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I finally told a homeowner their "handyman special" wiring was a fire hazard
Had a lady call me out to her place in Tacoma last month, said her lights were flickering whenever she used the microwave. I pop open the panel and find neutral wires from three different circuits all jammed into one lug on the bus bar, plus some wire nuts that were barely twisted. She told me her brother-in-law "knew what he was doing" because he watched some YouTube videos. I charged her $180 for the trip alone and talked her into a full panel cleanup for $600 more. The worst part was she still seemed mad at me for pointing out the problems. Has anyone else run into homeowners who refuse to believe their friend or relative could mess up electrical work?
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karen4104h ago
Oh my goodness, that reminds me of my friend Carol up in Bellingham. She had her cousin rewire her basement so she could put in a small workshop. The lights would dim every time she turned on the table saw. She called an electrician friend of mine to come look at it. He found her whole panel was wired with lamp cord instead of proper NM cable, and the ground wire was just wrapped around a copper water pipe. The electrician said it was a miracle she hadn't been electrocuted, but Carol still defended her cousin's work for a solid week before she finally agreed to let him fix it properly.
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theawest3h ago
Carol's cousin must have learned wiring from a YouTube video titled "How to Build a Death Trap.
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