Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!uwmcsd1!ig!agate!ucbvax!ucdavis!uop!todd
From: todd@uop.edu (Dr. Nethack)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: electrical codes
Message-ID: <1054@uop.edu>
Date: 10 Feb 88 17:49:07 GMT
References: <17905@topaz.rutgers.edu>
Organization: Uop Ethernet Gateway
Lines: 62

Not all home wiring is done by electricians.
Perhaps what some are encountering is the "Do it Yourself" "Expert".
Having worked behind a counter for several years, I have seen some
real crazy fuvg.

There was a guy who wanted to use zip cord in place of the asbestos
coated wire to hook up the elements in his electric range, because the
original had fried out.  "It looks the same to me"

People screwing flared gas fittings into iron pipe fittings and just
adding extra teflon tape or pipe dope.

The latest is that the PG&E has approved various types of plastic pipe
for gas lines.. so long as you bury a wire with it for location purposes.
This frightened me, as every year the DIY "Experts" rent trenching machines
for their or their neighbor's new sprinkler system.. and yes they tear
the hell out of old galvanized, and cast iron pipes.

Let alone a plastic gas line in immediate proximity to an internal combustion
engine.

We had a product rep. who took home a sprinkler timer, hooked it up in
his garage, and it blew off the wall. Not only had he not used the
supplied power transformer to step down the 110, he had hooked it right
into 220.  It went all the way across the room, and this guy should know
better, he sells the stuff!!

Aluminum wire is biggest culprit of fires in residential areas.  Now don't
get all upset if your main feed is aluminum, it is good for that.

It is horrible for the rest of the house, over time it loosens in the
connections, and then the resistance goes up, providing you with more
heat than you need inside your wall.

There is a nice little tube of bonding paste you can use to clamp the
aluminum to the copper (should you decide to  rewire).  

There is a fire or two per summer in one apartment complex around the
corner, all aluminum wiring.

I will agree that I do have a bias against the "contractor" mentality
as I have seen it.  In this town it is, "if it works, do it, especially
if it is cheap, and I can get the customer to pay top dollar for it"

The reason this upsets me, is I cannot count the times I have told these
contractors how to do their job and what the code permits.  These are
no longer the DIY guys, but the guys who are supposed to know what is
going on.  These are the same guys who knew the specs called for 220
in our new science building, and put in 220 all right, all of it in 3 phase.

Around here, most contractors are beer guzzling, apes.  There was one
team who came into the store every morning to get parts.  Coffee cup in
hand, and reeking of good ole mary jane. 

Well, I could go on, but you get the idea!!

---
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    Remember, Dr. Science has a Master's Degree, in *Science*