KnowItAll new guy gets spanked

[iaov]

Anyone who has spent any time in this buisiness knows that there are days when we are geniuses and there are other days when we should have stayed home. I learned a long time ago to Never say "this couldn't happen to me.":smile:

 

[nakulak]

I've made my share of mistakes. I try to stay in the habit of 1) checking everything with a DMM before I start taking anything apart, and 2) I try to keep my handy dandy digital camera around and take pics of a lot of stuff before or during - its helped me a lot on everything from my boat motor to finding wires in walls roughed in 6 months ago that got mysteriously lost.

-jmsho

 

[mivey]

I try to keep my handy dandy digital camera around and take pics of a lot of stuff before or during

Never hurts to snap a few pictures of a control board before you yank it out. Something that looks so simple in the beginning looks like a foreign planet when the replacement board gets there a week later.

 

[augie47]

"Mr. High-leg" has embarassed his share of electricians..... some of the best

 

[stickboy1375]

"Mr. High-leg" has embarassed his share of electricians..... some of the best

The building where our shop is had a high-leg, the stories the building owner would tell us of other electricians working in the stores.... :grin:

 

[peter d]

The building where our shop is had a high-leg, the stories the building owner would tell us of other electricians working in the stores.... :grin:

You'd think they never knew what a DMM or Wiggy was, huh? :roll:

 

[LarryFine]

Hasn't everyone smoked something connecting to 208V?

Never once. Honestly.

Never say "this couldn't happen to me.":smile:

I only said not yet.



Added: In my opinion, any qualified electrician should be able to eyeball a transformer bank and immediately identify the type of system they're looking at.

 

[Minuteman]

Added: In my opinion, any qualified electrician should be able to eyeball a transformer bank and immediately identify the type of system they're looking at.

And or, he should notice the weird spacing and the lack of single pole breakers on the B (or C) phase.

Of course there are other indicators, but the transformers and the breaker spacing are obvious.

 

[LarryFine]

And or, he should notice the weird spacing and the lack of single pole breakers on the B (or C) phase.

Of course there are other indicators, but the transformers and the breaker spacing are obvious.

You can't always go by the breaker spacing. Remember that line-to-line loads can use the high leg, so careful panel layout could result in no special pattern of unused spaces.

 

[220/221]

110/220/190
115/230/200
120/240/208
125/250/217
130/260/225

THAT'S the math I was referring to. Apparently most of our 3 phase Delta is closer to 115/230 than 120/240. For reference we calll it 120/240 3 phase as opposed to 120/208 3 phase.

Now the 483 phase, that's a different story.

 

[480sparky]

You'd think they never knew what a DMM or Wiggy was, huh? :roll:

No, they just used their fingers..... :grin:

 

[Minuteman]

No, they just used their fingers..... :grin:

Oh no, we know where fingers go if that leads to somebody getting electrocuted. :grin:

 

[khixxx]

No, they just used their fingers..... :grin:

man that just reminded me, when my buddy and I first hired in as electricians. I walked past the room his was in and his "MENTOR" or this real old guy was showing him how to grab the hot buss with his hand and not get shocked as long as he is not grounded. Thats all I heard about how great and smart this MENTOR is. Then the foreman seen the MENTOR showing someone else. Mr. Mentor had no more helper He didn't last long at the company.

 

[hillbilly1]

I avoid referring to it as "208" because that seems to confuse the issue. Someone here tried to explain that it mathmatically could not be 190ish but every time I read it, it is in the 190's.

I mark them "Caution: 3 phase DELTA system. "B" phase is 200 volts to ground" then mark the "B" blanks "200V"

In the olden days, the high,wild,stinger,bastard phase was "C". The POCOS still want it on "C" and we have to switch it over after the meter.

The POCO's bring it in on "C" phase for their metering equipment to work correctly.

 

[crossman]

Threads like these make me shake my head. Let be be rude and crude... anyone who is not aware of the different voltage systems and does not know how to determine what he is actually dealing with is NOT a journeyman wireman or even an "electrician". He is an apprentice or a helper or a wanna-be.

 

[quogueelectric]

I got caught once by this and it was embarasing I ended up being the guys personal slave for about a year. I learned a lot about trucking but it was lucky noone got hurt as he pluged in every tool in his shop and smoked them one after another until he ran out of tools. Luckily the computer was spared and I only had to replace a couple of hand tools a shop vac and a drill press. The ceiling fans were spinning really fast he said. I still remember listening to the message " You better get down here" Etc....Etc.....

 

[bikeindy]

Threads like these make me shake my head. Let be be rude and crude... anyone who is not aware of the different voltage systems and does not know how to determine what he is actually dealing with is NOT a journeyman wireman or even an "electrician". He is an apprentice or a helper or a wanna-be.

Ditto !

 

[Jay Bohne]

i agree with roger...you said 120/208 which is a wye system...the only way to get 208 is the high leg on a delta...the spaced panel tells me it was a delta and yes, he should have known the difference