Ignorant questions from "quallified persons"

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How about this one from the big blue box" I'm going to run my saw on 220v ; it will use less power that way". Store guy "ya, that's a good idea!".
 
Of course, even the best of us can be completely ignorant outside our own little area.

I remember a counter day at the parts house, where the rep was extolling the virtues of all his new Romex fittings. He had just finished his spiel when one of the crowd asked "What is Romex?"

I guess the rep had never been to Chicago before. :D
 
Much of the problem is because an EC hires men that know nothing about electric and then assumes his other men will teach him. That happened often up till this recession. And I am just as guilty as them. When help is hard to find you sometimes hire guys that you know are not qualified. The result is after a few years they think they are now an electrician. They could easily work 20 years in field and know far from enough.
 
For a question that is so obvious that it requires mocking of the questioner, how come the same electrical connection in a 3-wire range or dryer setup barely raises an eyebrow?
 
Some of the best questions come from home owners in the box stores.

" I need to hook up a A/C and need 600v wire which should I buy"? while holding a roll of 14-2 and 12-2

But once in the supply house I heard an old time elect. tell his helper " it is code we must put 20amp circt. in commercial buildings" When I ask if he could show me the code he said "no but it is in there" pointing to a code book on the counter. I then offered to buy him lunch if he could find it in the code book. Guess he wasn't hungry he just said "its in there" and went out the door.
 
acrwc10 said:
It surprised me that a person working as an electrician for more then 20 years would ask it.
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A person can learn more working around good electricians for a couple of years than they can from working around hacks for 20 years.

The truth is everyone working in the electrical trade should not be called electricians. Some are and will continue to be mechanics and installers and nothing more. They may be good at installing conduit or roughing in new apartments but will ever be "qualified" electricians.

But to be fair there are lawyers out there that I wouldn't hire to defend me on a traffic ticket and doctors that I wouldn't trust for a minute.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
Much of the problem is because an EC hires men that know nothing about electric and then assumes his other men will teach him. That happened often up till this recession. And I am just as guilty as them. When help is hard to find you sometimes hire guys that you know are not qualified. The result is after a few years they think they are now an electrician. They could easily work 20 years in field and know far from enough.
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BINGO! I have seen alot of this from my own experience. And lets face it in this environment with things being so cutthroat and unreasonable schedules and deadlines it makes it hard to take the time to educate an individual.
 
stevebea said:
BINGO! I have seen alot of this from my own experience. And lets face it in this environment with things being so cutthroat and unreasonable schedules and deadlines it makes it hard to take the time to educate an individual.
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And to compete they do not hire journeymen to pull romex on apartments where each one is the same. I hired a brother out law and he could do just fine on houses that were the same model or run home runs. Now from my end of this I made money from using unskilled labor. On his side if asked what he does for a living he says electrician.
Some men stay at that low level all there life. They also mostly learn from who they work with. Just like a computer, garbage in = garbage out. The problem has been going on for decades and not changing. Have even ran into EC's that should never been licensed.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
And to compete they do not hire journeymen to pull romex on apartments where each one is the same. I hired a brother out law and he could do just fine on houses that were the same model or run home runs. Now from my end of this I made money from using unskilled labor. On his side if asked what he does for a living he says electrician.
Some men stay at that low level all there life. They also mostly learn from who they work with. Just like a computer, garbage in = garbage out. The problem has been going on for decades and not changing. Have even ran into EC's that should never been licensed.
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I hear ya Jim.... Typical scenario with my present and former employer on an apartment complex would be to give the job foreman 1 or 2 "go to guy's " he could trust and then a couple of the "helper" variety to jerk romex. I really dont care for that but I understand that they are doing it to be competitive. I'm in service so I get to do the warranty work.:roll:
 
What about qualified questions from ignorant persons?;)

Some people may just ask questions without thinking it through. Sometimes they may ask questions they already know the answers to but forgot over time. I forget a lot of stuff and I like coming here for refreshing discussions. I also like talking with the new guys as they think of stuff I haven't worried about in years.

While what might be a silly question can be entertaining at times, I would rather somebody ask even if I occasionally suggest a different time for discussion. They may ask something I need to think about as well. I simply can't keep everything at the top of my memory stack. And the older I get, the smaller the top of that stack gets. :)
 
cadpoint said:
If one wrote the question down does spelling count for merit or is it a distraction? :roll:
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In our Trade if we ever stop learning,or get to the point we think we know it all,
That is the point that we are finished.Questions are good !That shows the person is thinking.It also makes someone else think. I was once told that the only dumb question was an unasked question.
 
kwired said:
The ground has to be up/down.
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Kwired,
OK, I bite. :)
Which way ( up or down) goes the ground hole ? {^-^}

NEMA has a chart of 114 plug/receptical configurations
and all the grounds are UP.

I have seen hospitals entirely with the ground UP.

All residentials in the US (that I've seen) have grounds DOWN.

Should I ask first ? :cool:
 
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