Stuff Electricians Should Know!

Make sure to check out the Conduit Bending 101 course here!

In todays episode I get a little deep and introduce you to The Electrician Manifesto.

I'm looking for you feedback but also express deep appreciation for you and want you to know how I view you.

Not just as an electrician, but as The Electrician. 

Today I wanted to talk about the difference between the terms line and load.

This is a pretty simple concept to understand once you’ve been in the industry for a little bit, but I know that it can be confusing to some of the apprentices out there.

If this does confuse you a little bit, then get the free download that I’ve created to help you understand the concept a little more. It’s a simple PDF that i’ve linked to in the show notes that shows exactly which conductors would be considered line and load and where they are located on the equipment shown on the diagram.

Do you know the difference between a service conductor, a feeder, and a branch circuit? We'll cover that in todays episode!

Ok, so this week I wanted to kind of continue on with last week’s theme of conduit. How fitting….. (pun intended)

So this week I have 5 tips for all of you apprentices out there as you are learning to run conduit.

Now, of course, you are going to be trained by a journeyman that has his or her way of doing things. And that’s great. You need to pay attention to what they are doing and teaching you because they have experience.

But, I know that in the trades the doers aren’t always the best teachers. So that’s why I thought I’d pass along these few tips.

So let get right into learning about Service Equipment.

First of all, let’s go ahead and see how the NEC defines Service Equipment. We want to know how its defined by the NEC because Too many electrical workers (and inspectors) think service conductors include the secondary conductors of transformers and supply conductors to a remote building.

This misunderstanding has led to several improper and unsafe neutral-to-case connections at disconnects and panelboards. To ensure a safe electrical installation, know where the service begins and ends.

I’m going to have a cheat sheet that you can download in the show notes so make sure and grab that. And if you want a quick overview of how the NEC is laid out check out Episode 39. I’ve linked to it in the show notes as well.

OK so we have two different names for some lugs, so let's start by finding out what exactly they are.

Where are you going to find these lugs? Well, inside of a panel board of course! Now, if you’re not familiar with the term panelboard, check out episode 35 here where I talk about the difference between a panelboard and a load center.

First of all, one of the biggest differences between a sub feed lug and a feed through lug is the location inside the panel. One is on the top with the main and the other one is on the bottom.

Today let’s hit on another basic part of being an electrician….. Dealing with ballasts. Now, it may not be too far in the distant future when you won’t be dealing with ballasts much because of the wave of LED’s that are taking over, but at least for a while you’ll be changing them as they go out because some of your customer either won’t want to or can’t bear the cost of retrofitting everything right now.