Electrical Tips

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When I think back on how I acquired most of my knowledge about electricity, I have to laugh. I did get some expert instruction from a wise older electrical engineer who happened to know many aspects of the National Electric Code by heart. He helped me re-wire the first house I owned. My brain was so receptive to getting this information that I absorbed everything he showed me. For example, once he showed me how to wire two 3 way switches that worked independently to power a stairwell light fixture, I instantly understood.

Getting Bitten
As I took on other jobs, I started to read books on the subject and do trial and error experiments. Back 25 years ago, I didn't have the respect I currently have for electricity. Luckily, I am still alive and my work has never caused a fire. But there have been some close calls!

I'll never forget one particular instance. If you wire an electrical panel, you quickly learn that the bare ground wires and the white neutral wires can be connected to the same bar inside the panel in certain instances. So I assumed that since you can always safely touch the bare ground wire with no fear of getting zotted that one could do the same with the white neutral wires.

One day, I was up on a step ladder with my head sticking through a suspended ceiling. I was involved in a remodeling project in a light commercial building. I needed to splice a cable into an existing circuit. To do so, I needed to connect my white neutral wire to several that were in the box. I removed the wire nut and for some reason grabbed onto them. The next thing I remember was lying flat on my back on the floor. I got shocked BIG TIME. Why? Simple! The circuit was in use and energized. The neutral wires are part of a live circuit and my body had simply become sort of an extra light bulb in the circuit. Actually, I had become a convenient path to ground.