# You Ever Have This Happen to You?



## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

Yes, that happens often, in may different aspects.

People will want me to work on their panel, but then when I get there I stand in front of a huge pile of crap in front of their panel looking at them, and they ask if I need to get to the panel.

Or they call me to come install a light or fan in the bedroom, and when I get into the room with my ladder they ask if I will need the bed moved, as if they can't believe it. Of course they don't want me to stand on their pretty white comforter, so what do they expect?

People just don't think, or don't care.


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## canbug (Dec 31, 2015)

I had a "Farmer", no disrespect for other farmers, who actually took a grain shovel to a closet to remove all the junk so I could run some wire to a dryer. 




Tim.


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

jelhill said:


> A friend called me and asked if I could fix the 4-lamp ceiling wrap in his garage... YES, he was serious!
> 
> 
> I have run into very, very extreme cases like this about 5 times:



I think there's a tv commercial for a ladder which will get you right in there! Some kind of levitating scaffolding ladder.


Or maybe close the door, duct tape your apprentice to the door, open the door and toss him the tools!


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## Signal1 (Feb 10, 2016)

HackWork said:


> Yes, that happens often, in may different aspects.
> 
> People will want me to work on their panel, but then when I get there I stand in front of a huge pile of crap in front of their panel looking at them, and they ask if I need to get to the panel.
> 
> ...


Oh they think alright, they think they're above all that.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

jelhill said:


> A friend called me and asked if I could fix the 4-lamp ceiling wrap in his garage... YES, he was serious!
> 
> 
> I have run into very, very extreme cases like this about 5 times:


Had to look twice, I thought that was my house!


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## Helmut (May 7, 2014)

That's why I don't like to have friends.


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

When I was working for the city some brainiac in another department said they were going to start requiring a paved driveway going to backyard garages. I ask why since nobody can fit a car in there anyway. They're always too full of junk to get a car in there. In a rare case you have some guy restoring an old muscle car or hot rod and that only goes in once and sits over the course of 15 years while he's rebuilding it.


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## jelhill (Nov 11, 2018)

In one of these cases the ground fault receptacle had tripped in the garage which shut down a bunch more down-stream outlets in the guys house. I could see the receptacle but literally could not get to it. I told the homeowner what the problem was and how to reset the GFCI once he cleared a path to it. A week later he called and said he got it fixed.


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

Helmut said:


> That's why I don't like to have friends.


Telling mine I’m an undertaker is so relaxful.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

I had a pack rat call me who wanted to install a few receptacles on the walls. The newspapers were stacked floor to ceiling against every wall. First I asked him why since you couldn't see the walls and then I told him to clear an area where he wanted them and we would come back. I knew we would never hear from him


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

"The outlet behind my triple dresser does not work." I get there, the dresser is up against the wall and blocking the outlet, on top is many glass and crystal bottles of perfume arranged nicely. 

As usual, I give them a blank stare until they surprisingly ask me if I will have to move the dresser. 

And this is a man, not a little old lady who can't do it, just a man who is too stupid to realize he has to move it.


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

jelhill said:


> A friend called me and asked if I could fix the 4-lamp ceiling wrap in his garage... YES, he was serious!
> 
> 
> I have run into very, very extreme cases like this about 5 times:


I don't see the problem. :surprise:

Where is the fixture? :vs_OMG:

I'd toss him a road flare.


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## lighterup (Jun 14, 2013)

One time i went to a persons home and he had boxes stacked in a 
basement about 5' high with one path to walk through (about shoulder width wide).
The boxes stacked up covered the entire floor space . I would gues the square footage of the basement to be around 1100 sq ft ...and no...you could not get to the load center.

some ...nay...many people are either non thinking ape big foot relatives or they just don't care and perhaps believe you'll move the s**t your self.


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

A few months back I went to a guys house who had lost power to his garage receptacles, tripped GFCI I tell him over the phone. He tells me he doesn't have one.

I get there and break out the Fox & Hound. I keep getting the signal at the same place, back behind a newly installed all steel work cabinets. These cabinets are bolted like mad to the wall. 

I let him know that the cabinets will have to come down so I can check behind them for the GFCI. He lets me know there is no way anything is back there, he installed the cabinets himself and he would not cover that up. Then he tells me he can't take them down, as he welded the different sections of cabinets (all the 12", 24", 36" pieces) together, for strength!

I tell him I have a grinder and he can pay me to use it.

It was behind there, thanks to the Fox & Hound I was only about an inch off of the device.


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

Switched said:


> A few months back I went to a guys house who had lost power to his garage receptacles, tripped GFCI I tell him over the phone. He tells me he doesn't have one.
> 
> I get there and break out the Fox & Hound. I keep getting the signal at the same place, back behind a newly installed all steel work cabinets. These cabinets are bolted like mad to the wall.
> 
> ...


What "Fox & Hound" do you use?

Like a low voltage toner or one of those expensive locators?


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

HackWork said:


> What "Fox & Hound" do you use?
> 
> Like a low voltage toner or one of those expensive locators?


This is the one I have:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046SPMG4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It pays for itself in no time once you learn how to use it.


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

Switched said:


> This is the one I have:
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046SPMG4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
> 
> It pays for itself in no time once you learn how to use it.


That doesn't cost much at all, I thought it might be one of those $1,000-4,000 locators.

It works well following cable thru finished walls?


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

HackWork said:


> That doesn't cost much at all, I thought it might be one of those $1,000-4,000 locators.
> 
> It works well following cable thru finished walls?


Works nicely. I've had it for about 3 years now. Got it after Telsa kept talking about it.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

It's part of the job sometimes. Not everyone lives like you and me. I can bill the hourly rate moving their stuff the same as I can doing electrical work. In fact, in houses, it's often step #1 in doing the electrical work. No big deal to me. No different than working around customers in retail or working around desks and such in an office call. In fact, I'd say the OP crossed some kind of line in my book by posting a pictures of someone's personal belongings. Functionally no different than that Southwest gate agent who posted the girl's boarding pass to make fun of her name.


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

Right now my garage looks like the OP's....

We took a bunch of stuff out of storage to clean it up, go through it and figure out what we are getting rid of. Then I cleaned out the van, and shoved it all in the garage.

Wait, that almost looks better than mine at the moment.


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

> In fact, I'd say the OP crossed some kind of line in my book by posting a pictures of someone's personal belongings. Functionally no different than that Southwest gate agent who posted the girl's boarding pass to make fun of her name.


 There are literally tens of thousands of pictures on this website taken of customer's property, many of them are posted in a negative way. The difference between all of these pictures (including the OP's) and the airline agent who posted the girl's boarding pass is that these pictures are anonymous, they do not have the person's name on it or anything to identify the owner.


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## zac (May 11, 2009)

Would you happen to have a dust pan or shovel? Be easier to slip the new stove in.









Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

I always like it when you walk into a spotless home and the HO is like "I am so sorry, the house is filthy". 

Then the guy who has the filthy home is like "Yeah, I have been working on getting this cleaned up for a few weeks".


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

zac said:


> Would you happen to have a dust pan or shovel? Be easier to slip the new stove in.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm not quite sure as to what I'm looking at... but I know I don't like it. :surprise:

Where's the chalk outline for this crime scene?

The cable routing is an even bigger atrocity than the filth! :vs_mad:


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## Cow (Jan 16, 2008)

MDShunk said:


> In fact, I'd say the OP crossed some kind of line in my book by posting a pictures of someone's personal belongings.



Interesting take on an anonymous garage picture. I could understand if the camera had panned far enough back that it showed the home address.

I'm curious where you draw the line in your mind? 

Does this only apply to personal belongings in a home? 

For instance, could I post a pic of a messy jobsite lunch area with folks personal lunch coolers, etc?

Or is that taboo also?


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

Cow said:


> Interesting take on an anonymous garage picture.
> 
> 
> I'm curious where you draw the line in your mind?
> ...


Good question.

Can I keep sending pictures of my junk to female members if I am in a customer's house at the time???


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## Cow (Jan 16, 2008)

If it feels right, and you're able to work the camera zoom, then yes.


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## Kawicrash (Aug 21, 2018)

I had some doozies in my work phone from my previous company. Wish now I had saved the pictures so I could share, especially the house with the bird cages wall to wall with only a narrow path between them, or the house that was having sprinklers and a small fire alarm for assisted living that had the most incredible, well done, groovy '60s basement. It must have cost a fortune at the time, it was all top-notch, amazing work and finishes.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

Switched said:


> This is the one I have:
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046SPMG4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
> 
> It pays for itself in no time once you learn how to use it.


I bought the same one too, it's definitely worth the few bucks extra over a regular phone man's toner and probe. You can use it on live circuits - up to 240 officially, has been known to survive 277. Nice selection of leads etc. It works so so as a breaker finder, not as well as the Ideal breaker finder but often works well enough and you don't have to break out the Ideal.


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

splatz said:


> I bought the same one too, it's definitely worth the few bucks extra over a regular phone man's toner and probe. You can use it on live circuits - up to 240 officially, has been known to survive 277. Nice selection of leads etc. It works so so as a breaker finder, not as well as the Ideal breaker finder but often works well enough and you don't have to break out the Ideal.


Which Ideal unit do you have?


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

Switched said:


> Which Ideal unit do you have?


This one - almost never fails to ID correctly on the first try, as long as you read the instructions. 

IDEAL 61-534 Digital Circuit Breaker Finder with Digital Receiver and GFCI Circuit Tester

https://www.amazon.com/61-534-Digital-Circuit-Breaker-Receiver/dp/B000LEBRNE


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## eddy current (Feb 28, 2009)

I’ve done many service calls in houses occupied by hoarders. Used to do work for the subsidized low rental company in my city. 

One of the worst I’ve seen was so jammed, even the bathtub had boxes of stuff in it piled to the ceiling. It was sad as they had kids and it was the only bathroom.


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## micromind (Aug 11, 2007)

splatz said:


> This one - almost never fails to ID correctly on the first try, as long as you read the instructions.
> 
> IDEAL 61-534 Digital Circuit Breaker Finder with Digital Receiver and GFCI Circuit Tester
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/61-534-Digital-Circuit-Breaker-Receiver/dp/B000LEBRNE


I have one of those too. Works really well.


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## stiffneck (Nov 8, 2015)

Here at the Airport, the Fire Department(3 stations) is the worst. They'll have the electrical/mechanical rooms packed like a trash compactor with old furniture, TVs, mattresses, broken weight lifting, excercise equipment, etc. Then have the audacity to complain about "code" and "safety" violations of other departments. Writing up on report, that we can't store something as small as a 6ft ladder in an "electrical" room.


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## zac (May 11, 2009)

splatz said:


> This one - almost never fails to ID correctly on the first try, as long as you read the instructions.
> 
> IDEAL 61-534 Digital Circuit Breaker Finder with Digital Receiver and GFCI Circuit Tester
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/61-534-Digital-Circuit-Breaker-Receiver/dp/B000LEBRNE


I was skeptical on the ideal but tried it out and it's a winner. I've had a couple issues with some panels but over all it's about 95 percent or higher accurate. The klein was about 60/40 and good luck on tandems.
With both you need to watch out for sub panel breakers in the main when searching for signal. 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## HackWork (Oct 2, 2009)

A trip back in time: https://www.electriciantalk.com/f14/breaker-finders-161937/


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

HackWork said:


> A trip back in time: https://www.electriciantalk.com/f14/breaker-finders-161937/


LOL.. That Extech unit sucks. I used to have a $29 (or something close) Gardner-Bender that worked better. The stupid thing sits in a bag on a shelf, every once in a while I glance its direction and feel the pain of regret....


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## jelhill (Nov 11, 2018)

micromind said:


> I have one of those too. Works really well.


For me, it did take some practice. Works great when you finally find the right panel. :smile:


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## jelhill (Nov 11, 2018)

Cow said:


> Interesting take on an anonymous garage picture. I could understand if the camera had panned far enough back that it showed the home address.
> 
> I'm curious where you draw the line in your mind?
> 
> ...



In this case it wouldn’t have mattered if the pic did show the address. The guy is a close personal friend of mine and gave me permission to take the picture, and he laughed about the whole thing. In addition, I didn’t charge him a dime. Something you can do when you are retired and enjoy using your hard-earned skills to help people.


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## WPNortheast (Jun 4, 2017)

Isn’t this where flyboy says we move everything for them and organize it once we are done


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## stuiec (Sep 25, 2010)

Switched said:


> LOL.. That Extech unit sucks. I used to have a $29 (or something close) Gardner-Bender that worked better. The stupid thing sits in a bag on a shelf, every once in a while I glance its direction and feel the pain of regret....


The one I had was the cheapo GB. Wasn't that bad, had its quirks, but once you knew the tool it was pretty accurate. Didn't survive the 208V though :sad:









Ended up with the cheapo Klein after that. Stupid design, turns on and off with every nudge of the button. After a couple of days listening to the %$&$#ing thing beeping on and off with every right hand turn in the van I had to cut it open and install a mini slider switch. Works decently enough for what I do so far.


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

stuiec said:


> The one I had was the cheapo GB. Wasn't that bad, had its quirks, but once you knew the tool it was pretty accurate. Didn't survive the 208V though :sad:
> 
> View attachment 130500
> 
> ...


That's the one I had, it was the best!


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