Thanks fam

@Nick-NJ congratulations, brother

I'm the typical good goy who fell for the college meme and ended up working retail. In an AR podcast one of the guests was extolling the virtues of the trades, specifically electrician work. I'm hoping it is what I need to pull myself out of paycheck-to-paycheck living. Can anyone help point me in the right direction on how to get started as an electrician?

Look up your local IBEW. @wolfwood

Electricians union

Or find some guy willing to take you under his wing. I don't apply for jobs anymore, if I need something new I go to active job sites and ask around.

Do the unions set up apprenticeships?

Yes they can. IBEW will have everything you need, I believe they do the classes too.

You'll work a few days then have class time a few days. @Deleted User can tell you all about it

I'm still in the process of getting started/accepted, but yeah. I was told class every Wednesday and the first (?) Saturday of every month.

Other than that, you're working 40 hour weeks and most likely overtime!

I think they start you off at $14 an hour and you get a 25% raise every year, as an apprentice. Might depend on the company that you get set up with.

@Deleted User thanks for the information bro. Good luck on your journey.

@wolfwood you too

Local 369 in Louisville they have a five-year apprenticeship program. You will work steady for 5 years with no layoffs and less work is super slow and at the end of your 5th Year you will turn out as a journeyman and go sign the book. These guys usually work through the day and we'll go to school one or two evenings a week

@Deleted User is that separate from IBEW?

Naw.

No it is IBEW Local 369. The local chapter here in Louisville. I was in for a while although I did my apprenticeship through the independent contractors here in town. But the union does have a five-year apprenticeship program

Word, I didn't go through the union. Self made man. Haha

I've always worked for guys 20-30 years older

@wolfwood What state?

CA but hoping to move to MT

Does MT have a big union culture? If not might not be worth it

Florida has a union too, but no one's in it

First I need to decide which one to contact 👀

If you're moving, go to a company and ask the guys there is they're in or not

Go apply for a job. If they're union they won't hire you and may bring up apprenticeship program

^^^

I'm working on doing a little remodel work for a gentleman getting ready to sell off old house. He's doing a little bit of cosmetic work in the bathrooms. Here are a few pictures showing removal of the old wax ring boating the toilet down and putting the tank back on the lower portion

When you put the tank on you want to make sure that the gasket is in place. This toilet took a foam rubber gasket

Once you put the bolts through the tank using the provided rubber washers you tighten it evenly so as not to crack the tank

Hook up your supply line and turn the water on and you're ready to go

Since the house was built in the 50s the waste lines penetrate the floor in a lead elbow. They attach a brass flange to the floor and fold the lead out and over the flange. The half bath at this location had a damaged flange and had to be replaced

To replace it you take a screwdriver and pair of pliers in gently pry the lead upward away from the flange until you can remove the old flange. When properly installed the lead is soldered to the flange but you can get it squared up and screw it to the floor and then fold the lid back down. This is where the wax ring will sit for the new toilet

You'll notice that part of the lead has broken away. It becomes brittle over time. As long as there is enough lead to fold back against the inner throat of the flange you will be okay

In the full bath I am adding a pedestal sink. Since you don't have a vanity it gives you a little bit more room in a tight bathroom. Here are the water lines with a new valves attached and the drain that i will be using

Do they still sell that lead boot?

No. The entire elbow is lead. Where this one penetrates the floor it is about 2 foot long and plugs directly into the black Iron. Nowadays they rip that out and replace it with PVC back to the black Iron. I know a carpenter friend that when he tears those out he makes musket balls out of them for his black powder rifle

Looks exactly like the lead boot I use for box gutters

Haha that's funny

But the gutter boot is like 18 inches or so

Yes I was talking to a plumber today and Home Depot about it and he said the proper way to do it this is to Solder that ring to the lead. I did not realize you could solder lead like that

Next you take the upper portion of the sink and put your fixtures on and installthe tailpipe for the drain

This is the pop-up or some call it the tailpipe which sticks down and will connect to your drain. You'll notice the nut that's facing you which will be where the diverter handle is installed that raises and lowers the stopper

Yeah, I didn't know either. I'll have to figure that out now.

The Chrome ring that you see in the base of the sink prior to installing it you put a bead of plumbers caulk so as to seal the bowl

Yeah I know brass is no big deal but I would think the lead would melt before you could get it to take

Right. Ok I'll let you get back at it. Sorry 😆

Np buddy. If I can't play electrician hell I'll play plumber

Keep busy man

Very white of you Greg

I'm trying. It's a little hit-and-miss this time of year for me. I got a couple of jobs coming up that'll take care of Christmas

Once the fixtures are assembled you sit the sink in place and mark the wall. This sink has two bolt holes underneath that use an expansion anchor to hold it to the wall.

Once it is squared up reach underneath and mark the wall. You move the sink out of the way and drill a hole large enough for the anchor to go through. This is a bit that is made to cut glass & tile. It is diamond-tipped. Here are the anchors installed in the sink ready to pop through the wall

At this point you slide the sink and pedestal back in place taking care to push the anchors through the tile into the wall. Because the bolt head is up under the sink and you cannot get a screwdriver to it I have installed a hex nut on the bolt. Once the toggle Wing expands and I screw the bolt down with my hand most of the way I can put a wrench on the hex nut and tighten the sink to the wall. Anytime you working with porcelain take care not to over tighten and to always tighten both sides evenly

Next you want to install a trap kit. It is a elbow, a trap piece which is u shaped and depending on the height of the drain protruding from the wall you may need a short piece of pipe to Extend high enough to reach the tailpipe

This coupling piece is accordion-style for making up two pipes which may not be Plumb. In this case I had to use it because I could not dictate the height or placement of the drain pipe which was existing

I could never be a plumber

They deserve every cent

Lastly you install your flexible lines from your valves to the fixture. Make sure not to over tighten these as they have a rubber insert and you will mash them and they could leak. In this picture you could also see a little more of the trap for the drain

I know it's almost as bad as being an electrician and you have to play in the shit. LOL

Right haha

Here's a picture of the sink and toilet installed.

Nice, is that a half bath?

In the next day or so I'm going to go over patching wall tile in a bathroom

No I'm standing in the shower. The half bath is the one with the damaged flange and I will be patching some tile in there as well

Oh word. Nice dude. I hate plumbing.

Me too but it pays. Gotta eat! Are you going to get on voice chat this Saturday if we can get everyone together and discuss the banners

@RevStench

Ty

Very nice @Deleted User

I recently took the faucet off my bathtub and filled it with hot glue.

Lol well it'll work for a while. Was it leaking/dripping alot

Yeah it’s oiled bronze with the plastic pull-up gate inside. I never use the faucet and wanted the pressure going to my shower head lol. So yeah. Glue.

That works.

Cross your fingers for me boys, I'm about to find out whether or not I get to take my Journeyman's test

What are you trying to find out if you have enough hours

Nah, test results from the last class of the apprenticeship program

If I pass, I'm set to be the youngest Journeyman in the company

I never went for my journeyman's license. When I started they weren't too worried about anyone having one . It wasn't until I became a foreman that I went to my Master's license

Yeah, the state doesn't enforce it. It's a certificate of competency more than anything. Pretty sure you need to be a J card holder for a few years before you can sit for a Master's in Florida

Yeah in Kentucky do you just have to have the additional hours before you can take the Masters. It's about A 5 hour test and it sucks

They don't want just any dumbass calling themselves an electrician

You’ll get it brother, no question.

Got a 91

That's straight A's all 8 semesters

Awesome, good for you!

Hells yes, just need to get the state cert now

That's great!! Now ask for more money. Kek

Jk

Oh believe me, I will

Congrats bro. @John O -

@RevStench#3208 here's a picture of that elbow I was talking about

Nice work @John O -#7072 !

@Deleted User @RevStench Thanks guus

Guys

Was out celebrating

@Deleted User damn that's ugly, I love the cardboard.

Standing inside 5,000 amp switchgear

thats quite a bit of juice no?

It doesn't lend itself to good selfies, but it's like being able to stand inside the panel at your house

I want to reroute a light switch to the other side of my door frame. How should I go about it?

@Dalvet462 -PA Could you take a pic? Include doorframe and ceiling

I need to go to bed. I'll get back with you tomorrow

Yeah, I'm not at my apartment currently, but I'll send you a pic when I get the chance

@Dalvet462 -PA you don't have an attic?

Right above the door

No, just a roof. I'm in an apartment complex.

If you have no way of getting between your ceiling and the floor above you, it's going to involve cutting drywall

And we can walk you through drywall repair.

It's like contractors on tap😂

Is anybody around? I have a mystery on my hands.

@gregor#0091 @John O - ^^

@JRobertson I'm driving. What's up?

In my house at school, the Air Handler breaker switch keeps tripping. I know why a circuit trips, but don’t know the cause of it for my house. Any thoughts on what I can do to fix it?

@Rayder how old is the breaker?

@Rayder When was the last time you changed the filter?

@here Today, I was accepted into the IBEW electrician apprenticeship program and they're ready for me to start work immediately. Thanks for everyone who assisted me.

Congrats @Deleted User !

Awesome man, congratulations

Great job!!! @Deleted User

@Rogue#0890 Thrilled for you brother!

@Deleted User congrats bro!

When's the last time you ran into one of these?

@RevStench Looks like a duplex receptacle with the face torn off

Some dipshit spackled over live electrical components

It's old, they ripped it back to wood lathe. And then got some Mexicans to put up drywall. So there's your dipshits haha.

I'm not sure what it is, that's why I have you guys!(electricians)😁

Anyone here an electrician?
I have a quick question

I have aluminum wiring and I bought a CO/ALR Switch from Leviton which was reccomended to me from the guy at home depot. I just want to double check and make sure that I can wire it right up to it.

@Deleted User @John O - @RevStench ☝🏻 Brass on deck.

@Deleted User Yes, the ALR designation means aluminum

Does it's have copper or brass contacts instead of steel?

Are you just swapping out an outlet or are you having trouble with the outlet?

Aluminum wiring can be dangerous, it can overheat enough to start a fire without tripping the breaker.
@Deleted User

And what John said

Nah, aluminum is fine. All our feeder wire is aluminum in the commercial projects I do

Plus, typically range wire in houses

Sometimes HVAC feeds

Yeah but if it's old, you can't assume.

I just want to make sure he's not having a wire issue or if he's just swapping out an outlet.
I ❤ you @John O - bro, and I appreciate what you do😃

no homo

Haha

Good point, though. @Deleted User why are you switching it out?

I'm just swapping the light switch

I will be replacing the outlets once I recieve my order of these. https://www.homelectrical.com/alumiconn-2-port-lug-aluminum-copper-wire-pack-25.kic-95025.1.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI146X-uaA2QIV1brACh0xlgl7EAYYASABEgJI-_D_BwE

@Deleted User I saw that and almost had a brain aneurysm. But it's UL listed, guess it's good

It has the gel inside it that keeps the copper from oxydizing. Looked more sturdy to me than just buying the pigtail AL/CO caps and the gel.

I've been double and tripple checking all this stuff. I had an electrician fix the worst stuff.

Now I just want to change out the light sockets with the usb ones. Figured I could do that myself since I have done it before. Just have never done it with aluminum.

But with the light switch, I am good to go, right?

Yeah

Awesome. Thanks brother.

Np

@ThisIsChris’s elite force of skilled identitarians strikes again.

I love DIY

I almost forgot this server existed. I'll have to post some before and after pics of the rooms I am renovating when I am done.

If you have any questions don't forget about us!
If your home was built before 1978 be mindful of lead paint/dust.

silica dust is yummy

They don't make you guys use the HEPA vacuums?

We use one, I work primarily in residential. We have to set up little containment barriers. And I have to keep up with OSHA lead saftey classes. That's every 5 years, plus all those other OSHA saftey classes(fall prevention, ladder, scaffolding safety, lock out/tag out for the occasion I'm in an industrial building ect...) Then for KY I have to take lead abatement classes, pretty much the same stuff as OSHA. It's a lot.

That's bullshit

We have attachments that suck the silica out of the hole while you drill. Pretty easy, and better than dying before you're 55

My carbide scraper has a vacuum attachment. I wear a respirator almost all day.

I wish they would buy us fucking respirators

I'm surprised they don't have them for you.

No, you have to get cleared by a doctor, and my company is huge, so they say no across the board

Wow, here they make PPE available to everyone. Cover their ass kind of thing.

Are you talking respirators or dust masks?

I use a respirator. I create lead vapor. But on big job sites if your messing with vapors they make respirators available. Dust masks as well.

Damn dood

I wish I had that

It's all these laws they passed on top of OSHA bullshit. It's to much sometimes.

I've been using a spiked pipe to make holes in the fireproofing/insulation/silica yummy along the ceiling, in order to lay pipe, etc.

Very fun

I'm on a big job site, there are respirators available to those working with saws, drills, etc.

Ask for some kind of breathing protection

It's not silica. If it's a renovation, it could be asbestos, if it's not, it's some other shit that gives you cancer that they just haven't blown the whistle on yet

It's silica I'm pretty sure. New construction of an Airport terminal

Then you better get a breathing apparatus @Deleted User

The home has no lead paint and was checked out by inspectors. Unfortunately it does have the aluminum.

There is only a positive and negative for the light switch. No third wire for the green screw. Is that an issue? The old light switch I removed didn’t have a green screw.

Again, this is a CO/ALR light switch with aluminum wiring

Is it a metal box? @Deleted User

It's not a positive and negative, think of a switch like a handle on a faucet. It cuts the flow if water on or off.

Is there a metal pipe feeding the box?

@Deleted User Not even the founder of America’s strongest identitarian movement is immune to the travails of home ownership!

@John O -#7072 basically it’s more of an “in wire” and “out wire,” right? I know that’s not the correct terminology but the juice just flows through the wire, stops at the switch if it’s in off, and continues on if the switch is in on right?

Basically like a valve.

Yeah. I didn't want to get too pedantic, but technically it's not positive and negative, it's grounded and ungrounded. The switch breaks the ungrounded wire, making it so there is no path from the electric company to your light

No, the box is plastic

I saw there were ground wires when I zoomed in. Take a pic of the inside of the box, please

Ok, will do.

I know that there is a third wire in all the outlet boxes in that room

How do I tell what size gage the old wires are. They look like two different sizes. I would guess 10 and 12 guage

But I want to know for sure before I get the wire.

It should say on the insulation. That sounds like a good guess. What size is the breaker?

@Deleted User Older wires tend to be a little bigger. It should typically be 14 or 12 gauge for a residential lighting circuit. And for your positive/ negative question. A switch doesn’t need a neutral, it just makes are breaks the current path. Only things that burn electricity (have wattage) needs a neutral. One wire will be always hot and the other will be your switch leg which sends power back to your lights.

The only type of switch that needs a neutral are some occupancy sensors or a switch/outlet combo

Wait, your branch circuits are aluminum?

Be very careful not to splice aluminum and copper together. They heat up and expand at different rates and the reason you seen goop on one of the terminals was to prevent the aluminum from oxidizing. You put something called nolox on aluminum when using it for electrical circuits.

They do sell special purple wire nuts to make copper to aluminum splices but I’ve even seen them burn off.

Yeah, I had some electricians come over and fix the stuff where the previous owner screwed up and tied that stuff in together.

I got the AlumiConn ALuminum to copper logs. They look way better than the pigtail tops and they have the anti-oxident gel inside for the copper

@Hessian Also, thanks for answering my questions.

@John O -

@Hessian

Sorry guys, just getting back to this. So this is a one-way aluminum light switch. I realized it did have aNeutral wire in the box. Do I need to hook it up? If so, how should I do it? Should I find a larger account and connect a third aluminum wire to the pigtail and then to the green screw?

@Deleted User yes, connect a third aluminum wire with the ones that don't have insulation and connect it to the ground. Don't touch the neutral

The power is off and I have checked the wires for electricity.

Thanks

One more question, if the wires in the outlets are 10 gage and I accidentally got 12 gage, will the slightly smaller wire effect the functionality of the power outlet?

@John O -

It's a ground. It's not normally current carrying. You really shouldn't, but you could probably get away with it

I wouldn't feel good about doing it

@Deleted User are you sure that's#10? Looks like 12

@Deleted User get a pair of wire cutters and slip the wire into the smallest hole that doesn't cut the wire. Then you'll know for sure what gauge it is.

If you already bought the #10, just use that. Bigger wire is always better than smaller

Do wires expand overtime?

Yeah, if they're normally current carrying

It expands and contracts. So over time the connections can come loose.

^^^^^

Thanks guys. Got it all figured out.

Good to hear

@John O - if you need a good laugh https://youtu.be/-WiN0vf4G9s

He's really crude but funny, "The Builder" on the same album is so funny.

Kek, nice

Yes the by product of electricity is amps, the by product of amps is heat. As a circuit is used it heats up (expansion) and when its not used it contracts. This is also a reason derating factors are used for counduit exposed to the sun

Thus is the main reason copper is used over aluminum these days

Aluminum is trash

All of our services are aluminum. We usually use aluminum for anything over 100A because of cost

Oh my

>quantity

>quality

>choose one

Bruh, I don't run the company

I would say that the majority of electrical fires ive been to has had aluminum wires and zynscos

As long as you use pertrox or something, and torque everything down, it works good. I've been on a lot of huge, high profile commercial installations that use aluminum.

I would definitely advise scheduled harmonic checks. The aluminum conductors have a history of shifting

But i know most other contractors live by the it only has to last one year and my assets are safe rule

You would be amazed how often i find service conductors loose or the dreaded arcing from a loose neutral

My company included

@John O - check this dude

Thought it was an old phone box