silly question.....

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g-and-h_electric

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northern illinois
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supervising electrician
Hey guys, I was cleaning out the garage last night (30+ years of odd and end electrical parts and supplies). I found aq few 4 square duplex receptacle surface covers new in the package. These pre-date the needing more than 1 screw to hold the device in.

Anyone see a reason why I cant drill the 2 additional holes and use them?


Howard
 
g-and-h_electric said:
Hey guys, I was cleaning out the garage last night (30+ years of odd and end electrical parts and supplies). I found aq few 4 square duplex receptacle surface covers new in the package. These pre-date the needing more than 1 screw to hold the device in.

Anyone see a reason why I cant drill the 2 additional holes and use them?


Howard
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Looks good from here. I would if I needed to.


Speaking from a great deal of experience, you need to cycle your stock more often.

Or expect to throw out a lot of good stuff in another ten years or so.
 
I see no problem with drilling two holes. After you install the screws how would anyone know that you drilled them?
 
After a project is completed ... either recycle, or it's going in the dumpster. The customer paid for new material, and using your recycled material could get you in a bind down the road anyway.

What scared me "straight" on hoarding was a neighbor whose husband passed away (Electrical Contractor) and asked me if I was interested in some electrical material, since I was also an electrical contractor. I took a look; the whole garage was filled to the rafters with all types of electrical materials. She stated that her husband never through anything away, and I believe her.
 
mtnelect said:
After a project is completed ... either recycle, or it's going in the dumpster. The customer paid for new material, and using your recycled material could get you in a bind down the road anyway.

What scared me "straight" on hoarding was a neighbor whose husband passed away (Electrical Contractor) and asked me if I was interested in some electrical material, since I was also an electrical contractor. I took a look; the whole garage was filled to the rafters with all types of electrical materials. She stated that her husband never through anything away, and I believe her.
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So you discard any refrigerant you have left over from a project?
 
It's probably too nit-pickey but I think it's important to note the hardware that comes with the up-to-date covers includes captive type nuts.
You might want to do likewise.
 
ptonsparky said:
So you discard any refrigerant you have left over from a project?
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The refrigerant comes in 30 lb. cylinders, so we use it overtime. For R-22 it is around $2,000.00 per 30 ib. And when we recover refrigerant, the reclaim charge is $60.00 per 50 lb. cylinder.
 
ptonsparky said:
I never bought 10' of 1/2" EMT for a project. 100 at a minimum. Case quantity prices are better than per each. Why would recycle or send left overs to the dumpster?
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I just don't want to be the electrical warehouse. I still can park my car in the garage, aside from my work bench. I too buy bundle and box quantities of things that fit on my service truck. I basically do electrical service upgrades, HVAC installs - repairs, and maintenance contracts, very little material left over anyway.
 
The 2017 edition of the NEC added a new informational note to Section 110.3(A)(1) stating “Equipment may be new, reconditioned, refurbished, or remanufactured” while a new subsection was added to Section 110.21(A) that addressed equipment marking for reconditioned equipment. NEC Section 110.21(A)(2) requires reconditioned equipment to be marked with the name, trademark, or other descriptive marking by which the organization responsible for reconditioning the electrical equipment could be identified along with the date of the reconditioning. In addition to the marking requirements, Section 110.21(A)(2) makes it clear that approval of the reconditioned equipment shall not be based solely on the equipment’s original listing. With the addition of these sections to the 2017 NEC questions arose regarding what type of electrical equipment was suitable for rebuilding, reconditioning and remanufacturing as well as a clear understanding of what constitutes “reconditioned”.
 
Just a quick "FYI".... the car does fit in the garage with all the stuff in it. I was cleaning it out so that I can get a used GENERAC 15kW in and the car!

But yeah I am also working on downsizing..... dont need all the "junk" that has followed me home for 36 years of living here.....

When I got into the trade, we didnt have the 7 day a week open all day home centers. I was lucky if the local harwaer store was open on Sunday, or SEARS had what i needed.... Time to keep cleaning! :)

Howard
 
This reminds me when I took the Inside Wiremen's test at the IBEW Local 11. They had a board of electrical materials on a board from the 1920's, that I never seen before. But, once out in the field I would come across one, and I would flash back to when.
 
mtnelect said:
The 2017 edition of the NEC added a new informational note to Section 110.3(A)(1) stating “Equipment may be new, reconditioned, refurbished, or remanufactured” while a new subsection was added to Section 110.21(A) that addressed equipment marking for reconditioned equipment. NEC Section 110.21(A)(2) requires reconditioned equipment to be marked with the name, trademark, or other descriptive marking by which the organization responsible for reconditioning the electrical equipment could be identified along with the date of the reconditioning. In addition to the marking requirements, Section 110.21(A)(2) makes it clear that approval of the reconditioned equipment shall not be based solely on the equipment’s original listing. With the addition of these sections to the 2017 NEC questions arose regarding what type of electrical equipment was suitable for rebuilding, reconditioning and remanufacturing as well as a clear understanding of what constitutes “reconditioned”.
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Most used equipment is not reconditioned. For equipment to be reconditioned, it must have been repaired or restored to an operational state from a non-operational state.
 
Have come across new old stock relating to GFCI receptacles.

A small hardware up North had discolored packages of Leviton GFCI’s that I know were 20+ years old.
 
mtnelect said:
After a project is completed ... either recycle, or it's going in the dumpster. The customer paid for new material, and using your recycled material could get you in a bind down the road anyway.

What scared me "straight" on hoarding was a neighbor whose husband passed away (Electrical Contractor) and asked me if I was interested in some electrical material, since I was also an electrical contractor. I took a look; the whole garage was filled to the rafters with all types of electrical materials. She stated that her husband never through anything away, and I believe her.
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Using it someplace else kind of fits the definition of recycle.

If you are using the "customer paid for it" approach, then maybe leave it behind when project is finished.

I don't throw new but unused product in dumpster as a general rule. Few leftover pieces maybe, depending on what it is, but usually not full unopened packages. Supply house might even take back unopened packages in some cases. And if you make most your purchases at big box stores they take back about anything, even wrong product in another package, don't ask me how I know this as it did not make me very happy when I discovered wrong product in the package when I was ~50 miles from the store.
 
kwired said:
Using it someplace else kind of fits the definition of recycle.

If you are using the "customer paid for it" approach, then maybe leave it behind when project is finished.

I don't throw new but unused product in dumpster as a general rule. Few leftover pieces maybe, depending on what it is, but usually not full unopened packages. Supply house might even take back unopened packages in some cases. And if you make most your purchases at big box stores they take back about anything, even wrong product in another package, don't ask me how I know this as it did not make me very happy when I discovered wrong product in the package when I was ~50 miles from the store.
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Bought a 100 amp MLO 8/16 circuit 3r loadcenter at HD for a job far from anywhere. Got there to install it, found someone had stole the dead front out of it! Had to drive 20 miles to another HD to replace it. Homer at that store said he caught a customer stealing a green screw out of a panel because he lost his, and got turned down by the inspector. He told the customer they sell them in a pack, he did not have to steal one!
 
hillbilly1 said:
Bought a 100 amp MLO 8/16 circuit 3r loadcenter at HD for a job far from anywhere. Got there to install it, found someone had stole the dead front out of it! Had to drive 20 miles to another HD to replace it. Homer at that store said he caught a customer stealing a green screw out of a panel because he lost his, and got turned down by the inspector. He told the customer they sell them in a pack, he did not have to steal one!
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In my incident it was 3 packs of P&S GFCI receptacles. Opened box on install site and find someone had returned with the no-name GFCI's they sell at that store. They looked used as well. Bet they failed, someone bought new P&S and returned the failed ones in the P&S box. Store employees were clueless and placed them back on the shelf. Meanwhile I was 50 miles or so from the store and did not have enough GFCI's for the project. Didn't even try to see if the ones I had actually worked, no way I was going to install them period.

Learned my lesson. I usually look in the boxes now to make sure it has what it is suppose to have in it while at the store.
 
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