Had a week where every service call turned into a nightmare

Three days straight in Phoenix where every panel I opened had some hack job from the 80s, like someone used speaker wire for a 50 amp circuit. Anyone else ever walk into a job and just know it's gonna be a long day before you even touch a tool?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_aaron2d ago

Walked into a house last week and found wire nuts holding together aluminum and copper like some kind of fire waiting to happen. Just stood there for a solid minute shaking my head before I even opened my bag. Gotta love those 80s specials where the only tool they owned was a pair of pliers and a dream.

nora7352d ago

Wait... some people actually use wire nuts for aluminum and copper together? I thought that was like, electrical work 101 that you just don't do that... I guess not everybody got that memo. The scary part is that house probably passed inspection back in the day with that mess. Can't imagine how many times they flicked a switch and nothing happened before you showed up.

robinl902d ago

Boy, I'll be honest with you. I used to think I was pretty hot stuff and could just walk into any job and fix it in a snap (youthful arrogance, I guess). But after seeing what you described with that speaker wire and the wire nuts on aluminum and copper, it really humbled me. Now I take a solid 30 seconds to just breathe and assess the whole mess before I even touch a tool, because rushing into a hack job only makes it worse.

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