Proper mc install, ha ha

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mark32

mark32

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Currently in NJ
I was asked to take down a few fluorescents at the HD where I work the other day in order to move some of the beams around. The first one I opened I noticed that the installer had cut off the mc's egc, only a few inches were still there. On the other end I found what you see in the pic. I laughed and laughed and left it like it was (Unenergized) until I returned the next day with my camera.
 
I used to be a a Foreman for a large Contractor that wired many HD's across the Country and I am not surprised to see that at all. They would send me out of town with only a cell phone and credit card. They would run an ad in the local paper and have me hire 10 "electricians" in the first week. You would have to hire just about anyone because during those times all the "good help" was already working.

It's tough to wire a 130,000 sq ft box with new, mostly inexperienced help and watch every part of the installation. So I am not suprised to that at all.

One example: there are 10 general use GFCI outlets on the front of the store. I had a new employee install the receptacles, as the wire was already pulled. Each 2 gang WP box was to hold one GFCI and one Duplex Decora receptacle and the wiring went on downstream to the next box and so on. At the first box this meat head connected the incoming wires to the GFCI and the outgoing wires to the Decora receptacle...never making any connection between them. He did this in all ten boxes:roll:

Another: The lighting fixtures located by the registers are all ready hung right where they need to go. I have a guy run the relock wiring down the rows and make the connections to the fixtures (easy job)...not...
I come back an hour later and this ding dong is taking down the light fixtures and moving them because the relock was not long enough to reach the fixtures as they were instead of just using another short piece of relock.

So I am not suprised at whatever you may find in one of those stores considering what I have experienced in the past. It does not make it right by any means.;)
 
ksmith846, that's funny stuff thanks for sharing. I am led to believe this was done after the place had been wired, this was probably done by an employee of the store before I started.

Speaking of nutty helpers, a friend hired a new guy and after devicing out a house he told the helper to check all the receptacles. When the helper told him he was done, my buddy noticed that there were actual check marks done in pencil either on the receptacle itself or next to it on the wall!!
 
ksmith846 said:
I used to be a a Foreman for a large Contractor that wired many HD's across the Country and I am not surprised to see that at all. They would send me out of town with only a cell phone and credit card. They would run an ad in the local paper and have me hire 10 "electricians" in the first week. You would have to hire just about anyone because during those times all the "good help" was already working.
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That would never fly here in New England unless your company was licensed in all six New England states and the workers you hired were licensed as well. I'm guessing you could only get away with this in states with minimal or no licensing laws.
 
mark32 said:
ksmith846, that's funny stuff thanks for sharing. I am led to believe this was done after the place had been wired, this was probably done by an employee of the store before I started.
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That was my first thought when I read you're first post this morning.:grin:
 
ksmith846 said:
Each 2 gang WP box was to hold one GFCI and one Duplex Decora receptacle and the wiring went on downstream to the next box and so on. At the first box this meat head connected the incoming wires to the GFCI and the outgoing wires to the Decora receptacle...never making any connection between them. He did this in all ten boxes:roll:
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That points out one issue with rough and finish not being done by the same guys. In the meathead's defense, did anyone explain the layout and/or process to him? He may not have known the boxes were daisy-chained, and it looked to him like each box had two feeds.

One of the challenges of having underlings is to be able to help him see the mental image you have of the finished product. If one explianed which wire set was the feed and how the boxes were piped, the meathead may have indeed wired the receptacles correctly.
 
This is why you can not describe electrical work over the phone or internet as a teaching method...

"Oh the 'metal sheathed' stuff - ya - just wrap that ground back in the connector... Ya - it's fine that way..." ;)
 
LarryFine said:
That points out one issue with rough and finish not being done by the same guys. In the meathead's defense, did anyone explain the layout and/or process to him? He may not have known the boxes were daisy-chained, and it looked to him like each box had two feeds.

One of the challenges of having underlings is to be able to help him see the mental image you have of the finished product. If one explianed which wire set was the feed and how the boxes were piped, the meathead may have indeed wired the receptacles correctly.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKwdRHovYok
 
LarryFine said:
That points out one issue with rough and finish not being done by the same guys. In the meathead's defense, did anyone explain the layout and/or process to him? He may not have known the boxes were daisy-chained, and it looked to him like each box had two feeds.

One of the challenges of having underlings is to be able to help him see the mental image you have of the finished product. If one explianed which wire set was the feed and how the boxes were piped, the meathead may have indeed wired the receptacles correctly.
Click to expand...

When running a 10 to 20 man crew you cannot plan ahead enough to have the same worker rough in the PVC in the slab then a month later make sure they pull the wire and then still again have them install the outlets. The layout had been explained to him. If I explained it anymore I may as well made the connections myself.
 
LarryFine said:
That points out one issue with rough and finish not being done by the same guys. In the meathead's defense, did anyone explain the layout and/or process to him? He may not have known the boxes were daisy-chained, and it looked to him like each box had two feeds.

One of the challenges of having underlings is to be able to help him see the mental image you have of the finished product. If one explianed which wire set was the feed and how the boxes were piped, the meathead may have indeed wired the receptacles correctly.
Click to expand...

Even if it wasn't explained a few extra minutes to ohm out the wires and verify if it's a separate feed or 1 in 1 out kind of set up is a lot better than having to take out all those receptacles and redo it. I dunno about you but I'd rather have somebody ask me wtf are you doing when I'm ringing out wires than ask me wtf did you do when we hit power. :grin:
 
I believe a fixture whip 6' or less can use the metallic shield as the ground. I would still have terminated the ground in the fixture, however.
I reference 410.21, and 250.118 (5) a-d. (2005 NEC).
 
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