Re: Newbie Advice needed

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Phil Short" <pjs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:pan.2005.06.12.20.10.02.405329@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 20:56:19 -0400, Robert Green wrote:
>
> >  I'm just very wary of
> > assisting people with 110 and 240VAC without finding out what they know
> > about the basics.  It's just too easy to give them the answer but not
the
> > knowledge, if that makes sense.  And though I take hits for it, the
> > underlying rationale is to keep people from getting hurt.
>
> Also, if they don't know (or misuse) the basic terminology, there is the
> likelihood that they are asking the wrong question or misinterpreting your
> answer.

That's always a danger, too.  The 'net has been very helpful to me in a
number of areas.  Just the other day I had a bat come into the house and I
learned enough to get it back outside unharmed and where to put screening as
well as other bat control info.  I also learned that women seem to be really
terrified of bats in a way that makes them almost seem fond of spiders.  It
caused quite a commotion!

Electrical work is different, though.  You just can't tell from a brief
exchange of info how much someone knows about something.  You don't know
what they've cut and paste from a website, either.  You could be easily
fooled into thinking they were more knowledgeable than they really are.

Still, I believe that there's sufficient information available in books and
on the net so most DIY'ers can do a credible job on most home wiring
projects if they study enough.  I just don't think that most of those jobs
will ever be up to code.  There's a real value to the electrician's training
process.  They work alongside seasoned pros for a long time before they can
work on their own.  Their work is constantly inspected and corrected as they
learn.

I do a pretty credible job building and troubleshooting PC's and know that I
can diagnose and solve a problem in 1/10 the time of even a talented amateur
because I've seen so many recurring problems.  I know the most common
symptoms of a dead battery or a stictioned hard drive or a clogged fan or
spyware infestation by instinct.  I always Ghost the hard drive before I do
anything else so there's less chance of catastrophic data loss.  I clean out
the whole PC if I have the case off, and put in a new battery, even if the
old one's got some life left.  Why?  It's so much easier to do it all at
once.

Electricians, I'm sure, operate in a very similar world.  They know all the
common problems, have all the tools they need on their belt and have the
skill to do things up to code almost instinctively, it's been drilled in for
so long.

I do OK plumbing, carpentry and drywall work but there are plenty of jobs I
won't tackle.  Anything with gas, no go.  A dead gas water heater gets done
by a plumber, even though I could do it for 1/3 the cost or less.  Same for
the cast iron waste lines.  A new subpanel, a whole house A/C unit (anything
240VAC in general) or outside wiring gets either done by an electrician, or
inspected and connected after I have done the grunt work and cable laying.

Why? Well, a home inspector smart enough to see one teensy bit of homebrew
wiring that's not code or not safe can queer a house deal and force the
price down far lower than what I'd saved doing it myself.  I also do it for
the added safety factor of having two people working on the same problem.
Electricians are often not X-10 or low-voltage savvy.  I've brought more
than one up to speed on PLC technology.

--
Bobby G.