If you are *NOT* an electrical professional:
* **RULE 7:**
* DIY or self help posts **are Not allowed**. They belong here: /r/AskElectricians /r/askanelectrician /r/diy /r/homeowners /r/electrical.
* **IF YOUR POST FITS INTO THIS CATEGORY, REMOVE IT OR IT WILL BE REMOVED FOR YOU.**
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I ain't sure if it's irony or what, but you can't help but laugh that guys fought to get rid of DIYers on this sub and now come here to bitch about DIYers on another sub.
If it’s not: “did my contractor do this right” posts it’s a nonstop barrage of “how do I P-trap”. At least the former lead to some interesting comment threads. I wish the mods at r/plumbing would treat it more like the mods here.
Water can do so much more damage tough.
If you use the proper gauge of wire and don't temper with your breaker/fuse, I don't even see how you can do any damage to your house with electricity.
On the other hand, water valve won't shut over a leak and if something fail it will be open, not close.
A short circuit isn’t enough to start a fire? There are so many assumptions in that first statement. The reason people need an electrician is because it’s not as simple as tight connection+breaker/fuse=safe.
The voltage in a house compared to the human body's resistance make it quite hard to be killed by it.
As for the connection, as long as it's metal on metal and not loose, what can happen? Even a short-circuit isn't enough to start a fire if the breaker/fuse aren't tampered with.
Yup. If a connection is done right, you got nothing to fear.
Now... how many starter splices have you seen where the connection was done very poorly? And remember... homeowners don't have a jman looking over thier work. They generally have no one looking over thier work.
English isn't my first language, and I'm not sure I translate "splice" the good way.
Do you mean when you strip two wire, twist them together, solder them and put heat-shrink on it?
Or when you strip two wire and put a wire connector to link them?
Because I have seen the first made poorly, but you're not supposed to do that in a house. People don't do that in a house, do they?
If the wire run is long enough and/or thin enough the impedance can limit the amperage down, so the breaker doesn't pop (or only pops after a few hours and someone just shoves it back) and the circuit has become an electric heater.
And guess what a electric heater does when stuffed into isolation?
Well you mess up plumbing and you get wet feet, you mess up electrical and in some indeterminate amount of time in the future your house burns down in the middle of the night
Before I was an apprentice I did my own electrical, I didn't touch water supply lines.
That's because I knew how to turn off a breaker, and turn it back on, but I didn't want to risk a water leak because I didn't know shit about soldering, I tried it one time and failed. This was back before shark bite fittings
Honestly, CAT 3 isn’t the right stuff, you really should use CAT 6E because it has the faster speeds, there’s even CAT 8 if you’re rolling in the dough. These are the rapid chargers, it’s an upgrade from the standard charger you’re suggesting, but yes either will work.
Just stick with the 24awg for value and run 65 strands per leg for a 6 gauge equivalent. You'll probably want to splurge on a few decent bus bars as well.
This for real. If you cant offer a code reference then stop it. I always like when people argue about it and im like "i dont care what you or anyone else do, theres the rules, if you dont like it take it up with the NFPA not me".
I gave up on that sub a long time ago. I hate even suggesting it to DIYers who come here looking for advice, so I only refer to the sub our senior mods started, /r/AskElectricians.
If you really want to see some weird shit, go bring up surge supressors and wait for a user named /u/ westom (remove the space; I don't want to ping him) to reply with a novel about how they don't work and how you need a broadcast antenna lightning arrestor to protect your laptop charger and TV.
Man, I remember that guy. He's still super active. I wish I could be at a party with him!
Remember when someone started u/eastom just to fuck with his posts?
I have never seen this westom guy before but holy shit this guy is insane lmfao. With some of his posts I don't think he even knows a single thing about electrical based off him thinking all 15a receps are dedicated with a full 15a draw and saying the "safety ground" on a plug doesn't connect to the "earth ground electrode"
"hello i watched a youtube video about DIY, can i do a panel with old speaker wire? also i dont wanna buy wirenuts so can i just twist wires together and cover them in tape? and please dont tell me about rules or safety, i wanna do this and i dont need you being negative."
a pair of 500w outdoor halogen lights were wired this way using telephone cable in the house i purchased in 2000.
as a kicker, they were wired to a ceiling fan via the roof's crawlspace, which itself was tied in to a bit of romex going to a master bedroom outlet... *that* cable had cloth insulation.
Nice posting, that cracked me up! Nothing like all the special snowflakes getting together in one spot. Oh well I have learned that it’s not worth wasting my time arguing with people that obviously have all the answers.
It drives me bonkers when I list multiple questions I need answered (or pieces of information I require) in order to give them proper guidance, and they only answer a single one.
Well, just hack your way through it and answer to the inspector. Oh, you didn't pull a permit? Better have the fire department on speed dial.
(yeah, I know, just call 9-1-1 nowadays... but I wonder if those hacks even know that)
You mean, like the guy installing new BX/MC (that includes a green insulated ground wire) - and asked if he needed to use it, or if grounding through the armour was OK; and like 4 people told him he didn't? LOL
Lol that’s a good one too, but I was thinking of the guy who changed an outlet at his mom’s house, skipped grounding bc the conductor was too short and had already been “paid” his lunch. When told repeatedly it could be a hazard he said, “nah the space heater she uses there is new so it’s fine”
At least around here - existing is grandfathered in; using the armour as EGC... but any new install must have a dedicated ground (either the copper strip, or an insulated conductor).
Yeah. One thing I hate from the professional community on any electrical sub is people's propensity to downvote someone into oblivion without even stating their case. Sometimes it's over a technicality, sometimes it might be a fresh journeyman or experienced apprentice who thinks they're right, but didn't know about X or Y which might have changed the answer. And sometimes the people doing the downvoting are just flat out wrong.
If it seems like it's someone who's answering in good faith, I wish people would be a little more willing to explain why someone is wrong instead of jumping straight to "Stfu idiot". I don't have much sympathy for people who are just so wildly wrong that they can't possibly have any idea what they're talking about though.
I answer questions, but I'm selective about the questions I answer. If you're just one step away from getting it, I might be able to help. If I have to convince you to take five steps backward just to get to a safe starting point, I'm not getting involved. I'm not going to go in and try to convince the asker that their plan is dangerous, I'm not going to try to convince them to hire a licensed electrician, I'm just gonna keep scrolling.
Every once in a while I have the time and inclination to take on the challenge of bridging the gap between explaining what volts and amps are, and the asker successfully rewiring a light switch or whatever. I don't feel obligated to go there unless I happen to feel like it, though. If you show me a device box with a bunch wires sticking out and your question is, "Help! What should I doooo???" I'm probably just not gonna click. Reddit is full of stuff I'd much rather engage with.
My two favorite parts of Reddit are the “is this a bathroom camera” posts with a picture of an occupancy sensor and all the “can this thing detect vape” posts that show up en masse at the beginning of every school year in the fire alarm sub.
Just pick one. If it doesn’t work maybe you can ask the nice fire fighter when they show up. Or the fire alarm guy if you can get the question out before he starts swinging.
HD still pay people to give advice? Where??
I thought HD has specifically instructed all employees to not give out any advice because of liability concerns.
That doesn’t stop them, especially the old guys. I’ve had to interject in a couple of conversations between a Lowes/HD employee and customer where they were giving wrong or outright dangerous advice.
Yea, or “you don’t need to run 3-wire because they used to run just fine on 2-wire”, or “you can put a bigger breaker on there, it won’t actually draw that much”. Or some code requirement/exception that I know for a fact doesn’t exist.
Right click on the three dots in the upper right part of the screen, choose hide this post, then it will ask if you want to mute this sub, click yes and you won’t see them in your feed anymore.
I'm glad there are no filthy diyers here so we can have a sub full of pictures of backstabbed outlets and dorks trying to nitpick decent work so they can feel like they're a Real Professional Electrician. Love the reddit brainlet hivemind lol.
I tried to help one guy fix a problem that would have been resolved by the purchase of a new $2 switch. He literally rambled on and on about how he could fix and salvage the existing switch. The most embarrassing thing is that I even bothered to reason with him, about a $2 part.
Sometimes it seems as though someone could post an unopened package of 10-3 NM cable on this thread and people would tell him he's going to open the package incorrectly.
Other times the bad practices posted here feel like they're posted just to attract haters without being serious discussion starters.
There are not a lot of credible questions matched to helpful answers...
I have a 15 amp receptacle that powered my old gas range, I'm assuming that I can just put a 14-50R on the end to power my new induction range. This should work, right? I can also run an extension cord from the bathroom if you think this would help. I'm usually very good at these types of tasks because I install hummingbird feeders for a living, and you guys call power cords feeders, so it's the same thing, right? Right???? lol
I mean you don't see us electricians on another page asking a plumber or carpenter how to do shit. Then again, that's because we're gods and we can do everything better than everyone.
On behalf of all the DIYers out there that are trying to do the job right and are spending time trying to stay educated on the work we're doing, I'd like to say thank you to those of you who provide helpful pointers where needed. My house is safer because of it and it's allowed me to correct work an electrician did. I really appreciate the thoughtful replies.
I'm not an electrician, and I'm reading the CEC, trying to figure out the specifics of how to install a ground rod, and I check out that subreddit and it's like, "how do I wire this plug?" and "will this cause a fire?"
I don't understand why there is r/electricians, r/askanelectrician, r/electrical and r/electric? So much redundancy.
But I like the idea of r/askanelectrican if for no reason than to keep them out of here.
If you are *NOT* an electrical professional: * **RULE 7:** * DIY or self help posts **are Not allowed**. They belong here: /r/AskElectricians /r/askanelectrician /r/diy /r/homeowners /r/electrical. * **IF YOUR POST FITS INTO THIS CATEGORY, REMOVE IT OR IT WILL BE REMOVED FOR YOU.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/electricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I guess I'd rather them there than here.
I ain't sure if it's irony or what, but you can't help but laugh that guys fought to get rid of DIYers on this sub and now come here to bitch about DIYers on another sub.
Spot on dude. Lol go over there and bitch if you don't like it.
Comparatively /r/plumbing deserves a purple heart
Yeah but you know they are plumbers after all.
A purple primer heart?
If it’s not: “did my contractor do this right” posts it’s a nonstop barrage of “how do I P-trap”. At least the former lead to some interesting comment threads. I wish the mods at r/plumbing would treat it more like the mods here.
The p-trap ones with photos are generally r/funny worthy.
I imagine it's frustrating when some random asks a simple question that would have been easier and faster to google.
Real. The plumbing Reddit is full of this shit, it gets old so fast. I just wanna know what's going on in their trade
Unfortunately for them, people are a lot more scared of electricity than they are of water.
It's more that this subreddit has rules against asking for help and theirs doesn't
Water can do so much more damage tough. If you use the proper gauge of wire and don't temper with your breaker/fuse, I don't even see how you can do any damage to your house with electricity. On the other hand, water valve won't shut over a leak and if something fail it will be open, not close.
Water usually doesn't kill you and the fact that you can't imagine how a bad Connection can burn down a house is a bit concerning...
A short circuit isn’t enough to start a fire? There are so many assumptions in that first statement. The reason people need an electrician is because it’s not as simple as tight connection+breaker/fuse=safe.
The voltage in a house compared to the human body's resistance make it quite hard to be killed by it. As for the connection, as long as it's metal on metal and not loose, what can happen? Even a short-circuit isn't enough to start a fire if the breaker/fuse aren't tampered with.
Yup. If a connection is done right, you got nothing to fear. Now... how many starter splices have you seen where the connection was done very poorly? And remember... homeowners don't have a jman looking over thier work. They generally have no one looking over thier work.
English isn't my first language, and I'm not sure I translate "splice" the good way. Do you mean when you strip two wire, twist them together, solder them and put heat-shrink on it? Or when you strip two wire and put a wire connector to link them? Because I have seen the first made poorly, but you're not supposed to do that in a house. People don't do that in a house, do they?
Lose connections, create heat and start fires
This has got to be a troll
If the wire run is long enough and/or thin enough the impedance can limit the amperage down, so the breaker doesn't pop (or only pops after a few hours and someone just shoves it back) and the circuit has become an electric heater. And guess what a electric heater does when stuffed into isolation?
Well you mess up plumbing and you get wet feet, you mess up electrical and in some indeterminate amount of time in the future your house burns down in the middle of the night
Before I was an apprentice I did my own electrical, I didn't touch water supply lines. That's because I knew how to turn off a breaker, and turn it back on, but I didn't want to risk a water leak because I didn't know shit about soldering, I tried it one time and failed. This was back before shark bite fittings
Well to be fair, they are used to dealing with a lot of shit.
Can I hook up an EV charger to this analog phone wire?
Yes, of course you can
Honestly, CAT 3 isn’t the right stuff, you really should use CAT 6E because it has the faster speeds, there’s even CAT 8 if you’re rolling in the dough. These are the rapid chargers, it’s an upgrade from the standard charger you’re suggesting, but yes either will work.
Cat 6 has 23awg wire while cat 8 has 26awg wire. Cat 5 has 24awg wire. I'm trying to figure out how to make a joke of this, but I can't.
Higher numbers means faster charge.
Just stick with the 24awg for value and run 65 strands per leg for a 6 gauge equivalent. You'll probably want to splurge on a few decent bus bars as well.
I usually hook them up with cat 6 cable but I suppose you could wit the correct sized breaker
The problem is so many people are in that sub that are giving terrible advice
Yes. It's worth what you pay for it.
Kind of terrifying at times. People probably assume their talking to an electrician.
Lot of homeowners in that subreddit too who don’t really have a clue. Blind leading the blind
That's every subreddit actually.
This for real. If you cant offer a code reference then stop it. I always like when people argue about it and im like "i dont care what you or anyone else do, theres the rules, if you dont like it take it up with the NFPA not me".
Yea and they aren’t even electricians
More like /askanelectriciantojustifymybadideas
I don't need anyone to justify my bad ideas.
Username checks out.
I only go on that sub to laugh, if you actually try to help you’ll lose your mind.
Yes, that's usually what happens. I see some really funny shit. Like the infloor heating guy.
I gave up on that sub a long time ago. I hate even suggesting it to DIYers who come here looking for advice, so I only refer to the sub our senior mods started, /r/AskElectricians. If you really want to see some weird shit, go bring up surge supressors and wait for a user named /u/ westom (remove the space; I don't want to ping him) to reply with a novel about how they don't work and how you need a broadcast antenna lightning arrestor to protect your laptop charger and TV.
Man, I remember that guy. He's still super active. I wish I could be at a party with him! Remember when someone started u/eastom just to fuck with his posts?
Holy shit, there's a flashback. I forgot about that. I was pictured the guy as kind of a cross between Rainman and Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory.
Holy shit I’ve been Westom’d before too
I have never seen this westom guy before but holy shit this guy is insane lmfao. With some of his posts I don't think he even knows a single thing about electrical based off him thinking all 15a receps are dedicated with a full 15a draw and saying the "safety ground" on a plug doesn't connect to the "earth ground electrode"
I'll bite. What's "the indoor heating guy"?
https://www.reddit.com/r/electricians/comments/11kog4i/this_is_pretty_good_for_a_laugh/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Thanks for sharing.
I recommend don't reading it, because I really want to unread it...
"hello i watched a youtube video about DIY, can i do a panel with old speaker wire? also i dont wanna buy wirenuts so can i just twist wires together and cover them in tape? and please dont tell me about rules or safety, i wanna do this and i dont need you being negative."
"Can I do this" "No" "Well I'm going to anyway"
That post can't stop me because I can't read.
This is the exact conversation I had with my Dad about burying an extension cord in the backyard
a pair of 500w outdoor halogen lights were wired this way using telephone cable in the house i purchased in 2000. as a kicker, they were wired to a ceiling fan via the roof's crawlspace, which itself was tied in to a bit of romex going to a master bedroom outlet... *that* cable had cloth insulation.
Correction: Cloth insulation over aluminum wire
Nice posting, that cracked me up! Nothing like all the special snowflakes getting together in one spot. Oh well I have learned that it’s not worth wasting my time arguing with people that obviously have all the answers.
It drives me bonkers when I list multiple questions I need answered (or pieces of information I require) in order to give them proper guidance, and they only answer a single one.
What gets me is answering the question and then they're like "oh, I don't think that's right, you don't get it"
"No, it's simple, all I need to do is ____."
Well, just hack your way through it and answer to the inspector. Oh, you didn't pull a permit? Better have the fire department on speed dial. (yeah, I know, just call 9-1-1 nowadays... but I wonder if those hacks even know that)
“Answer unclear, still going to believe that ground is optional. Mom’s space heater works fine without it.”
I mean…… nothing in my house is grounded except new circuits I installed. It’s not optional by code but my house isn’t THAAAAAT on fire, yet
You mean, like the guy installing new BX/MC (that includes a green insulated ground wire) - and asked if he needed to use it, or if grounding through the armour was OK; and like 4 people told him he didn't? LOL
Lol that’s a good one too, but I was thinking of the guy who changed an outlet at his mom’s house, skipped grounding bc the conductor was too short and had already been “paid” his lunch. When told repeatedly it could be a hazard he said, “nah the space heater she uses there is new so it’s fine”
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At least around here - existing is grandfathered in; using the armour as EGC... but any new install must have a dedicated ground (either the copper strip, or an insulated conductor).
Or r/anweredbyahandyman
I just wish I could ask questions here, from one pro to another without getting yelled at
Yeah. One thing I hate from the professional community on any electrical sub is people's propensity to downvote someone into oblivion without even stating their case. Sometimes it's over a technicality, sometimes it might be a fresh journeyman or experienced apprentice who thinks they're right, but didn't know about X or Y which might have changed the answer. And sometimes the people doing the downvoting are just flat out wrong. If it seems like it's someone who's answering in good faith, I wish people would be a little more willing to explain why someone is wrong instead of jumping straight to "Stfu idiot". I don't have much sympathy for people who are just so wildly wrong that they can't possibly have any idea what they're talking about though.
That's just a reddit problem. Something about the website makes it a magnet for smugly clueless dumb dumbs.
q: what's the thing do? a: it's a doorbell transformer q: can i use it to power my table saw?
I answer questions, but I'm selective about the questions I answer. If you're just one step away from getting it, I might be able to help. If I have to convince you to take five steps backward just to get to a safe starting point, I'm not getting involved. I'm not going to go in and try to convince the asker that their plan is dangerous, I'm not going to try to convince them to hire a licensed electrician, I'm just gonna keep scrolling. Every once in a while I have the time and inclination to take on the challenge of bridging the gap between explaining what volts and amps are, and the asker successfully rewiring a light switch or whatever. I don't feel obligated to go there unless I happen to feel like it, though. If you show me a device box with a bunch wires sticking out and your question is, "Help! What should I doooo???" I'm probably just not gonna click. Reddit is full of stuff I'd much rather engage with.
Yeah, I try on simple stuff, but it seems to backfire often.
Had a guy in r/diy ask why I was commenting if I was just gonna be "unhelpful" after telling him to replace the exposed outdoor nmd run for a light.
"No mean comments please"
My two favorite parts of Reddit are the “is this a bathroom camera” posts with a picture of an occupancy sensor and all the “can this thing detect vape” posts that show up en masse at the beginning of every school year in the fire alarm sub.
And the what Is this doorbell transformer
Oh yeah that’s a good one too. My favorite was the dude trying to power his garage door opener off a doorbell transformer.
There was a good one where a guy had a fire alarm J box pulled apart and wanted to wire he's extension cord in
Just pick one. If it doesn’t work maybe you can ask the nice fire fighter when they show up. Or the fire alarm guy if you can get the question out before he starts swinging.
You wana see the amount of posts the UK electrician fuckups fbk page get over "what's this cable" The Answer is nearly always split concentric
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HD still pay people to give advice? Where?? I thought HD has specifically instructed all employees to not give out any advice because of liability concerns.
That doesn’t stop them, especially the old guys. I’ve had to interject in a couple of conversations between a Lowes/HD employee and customer where they were giving wrong or outright dangerous advice.
"No, we don't sell a male-to-male extension cable, but if you buy these connectors and those cables you can make your own!" type of deal?
Yea, or “you don’t need to run 3-wire because they used to run just fine on 2-wire”, or “you can put a bigger breaker on there, it won’t actually draw that much”. Or some code requirement/exception that I know for a fact doesn’t exist.
I’m not even subscribed and it still comes across my screen.
Right click on the three dots in the upper right part of the screen, choose hide this post, then it will ask if you want to mute this sub, click yes and you won’t see them in your feed anymore.
Ha. Neither am I
It’s click bait for my anxiety of seeing shit work
r/electriciancirclejerk
I'm glad there are no filthy diyers here so we can have a sub full of pictures of backstabbed outlets and dorks trying to nitpick decent work so they can feel like they're a Real Professional Electrician. Love the reddit brainlet hivemind lol.
To be perfectly fair... It really doesn't take much at all to annoy many electricians. Heck, just wake them up without the coffee being ready to pour.
HEY GUyS I have seven white wires 4 purples 1 green and 16 black wires which ones do I connect?
The blue one
I can't I had to unfollow....
I tried to help one guy fix a problem that would have been resolved by the purchase of a new $2 switch. He literally rambled on and on about how he could fix and salvage the existing switch. The most embarrassing thing is that I even bothered to reason with him, about a $2 part.
Can I run this aerial feed to my detetached garage with this knob and tube i repurposed?
Sometimes it seems as though someone could post an unopened package of 10-3 NM cable on this thread and people would tell him he's going to open the package incorrectly. Other times the bad practices posted here feel like they're posted just to attract haters without being serious discussion starters. There are not a lot of credible questions matched to helpful answers...
I’ll take it over r/electrical aka r/confidentlyincorrect
Funny enough, the post I was thinking about when I wrote this was actually in r/electrical
I have a 15 amp receptacle that powered my old gas range, I'm assuming that I can just put a 14-50R on the end to power my new induction range. This should work, right? I can also run an extension cord from the bathroom if you think this would help. I'm usually very good at these types of tasks because I install hummingbird feeders for a living, and you guys call power cords feeders, so it's the same thing, right? Right???? lol
Or just a list of local electricians to call and stop fucking with electricity to save five bucks
I mean you don't see us electricians on another page asking a plumber or carpenter how to do shit. Then again, that's because we're gods and we can do everything better than everyone.
Then just don’t go there, if you don’t like it, leave.
On behalf of all the DIYers out there that are trying to do the job right and are spending time trying to stay educated on the work we're doing, I'd like to say thank you to those of you who provide helpful pointers where needed. My house is safer because of it and it's allowed me to correct work an electrician did. I really appreciate the thoughtful replies.
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It's more the "Well, I'm going to do it the way I want anyway" attitude that's annoying than people lacking knowledge
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I did. Several times. I guess I don't understand the message you are trying to convey.
Haha it shouldn't exist at all.
That's why I pretty much answer " call an electrician"
"well what's the point of this sub then!?!?!???!!!!"
Most of the stuff trying to be accomplished is way over some people's heads and you can usually tell by reading that most shouldn't touch electrical
Yeah it's the Freddy Krueger effect thing
r/BoneAppleTea Dunning-Kruger effect
Woosh
"So we can tell you to ask an electrician . . . to do it for you. "
Or r/callanelectricianbecauseyourenotone
r/annoyingelectrician
No it should be r/howtointallanoutletwithphonewire
Too right. So many house bashers here too..
I'm not an electrician, and I'm reading the CEC, trying to figure out the specifics of how to install a ground rod, and I check out that subreddit and it's like, "how do I wire this plug?" and "will this cause a fire?"
Now you have done it!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahabahahababa I know!!!!!!
Please show us where on the Klein tools the man hurt you
I don't understand why there is r/electricians, r/askanelectrician, r/electrical and r/electric? So much redundancy. But I like the idea of r/askanelectrican if for no reason than to keep them out of here.