Sberry 27, Welcome to the Forum. Most of the men and ladies at ECN are engaged as professional electricians trying to earn a living at their trade. Many, many threads and posts here reflect their anger at the practices of 'handy-men', 'hacks', and other unqualified persons doing 'electricians' work' at rates of pay which a qualified tradesman with all the overhead of a proper, legal business cannot fairly compete against. These guys are, quite rightly, much angered by this situation. The fact that some handymen can do a good job in some circumstances, or that there are diy people with relevant good skills, or even that there are licensed idiots about, is irrelevant. The fuse you lit exploded as anger about the unfair competition and the dangers it creates. Nothing personal; not that you are new; not that you aren't "in the trade" and in agriculture - in fact, exactly the opposite - many new members get amazingly patient and caring responses to sometimes quite inane questions. I look on here, (as a mere bystander), amazed at the complexities of the US Code and the depth of know-how required to cope with it in the field. No handyman, IMO, can ever do much more than wire up receptacles, do simple switching and fit luminaires etc. Present them with anything more complex, like safe sizing of conductors, safe grounding, phase shifts, safe working practices, starting single/multiphase motors, number of receptacles required by Code, correct breaker sizes and specifications, fitting smoke alarms, number of conductors in a conduit, etc.,- ( one could go on all day ), and the holes in their amateur knowledge immediately expose an unknowing (or cheapskate) consumer and others to danger, which can't be right, can it?. The sheer trillions of man-hours experience and logic, distilled into Code, enshrined within the law and diligently practiced by qualified men, weren't executed in order to create a monopoly for a minority Guild to hold the consumer to ransom- they were put in place to provide for his safety and that of third parties, such as children, passers by and Firemen. In general, they do just that.
Alan
[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 08-14-2005).]
