REC - Redneck Electrical Code

[oldmaninsaline]

Protip: If you don't have a straight blade plug, just shove some stripped wire into the outlet. Be sure not to twist the wires - you can measure the voltage on the stray strands sticking out.

A good way to check your system ground is to stand in some water and grab your ground wire.

Instead of a 4 foot ground rod, use a dozen or so nails.

The thinner the wire, the faster the electricity will move.

 

[PreppenWolf]

Don't spend money on expensive transfer switches. Just use this handy cord instead. #LifeHack.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

Don't forget OhSht's Law -
TCA = BA x NO, where TCA is Total Circuit Amps, BA is Breaker Amps, and NO is Number of Outlets

 

[svetz]

All manly endeavors REQUIRE an assistant to hold your beer, ensuring none be spilt.

 

[PreppenWolf]

Remember when working on 3 phase power to have a bucket for the second phase to contain any spills.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

Remember when working on 3 phase power to have a bucket for the second phase to contain any spills.

So THAT'S where the term "voltage leakage" comes from! Now I know how to resolve that nasty little problem. Technical question - metal or plastic bucket?

 

[PreppenWolf]

So THAT'S where the term "voltage leakage" comes from! Now I know how to resolve that nasty little problem. Technical question - metal or plastic bucket?

Metal bucket obviously. You'll need to hold the pail with one hand and touch the wire to the pail for the elections to flow out.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

Metal bucket obviously. You'll need to hold the pail with one hand and touch the wire to the pail for the elections to flow out.

Duh. I should have known that!

 

[PreppenWolf]

Always wire as high up as possible to avoid voltage drops.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

Always wire as high up as possible to avoid voltage drops.

High as in elevation? Or high as in recreation? Maybe both?

I don't really do recreation high but a few beers before you start rewiring that panel is always a good idea. Gets you relaxed so you don't tense up and make mistakes.

 

[Danke]

High as in elevation? Or high as in recreation? Maybe both?

I don't really do recreation high but a few beers before you start rewiring that panel is always a good idea. Gets you relaxed so you don't tense up and make mistakes.

Alcohol is a diuretic. The more you drink, the more dehydrated you are.
Dehydration lowers your conductivity (higher resistance?), So the more you drink before any electrical work, the safer you are.

 

[LydMekk]

When in doubt just silicone the hell out of everything!
What scares me is that it always work...

 

[42OhmsPA]

Hot melt glue is safe also and serves as a disconnect in the event of high temps.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

I should have known this would bite me in the ass. I made a crack on here the other day about not labeling or labeling wrong. Been moving some circuits over from my main to my solar subpanel. A number of them are labeled wrong. What a PITA. I've got one I still can't figure out. I think it's getting power through osmosis or something. Found one that was piggy backed with no label for the second circuit and other one that has two hot wires in one 20a breaker. I know what one of them feeds but the second one is a mystery. Most of the work in the panels is decent, then I find this stuff and figure the electrician must have been following the REC way before I even thought of it.

 

[FilterGuy]

I should have known this would bite me in the ass. I made a crack on here the other day about not labeling or labeling wrong. Been moving some circuits over from my main to my solar subpanel. A number of them are labeled wrong. What a PITA. I've got one I still can't figure out. I think it's getting power through osmosis or something. Found one that was piggy backed with no label for the second circuit and other one that has two hot wires in one 20a breaker. I know what one of them feeds but the second one is a mystery. Most of the work in the panels is decent, then I find this stuff and figure the electrician must have been following the REC way before I even thought of it.

Entropy is a law of nature that certainly applies to electrical wiring..... all modifications after the initial build will end up with a messier situation.

If you have ever looked at wiring on an old boat you would know exactly what I mean. They very quickly degrade into a rat's nest.

 

[JJJJ]

I think sometimes the tyranny of the urgent can be a factor. Sometimes a job is done to fill a need with the best intentions of cleaning up and organizing later. Then life gets in the way…

 

[TorC]

Entropy in wiring… don't I know that one. Recently had a job to neaten the wiring in a store. Network, one phone, two registers under a counter maybe eight feet long. I ended up taking out an unused PoE injector, at least one switch of several unmanaged desktop switches, some cables going to nothing, and a mini-ITX size computer that was once used as some kind of server, but had been (semi-?)permanently decommissioned.

Considering how old it is, my network closet isn't as bad as it could be. Just don't look at the untrimmed loops of Cat5e underneath…

 

[EastTexCowboy]

Entropy in wiring… don't I know that one. Recently had a job to neaten the wiring in a store. Network, one phone, two registers under a counter maybe eight feet long. I ended up taking out an unused PoE injector, at least one switch of several unmanaged desktop switches, some cables going to nothing, and a mini-ITX size computer that was once used as some kind of server, but had been (semi-?)permanently decommissioned.

Considering how old it is, my network closet isn't as bad as it could be. Just don't look at the untrimmed loops of Cat5e underneath…

I'm right there with you. Having owned an IT business for 40 years as of this year, I have seen some really nice wiring but mostly a bunch of rat's nests, unlabeled wires and cables, and yeah a whole trainload of abandoned cables, switches, surge strips, etc. I hate to admit it, but back in the early days some of that was mine.

Then a couple of years ago a client brought in a contractor to do some re-cabling on their network. We had a really clean setup with racks and wire management, everything labeled and easy to troubleshoot. The contractor proceeded to unplug all the network cables from two 96 port switches (with multiple subnets and vlans) then REMOVED the labels on the wires. When they finished whatever the hell they were doing they just plugged cables back in willy-nilly and left. This was on a weekend. I got a call Monday morning of course. It took a couple conversations but I finally dragged the truth out of the so-called on staff IT guy because he was there and let them do it.

But I wasn't mad. I just sent a couple of my people there for the better part of two days and billed them at emergency rates. Their emergency of course, not mine. Made for a nice little bonus for my guys and for me.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

Entropy is a law of nature that certainly applies to electrical wiring..... all modifications after the initial build will end up with a messier situation.

If you have ever looked at wiring on an old boat you would know exactly what I mean. They very quickly degrade into a rat's nest.

I've had a lot of boats down through the years. I think I may have had the very same one you're talking about ...

 

[EastTexCowboy]

I think sometimes the tyranny of the urgent can be a factor. Sometimes a job is done to fill a need with the best intentions of cleaning up and organizing later. Then life gets in the way…

Hey! You've been looking in my shop haven't you? And my garage. And the barn. WTH?