ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Business Related Discussion Working alone?

On a T-Bar ceiling if there is no insulation (sometimes even with insulation) a big wheel remote control car/truck works well. Can't rely on it for every situation but when it does work it works good. You might have some explaining to do to the guys when they see it in your truck!

I used to have a helper named Mickey that I would tie a pull string to his tail and put a lighter under his rear. He sure ran the string but sometimes didn't go quite where I planned.

I work with a crew of 15... But for some reason often get stuck doing things myself. Here are two hoakie ways to get it done that I have devised over the years.

Pulling by myself, too many times to care about. This is hard to describe, so bear with me... Always keep a roll of nylon jet line, and an empty thhn reel and tie wire on truck. Jam your fish tape into the pipe you're going to pull. Don't pull the wire yet, just the jet line. Then tie wire the empty reel on the box you're pulling from like a pulley. Take the jet line back to where the wires you're pulling at, and attach to the jet line. Feed the wire with one hand, and keep tension on the jet line. It seems like alot of extra work, but beats just trying to push the wire through the pipe. This works great on shorter runs. (Where there's not too many people to trip over your jet line... Or if all by yourself at a site.) But is not a substitute for someone to really pull for you. If its too far or too much in the way of this method, and dealing with a cieling box, tie a half roll of #12 to the string and do it 8-10' at a time, letting gravity put the tension on it for you. It's a lot better than a few inches at a time.

Now, a sure fire breaker finder, (In case you loose yours, or dead battery, or just don't have one at all.) and no, it's not shorting the circuit! Just change the load a little... You need to know what panel it is... Amp out all the breakers in the panel, and write the result right on the breakers. (Most have a part that is hidden by the cover, write it there.) Now do one of two things, add a sustantial load to the circuit you want to find. I usually will take the bit out of my roto-zip, and plug that in, or wire in a few temp lights, just to get a change of a few amps. Or if you have a cord that will reach the panel, jog the roto-zip, or any other tool that has a few amps load, and amp out again. The one that changed is your circuit, double check, and shut it off. (It helps to know the load you're adding, in case someone else starts up something while you're doing this.) In offices where I absolutely possitively need to shut off ONLY that circuit, and nothing else. I'll use a tracer to get the location, and use this meathod to double check, but use a more substantial load, like a skil saw! "Hey look theres an extra 15.5 amps at motor start on this one, thats definately it."