I've worked on power lines for almost 10 years now (usually 7,200 volts and some 14,400 volt occasionally) I can honestly say I've never been shocked. I have blown some shit up though 😂. Stay safe man.
Can confirm... Finishing my junior year of mechanical engineering. And 95% of my class has zero knowledge on anything technical. One guy in my class suggested welding wood to steel...
@@MakingVidsBreh why I'm dropping outta college after my first semester in an engineering program. No hard skills are taught anymore and that's not gonna get me a stable career. So, I'll try to become an electrician if I can figure it out.
I agree with that statement. It's always the electricians that have to problem solve the engineer's mistakes. And it's on every job that I've worked on. Some are minor Some are really bad. I'm working on a substation right now and the engineers were kicked off site and it's up to us make it all work now. I don't even know how they have a job...
That goes for any trade though. As someone whose job covers all three of electrical, plumbing and gas, I can tell you that none of the project managers or designers have a fucking clue when it comes to the practical side of the job. There is a reason that all they do is design stuff on computers all day.
Your boss was mad about something and so he started flipping breakers on you guys? Woah man... Not only should he lose his job but something like that could easily turn into a big lawsuit. What he did was extremely out of line, he is a huge liability to that company. Something like that in my company would get people throwing hands at the boss. A line you never cross basically.
He definitely would deserve an ass wooping but I don’t think he was saying his boss was made at them but mad about something else about the job or something. Still doesn’t excuse him from being reckless like that.
What is often lacking in a site is an overall manager to manage trade traffic and work out schedules for the carrying out of each trade in a timely manner. I have often seen one trade clash with the other, pipes from plumbing being sited over cable trunking or stuff being painted over by careless painters or plaster being splashed over newly installed windows and fittings etc. Makes snag lists very long and costs money to rectify.....my favourite is second fix electrics being made difficult by poorly sited switch and socket boxes blocked by architraves and second fix carpentery elements ( window surrounds etc.)
You would like being an elevator mechanic. We do a little bit of everything and obviously the pay rate is....well....very nice. Having an electrical background is a bonus if you're a maintenance tech
I was a 5th year with the IBEW and took a job as a helper with the IUEC I love it. I thought I knew electric before but now I realize I just knew pipe bending and pulling wire haha
@@jasonmichael5194 Thats what I'm talking about! My old mechanic came over in his 40's from the IBEW and still did the apprenticeship and was happy to make the switch. We are blessed for sure. IUEC local 1 here.
I recall an episode in a computer factory when an operator was testing DC power supplies freshly delivered from a sister factory for final assembly at our factory. She has about 20 of them lined up for power testing when one of them blew up on being powered up. After witnessing that incident I always power up every new item I receive, either at home or at work, from a safe distance by using the switch on the sockets. Suddenly erupting equipment should not happen but can be a surprise when it does.
When your co-worker makes up a half-assed head while pulling a service and it comes apart at the last 90. Then you have to half-hitch it back the full run. I'm not bitter.
Old Man Duff I’ve been on a few wire pulls myself and it makes it interesting when someone drops something in the pipe such as a 1 1/2 connector inside a 3” Emt conduit , Last one I was on , one guy dropped his wrench down a 2” pipe he was working on 🤦♂️
I got burned when bugging in a service on a supermarket.The utility company was outside after a flood.they were supposed to wait to tie in the service at the street for me bug.well they were tieing the service the same time I was.Well I melted a wrench good thing I was wearing linesman gloves and standing on a pad or I would have been toast.
I’m an electrician for an hvac and plumbing co. Those guys definitely have stuff that can be screwed up that are extremely dangerous too but I know what you mean electrical is serious. Here’s what grinds my gears, equipment, cabinets or terminals that have so little working room that it’s next to impossible to land the wires.
"The weather in Southern California must be sweet" . . .Unless you're doing solar work in death valley, average temp for us is 108, I do wire management so it's not too bad, but i have a heavy heart for the folks who have to slap glass all day.
Is photovoltaic effective in that much heat? Man I feel for you. I would wear shorts and no shirt I don't care what Osha says. They aren't coming out there anyway
Only been in the trade two years and I've met plenty of paint chips. As the apprentice, I often prove myself to be the paint chip in any given situation
20hrs after pulling 1000mcm and 4 hours making an a few underground splices i felt that way imma say it was my second worst day on the job other one had to be 28hrs on a lease in 3ft of water throwing line fuses and fault finding transmission lines
I was an industrial electrician back in the day that worked on 480, 277 lighting, 220, etc. back in the day before my common sense told me to become an engineer. Had to work on many applications hot.
9:25 - I work in Florida outside as a vehicle photographer, I HAVE to drink about a gallon of water on my 7 hours in the field or I'll be dehydrated and practically dying, basically just have to take a sip of water every single chance I can get. Water's easy to come by, but the electrolytes you sweat out are insane. I've started to drink pedialyte powder dropped into a 16.9floz bottle of water and I'll drink half of it or the whole thing at once halfway through my shift, that stuff's awesome. has more electrolytes than gatorade and like 1/4 as much sugar, one of the packets makes like 64floz of gatorade's worth of electrolytes. Keeping ahead of dehydration is ridiculously important on a hot job, even if you last the day if you don't figure out how to hydrate two or three days of not doing it will leave you whooped.
You're right about the trades attracting fools. I'm at Lincoln tech in Melrose park, Illinois. When we were doing review for the midterm a few months ago; One of my classmates asked "Do we really have to know all this" It's like of course we do just shut up and learn.
Ive been an electrician for nearly 3 years. The tool i hate is the nail guns... even though i know its about to go off. I always flinch no matter what it pisses me off so much... Ah man some people piss me off... a woman who we was doing a house rewire for asked me how many downlights(potlights) i thought was best in the room. I made a quick sketch up it was 22 downlights and 3 pendants above her island in her kitchen. And she said she liked that so that same day i got it all done. It took me like 2-3 hours to run all the cables and then she told me she changed her mind and only wanted 4 downlights in this massive kitchen... i told her that she'd would have shadows everywhere and it wont look good and she said that she was gonna get bright lights...... 4 weeks later after the job was done we got in there and hooked everything up and i wish i took photos but it was the funniest thing because it felt like a cinema in there. She then asked if we could do what i said to begin with..... Oh and i forgot to say i told her to leave the cables up there just incase she wanted more lights in the future, but she insisted and made me rip out all the cables clipped in the ceiling... so her lovely ceiling that was freshly decorated looked like swiss cheese after i was done with it and she got charged more cos it took nearly half a day
I hate hearing switches get flipped, when I'm holding devises or wires. I sit there for a second and realise nothing happened so I'm alive and if i didn't get hit then what I'm working on isn't energised haha then i continue what I'm working on
Yes the worst thing about the trade is the physical tole it can take on your body which can be bad in the long term, but these jobs have to be done, and they pay well😉
SOME pay well but others do not. If your job is in a publically funded venue with public or private funding on a large scale then you have some hope as inspections and upkeep of standards is mandatory and legally backed up. Once your job has a legal backing employers cannot displace you for unqualified or unskilled labour. Electricity and gas fall into these categories as do many forms of transport and marine work. All aviation work falls into this category. Unfortunately many trades do not have legal backing and are often performed to a substandard level by DIY people. This depresses pricing for these trades. I recall discussing this topic with a gas and electrics worker in a hospital setting, it appears that hospital and airport electricians are very well paid compared to the average but very difficult to get into.
You say you don’t like getting lit up lol.!!!’ Looking in your tool bag is see no ICE60900 VDE Standard for safe working up to 1000V AC tools!!’ Not one!!!’ Looks like your average DIY kit, do you like living? If you do then please get the right tools for the job and you may get to retire!!’ I speak as a retired electrician and linesman qualified to work on lines up to 60,000 V and on hot industrial and domestic Three Phase 415 V and Single Phase 240 V circuits in the UK. I’ve seen to many people burnt and injured because they used the wrong tools, took short cuts or did not know what they were doing, don’t join them!!’ I will say I’ve never had anyone injured on my team, because I won’t stand for any bad practice, zero!!!’ People can and do die, but not on my watch!!’ So please get the right tools for the job!!’ Saying you work on isolated circuits is no excuse and as you say, you’ve been shocked through not using lock outs, don’t do it.!!!’ Another risk is that circuits have been crossed by other electricians or DIY’ers, when the right tools are used, even that risk is reduced and always check with a volt meter, before working on any circuits, it only takes a few seconds and could save your life!!’ Now go get the right tool and test equipment, before you do another electrical job!!’ Live long and prosper!!’
I am an Electrician and no matter HOW safe you are, getting zapped STILL happens. Of course, we don't want it to happen but when you're in a shitty position or on a ladder, sometimes, shit happens...stay safe out there, Mike! Appreciate the videos! EDIT: Don't get me started on engineers...the guys who design shit BUT ARE NEVER ON THE JOB to see WTF is going on! - They design every job as if it's all new construction...I never understood how engineers never have eyes on the job! We are electricians, we can DO WHATEVER WE WANT! ruclips.net/video/mViO9mnCTBo/видео.html
“I wait for a year to remember their name.” Jee, I wonder why they leave? “Why do all the laborers and first years that we treat like shit who do 70% of the work keep quitting?”
I don't think this is just electrical work though. Shit like that happens at most companies no matter the line of work from what I hear from friends and fam😂
David Ghaemi yes! They love covering up boxes and if they do cut them out they fill them full of mud. I tore all the Sheetrock out on a house from the waist down in every room once. They covered up every outlet and the boss told me to do whatever I wanted to find them while he cussed the mexican dry wallers out. Most fun day every cutting and ripping out Sheetrock and slinging it everywhere. Found every box lol.
Great video my brother. Dude was the guy who threw up the milk name JOEL and walked like a women...lol. I worked this this dude that drank gallons of milk on the job and his name was Joel..lol we all called him Utters.
Dangerous job... I've been shot at, had guns pointed at me, knife put to my face, been chased with just about every yard implement there is. Had dogs sicked on me, pits, german shepards, rohti and even a wolf hound once. Been chased in my car, blocked in, threatened with extreme physical violence. I once had a guy run up behind as I was walking across the courthouse and tackle me. Bet you can't figure out what my dangerous job is
"Paint-Chip" , "less-than-scholarly" love it! 😎 I have been working with and supervising a "Paint-Chip" for over 19 years. They don't necessarily get better. Keep a safe distance, and enjoy the accumulation of very funny stories.
I'm in the AV trade, i love good electricians who know their shit. Helps us out a ton when things like outlets are where we need them, and conduits are done right. And #6 is true for us. I spend half the time field engineering installs because I never got any line drawings or plans on how to hook up the shit they ordered for the job.
What you said at 3:50 about electricians vs plumbers is almost verbatim what I tell customers. I'm a GC and try to do everything, including nearly all my own plumbing, but I limit the electrical work I do before I bring in my electrician. Gas pipe aside, the consequences for an electrical mistake are generally more severe than a plumbing mistake, an injury versus a mess for example, so I stick to the basic stuff and leave the more complicated work to my electrician. Also I found the cleanest most OCD electrician who runs a small crew and charges reasonably so it would almost be stupid not to use him.
Ive been lit up testing gfci's up in a crane, my boss i had that job, his prior job he was working alongside his boss, his boss was goin over his working asking him if that circuit was secured and was, his boss went to cut into line alongside him and blew up his pliers. But will say after working on that stuff, yeah, i am more afraid of 120 than am 480, guys i work with now dont understand why as all they work on is vehicles
My story of electric fences...as a kid, my friend and I found an electric fence, complete with the distribution box. Well, I had to test it. Grabbed the top fence wire, nothing. Next, nothing. Next, YEOUCH! The shock went up my right arm, and down my right leg to ground. That hurt!
If you fold the end of your electric tape over on itself you can find the tale easier. If you get in the habit of doing it every time you use it, you'll never have to search for the end.
I Did Foundations and Framing We Were There Before The Electrians . Even Temp Power We Were There Before Using Gas power. My Body is Beat up ! Be Careful and Safe Mike .
All jobs suck and you will have bad days doing any job. Truckers wait on the lumpers I have sat 10 hours waiting for sorry ^^^^^^^^ to unload my truck. Deal with DOT!! All jobs have their ups and downs.
You don't learn their name until they work there for a year? lmao. Yeah, in my 9 months in the IBEW, I've worked with some of the roughest and most toxic people I've ever experienced.
I want to add "being a psychologist" is def one of the downfall's - It seems like almost 40% of the job is learning people's personalities and learning how to work with other people.
He must not experience everything that I have been through and there are a lot of things that I agree with him on. But there are alot of things that he is not highlighting that are apart of this business. 1st ya you run into a lot of dumbasses. What is worse the companies taking bids for jobs they don't know how to do. #2 the BULLSHIT. guys who have actually never spent time sweating or freezing in the field. They went to school to be engineers or safety & they think if you just spent a week setting 4 inch rigid 90s which way 80lbs a piece is just some easy job too. Do & because blueprints are constantly updated. They forget to tell you. This needs to a foot longer or shorter. I got to redo my work. #2 unproffesional companies. You may work for a pipe fitting company not a electrical company. They just played the lowest bidder to get a contract. They don't have the manpower, tools or materials to make your job easier. They just say your an electrician you deal with it. We get some money, for the he extra work the overtime, but no fair raises. No PTO for doing overtime and depending upon the state. No healthcare benefits & less pay per hr depending upon where we live. Yes the union exists. Where I live but they have no power in a growing metropolitan area and its join us, pay dues. And you will be lucky to be in a city working within 2hrs of where you live once a year
I feel the worst thing about being an Electrician is…. Everyone wants you to do work for them as if you don’t have a life of your own….. Ask them to come over to your house on Saturday morning to mow your lawn for you while you are adding an outlet for them….. I bet they’ll say they don’t have time to mow your lawn on Saturday but they think you want to add an outlet for them…. Personal time is worth more than any dollar per hour they want to pay you.
Haha no if a plumber messes up there is a much higher chance of dying than a fuckin sparky. 400lb 21 foot long pipe falls of the lift 15 feet in the air... on a 12 foot ladder with 21 feet of steel on ur shoulder... I was an electrician for 12 years trust me it’s a fuckin cake walk compared to the other trades.
Your boss should know better. Oh he's angry? Douche could kill someone. He or she or 'they' need to stay in the office. I love being an electrician. Finished apprenticeship in 97. I was going to be a plumber but I passed the test!! ha
If your not happy pack in your job. If your going to hang around update your dated tool box and stop whining about your job. I’m also an electrician self employed and there’s good day bad days. The good days far outweighed the bad ones. Tip for you nobody wants to hear whining even if they are faking interest. Kieran in Ireland
Lol, I went to a new site today and this buildings maintenance crew put a lock out tag out on a breaker on the ON position lol, me and the Forman both looked at each other and started to laugh as the whole maintenance crew was trying to blame the other person on the screw up (it was supposed to be off) wasn't put there for a hey don't touch this on it shuts that part of the building off where the workers are working. The entire building is being redone I think someone that smokes their coffee out of a light bulb wired this building.
Mike hahah I've been a commercial electrician for 8 years and still going and yes I totally agree and there is a alot to bitch about I'm right there with ya another bitch I have to add is when the gen contractor is inexperienced and doesnt know what are scope of work is on certain jobs. but it's the electricians will call them. then you have to explain to them that's not my job like we get power from point a to point b we dont trouble shoot automatic doors etc. Anyways I have probably just as much to bitch about as you do it's funny though sometimes because it's very similar
I hate to break it to you brotha but if you get shocked it's your fault. Of course everybody gets shocked. Unless you are a first day helper working for some asshole it's never anybody's fault that you got shocked but your own.
I zapped myself with a 120v ballast it went through my whole body. Never felt a shock like that. I’m scared now my dumb ass boss never turned the power off when we did electrical work… he’s an idiot
Love how you talk about being afraid of electricity, nothing like dealing with it day in and day out being afraid just to play with your kids because they want to play a shock game....fucken hate that! Haha
Mate, first two minutes describes every building site the world over, every trade is waiting for another trade to do their shit so we can get in!! I'm not a sparky!
I agree with all your points. Some things I would add: When talking about dipshits on the job, it's not always new guys. I've ran into some old timer guys who are someone's work dog and work extremely fast but their work is shit and borderline unsafe. Usually these guys don't know jack shit about electrical theory or they think they do but it's completely wrong. They destroy their bodies and expect you to do the same. Working with them is generally unsafe and you will learn bad habits. About the PPE yeah it sucks but it does help. I've had things hit me in the safety glasses and hard hat before that for sure could have done some damage. Also if you get used to wearing PPE try not to get un-used to it If you go to a job that is more lenient. It sucks when you are done there and you have to go back to a job that requires full PPE and not only are you uncomfortable again but you are getting hounded left and right about wearing it. Great video thanks for the content, stay safe.
I remember when u taught me that about 120v is the most dangerous n deadly b/c ppl disregard it's potential . Was a eye opening lesson after u stop to think about it .... How ya been bud? Hope all is well
Mike , Getting Shocked 😳 is part of the trade , I’ve been dealing with Electricity for over 25 years ( it’s the Amperage that kills you 1/10th of an amp will do it ) Working on live circuits is what makes the job interesting 🧐 , been on many jobs changing out 277 volts ballasts because sometimes you can’t turn off the circuit .
james conklin 25 years and let me tell you something it's the old argument is it the Volt or the amps that kills you. I'm going to call you in a little thing called electrical science. It's not the amps that kills you it's not the volts that kills you it is when the amps in the vaults meat and you have pressure and current working in tandem also known as power or Watts. This is what will kill you voltage is pressure. Like a pressure washer. Amperage is current. You can have all the current in the world if it has no pressure behind it will not do you harm you can have all the pressure in the world if you have no current behind it there's no harm the combination of the two current Pushed by pressure is what will kill you. A better way to understand this is to look up the principles of Eli The Iceman.
Calvin Barrett Send that explanation to Google ( Quora ) , As I was going through there , both will kill you , As you should know , you can’t have one without the other and as they were saying it’s not the fall from the cliff that kills you it’s the stopping.
In case you may be lacking a little in a solid basic understanding of what the electrons do. I highly recommend the old book electricity 1-7 by Harry Mileaf. Studying that book very deeply from cover to cover is one of the best things I've ever done for myself.
when i was first starting out i was a floor guy but the first month i got to actually do work i was pulling wire into a bus plug for a guy who had been doing it 30 years so i trusted him. he said it was and locked out and you know i didnt know any better that the line side was hot and he stripped a larger wire i think it was 3/0 bare and pushed and i got 2 legs of 480 in my face. everything was green, i couldnt here and i had the shakes and thats when i knew i got a lucky lesson in safety and so i totally agree with your #2
Do you wear any type gloves when you work? In my area, and especially in commercial construction, wearing cut resistant gloves is mandatory. I TOTALLY disagree with you that it comes with the territory. You can be smart and avoid getting shocked. I'd say 50% is knowing how to avoid it, and the other 50% is good practice. Wearing work gloves of any type GREATLY reduces your chances of getting shocked. I absolutely won't dig into a j-box without work gloves. In my opinion, If you're getting shocked any more than once every five years, you seriously need to think hard about what you're doing wrong.
The number one thing that sucks about being an electrician :
Working on other electrician's hack work.
Can confirm
Nathan Linerode no you cant
Mostly DIY hack work actually
duuuuddde ... the worst
Nah, its coming in after the handyman fixed it!
I've worked on power lines for almost 10 years now (usually 7,200 volts and some 14,400 volt occasionally) I can honestly say I've never been shocked. I have blown some shit up though 😂. Stay safe man.
At that voltage you only get one mistake so lets hold you never do.
Number 6, every other trades thinks your job is piss easy - "can you just?" gets thrown around too often
Ya, and that sparkys are all whinners to huh,
going in last to remodels because "Wires are flexible"
Now, 5 great things about being a electrician.
qzetu Going around where I live & showing off my work to my friends
Everything in his video except getting shocked. Always something new to learn also, makes it a great trade.
@@markduverger1739 What I like is that we can work on a lot of different things, I'm terrible for being bored with stuff lol.
HVAC is safer and just as essential, I think I’ll do that
@@joecoolberry911 I’m a hvac tech. I’ve considered doing my electrical too but it’s not really needed
One good thing about being an electrician is never having to call an electrician.
and never having the problem of not having a job. we have too much work actually.
Let's be honest, we all preach a no hot work policy, but we all do hot work 🤷🏼♂️
I don't preach it, just talk shit when someone gets hit. "Bro, the breakers are 30 ft. away! Lazy fokk!"
Yepp everyone says don’t work hot .. no one ever wants to trace a circuit and turn it off
Hot work happens everyday. “Oh you need this running? Let me just look at the prints and spend a couple hours before I fix it”
@@brandonplamndon8751 no offense but you don’t need to test for voltages
Can confirm... Finishing my junior year of mechanical engineering. And 95% of my class has zero knowledge on anything technical. One guy in my class suggested welding wood to steel...
originality34_34 you should’ve suggested the class to take turns slapping him
Or try doing it, fokk it. Best way to learn.🙃
How the fuck did he manage to get that far in an engineering course
@@batman7401 As a senior in Mech E, you'd be surprised. It's all math and calculations; very little practical skills are taught.
@@MakingVidsBreh why I'm dropping outta college after my first semester in an engineering program. No hard skills are taught anymore and that's not gonna get me a stable career. So, I'll try to become an electrician if I can figure it out.
Electrical engineers should spend years in the field before they get licensed; it gets old doing their job for them.
Its crazy how engineers are not required to do any field time, most of the time their ideas dont work.
I agree with that statement. It's always the electricians that have to problem solve the engineer's mistakes. And it's on every job that I've worked on. Some are minor Some are really bad. I'm working on a substation right now and the engineers were kicked off site and it's up to us make it all work now. I don't even know how they have a job...
also Code comes first and foremost!
That is a fact. Just finished a job where the engineer had spec'd for a 2" conduit to be terminated into a single-gang Bell box. No joke.
That goes for any trade though. As someone whose job covers all three of electrical, plumbing and gas, I can tell you that none of the project managers or designers have a fucking clue when it comes to the practical side of the job. There is a reason that all they do is design stuff on computers all day.
Your boss was mad about something and so he started flipping breakers on you guys? Woah man... Not only should he lose his job but something like that could easily turn into a big lawsuit. What he did was extremely out of line, he is a huge liability to that company. Something like that in my company would get people throwing hands at the boss. A line you never cross basically.
I'm an electrician in ireland. If you did that here you would goto jail without passing go.
He definitely would deserve an ass wooping but I don’t think he was saying his boss was made at them but mad about something else about the job or something. Still doesn’t excuse him from being reckless like that.
@@uppercutshurt5199 Fuck its outright attempted manslaughter, guy cant plead ignorance
I love when painters walk in the room (fully suited up) and start spraying 5 ft away from you.... 🧐🙄🤬
What is often lacking in a site is an overall manager to manage trade traffic and work out schedules for the carrying out of each trade in a timely manner. I have often seen one trade clash with the other, pipes from plumbing being sited over cable trunking or stuff being painted over by careless painters or plaster being splashed over newly installed windows and fittings etc. Makes snag lists very long and costs money to rectify.....my favourite is second fix electrics being made difficult by poorly sited switch and socket boxes blocked by architraves and second fix carpentery elements ( window surrounds etc.)
You would like being an elevator mechanic. We do a little bit of everything and obviously the pay rate is....well....very nice. Having an electrical background is a bonus if you're a maintenance tech
Rob G plus other trades are nice to you because they have to be
I was a 5th year with the IBEW and took a job as a helper with the IUEC I love it. I thought I knew electric before but now I realize I just knew pipe bending and pulling wire haha
@@jasonmichael5194 Thats what I'm talking about! My old mechanic came over in his 40's from the IBEW and still did the apprenticeship and was happy to make the switch. We are blessed for sure. IUEC local 1 here.
@@brianhogan433You got that right!
I feel like I'd like to be an elevator mechanic?
I hate electricity! The best attitude for an electrician, it keeps you alive.
Why do you hate it?
I presume the "Paint chips" were lead? 😂
HEY MAN don't knock it, the lead chips have a sweet metallic taste you grow to love ok.
He's like got PTSD from anything electrical 😂
I recall an episode in a computer factory when an operator was testing DC power supplies freshly delivered from a sister factory for final assembly at our factory. She has about 20 of them lined up for power testing when one of them blew up on being powered up. After witnessing that incident I always power up every new item I receive, either at home or at work, from a safe distance by using the switch on the sockets. Suddenly erupting equipment should not happen but can be a surprise when it does.
When your co-worker makes up a half-assed head while pulling a service and it comes apart at the last 90. Then you have to half-hitch it back the full run.
I'm not bitter.
Old Man Duff I’ve been on a few wire pulls myself and it makes it interesting when someone drops something in the pipe such as a 1 1/2 connector inside a 3” Emt conduit , Last one I was on , one guy dropped his wrench down a 2” pipe he was working on 🤦♂️
Always swerve on pulling someone elses work, unless you know they are competent.
Fat Thor I was told long time ago , you bend the pipe , you pull the wire for it , That hasn’t been the case for quite some time 🤦♂️,
I got burned when bugging in a service on a supermarket.The utility company was outside after a flood.they were supposed to wait to tie in the service at the street for me bug.well they were tieing the service the same time I was.Well I melted a wrench good thing I was wearing linesman gloves and standing on a pad or I would have been toast.
I’m an electrician for an hvac and plumbing co. Those guys definitely have stuff that can be screwed up that are extremely dangerous too but I know what you mean electrical is serious. Here’s what grinds my gears, equipment, cabinets or terminals that have so little working room that it’s next to impossible to land the wires.
"The heat is in the tools!" - when someone complains about being cold haha.
"The weather in Southern California must be sweet" . . .Unless you're doing solar work in death valley, average temp for us is 108, I do wire management so it's not too bad, but i have a heavy heart for the folks who have to slap glass all day.
Talking about the hottest place on the entire planet. Very dangerous. Heavy heart indeed, soggy ass too.
Is photovoltaic effective in that much heat? Man I feel for you. I would wear shorts and no shirt I don't care what Osha says. They aren't coming out there anyway
I found a piece of chicken in my bed. I havent eaten chicken in bed in 3 days
Only been in the trade two years and I've met plenty of paint chips.
As the apprentice, I often prove myself to be the paint chip in any given situation
6:37 Oh how many times I've gotten home at the end of the day and wish I could have just said "I'm a little bitch" and just given up on a wire pull!
20hrs after pulling 1000mcm and 4 hours making an a few underground splices i felt that way imma say it was my second worst day on the job other one had to be 28hrs on a lease in 3ft of water throwing line fuses and fault finding transmission lines
I've used man power ...tuggers... mini excavators ....vans and trucks to pull in feeders... what ever it takers
No 1 is so true for Industrial electrician too.
I was shocked before. I can confirm that you become 15% faster when running
I was an industrial electrician back in the day that worked on 480, 277 lighting, 220, etc. back in the day before my common sense told me to become an engineer. Had to work on many applications hot.
I work hot daily it aint that bad if you work smart im an industrial maintenance electrician so troubleshooting and hot work are part of the job
@@burnedupsparkytipsandrevie9597 If someone can't work hot they probably shouldn't be an electrician
"Some terds go on the floor" LMFAO 😄
Had me rolling there lol
9:25 - I work in Florida outside as a vehicle photographer, I HAVE to drink about a gallon of water on my 7 hours in the field or I'll be dehydrated and practically dying, basically just have to take a sip of water every single chance I can get. Water's easy to come by, but the electrolytes you sweat out are insane. I've started to drink pedialyte powder dropped into a 16.9floz bottle of water and I'll drink half of it or the whole thing at once halfway through my shift, that stuff's awesome. has more electrolytes than gatorade and like 1/4 as much sugar, one of the packets makes like 64floz of gatorade's worth of electrolytes. Keeping ahead of dehydration is ridiculously important on a hot job, even if you last the day if you don't figure out how to hydrate two or three days of not doing it will leave you whooped.
You're right about the trades attracting fools. I'm at Lincoln tech in Melrose park, Illinois. When we were doing review for the midterm a few months ago; One of my classmates asked "Do we really have to know all this" It's like of course we do just shut up and learn.
Yep. If they don't want to learn it they should leave.
Ive been an electrician for nearly 3 years. The tool i hate is the nail guns... even though i know its about to go off. I always flinch no matter what it pisses me off so much...
Ah man some people piss me off... a woman who we was doing a house rewire for asked me how many downlights(potlights) i thought was best in the room. I made a quick sketch up it was 22 downlights and 3 pendants above her island in her kitchen. And she said she liked that so that same day i got it all done. It took me like 2-3 hours to run all the cables and then she told me she changed her mind and only wanted 4 downlights in this massive kitchen... i told her that she'd would have shadows everywhere and it wont look good and she said that she was gonna get bright lights...... 4 weeks later after the job was done we got in there and hooked everything up and i wish i took photos but it was the funniest thing because it felt like a cinema in there. She then asked if we could do what i said to begin with.....
Oh and i forgot to say i told her to leave the cables up there just incase she wanted more lights in the future, but she insisted and made me rip out all the cables clipped in the ceiling... so her lovely ceiling that was freshly decorated looked like swiss cheese after i was done with it and she got charged more cos it took nearly half a day
I'm prone to PTSD and so I'll file a complaint about the nail gun if no warning is given... I'd hate to hurt myself or someone...
Is that cause people end up hitting wires inside the wall , so it's tramatizing.
Well if she didn't complain about y'all or anyone else's "rework" still a good customer right? Still annoying though huh.
I hate hearing switches get flipped, when I'm holding devises or wires. I sit there for a second and realise nothing happened so I'm alive and if i didn't get hit then what I'm working on isn't energised haha then i continue what I'm working on
Moral of the story, you got paid, ladys roof is ugly, and she wasnt mad at you. Sounds like it all worked out
Yes the worst thing about the trade is the physical tole it can take on your body which can be bad in the long term, but these jobs have to be done, and they pay well😉
SOME pay well but others do not. If your job is in a publically funded venue with public or private funding on a large scale then you have some hope as inspections and upkeep of standards is mandatory and legally backed up. Once your job has a legal backing employers cannot displace you for unqualified or unskilled labour. Electricity and gas fall into these categories as do many forms of transport and marine work. All aviation work falls into this category. Unfortunately many trades do not have legal backing and are often performed to a substandard level by DIY people. This depresses pricing for these trades. I recall discussing this topic with a gas and electrics worker in a hospital setting, it appears that hospital and airport electricians are very well paid compared to the average but very difficult to get into.
I've seen a steel fish tape cross all 3 phases of a 480V panel, didn't see much for about 10 minutes after that. Brightest light ever.....
You say you don’t like getting lit up lol.!!!’ Looking in your tool bag is see no ICE60900 VDE Standard for safe working up to 1000V AC tools!!’ Not one!!!’ Looks like your average DIY kit, do you like living? If you do then please get the right tools for the job and you may get to retire!!’ I speak as a retired electrician and linesman qualified to work on lines up to 60,000 V and on hot industrial and domestic Three Phase 415 V and Single Phase 240 V circuits in the UK. I’ve seen to many people burnt and injured because they used the wrong tools, took short cuts or did not know what they were doing, don’t join them!!’ I will say I’ve never had anyone injured on my team, because I won’t stand for any bad practice, zero!!!’ People can and do die, but not on my watch!!’ So please get the right tools for the job!!’ Saying you work on isolated circuits is no excuse and as you say, you’ve been shocked through not using lock outs, don’t do it.!!!’ Another risk is that circuits have been crossed by other electricians or DIY’ers, when the right tools are used, even that risk is reduced and always check with a volt meter, before working on any circuits, it only takes a few seconds and could save your life!!’
Now go get the right tool and test equipment, before you do another electrical job!!’ Live long and prosper!!’
I am an Electrician and no matter HOW safe you are, getting zapped STILL happens. Of course, we don't want it to happen but when you're in a shitty position or on a ladder, sometimes, shit happens...stay safe out there, Mike! Appreciate the videos!
EDIT: Don't get me started on engineers...the guys who design shit BUT ARE NEVER ON THE JOB to see WTF is going on! - They design every job as if it's all new construction...I never understood how engineers never have eyes on the job!
We are electricians, we can DO WHATEVER WE WANT! ruclips.net/video/mViO9mnCTBo/видео.html
“I wait for a year to remember their name.” Jee, I wonder why they leave? “Why do all the laborers and first years that we treat like shit who do 70% of the work keep quitting?”
In my experience, lots of coworkers have life problems that affects their work - they'll even take it out on everyone.
yup most people cant control their emotions, when they are having problems at home
Leave your problems at home
I don't think this is just electrical work though. Shit like that happens at most companies no matter the line of work from what I hear from friends and fam😂
@@johndavis8746 true, people needa think about how their shitty mood affects other people too
I hate dry wallers and plasterers...
David Ghaemi my dad finishes drywall and he hates electricians haha I happen to be one.
David Ghaemi yes! They love covering up boxes and if they do cut them out they fill them full of mud. I tore all the Sheetrock out on a house from the waist down in every room once. They covered up every outlet and the boss told me to do whatever I wanted to find them while he cussed the mexican dry wallers out. Most fun day every cutting and ripping out Sheetrock and slinging it everywhere. Found every box lol.
My experience with dry wallers and framers. They like to steal tools
Getting old mike and grumpy mike ? 😂😂
Yea, shitty day its all.
I Like this channel except for the fact that he doesn’t like Slayer.
when the hell did i say that, i love Slayer
im with you and all but im an hvac guy we cant installed an ac without power we have to wait for you guys too
Great video my brother. Dude was the guy who threw up the milk name JOEL and walked like a women...lol. I worked this this dude that drank gallons of milk on the job and his name was Joel..lol we all called him Utters.
Dangerous job... I've been shot at, had guns pointed at me, knife put to my face, been chased with just about every yard implement there is. Had dogs sicked on me, pits, german shepards, rohti and even a wolf hound once. Been chased in my car, blocked in, threatened with extreme physical violence. I once had a guy run up behind as I was walking across the courthouse and tackle me. Bet you can't figure out what my dangerous job is
Tax collector for the IRS? One of the guys that serves papers? Drug dealer?
Water utility tech.
Roofing?
Male Prostitute?
Pig breeder?
What I hate about HVAC work is electricians running their stupid wires all over my beautiful duct work! Unreal
Why is you stat wire taped to my beautiful pipework Mr? lol
I’ve had to work in -20F to 115+F. Builds character! Lol
Is there any sort of protective gear that can keep us from being shocked or electrocuted?
Gloves and boots.
I Never been on a job where there weren’t a flood. Lol plumbers
"Paint-Chip" , "less-than-scholarly"
love it! 😎
I have been working with and supervising a "Paint-Chip" for over 19 years. They don't necessarily get better.
Keep a safe distance, and enjoy the accumulation of very funny stories.
I'm in the AV trade, i love good electricians who know their shit. Helps us out a ton when things like outlets are where we need them, and conduits are done right. And #6 is true for us. I spend half the time field engineering installs because I never got any line drawings or plans on how to hook up the shit they ordered for the job.
There's too much egos in each trade it's annoying
Number one all day man, the plumbers on this row of townhouses I'm on are killing me
What you said at 3:50 about electricians vs plumbers is almost verbatim what I tell customers. I'm a GC and try to do everything, including nearly all my own plumbing, but I limit the electrical work I do before I bring in my electrician. Gas pipe aside, the consequences for an electrical mistake are generally more severe than a plumbing mistake, an injury versus a mess for example, so I stick to the basic stuff and leave the more complicated work to my electrician. Also I found the cleanest most OCD electrician who runs a small crew and charges reasonably so it would almost be stupid not to use him.
Been shocked several times before some times it was my fault a few of them times it just happened
I’ve been in the construction trade since I was 12 and I’m a contractor now. Every year I work in 20-115 degrees in southern CA.
I'm 62 and been an electrician for 35 years. My body is beat up. Young people never thinks about how they are going to feel in 30 years.
most people are beat up by 62
Luke P dont be silly
How are the lungs?
@@lukep5627 loool
The worst thing about being an electrician is the things we have to breathe in for years. Hands down.
The worst part is when you electrocute yourself on a daily basis
Yep drop ceilings, pop them pads and let that dust fly. Attics for the dammed..etc
Hey vent away its cathartic you have a tough job when you are under the gun.
Number 6 - changing my tampon after work
Ive been lit up testing gfci's up in a crane, my boss i had that job, his prior job he was working alongside his boss, his boss was goin over his working asking him if that circuit was secured and was, his boss went to cut into line alongside him and blew up his pliers. But will say after working on that stuff, yeah, i am more afraid of 120 than am 480, guys i work with now dont understand why as all they work on is vehicles
Electricity is not your friend.
It lives in an insulated prison, if it escapes it can kill you.
Waiting for other trades is the same across the Pond.
Being an electrician means you can roofing, nailing, screwing, fixing, cutting, measuring and then have knowledge.
Its taught and its awsome.
Do you know what's worse than this? Working in a boiler room for sales.
My story of electric fences...as a kid, my friend and I found an electric fence, complete with the distribution box. Well, I had to test it. Grabbed the top fence wire, nothing. Next, nothing. Next, YEOUCH! The shock went up my right arm, and down my right leg to ground. That hurt!
If you fold the end of your electric tape over on itself you can find the tale easier. If you get in the habit of doing it every time you use it, you'll never have to search for the end.
Well that was random.
@@mnbeardie I noticed his tape was not folded.
Knee pain
I Did Foundations and Framing We Were There Before The Electrians . Even Temp Power We Were There Before Using Gas power. My Body is Beat up ! Be Careful and Safe Mike .
I have similar complaints about being an industrial welder at a precast company lol!
All jobs suck and you will have bad days doing any job. Truckers wait on the lumpers I have sat 10 hours waiting for sorry ^^^^^^^^ to unload my truck. Deal with DOT!! All jobs have their ups and downs.
You don't learn their name until they work there for a year? lmao. Yeah, in my 9 months in the IBEW, I've worked with some of the roughest and most toxic people I've ever experienced.
I want to add "being a psychologist" is def one of the downfall's - It seems like almost 40% of the job is learning people's personalities and learning how to work with other people.
He must not experience everything that I have been through and there are a lot of things that I agree with him on. But there are alot of things that he is not highlighting that are apart of this business.
1st ya you run into a lot of dumbasses.
What is worse the companies taking bids for jobs they don't know how to do.
#2 the BULLSHIT. guys who have actually never spent time sweating or freezing in the field. They went to school to be engineers or safety & they think if you just spent a week setting 4 inch rigid 90s which way 80lbs a piece is just some easy job too. Do & because blueprints are constantly updated. They forget to tell you. This needs to a foot longer or shorter. I got to redo my work.
#2 unproffesional companies. You may work for a pipe fitting company not a electrical company. They just played the lowest bidder to get a contract. They don't have the manpower, tools or materials to make your job easier. They just say your an electrician you deal with it. We get some money, for the he extra work the overtime, but no fair raises. No PTO for doing overtime and depending upon the state. No healthcare benefits & less pay per hr depending upon where we live.
Yes the union exists. Where I live but they have no power in a growing metropolitan area and its join us, pay dues. And you will be lucky to be in a city working within 2hrs of where you live once a year
I feel the worst thing about being an Electrician is…. Everyone wants you to do work for them as if you don’t have a life of your own….. Ask them to come over to your house on Saturday morning to mow your lawn for you while you are adding an outlet for them….. I bet they’ll say they don’t have time to mow your lawn on Saturday but they think you want to add an outlet for them…. Personal time is worth more than any dollar per hour they want to pay you.
Haha no if a plumber messes up there is a much higher chance of dying than a fuckin sparky. 400lb 21 foot long pipe falls of the lift 15 feet in the air... on a 12 foot ladder with 21 feet of steel on ur shoulder... I was an electrician for 12 years trust me it’s a fuckin cake walk compared to the other trades.
Your boss should know better. Oh he's angry? Douche could kill someone. He or she or 'they' need to stay in the office. I love being an electrician. Finished apprenticeship in 97. I was going to be a plumber but I passed the test!! ha
If your not happy pack in your job. If your going to hang around update your dated tool box and stop whining about your job. I’m also an electrician self employed and there’s good day bad days. The good days far outweighed the bad ones. Tip for you nobody wants to hear whining even if they are faking interest. Kieran in Ireland
Lol, I went to a new site today and this buildings maintenance crew put a lock out tag out on a breaker on the ON position lol, me and the Forman both looked at each other and started to laugh as the whole maintenance crew was trying to blame the other person on the screw up (it was supposed to be off) wasn't put there for a hey don't touch this on it shuts that part of the building off where the workers are working. The entire building is being redone I think someone that smokes their coffee out of a light bulb wired this building.
Mike hahah I've been a commercial electrician for 8 years and still going and yes I totally agree and there is a alot to bitch about I'm right there with ya another bitch I have to add is when the gen contractor is inexperienced and doesnt know what are scope of work is on certain jobs. but it's the electricians will call them. then you have to explain to them that's not my job like we get power from point a to point b we dont trouble shoot automatic doors etc. Anyways I have probably just as much to bitch about as you do it's funny though sometimes because it's very similar
I hate to break it to you brotha but if you get shocked it's your fault. Of course everybody gets shocked. Unless you are a first day helper working for some asshole it's never anybody's fault that you got shocked but your own.
I zapped myself with a 120v ballast it went through my whole body. Never felt a shock like that. I’m scared now my dumb ass boss never turned the power off when we did electrical work… he’s an idiot
Love how you talk about being afraid of electricity, nothing like dealing with it day in and day out being afraid just to play with your kids because they want to play a shock game....fucken hate that! Haha
Huffing fiberglass, asbestos, concrete dust, drywall dust, mold, potent solvent vapors
And everyone is scared of the Rona
Mate, first two minutes describes every building site the world over, every trade is waiting for another trade to do their shit so we can get in!! I'm not a sparky!
I have been shocked and I see what your saying but you should never be touching the bare copper on the receptacle live or if you think its dead
I fucking hate people turning shit on, there's no excuse to flip breakers. I've been shocked by the same kind of crap
I agree with all your points. Some things I would add:
When talking about dipshits on the job, it's not always new guys. I've ran into some old timer guys who are someone's work dog and work extremely fast but their work is shit and borderline unsafe. Usually these guys don't know jack shit about electrical theory or they think they do but it's completely wrong. They destroy their bodies and expect you to do the same. Working with them is generally unsafe and you will learn bad habits.
About the PPE yeah it sucks but it does help. I've had things hit me in the safety glasses and hard hat before that for sure could have done some damage. Also if you get used to wearing PPE try not to get un-used to it If you go to a job that is more lenient. It sucks when you are done there and you have to go back to a job that requires full PPE and not only are you uncomfortable again but you are getting hounded left and right about wearing it.
Great video thanks for the content, stay safe.
Electricity is the only thing other then time that is trying to kill ya and you can't see it. I guess there's more but you get what i mean....lol
Nah it’s when people sheet a room and don’t pull cable through. Then you gotta start busting up the dogs
How long have you been doing electrical are you close to being. Master electrician?
I'm an electrician and i have been shocked 1,653 times, so far
More like the HVAC guy has to wait on you to run the disconnect
Just visited your site. ( from Electrician U) This video is right on bro
I’m in SoCal 😂 29 palms. Fuck if you think this place is sweet
Thanks Mike for all your videos, i finally join here.
wait electricity is dangerous! for real!.... Are you sure.....
I remember when u taught me that about 120v is the most dangerous n deadly b/c ppl disregard it's potential . Was a eye opening lesson after u stop to think about it .... How ya been bud? Hope all is well
Mike , Getting Shocked 😳 is part of the trade , I’ve been dealing with Electricity for over 25 years ( it’s the Amperage that kills you 1/10th of an amp will do it ) Working on live circuits is what makes the job interesting 🧐 , been on many jobs changing out 277 volts ballasts because sometimes you can’t turn off the circuit .
james conklin 25 years and let me tell you something it's the old argument is it the Volt or the amps that kills you. I'm going to call you in a little thing called electrical science. It's not the amps that kills you it's not the volts that kills you it is when the amps in the vaults meat and you have pressure and current working in tandem also known as power or Watts. This is what will kill you voltage is pressure. Like a pressure washer. Amperage is current. You can have all the current in the world if it has no pressure behind it will not do you harm you can have all the pressure in the world if you have no current behind it there's no harm the combination of the two current Pushed by pressure is what will kill you. A better way to understand this is to look up the principles of Eli The Iceman.
Calvin Barrett Send that explanation to Google ( Quora ) , As I was going through there , both will kill you , As you should know , you can’t have one without the other and as they were saying it’s not the fall from the cliff that kills you it’s the stopping.
Jamming your thumb on a 3/4 connector when pulling wire
11:00 When they're lit up, thats when they're on
Fixing someone else's work is universal not just electrical
In case you may be lacking a little in a solid basic understanding of what the electrons do. I highly recommend the old book electricity 1-7 by Harry Mileaf.
Studying that book very deeply from cover to cover is one of the best things I've ever done for myself.
when i was first starting out i was a floor guy but the first month i got to actually do work i was pulling wire into a bus plug for a guy who had been doing it 30 years so i trusted him. he said it was and locked out and you know i didnt know any better that the line side was hot and he stripped a larger wire i think it was 3/0 bare and pushed and i got 2 legs of 480 in my face. everything was green, i couldnt here and i had the shakes and thats when i knew i got a lucky lesson in safety and so i totally agree with your #2
I got lit up last night, honestly that comes with the territory!
Do you wear any type gloves when you work? In my area, and especially in commercial construction, wearing cut resistant gloves is mandatory. I TOTALLY disagree with you that it comes with the territory. You can be smart and avoid getting shocked.
I'd say 50% is knowing how to avoid it, and the other 50% is good practice. Wearing work gloves of any type GREATLY reduces your chances of getting shocked. I absolutely won't dig into a j-box without work gloves. In my opinion, If you're getting shocked any more than once every five years, you seriously need to think hard about what you're doing wrong.