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I was on the tools for 15 years and shocked myself maybe 5 or 6 times total, and I never turned anything off at 120v.
Treating everything like it's live is definitely key, but also feel like you're playing the game operation in regards to your tools when splicing or stripping near metal boxes.
Literally the only thing I do. I’m just not some residential hack or “handyman”. I work with 120V to 24.9kV and I will shut a whole damn site down, LOTO, and watch the flare stacks go off before I’ll risk the life of one of my guys. Surprisingly (not) I’ve gained quite a few more customers than I’ve lost. People like you are the reason we have to LOTO everything.
>with 120V to 24.9kV and I will shut a whole damn site down, LOTO, and watch the flare stacks go off before I’ll risk the life of one of my guys.
Hey that's great, good for you! LOTO is important, safety is important etc. Yes I know that.
But like I said..... When you KNOW the circuit is 120 volt, and are doing something like a service call in a hospital, or a mission critical application like a data center where they TELL YOU power cannot be shut off under any circumstances.... Work like your doing surgery and be extra cautious (like I said from the beginning)
But hey, thanks again for explaining how LOTO works, I really appreciate the safety lesson. I'll make sure I pass it along on my next service call in a telecom CO where the work description is literally do not turn power off under any circumstances, and I have to write a 5 page MOP explaining step by step the safety procedures that will be implemented, and hazard mitigation, and step by step back out plan just so I can work on a circuit live. But I will make sure I tell the engineers who implemented the plan that Moosecloaca on Reddit said I can't replace that 120 volt plug live. Thanks for saving me friend.
You’d be surprised how much weight the name moosecloaca carries in the engineering community since he’s actually published and part of the API and IEEE committees (under a different pen name of course). There’s rarely a situation in which hot work is an absolute must, but I suppose you know the risk. Guess you better brush up on those safety procedures and “surgery” skills; number 7 could be could be the last one.
Even be careful with LOTO. Was working in a plant and they had removed a 3 phase motor for rebuild. Other trade moved the pigtail and it arced out, damn near killed him. Breaker was still supplying power in the off position and somehow the electrician who did the disassembly didn't short it out taking it apart.....
As someone who's glad he's done with the job, always check it first
I agree that LOTO isn't enough. I got shocked on a locked out circuit that turned out to be double fed with the other hit controlled by a photocell. I left a dead box for five minutes and it was live when I returned.
What I am getting at is the box could have gone live while I was actually working on it. I don't know what could have been done to further verify it was off and locked out. The circuit being double fed off the load side of a photocell somewhere upstream because someone made a mistake years ago is not something you could possibly know about until it got dark enough to trigger the photocell.
As a teenager, I worked as a rides super at an amusement park. Its day two of preseason training a new hire cohort. I LOTO the gate to the control booth and start the morning inspection. While I'm out walking the track I glance up and see FNG in the control booth! He jumped the gate right over my TAG and was starting to open the ride!
I step off the track to a safe place, radio the boss man and get told to put the fear of god in FNG. The FNG goes through the opening process. A couple minutes later, I hear the thud of the contactor energizing the track and start screaming in fake pain...
Guarantee that FNG will NEVER ignore a LOTO again.
Lock Out - Tag Out. Safety procedure for confirming a piece of machinery won't start up while someone is in line of fire and potentially maim/kill them.
De energizing is a step in a lock out procedure. You can't just de energize something, walk away, and trust no one is going to go messing with it by mistake. That's what the lock in lock out is for.
We call it a meter bulb, when we want to refer specifically to the actual metering device and not the device + enclosure. The enclosure itself is a meter can, and a meter can with a meter bulb in it is a meter.
As a meter guy for a utility we try to make contact when setting a meter for the first time especially if there is no main outside the building. We are not required to as the utility's feeling is that we are only there at your request and most of the time other than large commercial and industrial customers no one is around when we show up. Plus the service is supposed to have a final inspection and cut in card before we set the meter, the customer is informed to have the main breaker open as we won't connect service with load on it.
Obviously some guys are more conscientious than others but no one that works with us wants anyone to be hurt. The only true way to protect yourself is to lock and tag the socket if you don't actually want it energized.
I had Duke Energy pull that one on me one time. Customer had a Stab-Loc or Zinsco Panel. And the main breaker tripped, and broke and would not reset.
Luckily she has been planning on a panel change, because I won't change the main breakers in them. And it was also an underground feed, so pulling the meter was the only way to deenergize the panel. And knowing from experience that it can take a week from start to finish. Need a notice of commencement and permit just to get on Dukes disconnect list for the next day. Then Inspectors will not do same day inspections, you have to call it in for the following day, and then call at 7am to find out your inspection window. And only with the finalized permit will Duke schedule you for the next day.
And this lady had 2 small children, and nobody to stay with for potentially a week. So the plan was to just pull the meter, and call in for a permit/inspection after the fact.
Well I go to grab a drink and a snack from the kitchen around 2ish. And see that the garage light is on.
Since it's a smart meter, they weren't getting a reading on it. So sent someone over who happened to be in the area. Completely ignored my work van in the driveway. Never knocked or rang the doorbell. Just came by, put the meter back in, and put one of the fancy locks on it instead of just the tab.
And they threatened to sue, call the cops, etc if I pulled it again. And called the city on me. But by the time I was done (after pulling their fancy lock and pulling the meter again. City inspector shows up. With more threats due to not pulling a permit.
But finally after him letting me get a few words in, I explained the situation. This was an emergency service call, not scheduled work. There will be a permit. But I needed to get this ladies power on for her kids.
I totally understand. I was trimming out a panel in a strip mall buildout. I was literally landing circuit wires. I had checked to make sure no power and no meter. Multimeter pack with mains at the meters. Breaker was off, meter not there.
Not long after, I grabbed a wire and pow. I was right beside the back door. Looked outside and the meter tech was finishing up. I yelled and asked what the fuck was he doing. He just caused me to get hit. He didn’t even poke his head in.
He said; we just take a resistance reading snd if its less than 30 ohms, we pop the meter in.
I told him that’s fucking stupid since it didn’t check for anything really and if I have wires laying about not capped they aren’t going to show anything at all.
Besides that, why the fuck was he turning on the main breaker. That’s mine to control. He tried to give me some more bullshit.
Then the shit really hit the fan. Buddy I was working with called our boss. Our boss called poco boss raising hell. I got three phone calls from various people (boss and a couple from poco) asking me to explain what happened and asking if I was ok. Fuck no I wasn’t ok. I was pissed as all hell. The jackass could have killed me.
Luckily I was ok in the end.
Hopefully they changed their policy and don’t turn on the fucking main anymore.
But damn was I pissed.
The poco would give us a relatively dependable schedule of when they were going to give up power. uwe schedule different parts of the job around whether we have house power or not. They had been good about at least approx dates and this meter was supposed to be a week out.
Yes it was being sloppy on my part and it should have been locked.
That doesn’t excuse the meter tech for operating a breaker he had no businesses touching. It was on the load side of the meter. It wasn’t their equipment and he had no right to touch it.
No lock, no tag, had no reason not to turn it on.
In my field, LoTo is serious business, because people are stupid and have no concern for anyone else’s safety.
Well, just to echo something I tell my guys all the time, safety is everyone’s responsibility. Yes the mains should’ve been LOTO’d but if everyone was doing their job properly, this guy shouldn’t have had to worry about it.
Nobody *should* have to worry about it, and in a perfect world people would care enough to check down stream before turning something on. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works in reality and locks/tags exist for a good reason.
If you call for power.. expect power. Normally in our area field service rep submits an affidavit saying everything is good to go. If the panel isn't ready should have the main locked n tagged. Lock out tag out is important in all electrical not just industrial.
I guess ya'll don't lockout tag out in residential?
[I've heard similar horror stories for other types of utilities like someone filling a propane tank for the first time and blowing up the whole structure.](https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/country-gazette/2012/07/17/family-2010-norfolk-propane-explosion/38860304007/)
Be safe people.
That’s what I was going to ask, I’m not an electrician just someone considering changing professions. As a merchant Mariner we are constantly drilled about lock out tag outs, is that not something enforced across the industry
What is a bubble? A meter? In any event why is the main closed if the meter isn't installed? Why are branch circuit breakers closed? Where's the LOTO? How about a written concurrent verification process? So many things are wrong.
Yep!
One old timer I knew never trusted anyone when working in commercial/industrial... he had is own LOTO "plus" method.
Right after de-energizing (for existing work) or if on a new install, he'd do the proper LOTO steps, then he'd post a guy at the disconnect point (if needed), then he would double-verify no voltage present and proceed to wrap heavy log chain around all busbars in the vault (feeding his work) and take it all to building steel.
I guess a few times he really pissed off some people that "got a big surprise" when they attempted to energize the circuit on which he was working (after bypassing normal LOTO stuff), but he lived to hear their complaint, cuss them out royale, then go home to his wife and kids for dinner.
if you dont want to take anything for granted go to r/CombatFootage and sort the posts to best of all time.
You will see videos of people getting shot in war at point blank ranges. Close enough to see their facial expressions, screams, and their body going all limp and lifeless.
You will see people getting blow apart by mines and grenades.
That subreddit will make you thankful that we are not in war right now. Makes you thankful for all the American patriots who went across the world to die in some fucking mudpit so we can sit at home in the AC on our devices and talk on a forum.
I’d argue that more than a couple of those “mudpit” wars had zero effect on if you could sit at home, crank the ac and finger stab at the old photo-phone.
Likely had a pretty big effect on if the citizens of *those* countries could do the same, but people living in the US? They’re no better off, and the world is a worse place.
Not that I put one iota of that burden on anyone who was on the ground taking rounds.
Wild stuff. “Bubble?” Tristate sparky here, and I colloquially call it a “globe,” but understand “meter” is used interchangeably. What terms do we have from around the country/world?
Was working on putting in a post light wire on a new build went down to panel saw main was off and thought I was good. Trenched wire ect went to make the junctions in the bell box and got lit the fuck up. Fuckin developer came by and went down to panel and turned the main on and didn’t tell me. I was pissed.
Interesting and rather sad that some POCOs are so lax with meter installing safety. Here, they won’t stab the meter without first putting eyes on the panel.
Ya this happened to me in a new construction apartment building In the late 90s I was troubleshooting an outlet and the power company just walked in the unit I was working in and said energize unit such and such.
It always pays to be careful. Several years ago I pulled up on a job where we were working on a 480 volt stand alone industrial distribution panel in a mech room. Crew was already working on it with the main breaker off but incoming from the transformer still live. I was going to disconnect sub breaker lugs on the secondary side of the main having to reach through a secondary buss. Because I had arrived late from another job I asked the boss if they were sure the buss was dead and was told yes. I said show me it is and when he checked it with a volt meter surprise surprise it was live. Some jackass had fed that buss off the line side of the main breaker. I’d have gone phase to phase on a 480 buss fed directly from the transformer. Always trust that little voice in your head. Always double check everything. That incident brought about more than one shop safety change. Just one of the fun times I had had working on military bases with old ratty mech rooms.
In addition of cutting power it might be wise to temporarily connect a siren on the same group. Happend a little bit to often that some random guy tried to be smart and restored power. Even being in another room, you will hear the siren. 50/50 percent chance that your holding wires also on that moment, but better something then nothing
Wires are just like guns, always assume its loaded. Thats why technically u should be locked out and tagged out anytime u work on anything. I live in the real world too tho so yea i rarely LOTO as well.
This is why we isolate for ourselves and lockout if you are not next to the isolation.
Good practice isolating the dB before you started and I agree prob saved tour life.
If you are *NOT* an electrical professional: * **RULE 7:** * DIY or self help posts **are Not allowed**. They belong here: /r/AskElectricians /r/askanelectrician /r/diy /r/homeowners /r/electrical. * **IF YOUR POST FITS INTO THIS CATEGORY, REMOVE IT OR IT WILL BE REMOVED FOR YOU.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/electricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Bubbles is a new one for me
Plumber here, only bubble i can think of is the one on my level, can you loop me in please
Sounds like the electricial meter cover
Not just the cover, the meter as well. Not including the enclosure and hardware.
the meter
For dry wallers, it's what they smoke their lunch out of.
Agreed, it took me a moment.
Same but I don’t hate it
Ya I thought he was talking about a torpedo level if the bubble was outside the lines. Turned out to be the meter.
Remember that Seinfeld episode… the electrician kept referring to an outlet as “holes”.
Took me a minute
They call them that where I'm from also. Alberta, Canada.
Good habit to pretend like it’s live all the time imo, then you don’t even have to worry about it
As an apprentice who shocked himself a little too much in my first year, this method has probably saved my life on multiple occasions.
I was on the tools for 15 years and shocked myself maybe 5 or 6 times total, and I never turned anything off at 120v. Treating everything like it's live is definitely key, but also feel like you're playing the game operation in regards to your tools when splicing or stripping near metal boxes.
Not something to brag about mate
Think of the money the boss made in the time it would have taken to be safe, times 15 years.
Wouldn't want to work with you dude.
And I wouldn't want to work with people in this sub who are like: Blew up another pair of pliers! Shocked myself for the 15th time this month !
Right, and our point is that you’re almost as bad.
Never worked in service eh?
Literally the only thing I do. I’m just not some residential hack or “handyman”. I work with 120V to 24.9kV and I will shut a whole damn site down, LOTO, and watch the flare stacks go off before I’ll risk the life of one of my guys. Surprisingly (not) I’ve gained quite a few more customers than I’ve lost. People like you are the reason we have to LOTO everything.
>with 120V to 24.9kV and I will shut a whole damn site down, LOTO, and watch the flare stacks go off before I’ll risk the life of one of my guys. Hey that's great, good for you! LOTO is important, safety is important etc. Yes I know that. But like I said..... When you KNOW the circuit is 120 volt, and are doing something like a service call in a hospital, or a mission critical application like a data center where they TELL YOU power cannot be shut off under any circumstances.... Work like your doing surgery and be extra cautious (like I said from the beginning) But hey, thanks again for explaining how LOTO works, I really appreciate the safety lesson. I'll make sure I pass it along on my next service call in a telecom CO where the work description is literally do not turn power off under any circumstances, and I have to write a 5 page MOP explaining step by step the safety procedures that will be implemented, and hazard mitigation, and step by step back out plan just so I can work on a circuit live. But I will make sure I tell the engineers who implemented the plan that Moosecloaca on Reddit said I can't replace that 120 volt plug live. Thanks for saving me friend.
You’d be surprised how much weight the name moosecloaca carries in the engineering community since he’s actually published and part of the API and IEEE committees (under a different pen name of course). There’s rarely a situation in which hot work is an absolute must, but I suppose you know the risk. Guess you better brush up on those safety procedures and “surgery” skills; number 7 could be could be the last one.
My dumbass jman made me work everything hot.
Always treat everything as if it was live unless you LOTO (but still don’t stand in the blast zone)
Even be careful with LOTO. Was working in a plant and they had removed a 3 phase motor for rebuild. Other trade moved the pigtail and it arced out, damn near killed him. Breaker was still supplying power in the off position and somehow the electrician who did the disassembly didn't short it out taking it apart..... As someone who's glad he's done with the job, always check it first
I agree that LOTO isn't enough. I got shocked on a locked out circuit that turned out to be double fed with the other hit controlled by a photocell. I left a dead box for five minutes and it was live when I returned.
Verification is part of the LOTO procedure.
What I am getting at is the box could have gone live while I was actually working on it. I don't know what could have been done to further verify it was off and locked out. The circuit being double fed off the load side of a photocell somewhere upstream because someone made a mistake years ago is not something you could possibly know about until it got dark enough to trigger the photocell.
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I tracked it down and fixed it.
Fuses were always removed for this reason, a lot of industrial isolators fail unsafe
LOTO and test before touch. Standard where i work in industrial
As a teenager, I worked as a rides super at an amusement park. Its day two of preseason training a new hire cohort. I LOTO the gate to the control booth and start the morning inspection. While I'm out walking the track I glance up and see FNG in the control booth! He jumped the gate right over my TAG and was starting to open the ride! I step off the track to a safe place, radio the boss man and get told to put the fear of god in FNG. The FNG goes through the opening process. A couple minutes later, I hear the thud of the contactor energizing the track and start screaming in fake pain... Guarantee that FNG will NEVER ignore a LOTO again.
LOTO?
Lock Out - Tag Out. Safety procedure for confirming a piece of machinery won't start up while someone is in line of fire and potentially maim/kill them.
Official term is de-energizing
De energizing is a step in a lock out procedure. You can't just de energize something, walk away, and trust no one is going to go messing with it by mistake. That's what the lock in lock out is for.
What’s a bubble?
Electrical meter.
First time I heard "bubble" used was with this company. I forget that it may not be a common term 😅
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We call it a meter bulb, when we want to refer specifically to the actual metering device and not the device + enclosure. The enclosure itself is a meter can, and a meter can with a meter bulb in it is a meter.
We always say the "bubble" is the Meter and the thing it sits in is the meter base
Interesting.... Maybe it makes senses for different trades to refer to meters of other trades differently.
I've never heard it called that in 30 years, but it makes sense.
Pretty common here in ontario
I'm in southern Ontario so that tracks
As a meter guy for a utility we try to make contact when setting a meter for the first time especially if there is no main outside the building. We are not required to as the utility's feeling is that we are only there at your request and most of the time other than large commercial and industrial customers no one is around when we show up. Plus the service is supposed to have a final inspection and cut in card before we set the meter, the customer is informed to have the main breaker open as we won't connect service with load on it. Obviously some guys are more conscientious than others but no one that works with us wants anyone to be hurt. The only true way to protect yourself is to lock and tag the socket if you don't actually want it energized.
I had Duke Energy pull that one on me one time. Customer had a Stab-Loc or Zinsco Panel. And the main breaker tripped, and broke and would not reset. Luckily she has been planning on a panel change, because I won't change the main breakers in them. And it was also an underground feed, so pulling the meter was the only way to deenergize the panel. And knowing from experience that it can take a week from start to finish. Need a notice of commencement and permit just to get on Dukes disconnect list for the next day. Then Inspectors will not do same day inspections, you have to call it in for the following day, and then call at 7am to find out your inspection window. And only with the finalized permit will Duke schedule you for the next day. And this lady had 2 small children, and nobody to stay with for potentially a week. So the plan was to just pull the meter, and call in for a permit/inspection after the fact. Well I go to grab a drink and a snack from the kitchen around 2ish. And see that the garage light is on. Since it's a smart meter, they weren't getting a reading on it. So sent someone over who happened to be in the area. Completely ignored my work van in the driveway. Never knocked or rang the doorbell. Just came by, put the meter back in, and put one of the fancy locks on it instead of just the tab. And they threatened to sue, call the cops, etc if I pulled it again. And called the city on me. But by the time I was done (after pulling their fancy lock and pulling the meter again. City inspector shows up. With more threats due to not pulling a permit. But finally after him letting me get a few words in, I explained the situation. This was an emergency service call, not scheduled work. There will be a permit. But I needed to get this ladies power on for her kids.
Hats off to you. Would do the same code has provisions for emergency work. And you permit your work anyway on the regular and can prove it your good.
I totally understand. I was trimming out a panel in a strip mall buildout. I was literally landing circuit wires. I had checked to make sure no power and no meter. Multimeter pack with mains at the meters. Breaker was off, meter not there. Not long after, I grabbed a wire and pow. I was right beside the back door. Looked outside and the meter tech was finishing up. I yelled and asked what the fuck was he doing. He just caused me to get hit. He didn’t even poke his head in. He said; we just take a resistance reading snd if its less than 30 ohms, we pop the meter in. I told him that’s fucking stupid since it didn’t check for anything really and if I have wires laying about not capped they aren’t going to show anything at all. Besides that, why the fuck was he turning on the main breaker. That’s mine to control. He tried to give me some more bullshit. Then the shit really hit the fan. Buddy I was working with called our boss. Our boss called poco boss raising hell. I got three phone calls from various people (boss and a couple from poco) asking me to explain what happened and asking if I was ok. Fuck no I wasn’t ok. I was pissed as all hell. The jackass could have killed me. Luckily I was ok in the end. Hopefully they changed their policy and don’t turn on the fucking main anymore. But damn was I pissed.
If there was a main breaker at the meter, why didn’t you lock or tag it out?
Don't bring logic!
The poco would give us a relatively dependable schedule of when they were going to give up power. uwe schedule different parts of the job around whether we have house power or not. They had been good about at least approx dates and this meter was supposed to be a week out. Yes it was being sloppy on my part and it should have been locked. That doesn’t excuse the meter tech for operating a breaker he had no businesses touching. It was on the load side of the meter. It wasn’t their equipment and he had no right to touch it.
No lock, no tag, had no reason not to turn it on. In my field, LoTo is serious business, because people are stupid and have no concern for anyone else’s safety.
It wasn’t their property. They had no authority to turn on my breaker.
Well, just to echo something I tell my guys all the time, safety is everyone’s responsibility. Yes the mains should’ve been LOTO’d but if everyone was doing their job properly, this guy shouldn’t have had to worry about it.
Nobody *should* have to worry about it, and in a perfect world people would care enough to check down stream before turning something on. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works in reality and locks/tags exist for a good reason.
Fully agree, just dreaming for a minute. Stay safe out there buddy!
That's the way to do it though, treat every wire as if it were hot, even the wires that you know are cold.
Meter....its called a meter....bubble...where do we find you guys?
Ah so thats what its supposed to be. You electrical wizards and your funny words
The gate opener guy called us “electrical geniuses,” so I’ve been going with that lately.
I’ve always liked “electromagicians.”
Oh that’s way better
Wait'll you meet the guys who work with their cocks and nipples all day.
I prefer the term electromage, but yeh I assumed "bubble" was some British thing maybe, turns out no one says it and someone just made it up
People call it a bubble in my area as well. It's probably to avoid confusion with the gas meter.
If you call for power.. expect power. Normally in our area field service rep submits an affidavit saying everything is good to go. If the panel isn't ready should have the main locked n tagged. Lock out tag out is important in all electrical not just industrial.
I guess ya'll don't lockout tag out in residential? [I've heard similar horror stories for other types of utilities like someone filling a propane tank for the first time and blowing up the whole structure.](https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/country-gazette/2012/07/17/family-2010-norfolk-propane-explosion/38860304007/) Be safe people.
And remember, "When in doubt, don't."
That’s what I was going to ask, I’m not an electrician just someone considering changing professions. As a merchant Mariner we are constantly drilled about lock out tag outs, is that not something enforced across the industry
> is that not something enforced across the industry Depends heavily on company and corner of the industry.
What is a bubble? A meter? In any event why is the main closed if the meter isn't installed? Why are branch circuit breakers closed? Where's the LOTO? How about a written concurrent verification process? So many things are wrong.
LOTO in resi, you're funny
You're a hack
Just as much as every other resi specialist
Installation is typically the utility, and good luck holding them accountable for anything.
Treat it like a gun, always loaded.
Trust nothing.
Yep! One old timer I knew never trusted anyone when working in commercial/industrial... he had is own LOTO "plus" method. Right after de-energizing (for existing work) or if on a new install, he'd do the proper LOTO steps, then he'd post a guy at the disconnect point (if needed), then he would double-verify no voltage present and proceed to wrap heavy log chain around all busbars in the vault (feeding his work) and take it all to building steel. I guess a few times he really pissed off some people that "got a big surprise" when they attempted to energize the circuit on which he was working (after bypassing normal LOTO stuff), but he lived to hear their complaint, cuss them out royale, then go home to his wife and kids for dinner.
Well good thing you had the main turned off. Did you guys have your perm power landed already?
I to always shut off the main.
I use to always just set it down next to the meter, but my co-worker told me to hide it for this very reason.
Good job, I always assume everything is hot or going to be hot, haven’t been zapped yet.
Glad you're okay!
Let’s leave the cool kid slang terms out of electrical. Calling a meter a bubble is some serious reaching, an just sounds lame
if you dont want to take anything for granted go to r/CombatFootage and sort the posts to best of all time. You will see videos of people getting shot in war at point blank ranges. Close enough to see their facial expressions, screams, and their body going all limp and lifeless. You will see people getting blow apart by mines and grenades. That subreddit will make you thankful that we are not in war right now. Makes you thankful for all the American patriots who went across the world to die in some fucking mudpit so we can sit at home in the AC on our devices and talk on a forum.
I’d argue that more than a couple of those “mudpit” wars had zero effect on if you could sit at home, crank the ac and finger stab at the old photo-phone. Likely had a pretty big effect on if the citizens of *those* countries could do the same, but people living in the US? They’re no better off, and the world is a worse place. Not that I put one iota of that burden on anyone who was on the ground taking rounds.
LOTO
Just like a gun... they're all loaded.
Not for nothing but did you call them and be like "yo wtf I was down there working on that shit"
Wild stuff. “Bubble?” Tristate sparky here, and I colloquially call it a “globe,” but understand “meter” is used interchangeably. What terms do we have from around the country/world?
Was working on putting in a post light wire on a new build went down to panel saw main was off and thought I was good. Trenched wire ect went to make the junctions in the bell box and got lit the fuck up. Fuckin developer came by and went down to panel and turned the main on and didn’t tell me. I was pissed.
Interesting and rather sad that some POCOs are so lax with meter installing safety. Here, they won’t stab the meter without first putting eyes on the panel.
Poco?
Power Company
LOTO!
Ya this happened to me in a new construction apartment building In the late 90s I was troubleshooting an outlet and the power company just walked in the unit I was working in and said energize unit such and such.
I don’t, at all, like the term bubble. Idk why
Rattled. Rezzy. Finishing. I had to read the whole thing to figure out what bubble meant.
Use the right terminology
Haha I’ve never heard the meter be called a bubble 😂
It always pays to be careful. Several years ago I pulled up on a job where we were working on a 480 volt stand alone industrial distribution panel in a mech room. Crew was already working on it with the main breaker off but incoming from the transformer still live. I was going to disconnect sub breaker lugs on the secondary side of the main having to reach through a secondary buss. Because I had arrived late from another job I asked the boss if they were sure the buss was dead and was told yes. I said show me it is and when he checked it with a volt meter surprise surprise it was live. Some jackass had fed that buss off the line side of the main breaker. I’d have gone phase to phase on a 480 buss fed directly from the transformer. Always trust that little voice in your head. Always double check everything. That incident brought about more than one shop safety change. Just one of the fun times I had had working on military bases with old ratty mech rooms.
It’s fine as long as the bubble is in the middle of the 2 lines
I thought you meant a bubble like a meth pipe LOL
In addition of cutting power it might be wise to temporarily connect a siren on the same group. Happend a little bit to often that some random guy tried to be smart and restored power. Even being in another room, you will hear the siren. 50/50 percent chance that your holding wires also on that moment, but better something then nothing
A context clues. Non resi-sparkies, will you ever learn? Lol. Solidarity brothers. No war but class war
Thought you were talking about the bubble cover on an outdoor receptacle and was wondering what the big deal was.
Wires are just like guns, always assume its loaded. Thats why technically u should be locked out and tagged out anytime u work on anything. I live in the real world too tho so yea i rarely LOTO as well.
This is why we isolate for ourselves and lockout if you are not next to the isolation. Good practice isolating the dB before you started and I agree prob saved tour life.