ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area What's the hokiest electrical stuff you've seen?

Where do I start? farms? fair? school? diyer? mechanic shops? city wiring? old people?

PA:
Pick one of the above...& jump reght in!

On some farms, I have seen thhn hanging on nails with flying splices leading to lampholders, disconnects rusted out, where all that is left is the guts, and still energized, indoor discharge lights wired with yellow extension cord and a mix of 4x4 and plastic boxes if I am lucky, panels with about a thousand tandems, all of different breaker brands, indoor panels outdoors, $.29 receptacles simply wrapped in tape (when I'm lucky), screwed through the yoke to something, "tamper proof" rusted recs. Seems like mexico to me. I will take some pics when I see more.

Generally the scariest wiring is found in churches.

It is installed by the faithful, typically.

And the results are miraculous: when no one has yet died.

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Anything installed by illegal immigrant 'experts'...

A Reno couple used such 'talent' on a pretty new home located 800 feet from the fire station. It burnt to the ground while they were in Vegas. Use your imagination! Yeah, the cause was an electrical fire.

Churches are cosistantly done well below par to be nice. And yet rarely do you hear them catching on fire. Devine intervention perhaps?

I agree that churches with all of that free volunteer labor from various 'experts' is pretty scary.

I saw a bumper sticker recently that may explain why they aren't all in blazes. It read simply:
Jesus was a Carpenter
God is an Electrician.

I have seen church kitchens wired with 1960s romex, 29c outlets, all on 2 breakers. 100A panel for the whole thing, two ranges. Lots of burned outlets.

Point well taken.

Churches, family farms, and fishermen fishing boats are the worse, hands down

PA,

Watch out for old people! Some of us guys here might fit into that category!

I have seen wiring done with zip cord, extension cord, RX, BX and THHN all in 1 room with no splice boxes, staples, nail plates, etc.

Had to open up walls, and rewire the whole room.

Sometimes I can see some hokiest electrical thing in some welding shops. Some of their electrical connections are not so good to see. If you can’t see some of electrical lines you may electrocuted.