this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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Am electrician and live in a double-wide so I haven't tinkered with it beyond swapping some devices. Feels good to be able to just do stuff like this, as simple as it is. I was not raised to be very handy so learning all this has been a deliberate process.

Uh, this doesn't count as a legal, professional consultation and you should always seek a licensed professional when it comes to electricity in your home.

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[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What does "double-wide" mean in this context?

[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Like, a pre-fab home. Two halves of a house that a truck brings to the site and they put together.

They use notoriously crappy electrical systems

Edit to add:

I cannot fucking express to you how bad the electrical devices - the outlets, switches, and lights in particular - are in these homes. Gimme a few and I'll put something together for yall

Here is 12/2 Romex, my bread and butter. It has two current carrying conductors, the black and the white, and a ground, all 12AWG. Good for 20a.

This is what it looks like going where it goes inside your walls. We put boxes like that blue thing where we need to make a splice (where our romex ends and the device begins) to protect the connections.

This is what a normal outlet looks like more or less. If your dude can afford Wagos good for him, I use wirenuts. Doesn't matter if you know what you're doing.

And THIS BULLSHIT is what goes in prefab homes. Is it safe? More or less. Can any future electrician do a fucking thing with it? Nope. Was it put there by someone who couldn't explain Ohms Law? Without a doubt.

[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Words cannot express my hatred for these things but I'll try.

My trade is regulated, in the US, by the National Electrical Code, which is written by Underwriters Laboratories, and created in accordance with the National Fire Prevention Act. The Code is a massive tome of a book that I tabbed, BY HAND, before I ever wired a device. I spent literal years in classrooms and on the job, going fetch, digging literal ditches, etc, to get here. I'm a smart guy and the test I had to pass? It took me two attempts, I won't lie to you. But I got it. Safety regulations are written in blood. And why is it this hard?

Because electricity is an invisible death force that starts fires while your family sleeps. I know, I've had a house fire in the middle of the night, in a rental, with my young child at home. Nothing makes you respect it like that will. This was years before I got into the trade but I never forget it.

You think the hungover dingus Clayton Homes hired to make these atrocities up cares half as much as I do?

[–] JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Electricity is an invisible death force

For anyone curious, it takes .1 of an amp (is it .01? I haven't worked with electricity in like 2 years) to instantly stop your heart. You may have noticed up there that @A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world mentioned that wire can rump 20 amps.

Electricity will kill you before you even know "I shouldn't have touched that"

[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That is accurate, if it crosses your heart. It takes very little to throw you arhthmmatic and people have died from heart attacks they didn't see coming because they didn't take home-level voltage seriously enough.

Yall should obviously never ever ever work live. Ever. Call me instead, that's what I get paid for. Im kidding, never work live if you don't have to. And you never have to.

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 2 points 1 week ago

Ahhh, I see. Thanks!

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

We moved into a double wide decades back, it had double gang boxes with single plugs on every wall, and At the time, a double gang plate with a single receptacle plate merged with a blank plate, was impossible to find, so the builder had left them all open. Like WTF.