Hey lads I was strolling YouTube and came across this video. This is the cringiest video I have ever seen. Makes my skills look top notch. By trade I am telecommunications technician. I have seen my fair share of dodgy wiring jobs (all done by me of course lol) but this takes the cake!
Makes me think back to when we where trainees working at a phone exchange and they still had an active switch board running on mains. It’s a high voltage input One of the boys thought it would be smart to stick a screw driver inside an output jack and got blown across the room lol.
Why the old equipment was still powered we will never know.
I have never understood those american junction boxes, why would you make those things of conducting materials?
In my Country they use heavy duty plastic junction boxes, which to me is a more safe solution.
I’m never surprised by poor quality work on anything be it electrical, structural, etc. We own a number of rental units (commercial and residential) and it’s amazing how badly the work is often done. Usually the contracted owner or foreman are knowledgeable but the workers are typically low pay and learning on the job. Once they get some experience they move on and are replaced by brand new and inexperienced people.
I could do better work than some of the things I’ve seen just by taking my time and being more careful and conscientious.
@sigshooter, apart from the place, why make it from steel?
Europe uses vinyl coated copper wires tthrough pvc tubes, and ABS junction boxes, much better in my opinion.
If you have metal-sheathed wiring then you must use a metal junction box in order to continue the ground connection. So you tap your ground wire into the box and it’s done. If you don’t have that type of wire (like telecom wiring) then a plastic box is fine because there’s no ground requirement.
Metal junction boxes are better if done properly, grounded with the lid securly attached etc, they don’t melt or burn and if a live conductor is loose and touches the box it will trip the circuit.
A lot of electrical fires start at the joints and loose joints in a plastic box, well…
Most fires or burnt melted cables i’ve seen are pvc cables where they have been jointed in fittings or boxes.
Just the other week i had to go to a family members house as some lights stopped working and sure enough wires all melted in a light fitting due to loose neutral connection. Scary stuff.
We’ve moved to mostly metal consumer units too.
Apart form the crappy jobs the workmen did, i found it very surprising to see metal junction boxes.
You can’t even buy metal ones here anymore since the 1960s.
(of course the ground leads are also tied together here like the mains leads)
I wish americans would use good german Vago connectors
They are here the no. 1 pretty much only idiots dont use em in household or industrial installations
They are very safe reliable, easy and quick to install
Lexel, Good point.
Make sure to use quality connectors, ive seen multiple junction boxes with melted connectors. Hobbyists buy cheap lookalikes from building stores which in my opinion sometimes should be forbidden.
In the days i was learning, i had to use these:
Good gravy, that video was a mess. Scary! It is why I like knowing just a bit about electrical procedures so I can tell when it is shoddy work.
I am not an electrician but I spent a couple of days following a friend around while he put outside lights on my house. My friend is now a retired electrician and is knowledgeable. It was good, as a home owner, to be exposed to the right and, shiver, the wrong way to do things.
You should look up Sparky channel on youtube. I like his tool reviews and if you can get past the name, he seems to be knowledgeable. https://www.youtube.com/user/wpm44
Around here (most of Canada) we have a book for people who want to do electrical themselves, many of us can get homeowner permits to do electrical work which is inspected by our local government, a DIY and cost effective way to legally do electrical work safely
Having read it i also saw the crazy nonsense in that video, but how was it passed, they say you are only as strong as your weakest link, electrical can be one even worse then shown but the code inspector should have failed it instantly.
My work is mostly on older houses (renovations and repairs, not strictly electrical) and I encounter it all. Crappy work, hot and neutral reversed, hidden joins not made in boxes, ‘bootleg’ grounds- I’ve seen it all Some houses are up-to-date, some have 2-wire cloth-covered Romex, BX cable, and some have the old ‘knob and tube’ wiring. It can all be relatively safe or very unsafe based on how the work was done and what has happened since then. Carlon (who make plastic boxes) did an in-depth study of plastic boxes and non-metallic conduit after a devastating fire in conjunction with insurance companies and UL reps and it was found that plastic boxes and NMT are as effective at slowing and stopping the spread of fire as metal boxes and metallic conduit are. It was determined that metal boxes and conduit also present a shorting hazard where plastic boxes don’t and that most of them are not suitable for use in grounding unless a connection is made directly to the box or the conduit is bonded at every connection. They also found that grounding of BX via the sheath was particularly hazardous as it would often melt and burn in hidden places distant from where the short occurred. I personally like the good plastic boxes for all but ceiling fan mounting Screw threads can strip in the cheap plastic boxes and I just trust metal fan boxes better what with the heat and vibrations found in that use (but I’ve never seen a plastic fan box fail when installed properly).
It’s mostly in good workmanship and proper selection and use of the components involved- you get that right and all will be well regardless of what system or component types (plastic or metal) are used. Mess up the workmanship and it’s not safe at all regardless of the components used. And not all legally permissible work (even when done correctly) is safe or trouble-free, such as the ‘back-stab’ connections on outlets and switches. I cringe at some point on almost every house I work on regards the electrical over what I discover or have to repair. It’s rare that I don’t cringe but I really appreciate those jobs and wish I knew who did them so I could compliment them on their fine work. I like the DIY vids out there for most things but you have to remember that most of them are not being done by the real professionals. And it’s always best to learn hands-on under the supervision and tutelage of a licensed Pro who has lots of experience- you can’t learn all the nuances well any other way :sunglasses: When it comes to safety you need certainty that it is all done right and watching a vid isn’t enough to ensure that. If you don’t know then hire a Pro who does.
Nothing beats a ‘lasdop’. :+1:
But the Vago connectors with the orange levers are very good too.
Much better than the ones you just stick the wire in and hope for the best.
