# Today's Solve This Service Call



## jw0445 (Oct 9, 2009)

Never turned the breaker on or wire wasn't landed on the breaker ?


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

jw0445 said:


> ....... or wire wasn't landed on the breaker ?


Damn. I'm gonna have to make these harder. :thumbsup:

I never installed a breaker to begin with, simply for safety purposes. Didn't know if it would be 20 or 30 amps, 120 or 240..... so the black & red were still rolled up in the panel.


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## jw0445 (Oct 9, 2009)

So did you charge him for a service call ?


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## TOOL_5150 (Aug 27, 2007)

480sparky said:


> Damn. I'm gonna have to make these harder. :thumbsup:
> 
> I never installed a breaker to begin with, simply for safety purposes. Didn't know if it would be 20 or 30 amps, 120 or 240..... so the black & red were still rolled up in the panel.


then what the hell was he turning on in the panel to test it? Lol


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

jw0445 said:


> So did you charge him for a service call ?


Yepper! :thumbsup:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

TOOL_5150 said:


> then what the hell was he turning on in the panel to test it? Lol



Obviously not any 2-pole breakers. The 4 singles I originally installed were all on.


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## TOOL_5150 (Aug 27, 2007)

480sparky said:


> Obviously not any 2-pole breakers. The 4 singles I originally installed were all on.


Lol..... customers

+matt


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## Texas (Oct 3, 2010)

I love home owners. I can sometimes tell them over the phone how to do things and they still insist on me coming out. I cant tell you how many times I have charged $140 to reset a gfci button.

One of my Favorites is informing people how to reset a tripped breaker, they just can't grasp the notion that you have to turn it all the way off before it will reset.


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

480sparky said:


> You're gonna love this one!
> 
> Wired a house about 4 years ago. Also installed a 100a subpanel in a 5-car detached garage. Wired 4 120v circuits in it for lights & receps.
> 
> ...


The quickest giveaway is where I put the bold due you did not install the breaker due the word future useage that what I did the excat the same thing as well.

As soon I read the third paragraph it gave me the answer there.

Merci.
Marc


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## Josue (Apr 25, 2010)

480sparky said:


> Problem identified in 3 seconds, solved in 2 minutes.
> 
> Any guesses?


HAHA I´m faster, Figured it out in 1.5 seconds!


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

I had an easy one last week. Homeowner called up saying that his house's septic pump wouldn't shut off. Over the phone, I told him that I suspected it's probably just a pump motor plugged into a float, and that the float was probably just hung up on something. He still asked if I could come out.

Went out, plugged the pump in (yep it came on), popped open the septic lid, and sure enough, there was the float halfway perched on the motor housing. Found a stick in the backyard, knocked the float back down, and plugged the pump back in again. Didn't run. Held the float up. Pump ran. Dropped it. Pump shut off.

I was there about 4 minutes.

One hour minimum service charge


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## russdirect (Oct 7, 2010)

I had something like that happen to me just last week. I wired a pool house for a guy well a week later he calls me and says his lights wont work so I dropped by thinking maybe it could be something that did. I got to looking around and noticed that he had but a shelf up and told him he probably had put a screw in my wire. He did his loss my gain.

www.longelectricalservices.com


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## JimmyR (Mar 11, 2010)

what size screws did he use? did you have nail plates?


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## kbsparky (Sep 20, 2007)

erics37 said:


> ....popped open the septic lid, and sure enough, there was the float halfway perched on the motor housing. Found a stick in the backyard, knocked the float back down, and plugged the pump back in again. Didn't run. Held the float up. Pump ran. Dropped it. Pump shut off.
> 
> I was there about 4 minutes.
> 
> One hour minimum service charge


That there is called a "poop" charge ....


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## electricalperson (Jan 11, 2008)

erics37 said:


> I had an easy one last week. Homeowner called up saying that his house's septic pump wouldn't shut off. Over the phone, I told him that I suspected it's probably just a pump motor plugged into a float, and that the float was probably just hung up on something. He still asked if I could come out.
> 
> Went out, plugged the pump in (yep it came on), popped open the septic lid, and sure enough, there was the float halfway perched on the motor housing. Found a stick in the backyard, knocked the float back down, and plugged the pump back in again. Didn't run. Held the float up. Pump ran. Dropped it. Pump shut off.
> 
> ...


did you climb inside and tie wrap the float properly so that doesnt happen again? i used to get service calls like this all the time...i hated going inside of those septic tanks


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

electricalperson said:


> did you climb inside and tie wrap the float properly so that doesnt happen again? i used to get service calls like this all the time...i hated going inside of those septic tanks


I get the operators to do that part on our jobs. I just stand around and wire stuff.


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

electricalperson said:


> did you climb inside and tie wrap the float properly so that doesnt happen again? i used to get service calls like this all the time...i hated going inside of those septic tanks


I absolutely not did not climb in there to tie wrap the float properly :no:. The homeowners know what to do now. If it keeps happening, THEY can climb in there and fix it :thumbup:


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## elecpatsfan (Oct 1, 2010)

480sparky said:


> You're gonna love this one!
> 
> Wired a house about 4 years ago. Also installed a 100a subpanel in a 5-car detached garage. Wired 4 120v circuits in it for lights & receps.
> 
> ...



See this is the kind of thing that pisses me off. You did that job four years ago, here comes the HO finishing off the heater project. If he screws up something and sh*t goes down he can pull out your original contract and throw his hands in the air. The maintenance man at the condo project I take care of is always telling me "oh I'll just change that fixture myself" or "I can take care of that, I'll call you for the big stuff". Great, so if any of his work doesn't hold up I look like a jackass because I'm the electrician on site.


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## Mr. Sparkle (Jan 27, 2009)

elecpatsfan said:


> See this is the kind of thing that pisses me off. You did that job four years ago, here comes the HO finishing off the heater project. If he screws up something and sh*t goes down he can pull out your original contract and throw his hands in the air. The maintenance man at the condo project I take care of is always telling me "oh I'll just change that fixture myself" or "I can take care of that, I'll call you for the big stuff". Great, so if any of his work doesn't hold up I look like a jackass because I'm the electrician on site.


I would just put in my contract that it wa a wire installed for future use and no terminations were made.


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## elecpatsfan (Oct 1, 2010)

Mr. Sparkle said:


> I would just put in my contract that it wa a wire installed for future use and no terminations were made.


Is that really what you do though? A lot of times we prewire for a bunch of fixtures and blank plate off the box for now. Who knows who's installing those fixtures afterward, now I guess we have to spell out every single minute detail on the contract? That's a pain the ass too


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## HARRY304E (Sep 15, 2010)

elecpatsfan said:


> See this is the kind of thing that pisses me off. You did that job four years ago, here comes the HO finishing off the heater project. If he screws up something and sh*t goes down he can pull out your original contract and throw his hands in the air. The maintenance man at the condo project I take care of is always telling me "oh I'll just change that fixture myself" or "I can take care of that, I'll call you for the big stuff". Great, so if any of his work doesn't hold up I look like a jackass because I'm the electrician on site.


It is Illegal in massachusetts for the The maintenance man at the condo project to perform any Electrical work at all ,Unless he owns the buildings or is a licensed journeyman Electrician himself or is being supervised by a licensed journeyman Electrician, you can look that up on the boards rules.
If there is a fire or someone gets electrocuted insurence companys will not pay damages.


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## elecpatsfan (Oct 1, 2010)

HARRY304E said:


> It is Illegal in massachusetts for the The maintenance man at the condo project to perform any Electrical work at all ,Unless he owns the buildings or is a licensed journeyman Electrician himself or is being supervised by a licensed journeyman Electrician, you can look that up on the boards rules.
> If there is a fire or someone gets electrocuted insurence companys will not pay damages.


Oh I know it's illegal- everyone knows that. But how can I separate what he's done and what I've done in the eyes of the law? When something bad happens these do-it-yourselfers will own up to nothing they've done, I promise you that.


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## HARRY304E (Sep 15, 2010)

elecpatsfan said:


> Oh I know it's illegal- everyone knows that. But how can I separate what he's done and what I've done in the eyes of the law? When something bad happens these do-it-yourselfers will own up to nothing they've done, I promise you that.


I Know they think they know every thing till somthing goes wrong


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

elecpatsfan said:


> See this is the kind of thing that pisses me off. ........



Didn't piss me off at all. I made money on the deal.

It was the _homeowner_ that comes off looking stupid.


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## elecpatsfan (Oct 1, 2010)

480sparky said:


> Didn't piss me off at all. I made money on the deal.
> 
> It was the _homeowner_ that comes off looking stupid.


I was talking about the liability end of it


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

elecpatsfan said:


> I was talking about the liability end of it



What liability? :001_huh:


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## elecpatsfan (Oct 1, 2010)

480sparky said:


> What liability? :001_huh:


heres a cut and paste from my original post you must not have seen:


You did that job four years ago, here comes the HO finishing off the heater project. If he screws up something and sh*t goes down he can pull out your original contract and throw his hands in the air.


He's not going to admit that he wired that heater, he's going to say that it was done by you way back when.


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

elecpatsfan said:


> heres a cut and paste from my original post you must not have seen:
> 
> 
> You did that job four years ago, here comes the HO finishing off the heater project. If he screws up something and sh*t goes down he can pull out your original contract and throw his hands in the air.
> ...


I doubt that due what 480 did is install the future circuit and it was NOT even engerized at all so if he did wrote that in the contract and the homeonwer can not screw that one.

I have done the same thing before with couple future circuits and I did stated clear it is a future circuits.

Merci.
Marc


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

elecpatsfan said:


> heres a cut and paste from my original post you must not have seen:
> 
> 
> You did that job four years ago, here comes the HO finishing off the heater project. If he screws up something and sh*t goes down he can pull out your original contract and throw his hands in the air.
> ...



He didn't wire the heater. He installed a _receptacle_. It just didn't have a breaker in the panel to feed it with. I installed that, and since the receptacle was hanging out of the wall, checked it and reinstalled it. I also plugged the heater in, and tested it. It worked fine. Since there was no thermostat on it, I turned the breaker off and left the HO a note to that effect.

So in effect, I did what any electrician would do... I got the thing to work. When all is said and done, all the HO did was supply the receptacle and cover. I don't see where I'm assuming any more liability than any other job I've done in the past 18 years.

If you're trying to say that if the HO had installed a breaker, and burned his garage down then tried to claim it was my fault, how is that any different than if he went through his house, replaced a couple of SP switches with dimmers, then burned his house down and then said it was my fault?


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## elecpatsfan (Oct 1, 2010)

480sparky said:


> He didn't wire the heater. He installed a _receptacle_. It just didn't have a breaker in the panel to feed it with. I installed that, and since the receptacle was hanging out of the wall, checked it and reinstalled it. I also plugged the heater in, and tested it. It worked fine. Since there was no thermostat on it, I turned the breaker off and left the HO a note to that effect.
> 
> So in effect, I did what any electrician would do... I got the thing to work. When all is said and done, all the HO did was supply the receptacle and cover. I don't see where I'm assuming any more liability than any other job I've done in the past 18 years.
> 
> If you're trying to say that if the HO had installed a breaker, and burned his garage down then tried to claim it was my fault, how is that any different than if he went through his house, replaced a couple of SP switches with dimmers, then burned his house down and then said it was my fault?


I suppose there is no difference


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## sparks134 (Jan 30, 2009)

480, What size sub panel did you put in?


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

sparks134 said:


> 480, What size sub panel did you put in?



100a........


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## sparks134 (Jan 30, 2009)

480sparky said:


> 100a........


I'm doing the exact set up and thinking 60 amp won't be enough... Also garage is 150 ft away so I may need to consider VD.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

sparks134 said:


> I'm doing the exact set up and thinking 60 amp won't be enough... Also garage is 150 ft away so I may need to consider VD.



Run-of-the-mill garages, I usually do a 30a feeder. But this guy is a classic car collector, and it's a 4-bay shop. So he's gonna have more than the door operator, some lights and hand tools going. I'm sure some day I'll be back to add a welder circuit, or a 240v air compressor.....


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## sparks134 (Jan 30, 2009)

480sparky said:


> Run-of-the-mill garages, I usually do a 30a feeder. But this guy is a classic car collector, and it's a 4-bay shop. So he's gonna have more than the door operator, some lights and hand tools going. I'm sure some day I'll be back to add a welder circuit, or a 240v air compressor.....


Nice! I'm putting in 50A 2-pole heater, space heaters for a loft, a bunch of lighting and outlets...so I'm thinking 100amp sub.. Cause I'm sure I'll be adding more later too


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## sparks134 (Jan 30, 2009)

Oh it's a 3 bay too!


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Here's what it looked like when I roughed it in:








​


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## jwjrw (Jan 14, 2010)

480sparky said:


> Here's what it looked like when I roughed it in




Very similar to what this customer of mine has.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

I wish I had taken pix of the 12-bay garage I did last year. 10 Mustangs, nothing newer than 1971. :thumbsup:


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## jwjrw (Jan 14, 2010)

480sparky said:


> I wish I had taken pix of the 12-bay garage I did last year. 10 Mustangs, nothing newer than 1971. :thumbsup:




This one just has his racing mustangs in it. He has 2 other garages with his muscle cars in it.:thumbsup:


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## sparks134 (Jan 30, 2009)

Do you think it would be possible to go witha 60amp or should I just avoid the headaches later... And go with a 100amp?


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

sparks134 said:


> Do you think it would be possible to go witha 60amp or should I just avoid the headaches later... And go with a 100amp?



What is possible simply depends on the thickness of the customers wallet.


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