>> [...electrical wiring...] > This very definitely is an area where, if you're not 100% comfortable with t$
Also, know your own limits. A depressing number of people think they're more competent than they are. For example, I once had a neighbour who replaced an outlet in his kitchen. Turned off the breaker, removed the old one, put in the new one, all very nice. Turned the breaker for that circuit back on and popped the service main breaker. When I investigated, it turned out the new outlet still had the bridging piece that shorts together the hots for the two outlets, and this was a kitchen outlet and thus had separate circuits for each half (and, as is often the case, they were on adjacent fingers in the breaker box and thus on different phases). So, of course, the new outlet shorted the two hot phases together. He didn't have the experience to recognize that those shorting pieces exist, to realize that having four conductors instead of three coming to the outlet - or its being a kitchen outlet - likely means the two halves are on different circuits and thus likely different phases, or the electrical understanding to put those facts together. Which wouldn't've been a problem, except that he thought he was fine - he didn't bring me in until the main service breaker blew. (He did, fortunately, have enough sense for that to tickle his "something I don't understand happened, call for help" reaction.) I've been doing electrical work since I was maybe ten or twelve, when I helped my parents wire the house they were building. (My father inspected my work first; then, this being de rigeur there-and-then, it was inspected by a suitable authority. Only then was it energized.) I don't hesitate to do routine house electrical work, maybe even installing 30A outlets (though I'd make sure I looked up the appropriate gauge of wire, and probably then used the next larger gauge). But I'd call in someone more experienced for something well outside my own experience, like (say) dealing with 600/600 service. I would say that, if you don't have a good deal of experience, find someone who does to look over your work before you energize it. Indeed, some jurisdictions require that for work done by unlicensed persons - or at least used to, and I would assume some still do. Even if yours doesn't, it strikes me as the smart thing to do. /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML [email protected] / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
