DIYNET

[petersonra]

Last night Ed the plumber was replacing an electric water heater.

While he seemed to have no issues with DIYer plumbing (other than gas), he was adament about getting an electrician to do the wiring.

I have to wonder how many HOs are going to be willing to pay an electrician to remove a couple wires and reinstall them an hour later.

 

[haskindm]

Re: DIYNET

Probably as many as are willing to pay a plumber to "cut a couple of pipes and then solder them back". What is the point of your question?
Sometimes you get paid for what you do (physical labor), other times you get paid for what you know.

[ December 15, 2005, 01:00 PM: Message edited by: haskindm ]

 

[bthielen]

Re: DIYNET

Although there have been discussion threads about plumbers and others doing electrical work in situations like this I would also think that a plumber that has been around a while has seen enough electrical water heater installations that he/she may be able to recognize something that doesn't quite look right. Is it possible this is the situation here? Maybe this plumber recognized what he suspects may be code violations and feels it would be beneficial to have a knowledgeable electrician take a look.

Bob

 

[petersonra]

Re: DIYNET

In this particular case the new water heater was taller and they added a switch so I can understand why a plumber would not want to do that much electrical work.

But for a normal replacement, we are talking about undoing a couple of wires and hooking them back up later. I have to believe most HOs would object to the plumber sending out for a $200 service call to disconnect and then reconnect a couple of wires.

It was kind of ironic that later in the show he showed viewers how to unwire the elements and replace them.

 

[jbwhite]

Re: DIYNET

The tv show producer is not willing to take the liability of not makeing the statement. "get a qualified electrician".

In real life, i doubt it happens that way often.

 

[tshea]

Re: DIYNET

Seems like Ed the Plumber is a pretty smart guy not to do his own electrical!
POCO used to meter electric water heaters separate from the main house meter. There was a third wire going to the water heater so each element was fused independently from the other. If you didn't think through what was there, you could actually wire the same phase to the elements thus having no hot water. Almost every one I have seen had a black, red and green wire going to the water heater. The green was the common while the black and red were the returns on the 240 circuit.
So sometimes a plumber is wiser to call and electrician!

 

[Jennifer]

Re: DIYNET

Hi,
As someone who is in hvac I see a bunch of poor wiring on heating systems, etc. The other day
I seen a box with a 14/2nm in from the panel. Another 14/2nm to the emergency switch, and the MC to the heating unit. There also was a switch to turn off the unit when servicing it in the box. Well what's wrong with the above ?, the box that all this was in was a "Handy Box" !!. They must have used a hammer to get that switch to fit in.

When I was out of hvac for awhile, atempting to escape the horrors of it, I managed the plumbing/electrical dept at a small home improvement place. It's amazing the stuff people want to do. Did you know ALL circuit breakers are the same. CH/SQ-D/GE will interchange. Yes it's true, according to the home owner. One guy wanted a 30 OR 40 amp breaker. Well the alarm bell went off. What are you doing I asked. Well I have 2-1500w elec heaters that trip the 20a breaker. Well they will, as there is aprox a 27-28a load there I replied. He wanted to use a 30a on 12ga wire. I explained why he couldn't, and what would happen. He still wanted the breaker !. He was mad because I wouldn't help him pick one out. I said if you want to burn the house down, I would have no part of it, and went off to inform other employees not to help this guy.

Christmas lights...start at one end of the house, then at the other end and wind up with 2 female cord ends in the middle. I need a adapter with 2 male ends to connect the female ones together. I doubed this non-existent device a
"Suicide Adapter". After explaining what would happen if you pluged it in the "hot" cordset while holding the other end they would give up. Some kept walking around picking throught the bins to find one !.

I did this for 4 years. I tried my best to advert many plumbing/electrical nightmares...

 

[jimwalker]

Re: DIYNET

Them there guys at the big orange place woulda found a 40 amp breaker for me And i would get plenty of heat till them big trucks come and turn it off.

 

[BruceH]

Re: DIYNET

Jennifer, they need more people like you at these stores! Most of these sales clerks are clueless.

 

[charlie b]

Re: DIYNET

Originally posted by Jennifer: I did this for 4 years. I tried my best to advert many plumbing/electrical nightmares...

You may never know whether you actually did avert a nightmare, whether anyone took your advice and changed their planned "home improvement" to something safer. But you do get to know that it might have happened, that you might have saved someone (or some ones) from a tragedy of their own making. Well done. Brava.