ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Useful catch phrases

By hack electricians:

"That's the way we always do it".

You can also drive around at 100 mph, but that's not a good thing to tell the officer when you finally get pulled over

"We aren't concerned with the Code here. We work to the industry standards"

Trying to discuss a simple switching arrangement with the guy that drew the plans:

"Oh, I'm not THAT kind of engineer"



[This message has been edited by electure (edited 07-03-2005).]

Old lady nearly killed me one day up in a roof.
She turned a CB back on so that she could see Days Of Our Lives.
Sure my fault for not locking the thing out.
"Are you all right up there dear?, I thought I heard some coarse language".
I can tell you she did!!.

Trumpy:

You must have the patience of a saint, the last person who turned on a breaker on me got a pair of linemans thrown at them! (They actually CUT the lock off! I now use better grade locks.)

My favorite:

"Can't you change the bulb now? It already blew up."

To explain: Most cinema projectors use Xenon short-arc bulbs rated from 2,000 to 7,000 watts (operating on DC, high-current,low voltage).

The bulbs are under high pressure and have heavy Tungsten electrodes. They operate at extremely high temperature (around 2,000 degrees!!) and the electrodes glow from the heat for at least a few minutes, too hot to touch for ten minutes.

This comment came from a manager right after a bulb exploded while I was there on an unrelated service call. Of course, it was in the largest theater which was sold out. After it cooled for ten minutes I changed the bulb, and the electrodes were still warm enough to discolor the workbench top!!

Related:

"Why should we change the bulb? It still works."

Xenon bulbs are expensive ($400 and up) but now tend to last well past rated life (around 2,000 hours in the 2k and 4k sizes, about 1,000 hours for the larger bulbs.) I have seen some 4k bulbs run well past 6,000 hours!!

But the risk of violent failure increases dramatically as the bulb ages. (See above.) And when a bulb explodes, it usually damages or shatters the reflector surrounding it. (The reflector on most lamphouses now runs $800 - $1500!)

And finally all cinema equipment follows Murphy's Law: "An equipment breakdown will always happen when the theatre is full on a Saturday night, never on Wednesday afternoon when only the roaches are watching the show."

>Heres one I hear every now and again
>Oh , Your an Electrician ?
>You must be rich !!

Haha, yes immediately followed by a vague anecdote about the mythical electrician that their friend knows "who makes $120.00/hr."... Hehe, wonder if he's hiring?

At a vehicle breaker's yard:

"Hello, I'm looking for a starter motor for a 1991 Ford Orion saloon."
"Got one, 80 quid."
"They only want 25 pounds at ****'s !"
"Buy the bloody thing there then!" (Returns to reading his comic).
"They haven't any right now."
"Ours are 25 quid when we ain't got any!"

Do we really have to replace that xfmr?,(the one with the burnt off paint that got overfused)
Wont the load just balance itself out?

Does that really need to be grounded?

Why can't we use a control xfmr to power a 15 amp outlet?

Are you done yet?, we really can't afford to have this machine down any longer?

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My favorite reply to any and all: "Must have been an imbalance in the homotrons.