ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area What Should A Commercial Electrician Know?

One other thing,
Watch out for the Production Manager/Supervisor, these people can be the most annoying people on the face of this Earth.
They are generally what you could call a "Senior Handyman", they know everything but have no real qualifications.
They will stand over you while you are sweating blood trying to find a fault in a machine, saying things like "Well I wouldn't personally do that like that, how about I give this idea?".
I've been there before, I know these things, some people have come away so un-scathed!.

One big difference is most commercial people get married to one or two buildings for a long time. It is not like residential where you actually get outside now and then.
The guys I knew on the construction end of the business were starting to get cabin fever after about 2 years in the same jungle of steel studs and pipe. Different day, different room or floor but pretty much the same view every day. It can get real noisy too. Bare concrete as far as the eye can see with a couple of steel framer crews whacking studs on a chop saw and the noise will open up your sinuses. I used to carry ear plugs on my inspections and I used them a lot.

I suppose the guys who are in the retail end of the business have more variety than new construction but "maintenance" can still have you married to one building.
I guess it is all what you like.

Interesting thing Greg,
Commercial here would be the likes of office buildings and light Industrial, with respect to a few socket outlets and the odd computer network.
Industrial however is a totally different kettle of fish, this entails factories and other such technologies, PLC's even control systems that don't use PLC's.
SLC's (Small Logic Controllers)(almost a smart relay) are becoming more prevalent here for smaller processes.
At the old newspaper place that I used to work in it was very handy to have your own lap-top computer, you could download data off of the gear there and see it on a lot larger screen than what the SLC screen gave you.
What's more, you could save it and have a look at it later on, maybe when the thing broke down again, but with a different fault.
Just my $0.02 worth.

Ron:
EXPERIENCE.....field work in comm, after the Vo-Tech time, or as soon as you're ready.
Class time in PLC's, transformers, motor controls, etc. are all available at Vo-Tech.

The items listed above are all necessary.

Pipe skills are 'learned', but...doing it on a regular basis is the way to go. Big wire & big pipe (to resi guys) are commonplace for comm. A 20 amp, 3 phase, 4 wire circuit is the same as a 2000 amp, 3 phase, 4 wire.
Just bigger.

Catch up with me for some '1 on 1' if you have time. You have to be ready to make the jump; mentally and financially. I have some contacts that may be of interest

John

I think some of these replys are overdoing it when they say plcs and the such having been in the commercial field for 25 years I have gotten along fine without that,this portion of the trade is more suited for industrial electricians.

Thanks for all the insight fella's. I went on an interview this morning and it went well. Now I'm just waiting to hopefully hear back from the company and start work asap.

I'm usually very hard on myself and set expectations very high. I seem to have this mentality that I have to know everything, when in reality, nobody knows everything. I believe I am ready for the jump.

John, I'll see you at the school next week and thanks.

Pipe bending is a biggy, and I dont mean just 1/2 and 3/4"

may as well add Fire Alarm, HVAC controls, Security,

understanding the endless prints and change orders is also very desirable....especially if your "trying " to get along with the other trades

planning your pipe runs , laying out duct banks under 8 lane roadways can be tricky

if you ever work on embeddded conduits ,it is paramount you learn how to walk through wet concrete loaded with rebar without landing on your face....

and it is imperative you know where the control lines for those embedments and stub-ups are ..



site lighting can turn into a PITA if you are not careful with the underground.
and the Architects have an uncanny ability to want lights and power in thin air..or at least in some very uniqe design element that has NO provision for us to pipe it OR mount something to it

learning all about "post" tension slabs...

enjoying the experience of trying to run pipe from a fully raised scissors lift..

trying to beat a retail deadline has to be experienced to be believed, especially around the Holidays

installing lighting in a building that has NO roof... or floor......Costco seems to enjoy doing this...

learning how to get along with lots of people some of whom will cheerfully be ripping your just installed pipework out...

and if you have not run a lot of pipe, learning how to set up...pull, and feed wire

"What Should A Commercial Electrician Know?"

Here's a good list to shoot for:

1. Conduit / MC Cable,
2. Metal Boxes,
3. T-Bar Ceilings,
4. Steel Stud Framing,
5. Rated Corridors and Ceilings,
6. Panelboards and Feeders,
7. Large Service Equipment,
8. Troffer type Fluorescent Lighting Fixtures,
9. Complete Plansets!!! (how to read and install per "A", "M", "E", "P" and "S" Sheets),
10. RFIs ,
11. Scissor Lifts,
12. Gang Boxes + Material Containers - inventory, logistics, etc.,
13. Floor Boxes & Floor Ducts,
14. Roof Top HVAC equipment,
15. Comm / Data outlets,
16. Working within Crews, around many Crews,
17. Watching out for "Brown Nosers" (and not becoming one!),
18. Knowing who is "In Charge" from the "Bandini Slingers",
19. A much more relaxed pace of Work (unless the person(s) running the job are Bozos / Bandini Slingers, then you have problems!),
20. A really good base on Circuitry Theory,
21. And as previously mentioned - 3 Phase Circuitry knowledge, MWBC knowledge (3 phase 4 wire), trade-specific color codes for 208Y/120V and 480Y/277V Circuitry,
22. Pulling LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG Branch Circuits and Feeders,
23. Making up Zillions of T-Bar Troffer Fixtures ad nauseum,
24. Fault Levels exceeding 10KA,
25. Bolt-On Breakers,
26. PLC and similar type control equipment.

I'll toss a few more in later!

Ditto on the above - 16 years and ran into a PLC twice I think. Once on a candy factory line, and once at a glass fabricator's - both on machinery they had inside people to handle. For the most part I consider "Commercial" (at least in my market) to be retail and showroom spaces, offices, returaunts and my personal favorite - Auto body and cabinet shops... As we have only 'light industrial' left here... I call it commercial too...

Oh know your limitations...