in his house.It is the bulk of alot of jokes after a few beers.:grin: