Have you ever heard the phrase “jack of all trades but master of none?” I’m not so sure that I exactly fit the jack of all trades title, but I can guarantee you that I am a master of none. In fact, in most cases I know just enough about something to be dangerous.
Extremely dangerous.
Carol and I are currently in the process of doing a project outside our house that, once finished, is going to look awesome. As a matter of pride, I really wanted to handle this project from start to finish by ourselves to prove to us and others and we are fully capable of doing something of this nature. We’ve both been working very hard and have been spending a lot of our time and money into making this project a success. (I can’t tell you what the project is because I want to surprise my Dad with our accomplishment once we’re done.) Due to the fact that we rarely have free time together, we have had to do a lot of this project at night after Ben has gone to bed but I think that has made it even more special. We’re actually doing this together.
The problem, however, is that this project involves electricity.
Since I’m not all that versed at dealing with electricity and have a horrible history of breaking or losing (or having had stolen) any type of electronic gadget that I encounter, I figured that I should probably call in for some additional help with this one. Thankfully, my cousin Ryan is an electrician and was more than willing (as is a wonderful trend in my family) to help a family member out in a time of need.
I texted back and forth with Ryan and explained what I wanted to do and he told me that it should be really easy and that he would be able to come out on Wednesday (yesterday) to assist (do it all by himself) while I was still at work.
Now, had I been a patient man I could have let it go at that. The job wouldn’t be difficult and Ryan is fully capable of doing what I needed to be done. But as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a proud man and I can’t let someone work on a project of mine and Carol’s creation without being able to be there and not at least have some pre-work done for them. As a result, I ventured into the forbidden land of wiring.
It wasn’t like I was going into this blindly, however, as I had seen my father work with wires on numerous occasions. I had even attempted changing household outlets on more than one occasion with great success. I can’t say that my experience with the thermostat went wonderfully, but after 2 or three days in early summer heat of hot air blowing out of the vents whenever I turned the air on, I figured it out and our house is now as temperature controlled as it can possibly be.
But that stuff was a little easier than what I was attempting on Tuesday night. That night I had to cut wires and leave them overnight so that Ryan could work on them the next day. Now, when I say I “had to,” I really didn’t have to, but I really wanted to be a part of this so I did what I did. Just as I had watched and learned from my father, I knew to turn the breaker off, snip the wires with the appropriate tools, strip the conduit off and then cap the wires together so that they would be protected from the elements. So far, so good, right?
Well, there were two things that I hadn’t planned on being a factor and each played a role in what happened next.
The first thing was that once I had the wires capped I turned the breaker back on so that the other parts of my house that the breaker affected would have power. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal, but the switch that controlled the wires had, unbeknownst to me, been left on. Now, if you know anything about wiring (which, like I said - I know just enough to be dangerous) you know that as long as you have the wires capped, you can keep the power going to them with no problem at all. What I didn’t know though is what could have killed me.
After Carol had left the house to go meet up with some friends, I stepped out on to the back deck to get some fresh air. I had already been texting back and forth with Ryan to let him know what I had done to a) inform him that he wouldn’t have to worry about it, and b) to impress him with my advanced electricional (just made that word up) knowledge. While outside, I decided to wander over to the wires and see exactly how much slack we had to work with the next day.
Bad idea.
As I bent over and picked up the wires there was a huge pop, an even bigger spark, a sizzle, and the smell of burnt hair (it was my leg). I quickly looked around and noticed that some lights in the house were out, the dog was barking, and burnt leg hair really, really stinks. I immediately knew that I had done something wrong with the wiring (you think?) and that it had caused the breaker to pop. The good news is that I also knew how to fix it.
I went through the kitchen door to check on the switch, and sure enough, it was still on. I turned that off and then went down to the basement to check on the breaker, and sure enough, it had popped. I turned it off, waited a few seconds, and then turned it back on which caused all of the lights that had gone out to come back on. Good start. The question remained though, what had I done wrong?
I immediately went back to my phone to text Ryan. I had an idea of what I had done wrong as I had slightly questioned it as I was doing it, but I wasn’t sure. I knew, however, that Ryan would know what had happened and would be able to tell me how to fix it. This was our conversation:
Ryan: Cool, I’ll be there around 3:30. Leave a shovel out 4 me. And an address.
Me: 122 N 38th St. Do I need to turn the breaker off or just the switch? Also, should I cap the ground with the other wires?
Ryan: Nope, grnd dnt need a cap. And just the switch is fine.
Me: If I did cap the ground with the other wires, would it cause a spark and a popped breaker like what just happened?
Ryan: LOL. Yes!
Me: K. I’ll go fix that.
Ryan: : )
Me: I’m missing some hair on my leg now
Ryan: Dude! L!M!A!O!
Me: Sometimes I’m too proud for my own good.
Ryan: I’ll take care of you bud.
After admitting my blunder to Ryan and rubbing some lotion on my leg to cover up the burnt hair smell, I went back outside and (after checking that the switch was still off) recapped the wires while leaving the ground wire exposed. Ryan was then able to come over yesterday and finish up the job for me. Thanks again bro.
So, apparently there are some things that I still need to figure out about wiring – but I’m trying. Sure, Carol could have come home and found me laying unconscious in the yard due to electrocution, but she didn’t and that’s what’s important. Whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger right? Well after Tuesday night, I feel uber strong. On the other hand though, I’ve never claimed to be good at electricianing (yes, I made that word up too). In fact, it goes to further show that there aren’t a ton of things that I’m very good at, but when it comes down to it…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtMy5IBmX7E
Thanks for reading and thanks again Ryan. We’re just the next generation of helpers helping family. Let’s carry on that tradition.
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