Electricians are a great example of skilled trades that are in demand.
Also impossible to outsource overseas.
> Also impossible to outsource overseas.
I wonder how long before robotic telepresence makes these also outsource-able.
We need a lot more electricians
151–160 of 533 posts
Re: We need a lot more electricians
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
Obviously in most parts of the world, there is no electrical police who will raid your home and look for evidence of wiring done without the correct certifications. Therefore, lots of people DIY stuff illegally... If you choose this route, understand that: * The main cause of injury/death caused by electrics is fires. Fires are normally caused by improper fuses (a fuse/breaker should always be the lowest rating of an…
But not too tight, or the strands may break.
In most cases you use solid wire. In case you use stranded you should crimp the ends anyway, and crimping does exactly opposite, crushes wires so tightly they form practically solid metal.
Strands only break when wire moves and that would be the fault of bad stress relief, not "screwing it too hard"
Re: We need a lot more electricians
#153We are thinking of switching some gas appliances to electric in our old farmhouse but we probably need to rework our electrical panel completely to add high amperage services for an induction range (my wife won't accept an ordinary electric range) and an electric water heater. Fortunately our son is in training as a handyman and that means we can get him working on projects of all kinds around the farm. Of all the tr…
> my wife won't accept an ordinary electric range She's right. Induction has the speed and response of a gas cooktop with the precision a resistance electric cooktop. > and an electric water heater. Make sure it's a heat pump water heater if efficiency and operating cost matter to you.
> She's right. Induction has the speed and response of a gas cooktop with the precision a resistance electric cooktop.
This, and also easier cleanability than either of them (basically it doesn't need more cleaning than the rest of your kitchen counter) and much safer (won't heat anything non-metallic that you leave on top, won't heat the surface of the stovetop itself except indirectly via heat transmission from the pots/pans, and will automatically turn off if it doesn't detect a metallic item).
I have one and there's no way in hell I'd go back to an ordinary electric range as long as I can afford not to.
Re: We need a lot more electricians
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe the answer is that induction is more efficient at getting heat into your food. With electric, it heats up a coil that heats up your pan (and the air around it) that heats your food. With induction, it skips the coil and simply heats the pan. The pans are specially designed to contain a heating coil in them which implicitly is closer to your food. It also means the work surface tends to cool quickly (or neve…
>The pans are specially designed to contain a heating coil in them which implicitly is closer to your food. This is not correct. Any ferric-metal pan/pot will work. If a magnet can stick to your pot it will work.
I wonder did anyone did a comparision between ones sold as "induction" vs plain old steel pan.
Like, do the induction ones do something to make the heat distribution more equal compared to slab of steel ?
Re: We need a lot more electricians
#155I'm curious if there is some productivity-improving tech for electricians waiting to be invented. The following will be super North-America-centric, but: Right now you have to fasten a box to the wall structure, cut the wire so that about 8" can make its way into the box, strip the outer insulation and insert it into the box, strip at least some of the individual conductors, and then splice (by twisting and using wir…
You need to invent it, and make it cost effective. While there is a lot of labor, I'm not sure if you can actually invent something better that is also safe and will last for decades. I welcome you to figure it out though.
Re: We need a lot more electricians
#156Re: We need a lot more electricians
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you certain about that? I’m having a new service entry cable, meter box, and main breaker panel put in next week. By its nature that should impact every single circuit in my house. But my electrician isn’t touching anything besides what I listed above, and I know that there are multiple other things around the house not up to current code.
You may live in a place where the law doesn't require that. Or you may have found an electrician willing to turn a blind eye to that stuff. Or you might be about to get a far larger bill than expected when the electrician 'discovers' that midway through the job, and now isn't legally allowed to put it back as he found it.
I’m in NY, US and and the proper permit was pulled for the job, as well as hiring an independent inspector to check the work when finished. My particular electrician has been doing business for ~30 years so I doubt he’s risking violations over things like that, plus he would have to be colluding with the inspector. He already did an inspection of the work needed and planned it, it would be impossible for him to suddenly notice other things that need to be done.
The price I’m paying for this job lines right up with the national job average pricing you can find online. If it was common to require doing all of that extra code updating I would think the average price should be much higher.
Maybe I’m wrong but my thought is that it isn’t so black+white and some electricians may push upsells harder than other more honest ones.
Re: We need a lot more electricians
#158Maybe we can retrain the vast number of auto mechanics and gas station people we will no longer need?
EVs still need service, just different kind. Sure, some will be fired but in most cases it will be just getting new skillset required for EVs
Re: We need a lot more electricians
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
You need a AFCI in most places now. In the 2020 edition of the NEC®, Section 210.12 requires that for dwelling units, all 120-volt, single-phase, 15- and 20-ampere branch circuits supplying outlets or devices installed in dwelling unit kitchens, family rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, bedrooms, sunrooms, recreation rooms, closets, hallways, laundry areas, or similar rooms or areas shall be…
Don’t even get me started on AFCIs. At least the behavior of GFCIs is well-defined. The AFCI thing is a money grab.
why's that, is there some guarantee they fail to live up to? Is there something probabilistic to them or something?
Re: We need a lot more electricians
#160We are thinking of switching some gas appliances to electric in our old farmhouse but we probably need to rework our electrical panel completely to add high amperage services for an induction range (my wife won't accept an ordinary electric range) and an electric water heater. Fortunately our son is in training as a handyman and that means we can get him working on projects of all kinds around the farm. Of all the tr…
> my wife won't accept an ordinary electric range She's right. Induction has the speed and response of a gas cooktop with the precision a resistance electric cooktop. > and an electric water heater. Make sure it's a heat pump water heater if efficiency and operating cost matter to you.
Precision makes no sense for a pan and is something a person who doesn't actually cook would care about. Your pans change temperature when cold food is put into them. Anyone who cooks knows that you are changing the temperature on your cooking surface constantly in many applications and it's based on the visual and audio queues your food give you. At no point have I thought "OK, I need to be at 400 degrees and in 1 minute I will adjust down to 300 degrees.". I don't care about precision like I would when doing sous-vide cooking or baking, for example - both of which are great uses for electric fuel sources.
The problem with induction is the thing it's good at (heating water quickly) isn't a useful feature. A gas flame is a 3D cooking surface and this is important as I want heat applied to the sides of pans in many instances. Also, copper and aluminium cookware don't work on them and they are superior materials for cooking with in many instances.