"Staring at the ceiling"

Status
Not open for further replies.
peter d

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
At the risk of making a complete fool of myself.....

As I mentioned in my Lowe's thread, I often like to closely examine the wiring systems in just about every place I go, but especially in the box stores where everything is exposed.

When I was in the Lowe's the other night, I decided to trace the conduits that ran from the rooftop units to the panels. Tracing the fire alarm system conduit is also a good challenge. The exercise is excellent, too. I also do this at Home Depot, as the wiring there ranges from poor to excellent.

I often spend more time looking up at the ceiling than I do at the merchandise. :D I have to look around to make sure no one is watching me, so I don't get any odd looks.

When I go visit someone at their home, the first thing I want to do is see their main panel.

And on and on.....

I can't be the only electrician who does this. :D
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

Of course I do the same thing. :)

At HDs you probably notice coils of MC at each lighting fixture. This happens because HD uses premade lighting whips with Reloc connectors on them.

Basically it is a 'plug and play' lighting system.
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

Not only at the home stores, but theaters, hotels, office buildings, in the car (transmission lines), subway, railroad, especially amusement parks, etc.
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

This is kind of funny as when I was in De Moines, Iowa at the IAEI Western conference, I bet the hotel they were at was one of the most inspected places on Earth. :D

I wasn't able to get a room there but I did have a few walk's around my hotel and boy did I find a mess There was a 3" schedule 40 PVC conduit that ran up to a LB and went into a power room the conduit was separated about 4" away from the LB from ground settling and inside there was only two circuit conductors with no EGC. It appeared to feed a large JB box out in the yard area to feed ground mounted MH fixture's that lit up the outside of the building. Well it didn't take me to long to show this to the maintenance man and explain how not having an EGC with the circuit conductors can be a shock hazard if one of the MH fixtures was shorted to the case.

[ November 22, 2004, 08:11 PM: Message edited by: hurk27 ]
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

I forgot the most funny part was at the displays of electrical equipment. the whole place was wired with extension cord and plug strips. and I was kidding with one of the UL rep's at there booth about it and he just turned red as can be. and just looked up. But I had a great time. ;)
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

Engineers have been know to have similar habits. My wife groans every time I take notice of an unusual type of transmission tower while I am driving, and tells me to keep my eyes on the road.
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

I took it one step further , at the how to do it displays at big orange wrote them a red tag.
Love to inspect them flea markets but list would be to long to print,just laugh at it and go on my way.
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

Yeah, I do it too...I look at all kinds of stuff, piping, conduit, HVAC...my dad does floors/counters, tons of resedential stuff...so usually when I'm not helping him out, I'm following the EC around watching them do finish...or just looking at the work and what not. He project managed a sub division, so that was cool beacuse I could go in and see all the rough, as well as finish. :) That was one of the real deciding factors for me that I wanted to do electrical, actually. :) But I do prefer looking at the commercial stuff, i.e. Home Depot, Lowes, etc... :p

[ November 22, 2004, 08:42 PM: Message edited by: midget ]
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

I used to think I was the only one who did this too. I guess we all do it, kind of a habit to look at electrical installations wherever we go. I wonder if plumbers do this too when they visit the restroom. :D
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

GOOD TOPIC ! That makes me feel better! Thought I was the only one that walked around looking at cielings for general workmanhip, materials, or violations. My wife and kids have been after me for years about that very thing, because I'm not paying attention to them.

Mike - Detroit,MI :D
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

Guilty :cool:
I am a master electrician that install traffic signals, hiway signs and street lighting, it is very difficult for me to drive anywhere without checking out anything electrical on the side of the road.
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

I also take it one step farther. Any switches in a public space are fair game (unless they are marked fire alarm!!).

Me: "I wonder what this does?"
My wife: "Don't you dare. Your worse than a kid!"

I figure if they didn't want me to switch it, they shouldn't of put it in a public space.

Steve
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

The toughest adjustment for me when I moved from the electrical field to inspecting was I have to pass work I would have fired an apprentice for due to minimum code standards. I also look at work as I shop around. Electricman2, when I took a plumbing code class, the instructor brought in photos of plumbing jobs. So, yes, plumbers also look at other installations.
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

I also look at wiring when I'm out and about. For some reason people look at me funny when I ask to see their panel during their dinner party. :D

When I got my contractor's license, a code enforcement official I've worked with told me I should buy a digital camera so I can much more easily tell stories that start with "You wouldn't believe the violations I found..."
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

My wife is most embarrassed when we go somewhere and I start ranting about poor or abused electrical instalations. More than once she has asked me to "clock out" before we arrive some where. the worst is she loves the DIY network and is fine with me watching it until they do something electric. Then she just changes the channel befoe "I start my ......" well you guys know what she says.
 
Re: "Staring at the ceiling"

I even look at other EC work.We seen some from another EC doing a store buildout next to the one we were doing,we laughed our A-- off.Good part was one of the mechanics enquired if we were hiring as he hated there slop work,we hired him and added a fine man to our crew
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top