Move up to sales tech

Spend some time learning the business and start contracting

^^^ becoming the contractor is the endgame!

Yes sir

@Deleted User @Lebens how long does it take to become a certified electrician?

It varies from state-to-state. you have X amount of hours in the field and some State accredited school. An engineering degree will provide the requirement for time in the field. At that point you're eligible to test for your Master's license

Your time in the field roughly works out to 4 years

Ty

Yes sir

In cali they verify your ss records for hours. Plus 4-5 years of school

An Apprentice thats brand new makes half of jm wages. So if jm make 50 you make 25 and it goes up every year.

I'm an electrical engineer

Can I skip the school?

Again I believe it varies upon state but yes your school degree he is applicable towards a certain portion of the requirements. It should go towards the schooling portion of it

@dog0fwar just know that the goal should be electrical contractor

I got 10k in savings and a college degree, should I get on someone else's crew or do my own gog

I would suggest working for someone else for a while before striking out on your own. There is a lot to be learned from guys that have been out there for a while. To start with one service truck, ladders and tools plus throw in start-up costs insurance licenses Etc you could put a dent it your money quick. You can go residential commercial or Industrial working for someone else would kind of give you an idea of what the different types of work you'll like

Tbh $10k won't be enough at all. And it wont help if you only have theory on paper, you have to know how to install to start a company.

Your best bet is to work for someone for a a few years. Learn residential, commercial and industrial. Once you learn the methods of each, you'll know how to manage a crew worth their salt

Also being good at sales is a bonus

More of an AV thing, but anyone here going to CEDIA?

No sir.

Great posts in this topic @Lebens and @Deleted User. Very active and great coverage

Ty

Thanks!

Hey @Deleted User I have a question for you, in that picture of your tool layout, between your scissors and drywall saw, what is that thing with the gray wire nut on one end? I can't make it out in that picture.

is it a rat tail file?

It's a small triangular file that I used to dress screws and things that I have cut or deburr an edge

I used to carry a rat tail file to ream the inside of conduits when I cut it. I now use one end of my channel locks that's why they are skinned to go inside the end of a piece of conduit

oh ok. I couldn't make it out. I thought you had some new tool I hadn't seen yet ahah

@Lebens Did you dingo that trench?

No. Igave the customer the option for an additional $2k. He chose in his words to find some lesser mexicans to dig it. I spray painted the run last week. However my apprentice and i back filled it

Noob, here. My water heater stopped working. Saw that the circuit breaker was switched to the off position for the water heater at the breaker box. Should I replace the breaker or The element on the water heater?

The breaker is in the tripped position. Turn it to the off position and then try to turn it back on. If the breaker trips immediately then a heating element is shorted out and needs to be replaced. Depending on the age of the water heater you may want to consider replacing it. @Havamal

It does trip immediately when turned back on.

You have a short brother

Lol. For want of a comma.

You have a short, brother.

@Havamal Did you do any work recently at your house? Did you hang any pictures?

@Deleted User Haha, he is pretty tall.

@John O - No, I haven't.

Everything else in the house seems to be working just fine. I put an inquiry in on the AO Smith website because the element is 208 volts and 3500 watts, which apparently is rare, even on their website, Lowe's, and Home Depot websites.

It probably wasn't that, it's just a personal paranoia.

Hmmm

If you have a multimeter, and you want to spend a little while in the init, you can always try to diagnose it yourself.

I might try that. I need to get a multimeter. I also have a discounted service plan with plumbers and electricians through a package when I bought my house.

My dad suggested the element going bad. He is prone to paranioa, but knows a lot more than me when it comes to this stuff. Thanks, guys.

@Deleted User I'm about to qualify to take my Journeyman's test. I have two options for the next few years:

1) Stay with the company that I started with, who have told me numerous times that I am foreman material, but are the lowest paying electrical contractor in the state

Or 2) Move to a rich, liberal city, save some money, find a state that I want to live in permanently, buy some property, and start working towards my Master's

Obviously, becoming Master is the next step, but would it be too bad to put it off until I'm 30?

@Havamal sorry I've been at work. If you go to the water heater and disconnect the two wires that go into the water heater and feed it and cap them off and turn the breaker on if it holds and does not trip then your heating element is bad. I don't recall exactly how much they are but you drain the water out take a big wrench or socket remove the heating element and then reverse the process and turn it back on

I've taken the POS and neg off the element and tried to flip the breaker and it still is tripped.

I didn't cap them, though

@John O - a lot of contractors will continue to blow smoke up your ass as long as you let them. If you pass your journeyman's test I would ask for a little bit more on the hour maybe a dollar. I do not know how busy you are or how much work is in your area. Any experience is good experience. If you're in an area where work is ample sometimes you will benefit by making a move to another contractor. I was 31 before I got my Master's license but you did not really have to have one at that time. Now you're supposed to have a master electrician on each job here in my state.

@Havamal you know you have to turn the breaker to the complete off position first and then back to on. If the element shorted out it could have taken out the breaker with it. You need to pull the panel cover off disconnect the two wires from the breaker and try to turn the breaker back on if the breaker holds then the wires compromise somewhere between the panel and the heating element

I'll try that. Thanks! @Deleted User

@Havamal okay yes if you take the wires off and reset the breaker and it won't hold then the breaker is bad but the heating element may be bad as well. If you have a continuity meter you can test the heating element. Put the meter on continuity and put one lead on each of the two screws where the heating element was fed. If it does not ring continuous then it is open. You can also test from each screw to the metal shell of the water heater to see if it's shorted to ground. Basically if it does not ring continuous the element is bad

@Deleted User In Florida, you only need one Journeyman per 4 workers, but that's not enforced. You don't need a Master on the job.

The only reason to get the license is for the Contractor license.

I'm probably going to go with option 2. Just wanted to see if you had any relevant advice one way or the other.

I don't think they're blowing smoke up my ass. Construction is booming here, and they need guys who can show up sober to be management.

Yes it is similar here once you have over certain amount of men on a job you need to have any Master on the job.

I'm not sure if this is electrical but...we moved into a new house and the plug for the dryer is one of the older, 3-pronged ones. I switched out the cable on our dryer to fit. Now the dryer isn't drying like it used to, as in we have to run it on multiple cycles. Could this be due to the new, ungrounded cable or is it just a coincidence?

When you switched the four-wire cord and put the 3-wire cord you may have miss landed one of the wires. The three prong cord will attach to the ground screw which is green and the other two terminals will go on the black and red respective terminals in the dryer you were possibly running your dryer off 110 volt instead of 220. I don't know if I making any sense it's been a long day

Also when you go from a 4-wire to a 3-wire cord like that you will have to put a small wire jumper between the white terminal and the green screw inside the dryer the ground and the neutral go to the same place in the panel so you have to fake the dryer out into thinking it has both. So just make sure the new cord is landed on the red and black Terminals and the ground wire goes to the green screw but you put a small jumper between the Green screw and the terminal where the white wire landed in the dryer originally

Thanks so much. I'll have to pull it out and look at it as I read this.

Make sure you unplug that that 220-volt hurts

You either put one of the hot legs on the wrong terminal or by not putting the jumper in between the ground and the neutral the controls are not getting the neutral they need to operate as a 110-volt entity

I'm headed home if you have any trouble just post something and one of us will get back to you here in a few good luck

Thanks. What's a jumper, just a regular old wire or something specific?

No it's just a small piece of insulated wire you don't want it to be too small a piece of number 12 gauge wire or a piece of number 10 would be great you want to make sure it's insulated and it simply goes between those two points you jump one terminal to the other you want to make sure that the wires tightened Down Under the screw sufficiently if you have more than one wire under the screw

Here's what it looks like now, before doing anything.

I also just noticed what looks like a burned area on the black.

Okay I'm sorry I was thinking you were going from a 3 wire to a 4-wire cord or 4-wire to 3-wire cord. You were switching one 3-wire cord to a different 3-wire cord is that correct?

No, I had a 4 on there, and changed to a 3.

Okay the cord you have on is connected properly I did see a burn matk on one of the terminals. It's possible that you shorted out one half of your two pole breaker when you did that go to the dryer breaker in the panel turn it off and turn it back on one half of that breaker may have tripped internally when you turn it off and turn it back on it resets it do that and then run the dryer see if it gets hot if it doesn't you may have to test voltage. You can test for the 220v at the dryer receptacle and if you don't have it through the problem could lie in the breaker try resetting it first

What's happening is the dryer is trying to dry on half of the voltage which tells me that one half of the breaker is not operating

They're connected

Yes that is called a 2 pole breaker it has two Hots. One half of that breaker could have went out if you touched any of the terminals together turn it off and then turn it right back on. If you have a way to test the voltage at the outlet try to test the two like slots and see if you have 220 Volt across them

I saw a burn mark on one of the wire terminals so I'm thinking maybe you might have bumped the wires together

Ok, so now it's just a matter of running it and seeing if it works better? Did I mess up the cable by bumping them?

I have no equipment to test it.

I understand okay when you accidentally touch them together you may have damaged one half of that breaker so it's only getting 110 volts instead of 220 volts. When you turned it off and turned it back on you may have reset it internally. Turn the dryer on and run it and see if it gets hot like it normally should if it does not then you were going to have to find a voltage tester and test the breaker and see if it needs to be replaced

To test the breaker you would take the panel off turn the breaker on and put the two test leads where the two wires on the breaker are located and see if it gives you 210 or 220 volts approximately. If not the breaker would have to be replaced. Is there anything else in your house that is not working properly is there any areas in your house that do not have power other than the dryer acting up? It's possible that you could have damaged more than one breaker. If you're not having trouble with anything else than just concentrate on the dryer

No problems elsewhere. For what it's worth, the prior owner was an old electrician and I think he did some work on the place, running g electric out to the barn and workshop.

I'll run a load and report back.

Okay great if it's still acting up you're going to have to find a voltage tester a Tester Lite rated at 240-volt woodwork you can probably get one for about 10 bucks. If you have to replace that breaker it is either a GE or an ite style plug-in breaker you can get it for about $9 at Home Depot and I can talk u through changing it if you need to

Somewhere on the panel or the panel cover it will tell you if it's a GE or an ite or Westinghouse Etc

Great, thanks again.

One last thing if you do have to have a tester if you get one from Lowe's or Home Depot their policy is to take back anything in the original package by it bring it home use it put it back in the package and return it

Cool. And I just remembered something that happened when I installed the cable. I, stupidly, plugged it in before connecting it just to make sure it would go in. The other, now live, end touched the metallic exhaust hose and there was a spark. I'm guessing that may have tripped the breaker. Hopefully I didn't do any further damage.

Hope not. 220volt is baad news. Be careful

@Deleted User That seemed to do the trick. Thanks!

No problem man anytime that's what we're here for. And for the record I do work on some appliances so if you have trouble with other things just give me a holler maybe I can help

Hey guys, just got my membership approved yesterday. I work as a specialist for my local dept of water and sewer. Mostly pumps and motors, but I also do some controls work and occasionally work on generators. I deal with anything from 12v up to 480v. I'll be glad to help or contribute any way I can, just give me a shout.

👌

Great walk through @Deleted User

☝🏻

https://www.gearbest.com/other-tools/pp_216958.html?wid=3