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Joined: Oct 2000
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Other observations: Many homeowners change their house wiring, purchase a lot of materials for house wiring projects, and/or purchase many more appliances, lighting, and other tools that connect to the house wiring.
Our current system of house wiring (I’m not concerned with commercial and industrial) needs new/improved products and procedures, to make it safer and easier.
The homeowner needs to safely make simple electrical connections with zero defects.
This may require mistake-proofing, similar to the 3.5 inch computer diskettes being insertable only one way.
But the starting place is to provide authoratative, consistent, clear, and understandable explanations.
And who really can “ask a licensed electrician” every time they buy an electrical product?
Joe Tedesco, NEC Consultant
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Joined: Jul 2002
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Joe, I have said this before, I think, Us in the Electrical Trade, are not monsters, I would like to think that most of us would greet a Homeowner, in a friendly manner, every time that they require our advice. We are, after all the professionals that they look to,for advice. I would sooner give the Homeowner a bit of well-founded advice, at the start of a job, rather than have to go in and do an expensive and often very difficult fix-up job, later on.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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2nd that Trumpy. Our current system of house wiring (I’m not concerned with commercial and industrial) needs new/improved products and procedures, to make it safer and easier.
My observation is that this is a point of frustration among many electricians, perhaps if there were more of a consumer advocatecy based on the trade itself, and not sheer marketing, the concept of safety would be less bias The homeowner needs to safely make simple electrical connections with zero defects.
This may require mistake-proofing, similar to the 3.5 inch computer diskettes being insertable only one way.
A noble aspiration, although not easy to achieve. But the starting place is to provide authoratative, consistent, clear, and understandable explanations.
Actually, you may be able to soon ask a 'licensed electrician' at those big orange places, I've checked them out recently myself as they are slowly proliferating the sticks. Short of that, the internet is full of advice giving tradesman, bookstores also abound in similar tutorials. The situation is inescapable here, consider here the summary of the 'powers that be'
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Joined: Aug 2001
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The only problem with trying to make things completely idiot-proof is that the idiots can be so ingenious. All our plugs here now are sold with a card which gives the buyer instructions on how to wire them. Three terminals, and two or three wires connect -- Not exactly rocket science is it? Yet some people still manage to get it wrong.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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quite true Paul, idiot-proof simply begets better idiots... it is, in my 'interactive' experience, a case by case judgement call, a challenge to my 'contractorship' per se', yet quite exasperating at times.... i.e~ having explained to one such uhm... 'customer' that his outside lampost would be optimumly reinforced by cement i showed up to find said lump of solidified cement, no lampost in sight .... <sigh...>[This message has been edited by sparky (edited 12-02-2002).]
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