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Old electrician told me something about panel covers I still think about
I was doing a residential alarm panel install in a basement in Scottsdale about 6 months ago. The homeowner had this old electrician buddy who was just hanging around watching me work. He didnt say anything for like 20 minutes then he pointed at the wires I had bundled up and said 'you know, neat wiring is fine but leave yourself a little slack on the service loop. Every guy who comes after you will thank you.' I laughed it off at first but later that week I had to go back and swap a board on a different job where the last installer had pulled everything so tight I could barely get my fingers in there. That guys words hit me hard right then. Now I always leave an extra 6 inches on every wire I terminate even if it looks a little messy. Has anyone else had a random comment from another trade person totally change how you do your installs?
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abby_morgan181d ago
Yo @rodriguez.mia that story about your uncle is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about! My buddy Jake had this happen to him at a datacenter job where this old security guy told him to "always leave a little dance room on the cables." Jake said whatever until six months later he had to swap out a panel where every wire was snipped flush to the connector. He spent four hours redoing all 24 drops because he couldn't even pull one wire to test it. Now he leaves a full loop on every termination even if it looks sloppy. Crazy how one offhand line from a stranger sticks with you, right?
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That old timer thing about leaving slack reminds me of this time I was helping my uncle run CAT6 in this office building and this HVAC guy just walks up and goes "you know, most people never think about the next guy until they ARE the next guy." I was like whatever dude and kept pulling. Fast forward a year and I'm in that same ceiling trying to trace a bad keystone and every single drop was pulled guitar string tight. Couldn't budge nothing. Had to cut and reterminate like 8 jacks just to get some movement. Now I always leave a little loop even if it looks like a bird's nest at first. These old guys with their random comments, they know what they're talking about even if they seem like they're just killing time. Slack is cheap, but your time fixing tight work ain't.
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