Lost or forgotten installation tips from the past!

[Pete999]

Just thinking back to my Apprenticeship time, and working on a Large luxury Housing development, the chap I was working under, was a strict, but knowledgeable Electrician.
At the time in question we used metallic oval conduit for our switch drop and sockets etc., one of his rules where possible were that all switch drops had the conduit cut to the same length and the same for the runs from the floor up to the socket positions, during the first fix he would always inquire as to which make of sockets we were going to used for the second fix, so much so that he insisted that if the L was on the right hand side of the accessory, I had to feed the 7/029 cable up the conduit , with the L on the right hand side, didn't think it mattered all that much, until you came to install the socket, and how much easier it was with the cables entering the back box all on the same side.
Anyone else got any odd little tips that they were taught, that may have gotten lost over the years?, another one was marking the lighting cables at the ceiling rose, switched pair with a cross and the feeds in and out with a split at the end for identification, simple things I know.

 

[Deuce]

Only records the facts according to the winners! It's hard to get the other point of view sometimes.

Certainly true. It's hard to really understand the German mindset at that time, and why as a nation they supported a party with clearly very 'radical' ideas and plans. But they did, and on some level there must have been a genuine belief that it would somehow lead to an overall better world, however 'better' is defined.

They say the people were effectively brainwashed and mislead, but were they really? No shortage of intrigue and perceptiveness in the any of the Germans I meet and work with, I would say they're at the sharper end of nations when it comes to figuring stuff out.

Go to Germany now, and apart from an extreme minority of neo-nazis (apparently), you will find a nation of people you would never believe could be anything other than pretty decent humans. Yet in historic terms it was just yesterday that as a nation they showed great support to a party that were quite clearly about to mix things up across the world in a very risque and blunt fashion. I don't imagine the people would have guessed the extent of the persecution against the Jewish, but they seemed to be pretty chuffed at the idea of Germany expanding it's borders across of Europe and beyond.

I suppose because of my relative youth and many projects in Germany I have a different perspective and perhaps a lesser appreciation of the facts to those born closer to the end of the war. As you say, so much gets dropped from history.

 

[Pete999]

with 3 plate light wiring my method has always been to mark feed with 2 x, out with 1 x, and switch with a nick,

One way of doing it

 

[Leesparkykent]

I don’t mark in and out. Just a slit for the switch and use a sharpie when multiple switches, 2 ways and fans etc are in the same box. I stumped a new sparks, whose just out of his time, and started with us when he had to connect an intermediate switch that also had the feed in/out and switch wire at it the other day

 

[oracle]

Strictly come wiring?

 

[TJ Anderson]

I don’t mark in and out. Just a slit for the switch and use a sharpie when multiple switches, 2 ways and fans etc are in the same box. I stumped a new sparks, whose just out of his time, and started with us when he had to connect an intermediate switch that also had the feed in/out and switch wire at it the other day

Haha. Did you prompt him by slowly handing him 2 connector blocks/wagos for the common and neutrals?

 

[Squid]

Rub a wax candle on the sheath of MICC to lubricate the blade of the stripper to make the cut easier and the blade last longer.

The MICC strippers where all rubbish, you could do a better and faster job with a large screwdriver.

 

[davesparks]

That's down to bad planning Mate, pulling cables in on top of others is not a good idea.

It's not always down to bad planning, it is very often done as part of alterations and additions long after the original installation date. That is after all one of the advantages of a trunking and conduit installation, you can add to and alter circuits with relative ease.

 

[Squid]

It's not always down to bad planning, it is very often done as part of alterations and additions long after the original installation date. That is after all one of the advantages of a trunking and conduit installation, you can add to and alter circuits with relative ease.

Especially on industrial sites when they decide to alter the office layout.

 

[Pete999]

The MICC strippers where all rubbish, you could do a better and faster job with a large screwdriver.

How?

 

[GBDamo]

Never used the method myself as never had reason but, whilst working on a self build the owner/project manager/labourer had run a duct from the end of his house to where his cabin/office was going about 40m up the garden.

Sparks and plumbers on site giving him a right running as he hadn't put in a cord .

So he goes into the house gets a sandwich bag, a ball of string and his Hoover, ties the bag to the string and feeds it into the duct at the cabin end, comes back to the house and puts the Hoover on and sticks it down the duct at the house end.

Within a few seconds he's stood there with the bag and string in his hand and a well earned smug look on his face.

I like that kind of lateral thinking.

 

[Deuce]

A dab of thread lock on larger ceeform plug terminals and also on compression glands saves a lot bother if you're dealing with kit that gets pulled around/moved about or plugged in at different locations.

Also very useful for cabinet screws that are attached or near to a machine that vibrates during use. Keep the dabs small mind you, it's strong stuff and can defeat you if you do need to release the thread!

 

[Squid]

How?

Start by snipping the end of the MICC for about half an inch with side cutters, curl/bend over the flat blade end of a decent large long screwdriver and Bob's your Uncle, Pyro was my speciality back in the day I just loved 6 foot tails on a 7 core.

Never had a pot fail or go pop.

 

[Deein]

What happened in 1946 lol

 

[Pete999]

What happened in 1946 lol

I was born anything else you want to know? or were you trying to score points?

 

[telectrix]

I was born anything else you want to know? or were you trying to score points?

SNAP.