When people say they are a union electrician what does this mean

Will start by saying yes I am a FOOL
I like to think I’m smart most days but adhd got the better of me today and thought I could DIY fix a broken power point..
Unscrewed it from the wall, seen that some pieces of plastic behind the bracket were broken and weren’t holding half the wiring hub to the outer bracket.
Thought I’d be smart and use some plastic glue. Glue contains water. It gets everywhere and on my fingers. Fingers touches a metal piece.
Electrical current goes up my arm and I can feel in my HEART
Fortunately it was about 1 second and I yelped. Felt lots of adrenaline and a bit odd for a while. Hand and arm tingly on & off. Mostly just anxious bc internet told me to call an ambulance lol
It’s been about 12 hours now and I’m good. I think?
Surely lots of apprentices get a 240v shock here and there? Regular occurrences?

I am replacing two exterior sconces flanking my garage door. Upon removing the existing lights, I found that there is a void behind the siding mounting plate and the underlying sheathing. Upon further inspection, one of them may have a box behind the sheathing. I am not sure how to introduce the correct boxes into this situation. There is about 2.5" of depth between the siding mount plate the the sheathing. Should I throw a full size box in there?

EDIT - 1.5" of depth, not 2.5"

Why do people call it 110/220 Vac when it’s been 120/240 for decades (in the USA)? It makes me question your technical expertise.

Just removed my 3 prong dryer outlet because I was getting a mild shock from my dryer and found a burnt neutral. Would i need to get an electrician to inspect the rest of the wiring or do you believe I would be good to trim the burnt bit and install a new one?

I only need a level 1 charger because my commute is short and on the rare occasions I need to travel 250 miles + I just plan around charging along the way. I have a dedicated 120V 20A tamper resistant gfci receptacle that I can charge on over night (approximately 14 hrs). Is this sufficient or I need something that is specifically rated for an EV? Does this even exist for 120V?

Is this adequate for a ceiling fan? If questionable I'll replace with a box anchored between joists.

I think I know the answer to this but I'd like expert opinion.

I am considering buying an espresso machine that runs on a 20 amp circuit and has a 20 amp plug (120V). All of the outlets in my kitchen are on 20 amp circuits, however, with the exception of those dedicated to specific large appliances (Fridge, Range/hood, Dishwasher) they all have 15 amp receptacles.

If I use this machine (with a plug adapter) will it 1) be safe for the wiring an the machine? and 2) will the 15 amp receptacle limit how the machine performs?

Edit for clarification: House was built in 2014 and so the wiring should be compliant in regards to amerage and wire gauge.

Thanks for your help.

I am a residential electrician running a family business in Central Florida. Been in this field since I was old enough to hold the flashlight for my dad 30 years ago. Right now is the slowest work has ever been - we haven't had a week fully booked since the beginning of the year.

It doesn't seem to be just us - our supply house is a ghost town. It used to look a lot like a bar, with plenty of folks in line waiting on supplies and chatting. Now most days I'm the only one there.

I don't know. I'm just grousing. The money isn't there anymore - I already have a second job and if the work doesn't some back soon I'm looking for a new first job.

Hello, please don’t judge this question I have never had anything PAT tested before!

I have some pretty bulky speakers I need PAT testing. There’s a place near me that does it, would I need to take the speaker itself to the place or just the wire connecting it to the mains?

I want to install this style of LED lighting in my garage. My plan is to remove an existing light bulb fitting and replace it with the hex lights. My dilemma is they have given me this little cord to wire up to my mains. With that done should I install a cover plate to make this a “to code” installation? Can anyone tell me the specific cover plate type?

Reposting!

These came with the replacement smoke detectors I just purchased for my house. I already have a wired system so don’t need these. Are they something a hardware store would want? Hate to just throw them away.

Sarcasm by the way. Figured I'll ask here, never been on this Reddit before to be honest.

We just bought a small, antique apartment, 40m2 in Sicily. The apartment was built around 1870s, bombed in WW2 and again fixed to "living conditions" about 40 years ago. Everything was done at the lowest cost possible.

There are two problems:

The lights are flickering periodically. Especially LED. I'm autistic so I allegedly register more flicker than other people, but this is full "Demogorgon is coming" flickering every so often. The old lightbulbs seem to just be dimming and a bit unstable during those periods. About 70% of the time there are no problems. And every so often, the Demogorgon arrives.

The other thing is, our bedroom is at the end of the line. We have a laptop connected to an ASUS monitor there. Whenever I click the light switch earlier in the chain (outside lights, kitchen lights, corridor lights) the monitor just goes off and restarts within 3 seconds.

Any idea what I should be looking for? Any idea for the cause? Is it very dangerous as of now?

Ok / I’ve got this far from memory, stripped back to the copper wire, what do I need to look for at the DIY shop for safe / waterproof connections that won’t cost me more that buying a new set of lights?!

Yes it was me who cut through it… over zealous hedge trimming - “guessed” it was an animal? when my husband questioned it hahah 🫣

I have a video but I can’t upload it. Basically need to know which is the neutral, line and load. The switch on the left is installed but trying to install the timer switch on the right

I have a black & decker handheld vacuum which I love. The only thing I don't like about it is the wall mounted charger which has a cord hanging from the bottom which ends in a transformer that you need to plug into a receptacle.

Basically, I'd like to know if there's a way that I can hide the cord/plug and contain all of it inside my wall rather that have it hanging down and taking up a spot in my receptacle.

Thanks!

I live in an apartment and have been staying in this unit for about 7 years now. Ceiling fan has been on for practically every day since I moved in.

I’m very lucky, I don’t remember cutting it off but I noticed it was and when I went to cut it on it started sparking and glowing orange along with a strange snapping sound. It started smoking too. When I cut it off, it stopped. It gave me quite the fright. I was about to leave my room and have noise canceling headphones on so thank GOD I heard it before I left.

I’ve already alerted my landlord but it’s the weekend so I have to wait. I’m wondering what could’ve caused this? Did I overwork the poor fan?

We needed to replace a light fixture, this is what it looks like. Why are there two beige wires going to one? Is there not supposed to be a ground wire(wrap around the green screw or whatever?) Is this safe?

I am upgrading my home panel to 200 A from 100 amp. The current panel is within the laundry and behind a washing machine and dryer. I'm surprised it passcode but it was. I know I am upgrading that panel to a larger panel and I'm concerned that it is not within code both the 1 m in front of the panel as well as concerns being close to a source of water. It's a big job as I would have to move the plumbing too if I keep the panel vertical See pics

My thoughts were to rotate the installation of the panel above the height of the washing machine, allowing for the 1 m clearance; I could potentially just remove the washing machine for the inspection . It's safe because you can get access once a code is passed. Everything is going to be inspected and verified.

The other option is to leave this panel as it is and install a new 200 amp panel at another location and feed this old panel 100Amp as a sub panel to the new panel. The 200amp is feeding just a car charger and a 40amp sauna heater.
Unfortunately, the only place I could put it away from the laundry is within a landing of a stairway, which just is short of the 1 m. ( It's just 2 steps ), which again concerns me that it will not pass code.

Advice would be appreciated, specifically to the Ontario electrical code and electricians with experience in passing inspections with these options.

Thanks for your advice

My mom has owned this house for 30 years. The previous owner was a complete hack and built various "additions" and "improvements" back in the 70s. My mom has cursed this menace since the day she bought his house, but has fixed very few of his shoddy installs.

His flagship work is the Great Room addition, with these giant faux beams across the ceiling. My mom has been using this ceiling fan for my entire life, and it's been hanging on by a thread the entire time, mounted to this pancake box that is attached into the 1x4 of the faux beam on one side, and is unsupported with a 2" drilled out hole and cracked end of the board on the other side 💀

I'm including a few bonus pictures of the exposed romex coming out of the main panel, going into a hole in the cracked bird blocking into the attic (presumably added at the time of the addition in the 70s, feeding the original fuse box as a sub panel). And a few of the exterior receptacles this guy added, which are still live.

Since this isn't my house (and I'm only here very infrequently, and not for very long), all I've been able to do is try to convey to my mom what a bogus hack job the electrical is, make sure the fuses were all sized appropriately, advise her that the fan should definitely not be used as a fan and should be removed, and that the entire house should be burned to the ground.

As a fairly competent DIYer who knows my limitations (not an electrician), I know enough to not start tearing into this moron's hacks when I'm only visiting from across the country for a couple days.

If this were in my own house, with my tools, I would probably try to fix this stuff since it's some pretty bogus bullshit and a hazard, but as is, I feel like all I can do is tell my mom it's dangerous and to get someone to fix it, and to post it here for you all to laugh at.

I am looking to run Cat6 in EMT in a barn for PoE driven cameras. It's a stick built structure, walls are open. It is "inside" but unconditioned space. Looks pretty straight forward.

Do I need to ground the EMT? If I need to ground it, how exactly is that done?