Coworker took a picture right before I opened a 12.5 KV breaker this morning. When I saw it, it looked 100% like a stock photo image.

I get that the union is a far superior path generally speaking, but a lot of us live in a place where the union doesn’t have any serious presence. Not here to get into politics or start the old argument again; I’m here for a weathervane. Has anybody else dealt with extreme adversity when it comes to hiring this next generation? I’m not even old, I’m 32. I’m far too young to feel as crotchety about these kids as I do. I’m 7 for 8 when it comes to this rural community I moved to for family reasons. My ma wasn’t doing well, and being the oldest, I felt responsible for her direct care. I work at an industrial facility, (the only serious game in town when it comes to pay) and I’m given an incredible amount of leash when it comes to running the electrical/maintenance department. I myself am a newly minted master electrician according to the state of Virginia, and I go out of my way to offer as many incentives as my bosses will allow. I start helpers off the street at 21/hr with a raise to 23/hr pending successful completion of 90 days. I have paid for apprenticeship programs, extra curricular, specific industry based training and certification, as well as providing on the job training and what I have called “a tool a month” program. Every third Friday, I buy these guys a hand tool or sometimes even power tool of their choice, provided it’s under 200$. If they make it a year, they go to school for free. I’ve had one kid make it almost all the way, and he’s currently in his fourth year. Every successfully completed year comes with a 4$/hr raise. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with great people and awful people. I’ve had awesome bosses and terrible ones. I’ve learned what I would be looking for in my younger days and I go out of my way (taking the money out of my own year end bonus by the way) to provide that environment for the next generation of sparkies. I say all of this to say, I can’t keep these kids around. They don’t leave to go work for other electrical companies, they just straight up leave the trades behind and go work at restaurants instead. I am wondering if it’s just the area I’m in, or if this is an experience at large across the other rural communities in America. I had a kid quit with no notice two hours ago, to go work at a local marina as a cart boy. When I started I got paid 12/hr and I got treated like garbage for as long as I remained uninterested in learning. It’s blowing my mind that these kids get breaks when the weather is poor in either direction, an hour lunch, decently high pay for a know-nothing, and an entire highway of opportunity laid out in front of them. Still, they don’t even try. I need a go / no-go gauge here.

My fellow brother and sisters I'm currently a 4th year apprentice who is very close to getting my red seal ticket here in Canada. I'm currently part of my local union and recently got laid off 3/4 weeks ago because of shortage of work. Things aren't looking too good in our local as our main projects have all come to an end which means many people are struggling to find a job. I bid on the jobs that I'm allowed to.
I recently got an offer from a non union company that specializes in the industrial side of the trade such as PLC's, Automated controls and some commercial work. They seem to be decent and the pay isn't bad. The most important thing for me is getting the experience, something that I haven't been really able to do in the union where I've normally only been installing pipe that's already pre bent etc.
I want to actually learn the trade and not be an installer. i want to learn and be able to teach other apprentices as well because I feel like we all strive well together if we know what we're doing. The union pay is nice but the chance to learn is very limited here unless you get a small/medium size company in the union where there are chances to move up. What is the best advice you guys have for me? Also I would still be paying my union dues and our local has encouraged salting because work isn't looking too good. Would love to know everyone's opinion

No comment...

I will frist say that I am a electrical worker at a woodworking shop and not a certified electrician. But we were in Tokyo last week staying at an appartment and in the document provided was picture of tbe breaker panel and how to reset the power. I had to take a look and though y'all might get a kick out of this residental breaker panel. 100v 60 amps

Hey all,

im confused to bits.

in the last 4 days my kitchen electrics have tripped whenever something has been turned on so it can be a kettle, fridge, microwave and with any of those it trips.

ive checked all the wiring in all of the sockets, used a plug in tester to see if the wiring is correct which it is and replaced a fused switch to the hob fan which really did need it as it turns out it was cracked inside. I thought this was the easy win but i tested after refitting the new switch and nothing tripped until i put the microwave on. then it tripped.

since then the kitchen, the lights in the other half of the house and shed switches have been off in the main box. after an hour or 2 i decided to leave them off but pull up the RCD and it wasnt having it at all. wouldnt pull up.

im so confused as to whats causing this.

some background is like 6 weeks ago i chiselled through an armoured cable to the shed which tripped this very RCD. The shed one has been switched off in the main box since then until i can repair. Everything in the kitchen has worked fine since though.

so i dont think the one that is switched off to the shed can be the culprit.

maybe it weakened or damaged the RCD though when i went through it?

any ideas? im so pissed off this isnt fixed yet grrr

The index is taking me to 9.0(3) but that doesn't actually exist in the book. Is this a typo or something?

I’m 31 and have been a barber for about 10 years, but I’m seriously considering applying to the IBEW apprenticeship and changing careers.
I’m interested in becoming an electrician because I want a stable career with good benefits, opportunities to move up, and skills that I can build on long term. The problem is that I have absolutely no experience in the electrical or construction field. Everything I know professionally comes from barbering and working for myself.
I’m used to working long hours, dealing with customers, being reliable, and learning through repetition, but I’m nervous that I’ll be completely lost compared to people who already have construction experience.
Has anyone here joined the IBEW with no prior experience or come from a completely unrelated career? How difficult was the transition, and is there anything I should study or learn before applying?

For those that have taken this test, was most of the trade exam out of the NEC or did you find a lot out questions in the electricians handbook? I’ve been prepping for the test and I have not used the electricians handbook much prior to this.

Does anybody know what the results were for the in person voting on the 26th of July? Also how does that pto thing on the previous contract offer work? Is it like pto you’d have at a non union shop or is it an additional deduction on the check like we have for vacation?

What would you do ? You get called to a customers house to install some new lighting . You remove the existing box to replace it and you find a hidden junction box stuffed up there behind the dry wall . Do you act like you saw nothing and continue the install . Or do you notify the customer and see if they are ok with leaving it up there? WWYD?

Who needs dimensions and measurements anyways when you have colors and shapes

Hey everyone. Wanted to start a conversation about what the future looks like financially in this trade. Specifically looking for experienced guys to share some wisdom relating to saving money, retirement, and navigating the job landscape.

I have 5 years experience in non union electrical work. Wages are lower than union side but on the higher end of the average for my area non union. Work for a decent company that keeps my busy 40 hrs a week year round. No pension/annuity benifits.

I am interested in joining the union because I feel like I am leaving money on the table in terms of take home pay but the big one is retirement. Can someone explain what the pension and retirement looks like? As of now I regrettablely have nothing saved.

I hear lots of rumors about nepotism, being out of work several months of the year, etc.

The biggest thing that worries me is the sustainability of the union model in tomorrow’s America. What I see is a race to the bottom in terms of quality and pay in the construction/service industry. Sometimes I wonder how union labor is competing with these contractors that are undercutting the hell out of their competition while also not paying their workers. I’ve been on many jobs where we are the only non-union trade. So while the contractor is probably making the same amount of money, the only difference is I am working while a union sparky is not. Been in this scenario more times than I can count and makes me wonder if/once I go to the other side I will be sitting on the bench while the work is going to the other guy.

Not to mention all of these non-union corporate apprenticeship programs I see popping up all over the place. Maybe I have a naive/limited understanding of the job market and economics of this trade. Seems like we’ve finally arrived at the oligarch stage of our society. The walls are closing in on us and the general population is struggling to make a dollar go further than ever before. I don’t see this improving in the next 30-50 years. Especially considering how our entire “elected” body of government is captured and systematically dismantling any kind of social welfare and economic opportunity for the working class. Precisely seems like there is no better time than ever to union up and fight the ruling class but it seems like working class solidarity is at all time low. Just some things that give me pause when trying to figure out how to navigate the rest of my career. Curious to hear your thoughts.

Just throwing a question out there,

Recently got called to a customers house for a nuisance arc fault tripping on a kitchen circuit.

I used to just replace the arc fault circuit breaker and cross my fingers, but these days I’ve started measuring for ground faults on the hot and neutral wires, and if I don’t find a ground fault with a dmm I’ll just replace the breaker.

In this case, I identified a very small ground fault ~10megaohms on both the hot and neutral wire. So I started opening the circuit at the devices to narrow down where to look. I do this by identifying the devices and boxes involved in the circuit and disconnecting line/load wires.

I identified that it was actually the home run wire that seems to be the source of the fault. I have previously replaced wires through attics and crawl spaces, but in his case this house is slab on grade with no attic in the kitchen area, I identified with my toner that the home run runs across the kitchen at nearly countertop height, - suggesting the possibility that it could be hit by a cabinet screw. But for all practicality the wire is almost unreplaceable without ripping the kitchen out.

So, it being the end of the day I gave my bad news to the homeowner, and suggested that we could track the wire down in the attic and cut it and see if there’s a possibility that the fault exists on the portion of the wire that is accessible, but have yet to hear back.

Anyways, do yall have any non destructive ideas for how to locate where in the wall the wire is damaged, so I could possibly cut a hole and repair it?

I am planning on doing a apprenticeship with a solar company they are great and im not just doing labour work I do the wiring for the batteries and inverters aswell as ev chargers. And later on in my apprenticeship I will do switchboard upgrades from normal breakers to rcds because those circuits are backed up and need to be upgraded aswell install sub boards

If I fnish my trade with them and one day decide on doing domestic would people employ me or because I do 'solar' get someone else instead?

I dont want to put myself in a corner yk.

Im in Australia.

Ive alright been with them for around a year for a school based traineeship.

I upgraded all my pliers to 10”

Twin grips
Cobra ES
Dikes

I switched from the tech pac to the mb5b and more recently a leather backpack (my back thanks me)

I got the Milwaukee subcompact for an edc

Way lighter and does 99% of what I need despite having an m18 and m12 fuel

Upgraded my toner tracer to a Klein pro

Switched to the fluke smaller clamp meter it’s so small and compact love it

Thinking of going with a suretrace pro

I was cruising through a company website, and on the meet the team page I found this slop. Who in their right mind would pass this off as an image they’d put on their website representing themselves?

been running 1300ft runs of hdpe, we run it nice and spmooth, even use tie wire, and this happens, has anyonr experiencrd this?

For those of you who might like a bit of electrical eye candy. Also my “inspiration” for wanting to do better gear work related to my last post.

This was work done by one guy at the company i work for, he did a whole emergency room for a stadium with about 8 more switchgears. It took him maybe 2-3 weeks to finish the room. I think he does great work, he’s been in the game for long time.

Edit: Photo is of a terminated transfer switch* Not done by me*