Stuff Electricians Should Know!
By Electricians Library
Stuff Electricians Should Know!Jun 12, 2023
123 - Grounding Vs. Bonding
122 - Apprentice Q&A
121 - Counterfeiting
120 - Rule #21 NEVER Do This To A Client
119 - 3 Things Electricians Wished They Knew
118 - What is AIC?
117 - Girls Do It Better
116 - Grounds Up Or Grounds Down?
115 - Bell Box?
114 - 12/2 with ground Vs 12/3
113 - The Reboot
112 - License Prep
111 - The Forgetful Electricians Secret To Success
110 - I'm Going To Sue You
That's the topic of todays episode.
Get your free issue of The Apprentice Guide at www.electricianslibrary.com/apprenticeguide
109 - No One Cares As Much As You Do
108 - Label Or Die!
107 - LOTO FAQ
106 - To Lube or Not To Lube?
105 - VFD Misconceptions
104 - Terminating Paralleled Conductors
103 - It's Fire Season
102- Rules For Electricians
101 - Bugs, Kool-Aid, and Chinese Money
In todays episode I'll cover 10 terms that you have probably never heard of.
When you get in to any industry they seem to have their own language.
The electrical industry is no different.
It has it's own language.
Today I'll cover theses 10 terms:
*Chinese Money
*Bug
*BX Cable
*Greenfield
*Periscope
*Hard Head
*Kool Aid
*Keyless
*Eyes
*Rabbit Gun
100 - Starter Basics
99 - 3 Project Management Myths
Visit: www.rulesforelectricians.com
Welcome to "Stuff Electrician's Should Know" my name is Jon Workman, your host, and welcome back to another episode of SESK.
Before we get started I just want to tell you about "Rules For Electricians", a new book that I put together that I'm excited get into your hands. It's 100 rules for electricians that can help a help you in your daily activities, help you in your job, basically just some the written rules, some of the unwritten rules that are that are now written that are there to help you.
Go to www.rulesforelectricians.com and you can get your calloused, work soil hands on your very own copy.
Let's get in today's topic "3 myths about project management"
On the last episode of SESK, you remember we got into project management a little bit, and this week I want talk about 3 myths concerning project management that sometimes the little guys allow to get in their way.
So let's just jump into the first myth.
The first myth about project management is that you have to have a big company for project management to even be necessary, and that is great lie. Even if you are a one man band learning how to manage a project properly is going to absolutely change your business.
Company size doesn't really matter. There's always a customer and end user and you've got to get the job done. You've gotta get done what they need done to make them happy for you to get a pay check.
It really doesn't matter even if it's simply changing out receptacles in an old house, you still want to do the best job you can for your customer, and that way you'll have a better chance of having them be repeat customers and hopefully lifelong customers.
You know, there might be a little bit of an advantage to being a smaller guy actually, you're more versatile, you can do a lot more things, but you still need to operate by sound principles and know how to to manage the jobs that you do get.
The second myth is that you have to have a big job to need management. Job size is really just an issue of relativity. You know it's all relative. Everything's just relative. If you're a one man show then a $10000 job might be a big job to you.
If you're a multimillion dollar contracting company your $10000 job may not even be worth looking at for you. But it's all it's all relative.
But every job basically has the same framework. The four B's. You're bidding, you're buying, you're building, and you're billing. You're doing these four things no matter what size the job is. So you you just need to make sure that you know how to do these things. You still have to be efficient in all the things that you do.
The the small jobs especially, for smaller contractors, are just as important as a big jobs.
Myth number three. We've talked about not needing to be a big company, or that it doesn't have to be a big job, and the last thing is that the job doesn't have to be worth a lot of money to to warrant knowing how to manage project. The money amount doesn't matter. It goes back to efficiency. The more efficient you are the more money you can make.
The biggest thing about the dollar amount is that on the smaller jobs the little mistakes hurt more than on the bigger jobs. So that is one more piece of motivation for you to to learn how to manage a project. If you are on a smaller job and start making a bunch of small mistakes it's going to end up costing you a bigger portion of the pie.
Thanks again for listening to this episode of "Stuff Electricians Should Know". Once again, just reminder head over to www.rulesforelectricians.com to get your hands on a copy of my new book "Rules For Electricians" Volume one.
Thanks again for tuning in. Hopefully you are having a great week glad to be back with you this week and until next time I'm Jon Workman, Stay Grounded.
98 - 6 Project Management Mistakes
Today I'll cover 6 mistakes you want to avoid when it comes to project management.
97 - VFD Case Study
make sure to sign up for SESK-U! www.sesk-u.com
In this episode we cover a quick VFD case study to show how effective VFD's can be.
96 - When do you need a VFD?
You won't want to miss the July Issue of SESK-U! Visit www.sesk-u.com to become a member!
So here are 3 things that will help you know when you can use a VFD. 1- The need to reduce energy consumption and energy costs. I'm not going to get deep into this one now because that is going to be the subject of next weeks episode. But know for now that that is a major reason to use a VFD. 2 - Greater production through efficiency and better process control. hey your motors are most efficient, you'll have less mistakes and production levels will increase. This typically generates more revenue, or cuts costs. You might not completely get this, but think about a conveyor belt. If it's jerky on starts and stops it could really mess things up. 3- Lastly, VFD's will extend equipment life and cut down on maintenance. No one likes to have to replace equipment on a regular basis or have to spend time or money having equipment down for repair. Using VFD's helps equipment last longer and reduces downtime because the VFD will keep the motor running at it's optimal speed. One of the biggest benefits of having VFDs optimally control the motor’s frequency and voltage is that the VFD will offer better protection from issues like electro thermal overloads, it gives phase protection, prevents under voltage and overvoltage, etc..
95 - How do VFD's work?
Visit SESK-U.com to learn more about SESK University!
Okay, so in the last episode I introduced you briefly to VFD's, and kind of discuss what they did. So this week, why don't we dive into how a VFD actually works. So let's start talking about the motor that you're going to be controlling for, for just a second. You know the motors that you're going to control with the VFD are three phase. You're not going to use a VFD to control a single phase motor. Now, a lot of these motors are designed to be operated and run at a fairly consistent speed. You're not going to have a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but the motors are going to be bogged down a lot with different loads. You might have a conveyor that's got a really light load to begin with and it can kind of gets bogged down during the day.
So a VFD analyzes load variations and then it increases or decreases the motor speed automatically to kind of compensate for, for what's happening.
94 - What is a VFD?
Visit www.sesk-u.com to learn more about SESK University!
So to put a simply a VFD is a type of motor controller that drives a three phase electric motor, and it can control the motor by varying, not only the frequency but the voltage that's being supplied to the electric motor. Okay? So one of the coolest things about VFD's is that their automatic. You don't have to sit there and monkey around with them and adjust them when you need certain things to happen, they sense the load requirements and then they increase or decrease the motor speed accordingly. So this helps out in a couple of different ways. It helps reduce operating temperature of the equipment. It also helps reduce stress on the mechanical components.
Don't buy Codey!
To get Codey visit: www.codey.app
This is probably the advice that Apple should have given when it released the iPhone, or Tesla when it started selling cars. "Don't buy our product!" Neither of these Uber successful companies have yet to release a perfect, flawless product. How dare they?? iPhones are riddled with problems. Software crashes, hardware malfunctions, battery issues. Yet they keep building them for us to buy. Same with Tesla. Doors and hoods won't open, production issues, crashes... I'm sure the list could go on. But both companies keep building and selling their products. They dare to keep selling products because they are innovators and they want to provide the consumer with the best that they have, even though the best that they have isn't perfect... and it never will be. There will always be software and car crashes. There will always be hardware problems, there will always be the human element that comes along with innovation. So where am I going with this? Let me tell you. This month has been full of information being thrown your way. mostly about what Codey can do to this point. I've done this because I'm so excited about the resource and that possibilities that it brings to the trade. But now it's time to Codey out into the wild and I need to give you a disclaimer. Don’t buy Codey if: You think codey is going to be perfect. You think codey is going to have ALL of the answers you will ever need...right now. You think codey will take the responsibility from you to know what you are doing. You think you will never have to look at the NEC again. You are looking for a shortcut to becoming great. You want to pay a lot more later on when you finally decide to buy it. Do buy codey if: You want a tool that will help you on your path to greatness You want a tool that will help you become more efficient and knowledgeable You want help finding answers to code and other types of electrical questions (database is growing everyday) You want to invest in the beta version now at a lower price (this will help us hire more developers to speed up the process) and keep this low price unless you cancel the service You want to save countless hours of research to questions that you need the answers to. Codey is no different that the coolest products that you own. This is just the first version, just like they had a first version. It will have bugs. It won't have all the answers. It will get better every day. It will be awesome. It will change with the industry. It will make your life easier. So please remember, if you are planning to get on board with Codey right now, which I hope you will, you'll get the lowest price it will ever be from this point forward. You will help speed up the development process. And you'll be part of making something great. So here you go. Codey's beta version is now available in the app store. Click here to watch a short video and get access to Codey: www.codey.app Stay Grounded -Jon <
Day 29 - Shore power disconnect
What does Codey know about shore power disconnects? Let's find out.
Day 28 - MCM vs. KCMIL
What's the difference between MCM and KCMIL. We've covered it before, but does Codey know the difference?
Day 27 - Sizing OCPD
How do you size OCPD? Let's ask Codey.
Day 26 - What is an isolated ground?
Today we ask Codey a little tougher question. What is an isolated ground?
Day 25 - Do I need to support temp installs?
When it's a temp install, do you really need to support it? Let's ask Codey.
Day 24 - What is GRC?
We throw up a softball for Codey today and ask him about conduit.
Day 23 - Do I need a receptacle by a pool?
Here's a great question for Codey: Do I need a receptacle by a pool?
Day 22 - What is a power supply?
Make sure to check out Codey at http://www.electricianslibrary.com/codey to learn more about Codey, the "virtual electrical assistant".
Have you needed to convert AC to DC and can find a "transformer" or an "inverter" to do so? Thats because you need a "power supply". Today we ask Codey about it.
Day 21 - Bonding communications and power grounds
Do communications and power ground need to be bonded?
Day 20 - What is a photocell?
Does Codey know about different parts? He knows about a few. he shows us today.
Day 19 - What is an HID?
Check out http://www.electricianslibrary.com/codey to learn more about Codey!
Today we ask Codey "What is an HID?" Listen in to hear his answer!
Day 18 - What does IC Rated mean?
Make sure to check out Codey at http://www.electricianslibrary.com/codey to learn more about Codey, the "virtual electrical assistant".
Today we ask Codey "what does IC Rated mean?"
Day 17 - Why do we need TR's?
There's a lot of complaining about tamper proof receptacles. Let's ask Codey why we need them.
Day 16 - How many romex under 1 staple?
Make sure to check out Codey at http://www.electricianslibrary.com/codey to learn more about Codey, the "virtual electrical assistant".
Today we ask Codey "how many romex wires can we put under one staple?"
Day 15 - Contactor Vs. Relay
We lay off the code for a sec and ask Codey a parts question. Does he know the difference?
Day 14 - Do hotel guest rooms need AFCI's?
On today's episode we go into the hotel business and ask Codey about AFCI's.
Day 13 - Single Phasing a motor
Visit http://www.electricianslibrary.com/codey to learn more about Codey!
What does it mean to "single phase" a motor? In todays episode we ask Codey just that question! Listen in!
Day 12 - Does a furnace need it's own circuit?
Does a furnace need it's own circuit? That's what we ask Codey today and try to stump him.
Day 11 - Do I need to change a GFI after it trips?
Check out Codey, your "Virtual Electrical Assistant" http://www.electricianslibrary.com/codey
So todays question comes from something ridiculous that I heard a contractor tell me an inspector told him about needing to replace GFCI's. Listen in!