{"id":335,"date":"2022-12-02T17:10:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T22:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/?p=335"},"modified":"2023-03-08T21:10:36","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T02:10:36","slug":"check-yo-self-b4-u-reck-you-self","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/miker\/check-yo-self-b4-u-reck-you-self\/","title":{"rendered":"Check yo-self b4 u-reck you-self"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The picture above is just for laughs. I did not take that picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residential electricity isn’t as difficult or as dangerous as most people think. However, a person should know all the basics and seek counsel before trying DIY projects. Sometimes you may think it’s safe to proceed when it’s not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, I have discovered residential wiring situations where a wire was connected to two different breaker switches. I won’t assume to know how it happened that a person powered a circuit from two sides, but that’s the kind of mistaken assumption I only make once. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my case after tracing the visible wire all the way back to the breaker box and flipping off its switch, I assumed all the downstream connections of the wire were de-energized. As my cutter crossed through the wire’s insulation I found out the downstream was actually another upstream into a different breaker switch. It made a spark and damaged my wire cutter (not a big deal<\/em>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight, I didn’t test the wire to see if it was at 0-Volts after the breaker was off. I shouldn’t have had to, but it is what it is<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

In the following case, the extra time spent inspecting paid off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this bathroom, we had two problems. The inspector failed the socket for not being a GFI (and for no ground wire present<\/em>). Secondarily, the form, function, and appearance of the switches were unacceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I initially assumed I’d be getting out my 54-inch long flex drill bit to be able to “fish” a new ground wire up into the existing gang-box from the crawl space below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, after exploring the wires available in the two gang-boxes, I found the circuit on the left for the exhaust fan already had a good ground wire available.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

That’s where the payoff of doing things right instead of doing things in a hurry are usually found. Most of my friends, who are craftsmen\/tradesmen, lament at length about how managers\u2014who don’t understand the work<\/em>\u2014will push speed over precision. We all joke, “never a time to do it right, always a time to do it over<\/strong>“<\/em>. If you work for yourself, there’s always enough time to do it right; I will take that extra time every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, instead of the difficult job of routing a new ground wire, I was only faced with the easy puzzle of getting an extension of the existing ground wire from one box to the other through the wooden 2-by-4 that separated them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the customer has their elegant multi-function timer switch for the exhaust fan, GFI-protected sockets, and easy-to-clean switches & outlets.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The picture above is just for laughs. I did not take that picture. Residential electricity isn’t as difficult or as dangerous as most people think. However, a person should know all the basics and seek counsel before trying DIY projects. Sometimes you may think it’s safe to proceed when it’s not. For example, I have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,62,75,72,74],"tags":[81,83,82],"class_list":["post-335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bathroom","category-power","category-modification","category-gangbox","category-copper-power","tag-gfi","tag-multi-meter","tag-test"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":495,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions\/495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handymen.outsourcedmath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}