Back in 2018 I did a job for a new house on Elm Street and buried the cable at 6 inches like I always did. A month later a landscaping crew hit it with a tiller and I had to re-run 200 feet of coax. Now I call 811 before any dig and trench at 18 inches minimum. Any of you guys seen problems with shallow burial on new builds?
I've been doing this for close to 15 years now and always used the old school coax cutter and stripper tools. You know the ones you have to twist and line up just right. Last month I was on a job up in the Hills and my usual tool broke. Had to run to the hardware store and they only had those push-button versions. Figured it would be junk but I was in a hurry. Took about 3 cables to get the hang of it - the first one I pushed too hard and sliced right through the shielding. But once I got the pressure right it actually stripped cleaner than my old method. No more frayed braids or nicked dielectric. Been using it for a month now and it saves me maybe 5 minutes per drop. Anyone else make the switch or is everybody still using the old twist style?
Last Thursday I spent 8 hours in a 120-degree attic running coax for a single outlet, but the homeowner brought me cold water every hour and tipped me $100 at the end. Do you count a job as awful or great based on the conditions or the people?
I was at a house in Raleigh yesterday finishing a termination and overheard the GC on the phone complaining about how often fiber gets pinched in the walls now. He told someone they had three service calls this month just from bad bends behind drywall. It made me realize we are rushing these jobs too much to hit quotas. Anybody else seeing more callbacks from new construction than usual?
I was pulling into the parking lot at our shop in Tucson on Monday and heard this trainee tell his buddy that our job is easy because it's just plugging stuff in. Dude has been with us maybe 2 weeks and hasn't dealt with a single attic crawl in July yet. I mean, I get that it looks simple from the outside but crawling through fiberglass in 110 degree heat or trying to fish lines through old plaster walls ain't exactly a walk in the park. Has anyone else had to deal with customers or newbies acting like this isn't actual skilled labor?
I bought a no-name toner and probe set off Amazon for $150 thinking I was saving money over the Fluke models. Turns out the thing couldn't pick up a signal through drywall more than 10 feet away. I spent a whole day tracing a line at a new build near Austin, Texas and kept getting false readings. Finally borrowed my buddy's Fluke 2000 and found the cable in 5 minutes. The cheap one is sitting in my truck collecting dust now. Anyone else get burned by cheap test gear or do you swear by the high end stuff?
Back in 2003 I was running cable through this 1920s building downtown, and the plaster and lathe walls were so brittle they just crumbled when I tried to fish lines through... I spent three hours patching holes for every five minutes of actual wiring. Has anyone else run into old buildings that forced you to totally change your installation method?
Been doing residential installs for about 4 years now. Last Wednesday I was terminating an RG6 at a house on Elm Street and the connector just wouldn't grip right. Kept slipping off after I crimped it. I thought it was bad connectors at first, replaced like 6 of them. Then I borrowed my coworker's crimper and it worked perfect first try. Turns out my old crimper was slowly going bad over time and I didn't notice. Has anyone else had a tool slowly fail on them without realizing it?
Last week I was doing a new build in Phoenix and the owner kept hovering while I fished lines through the attic. He was an old electrician from way back. He pointed at my bundle of zip ties and said "you're gonna hate yourself when you have to pull one wire out of that mess later." Told me to start using hook and loop straps instead so I can add or remove cables without cutting anything. He was dead on. After three years of doing it the old way I switched that same day. Anybody else got a tip from a customer that actually made your job easier?
I was installing fiber in this old Victorian house. Old place, wooden lath ceiling. Stepped wrong on a joist and my whole leg went through. Client was watching TV ten feet away. He just looked at me and said 'you fixing that before you leave?'
Back in March I was working a job in a old house in Lexington and the homeowner had a telescoping fish rod in his garage. I laughed it off thinking there was no way that thing could handle a real pull through a tight attic. But after fighting with my steel tape for 45 minutes and getting nothing done I grabbed it just to prove a point. To my surprise I ran the first line through three joists and a corner in under 10 minutes. The flexibility and reach saved me from having to cut drywall or crawl through insulation. I still prefer my rigid rods for straight runs but I picked one up at the supply house the next day. Anyone else have a tool they resisted that ended up making their job easier?
Bought that fancy Klein VDV026-060 back in April and the blade alignment went to crap already. Was stripping RG6 on a job in Austin and it started nicking the center conductor every time. Ended up just using my $8 Ideal stripper for the rest of the day and it worked way better. Anyone else had Klein tools go bad fast or was I just unlucky?
Been fighting loose coax connections on outdoor runs for ages until I tried putting a small zip tie around the connector before tightening the nut - keeps everything snug even in windstorms. Has anyone else found a weird hack that just clicks one day and saves your whole Saturday afternoon?
Last week I was running CAT6 in this old office building, and my cheap $12 crimper from Amazon started mangling the ends. I had to choose between finishing with that junk or driving 30 minutes to the supply house for a $45 Paladin. I went with the Paladin, and it saved me 2 hours of redoing bad crimps. Anyone else find that spending a little more on tools pays off way faster than you'd think?
I'd been stripping too much jacket off before crimping and didn't even realize it until a senior tech pointed out the exposed braid on a job last Tuesday. Has anyone else had that 'oh duh' moment with something so basic?
Last Wednesday I was running 4 cat6 cables through a 90 foot underground run near the new courthouse downtown. About 60 feet in, my fish tape just gave out and I heard it snap somewhere inside the pipe. I ended up having to dig up a section of the conduit to find the break, which took me like 3 hours extra. Has anyone else had a fish tape fail on them like that, or was I just using the wrong kind?
Last month I had a customer call me back because their internet kept dropping out. I went out and checked the connector on the outside box and it was wiggling around. Instead of replacing the whole thing I just put a small zip tie around the base to hold it tight against the fitting. That was three weeks ago and no issues since. Has anyone else found a quick fix like that for loose connectors?
What should have been a 45 minute fix turned into a half day ordeal because the previous installer had stapled the line to the joists every 6 inches, has anyone else dealt with that kind of overkill stapling?
I used to hammer staple every coax line I ran through attics in Phoenix, took forever and kept splitting the jacket. Switched to a manual cable tacker with rounded edges last year after ruining a 200 foot run on a Tuesday job. Way less callbacks and my hand doesnt ache at the end of the day. Anyone else swap tools and notice a big difference in your work?
I used a $10 compression tool from Amazon for about 6 months and thought it was fine. Then I had a job last Tuesday where three fittings failed during the signal test in one house. The customer was standing right there watching me, and I felt like a fool. I borrowed my coworker's Klein tool and the difference was night and day. The cheap tool wasn't crimping the fitting evenly, so water was getting in slowly over time. I finally broke down and spent $80 on the Klein at the supply house. Has anyone else had a cheap tool cost them a service call they could have avoided?
Last week I had to run a coax line through a nightmare attic in Austin, tight crawl space with blown insulation everywhere. I always used a steel fish tape but it kept snagging on the trusses and I was sweating bullets for an hour. Grabbed a fiberglass glow rod from my van on a whim and got it through in like 15 minutes with zero snags. Anyone else switched to glow rods for attics and never looked back?
I was working on a second-floor install in a old house in Portland last Tuesday (the kind with super steep stairs). My hand slipped while I was hauling the spool up, and the whole 500-foot roll went bouncing down into their living room. The customer was nice about it, but I spent 20 minutes untangling the mess while her cat kept trying to play with the loose end. Has anyone else had a coil get away from them in a tight space like that?
Last Tuesday I was running new coax through a tight crawlspace in a house built in the 50s. I had 200 feet of cable on the spool and about halfway through I realized the end got snagged on a nail and pulled back. I spent two hours in that cramped space trying to untangle it but just made it worse. By the end I had to cut out 40 feet of ruined cable and redo the whole run from scratch. That was the worst paying job all month because of the extra time. Has anyone else had a cable turn into a total mess like that?