/r/electricians
Welcome to /r/Electricians
Reddit's International Electrical Worker Community
aka The Great Reddit Council of Electricians
Talk shop, show off pictures of your work, and ask code related questions. Help your fellow Redditors crack the electrical code.
To add your country's flag to your flair, you must select a title from the drop down menu. Then message the mods with the country you are from.
Users with [V] have verified their qualifications with the Mods
To get verified, send a photo to the mods that has your certificate/seal/card. In this photo, have a piece of paper with your username and date written on it. Block out all identifying information. Once verified delete the image.
Reddit's International Electrical Worker Community
aka The Great Reddit Council of Electricians
Talk shop, show off pictures of your work, and ask code related questions. Help your fellow Redditors crack the electrical code.
Pre-Apprentices start here before posting
If you are looking for DIY or general help please visit /r/askelectricians
We are hiring again. If you are reading this, thank you. message squirrel if you are interested.
Don't be a dick, and adhere to the reddiquette
Thumb Rule. Back it up with a code reference.
DO NOT post any personal information. This includes company names of contractors.
No union vs non union debates.
No advertising of any kind. Ex. Blogs, YouTube channels, Items for sale.
Incorrect, unsafe, or hazardous information will result in a ban.
NO DIY, SELF-HELP POSTS, OR QUESTIONS FROM NON PROFESSIONALS. The only exception is career questions.
Do not comment on the DIY posts.
Suggesting the burning scrap wire to remove the insulation will result in a ban.
No posts asking about boots.
No political posts or comments
Useful certifications for electricians
Veto Pro Pac Trade School Program
/r/electricians
Was replacing em lighting on a live circuit and idk how tf I got hit I taped up the hot (I know I know I learned my lesson I will turn off power from here on out) but I was pinching the mc with my fingers and it grounded me out I was prolly stuck there for a second and a half before I jumped off the ladder backwards I felt like that burglar from home alone when he got shocked lol but it’s been a few days my heart does kinda feel wack I should probably get a ekg huh? It’s just a small company boss is kind of a dick I doubt he would pay I didn’t let anyone know I got hit so he’d probably say you didn’t report it. Mainly just venting cuz damn feel free to call me a dumbass
How much on average can one charge for a mini split hookup? Probably a 10-15 foot run from the panel. 120v hookup.
Specifically the Mr cool 12k BTU
I was cutting into my wall and I nicked a wire with my saws all. I nicked another as well. One of my outlets doesn’t work any more.
I'm an apprentice in a southern state, legally 2nd year and doing electrical/construction since I was in high school.
My coworker/Jman and I went to hook up a lady's hot tub looking kinda thing. It was about a half day job, we didn't have any previous information so all we had was what's on the van, and we got there at like 3 on a Friday. She was practically crying when we told her we probably wouldn't finish that evening. Her husband ended up picking up the missing parts etc etc.
Long story short we finish the job around 6-7. She's overjoyed! "Omg you guys are awesome, thank you so much for your hard work, can I give your boss a cash bonus to give you?" Usually when a customer says they're giving me a "cash bonus" or asks me if I can "do something on the side" I just assume they're not going to follow through on that unless it's actually a side job. So I said yeah, sure and went back home.
Well next week my boss tells me not to tell customers that I'm an apprentice. Apparently she'd refused to pay him after she saw the size of the bill. She also said she "didn't want to pay full rate for the other guy (me) because he's still in training/apprentice". My Jman and I had been discussing school, OJTs etc so I guess she overheard us. So he more or less pinned it on me (idk how you pin the second year for poor business dealings but whatever).
She had also, while talking with El Jefe before we started the job, said she had someone who could "do it cheaper". I told boss man he should've cut ties with her after he heard that because it's almost always a sign you're not getting paid anyway.
So I view this as her problem. I don't usually tell customers outright I'm an apprentice unless they ask me a question above my pay grade or they do the career conversation ("Man you made the right call getting in here so young", you know the drill) and we make small talk about school and stuff.
But even so, I feel like there's no reason to specifically avoid telling them. How do people expect apprentices to get licensed or make money? I'm an electrician. This is my job, regardless of experience (that's why I get paid less). I feel like if a customer doesn't want to pay "full rate" for me that's a business issue. It's not like it's my fault the customer wants to be a prick, especially when they weren't going to pay us in the first place and they just want an excuse.
Thoughts? Is my boss right or slightly delusional? Are there companies that actually do lower the rates depending on licensure/experience? (My boss' rate is X per hour per guy regardless of experience).
Just started apprenticeship with a company that does commercial and residential. I know for a fact I applied for residential. Went to Orientation,and immediately realized they stuck me in commercial(new construction). Annoying but no biggie I'll make the most out of it. Within my 1st week they've sent me to 3 different sites. I know a week isn't enough to go off of, but I get the feeling I'm not actually going to learn anything. First day I literally stood on a roof top doing nothing for 6 hours while my JW smoked.And the 2nd day I laid pipe but the "JW" was just a 6 year apprentice....,Plus they grouped all 3 of us new hires together with the "journeyman". So there's not much teaching or 1 on 1. So how long should I give it before I leave to find another company ? Cause im basically just cheap labor right now.
When I was an apprentice, about a week in, I was piping the main feeders from the transformer on a huge custom house. When out of no where a snow storm blew over (this happens from time to time in Montana). My boss immediately started screaming about getting our tools and material gathered so it wouldn’t get buried. I’m running through the ditch getting what I could and ran across a rake that the GCs left in the ditch. Thinking this probably shouldn’t be buried, I rested it up against the main service and kept going. After about 4” of snow and 15 minutes had passed I started putting our material in the trailer and came across my boss with a savage bloody lip. Asking him what happened he responded “some a$$hat carpenter left a rake by the service”. I had unintentionally pranked my new boss like bugs bunny messing with Daffy Duck. I got out of site and lost my shit. Anyone have stories from your travels that still make you laugh?
I’m finishing my first year schooling in nait I just want to say the lab electrical system classes are absolutely useless i still don’t understand wtf is goin on with them weird equipments they have..that’s not what I’m used to at work. The wiring is confusing and I hate my teacher as well she doesn’t like me cuz maybe I’m a minority. But anyways did anyone else feel the same way about lab classes?
My buddy borrowed some “aluminum foil tape” from the pipe insulators for the pull string
So I’m 19 just about 2 months into my first electrician apprenticeship and I love it.
But I had no experience going in and was just dying for a job and experience.
I want to stay with them til I can get my journeyman’s. Which here in AL I believe all I need is 4000 hours.
They aren’t sending me to any type of school. All I’m doing is just working but I’m learning a lot on the site.doing ab 45-50 hrs a week
I want to move west and work out there how possible is it for me to get my journeyman’s in acouple of years and get work out there. This job seems like a dead end for most older guys and I just want to get my experience get licensed and get out.
Am I getting screwed over or am I good
I'm trying to figure out what reason for this there would be. Was the only one in a restaurant
Hey sparkies, I have a question. Aside from cold calling, how does one figure out what the typical hourly rate is for service work in a given area? Are there compilations of market data that are available for business planning?
I feel really good sometimes when i work. Like im making an actual impact on society. For me it would be when i was working in the hospitals. Landing those 500s in that gear made me feel very proud, like i was doing something good for once. What do yall got?
Power cable to a access control door controller...in a school...
The main switch was already cracked, at least it could be isolated at the MCCB panel
I can't tell you how many times I've heard this from people BEFORE they have even scheduled any work.
It definitely doesn't make me want to have them as a customer; they are telling me they are cheap before I even know them! Just curious if anyone in residential offers senior or veteran discounts and if so, how much?
I have a potential customer who is 60+ and she's never done business with us and she's preemptively asking about a senior discount. I know the work would take about 45 minutes and we have a flat service call rate that covers the first hour. We have a pretty average markup on parts. We are one of the few companies in our city that will give our hourly rates out. We don't book price; every estimate we do is written specifically for that person's project.
Our service call charge is very fair and while I understand that $200-300 might be a lot of money to someone; we also aren't running a charity.
Thoughts? Ideas? I don't want to come across to any of our customers as heartless but again, we're a business.
A braided 12/4 whip whas hanging out of a jbox. Tested dead. As soon as I grabbed the whip some of the copper at the end of the wires shorted to each other and blew up in my face.
Even if I had used a meter, it would have blown up as soon as I grabbed the whip to separate the wires to test it.
When running phases together in one whip, I will always separate the braid from now on when roughing in.
For those who didn't know...
We're installing PVC slip meter for risers for a bunch of conduits that started to pull out of the meter enclosures on a property. I'm wondering if a strap is required here. The bottom of the meter is about 4ft from the bottom of the box to the ground. 352.30 states conduit shall be fastened within 3ft of each conduit termination so I figure a strap will be required. Nothing in 352.44 "expansion fittings" clarifies support wher a merer riser is installed.
Has anyone ran into this before? Would you be compliant without supporting it? They were never supported by the last guys but that doesn't mean we're going to do it the wrong way, too.
Apprentices journeyman and contractors opinions are all welcome. Do you guys prefer badass gifts and/or money? I personally am a bad ass gift kind of guy because I likely would never buy it for myself. When companies I used to work at would buy awesome tools I would love it, but I completely understand the value of “just give me the money”. Our guys are some of the highest paid in town not to say they couldn’t still use the money. I was looking to buy our guys the over the ear headphones from Apple, PS5’s etc. with some money, but my wife just said give them all money no gifts. I was also thinking about posing it to each guy. What is everyone’s opinion? Also what are you asking for, from Santa this year?
Hi everyone I’m preparing to take my journeyman exam in California, I have been getting mixed answers so I came here to the best of the best. CAN I USE A HIGHLIGHTER IN MY NEC BOOK FOR MY TEST? Will they reject my booklet for having highlighter markings inside? What is and what is not acceptable? Thanks sparkies!
Hey everyone I’m 16 years old and have been thinking about becoming an electrician once I am 18 and I’ve heard multiple people mention a union or joining a union and I was wondering if someone could explain how to join a union and also what a union is .
Ultimate career goal is to work on heavy equipment at a mine here in Canada. Wondering what line of work you guys would recommend getting into that would give me experience down the line to work with heavy duty equipment.
What kind of job would you guys recommend I get to have experience that would make me hireable in the mines?
Hi Everyone,
For the past 10 years I have worked as a freelancer in the television industry. The TV industry is slowly falling apart so I am considering getting into the trades for a more stable career.
Where is the best place to start looking for becoming an electrician in Colorado?
I'm 31, is it too late?
I've done a little research and it looks like I need to find a company to start an apprenticeship?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Hi everyone,
I'm 25 years old and currently living in Ontario, Canada. I'm considering pursuing a diploma to become an electrician, but I have a concern – I'm really bad at math. I've always struggled with it, and I’m wondering if this will hold me back in becoming an electrician.
Is being good at math a requirement for this career? How much math is actually involved in the day-to-day work? I’d really appreciate any advice or suggestions on whether this is a realistic path for me.
Thanks in advance for your help!