Let’s open up that wall. That should be easy!

The following is an article I submitted to another website as part of an application process to be a "Guest Writer" . I was rejected so I thought I might as well post it as a blog entry.

After much discussion on how to achieve a more open feel to your main living area, you and your better half decide that the easiest way to accomplish this would be to create a large opening in the wall between the kitchen and your formal dining room. Just think how much of a difference that will make, and really, how hard can that be?

You consult your neighbour, the journeyman carpenter, and determine that the wall is not a load bearing wall. You obtain the correct permits from the local building authority, and you’re ready to start first thing Saturday morning.

Up bright and early, you’re ready to start. You mark out the proposed rough opening and start removing wall board beginning at the top. Using a plethora of tools, from a utility knife to a reciprocating saw, the renovation begins! Off comes the drywall in a messy, dusty heap on the floor. Things couldn’t be working out better! Your 60” wide passageway is taking shape right before your eyes, and then, you spot your problem. About 36” off the floor you see a cable running through the studs right across your opening. Upon further inspection you discover an electrical outlet on either side of your opening on the other side of the wall. Now what! What are the options?

After a few calls to several local electrical contractors, and leaving messages for them to call you back, it’s off to the computer room to check online for some answers. You find a great website for electrical help, and learn that as long as you have a reasonable skill level, a healthy respect for electricity, and that your local building authority will issue a Homeowners’ Electrical Permit, there’s no reason that you can’t tackle this project yourself.

Monday morning you get the appropriate permit in place, and on the advice you received online, you first ensure that the power to this particular circuit is switched off at the service entrance panel by turning off the correct breaker, you have checked the outlets on either side of the opening and they are indeed dead. You remove the faceplates and the device screws on each of the receptacles and discover that each receptacle has two 2-wire cables entering each box, and both receptacles have five wires attached to them: two black wires; two white wires; and a bare ground. The cable in the wall opening is running between the two receptacles. Removing the cable will break the circuit so it needs to remain in the equation. The cable has to be disconnected and removed from each of the device boxes. Fortunately the receptacles are only one stud space over from your new opening on either side, so fishing in a new, longer piece of wire between them is not that difficult. Sizing up the situation, you determine that you can run a new, longer cable up and over your new opening with a few simple modifications to the original plan. You reinstall the new cable into both boxes and reconnect all the wires properly, and now the project can move forward as planned!

You’ve learned a valuable lesson. Check for all potential problems that could be encountered, even in the most simple of projects. Look for any clues, such as electrical outlets, or plumbing fixtures beside, above or below the proposed renovation area. This would have allowed you to prepare in advance, and may have affected the entire renovation plan had the issue been a more difficult one to resolve.

The “New Improved” Basics of Household Wiring DVD

Recently I was able to check out the new edition of the Basics of Household Wiring DVD, so I will share my review of the product with you, our Clients and followers of my blog and our website at http://www.electrical-online.com/

We have endorsed this product for a number of years now, but the most recent edition includes about 30 minutes of additional information, including 3 and 4-way switches, light fixtures, etc.
Sandy and I had the pleasure of meeting with the producers of the DVD during our last stay in the Phoenix area, and it was nice to put faces to the names of the people that we have worked with via e-mail and telephone calls over the last several years.
I have always considered this an excellent resource and we have sold many copies of the DVD and have received only positive reviews from our customers and clients. This new edition is just that much better with the additional information provided. The intent of providing an educational over-view of the home electrical systems and components for the novice or the DIY’er has been achieved. The DVD provides excellent descriptions, and easy to understand dynamic graphics and pictures.
The DVD is also very careful to emphasise the dangers of electricity, and the importance of safety and following the proper safe work practices before working on your homes electrical system, and any applicable process that must be followed, such as permits.
Before tackling any home electrical project, we at Electrical-online.com strongly recommend that you get a copy of the DVD, and watch it from start to finish. It is 86 minutes of time well spent. Click on the link below to get your copy today!

www.electrical-online.com/DVDBasicHomeWiring.htm

Kudos from a former Contractor!

In my last post I talked about installing the pool light for our built in spa addition to the backyard pool in Arizona. After taking possession of our new house on December 8, and moving in on December 16, 2009, we wanted to get started on the back yard as soon as possible.

We met with a landscaping contractor in early December to open discussion on some changes we would like to see in our back yard. Nothing major, but the discussion was around designing a more tropical theme, and getting rid of some real grass to reduce ongoing maintenance requirements.

Also knowing that our time in Arizona will be in the fall and winter, we wanted to have our pool heated to allow us to actually use it rather than just look at it during the months that we will be there. Most of pools in the area are not heated (in fact some install chiller units) and only are used in the spring and summer months.

Another factor for Sandy and I was the almost mandatory requirement of having a hot tub or spa for the chilly desert nights. We've haven't been without one in all of our time together (16 years) and I even have a portable spa that comes with us on our travels, so to us this was an essential addition that needed to happen as well.

All this being said, it was decided that the best plan was to remove the grassy area and replace some of it with artificial turf, incorporating a golf putting green, adding some palm trees, fix up the existing outdoor cooking / bar area, and instead of an above ground portable hot tub, we would build in a spa in the corner of the pool and tie it in to the existing pool plumbing and at the same time install and connect a pool heater to the entire system.

For me this meant that I needed to connect all the new equipment (spa jet pump, pool heater, landscape lighting, power for the cooking area, new spa light), and modifying the control strategy to make this all work. The renovations happened so fast and efficiently that unfortunately I didn't have time to document and film or take photo's of the electrical component of this project as it would have made a great article for the website! With my parents visiting as well, I barely had time to get the work done to keep the project on course.

Anyhow, the point of this posting is to commend Chris, Kevin, and the entire crew on a job well done, in a timely, efficient manner, and most impressive, on budget!

Work began on the morning of December 21, with Christmas looming large at the end of the week. By the end of day 1, the grass was removed, the putting green was laid down, the hole for the spa was dug, and the dirt and sod that they piled on the street was hauled away and the street was swept up.

The second day of work included installation of the re bar cage for the spa and preparation for the plumbing. The next day saw the completion of the plumbing including connection of the spa jet pump, the pool heater, and a pressure test to check the new plumbing for leaks.
My point is that the project moved forward incredibly fast, and considering that Christmas and New Years Holidays were in this time period as well, the entire project was done and complete and we were swimming in the pool and enjoying the new-look back yard by January 15, 2010.
My hat is off to Chris, Kevin, and the entire crew of sub-contractors for a job well done. Not only did I discover a great resource for any landscaping or pool maintenance / installation needs, I also gained some new good friends! I would, will, and have recommended these guys to anybody in need some work of this type done for them in the Valley area! Feel free to e-mail my if you would like more details or contact information for these guys.

Anyhow, I am starting to embrace the social networking component of the Internet, and we're trying to integrate everything so they work together for our followers of http://www.electrical-online.com/ I have established an account with twitter, so you can follow my tweets at www.twitter.com/intelectrician I have a link on the blog to keep you updated as well. Until next time...;

Terry Peterman
The Internet Electrician.

When DIY Makes no Sense (Dollars or Cents)!

When it comes to projects around the home, sometimes doing it yourself doesn't make any sense, even for the Internet Electrician. Case in point, we are having some landscaping and renovations done in our back yard here in Arizona, and with this comes the addition of a built-in spa to the corner of our pool. The spa needs a light installed. If I was asked for advise from a website client on a project such as this, I would most certainly strongly suggest that they leave this job to a licensed professional electrical contractor. Now for myself, there was initially no question that I would do this myself. Permitting in this county allows the homeowner to do this work, so why not? How hard could it be?

From discussion with the pool contractor, I learn that the best way to install these lights is to run a direct run of 1/2" rigid brass conduit right back to the junction box. In all my experience, I have never worked on the rough-in electrical for an outdoor pool installation, and had never heard of using brass conduit. I questioned why it had to be brass given that a #8 bond wire is required as well, so the issue couldn't be for bonding, so is it corrosion issues, or what? Anyhow, the light in the existing pool was installed this way, so I wasn't going to cut any corners. Running rigid conduit is a skill lost on most modern day electricians, as the introduction of Teck cable almost entirely eliminated the use of rigid conduit, but in my early years as an electrical apprentice in the oil patch, I have spent many many hours running miles and miles of rigid conduit, so this wasn't part of my apprehension towards the project at all.

When work progressed on the spa much more rapidly than I had anticipated (a subject for my next blog), the need for the electrical rough-in was immediate.

At this point I began to think about all the special tools that I would need, and didn't have with me, most importantly being threading tools and a tri-stand chain vice for threading conduit. Then the issue of where to get supplies? The Home improvement stores aren't likely to carry brass conduit. I was advised of where I can purchase the pipe from a pool equipment wholesaler about 15 or 20 miles away.

It was at this point that I thought that given the time lines, and the need to rent the required tools, and the possibility of having to make multiple trips for missing fittings, or forgotten special tools, that I should just get the pool contractor to have his electrician do this portion of the job for me. It was humbling for the "Internet Electrician" to suggest that we contract out the simple installation of a 120V light in a spa, but my gut feeling was that this was the right thing to do. A call was made, and initially it looked like the electrician was too busy to fit it in without disrupting the schedule and pushing things back to the new year, so I made the decision to get it done the next day myself. Gut feelings are not to be ignored!

I decide to head in to get the conduit that afternoon, so off I go to Mesa to get supplies. I first stop off at the Home Depot to check on the remote possibility that they carry the brass pipe. As I suspected, no. Nor did they rent threading tools, but did get the name of a place that does, so the stop was not a complete waste of time. Off to the wholesaler. No problem finding the place and rolled up to the locked gate at 4:00 PM. Closed Monday in lieu of Boxing Day landing on Saturday? No, just always closed at 3:30 PM.

-Add 2 wasted hours to the project cost.

Back home I go with plans to go back first thing in the morning.

The next morning, off I go to Mesa again. I stop off at a retail pool and patio store on the remote possibility that they sell the brass conduit, and this store is much closer for me, and close to where I need to go to rent the tools. No, they don't, so off to the wholesaler again.

Gate is open, all is good, no waiting at the counter for service as no other customers are in line. I place my order for 2 pieces of brass conduit (I estimated that 20 ft. will be all I need). No problem sir, that will be $300 + tax. What! I asked for brass conduit, not gold! I'm informed that this is the price (albeit the cash customer price and not the wholesale contractor price), but $150 a piece? Yes, that's the price. I ask if there is an alternative? Yes, you could use PVC conduit at a fraction of the cost. (I wonder why the accepted best method is brass when PVC will do, but I'm not going to rock the boat now). So I swallow hard, pay the $300 and out to the yard I go to load the pipe. To my surprise, the pipe is sold in 20' lengths, so I have just bought 40 ft. instead of the required 20 ft. Not to mention I am driving a Saturn Vue (small crossover SUV). Back in I go to explain the misunderstanding. While they process a refund, I'm given a hacksaw to cut the required 20 ft. pipe in half so it fits in my car. With the pipe loaded, and the refund processed, off I go back towards the rental shop.

A few minutes after entering the freeway, I begin to mentally planning things in my head again, trying to think of everything I might need to complete the job. 10 ft. rigid conduit is sold with factory threads on each end, and come with a coupling on one end. Rigid brass conduit, as we found out is sold in 20 ft. lengths, no threads, NO COUPLINGS! Damn! Take the next exit off the freeway, turn around, and back to the wholesaler for couplings. They only have 1 in stock, so hoping that I can complete the job with only 1 coupling, I pay the $2.56, and off I go again.

-Add another wasted 1/2 hour, and about $170 to the project cost.

Back towards the rental shop I go, thinking along the way about what tools I will need that I don't have. Threader, bender, vice, etc. I get there, and to my delight they have a thread tool kit. Now the vice? Nope, just a chain style vice grip. I try to imagine how I'm going to hold the pipe steady with a vice grip while I cut at least 4 threads? Sandy and the cats holding the pipe steady? Jamming the pipe in the car door? Wedging it in the patio table? Not going to happen.

I see that they have a power threading tool, complete with cutting oil, reamer, pipe cutter, all on a tri-stand vice. Everything I need for the low rental price of $65. The hand threader was $15. Oh well, money well spent.

-Add $65 and another 1/2 hour to the project cost.

Off I go towards home, again going over the job in my head. Pipe, coupling, threading tools, bender....BENDER. Damn! Should I go back? I need a few things at Home Depot anyway, so I'll just buy a bender. I might use it again in 10 years or so. Thankfully they have 1 bender left in the store, so I purchase the bender and a few other items, and off I go.

-Add another $50 and 1/2 hour of time to the job.

I get back home around noon, and begin work right away as I have to have the tools back to the rental company before 5:00 PM to avoid an extra day charge. Besides wrestling with trying to jam the conduit in among all the re-bar, and cutting up my arms on the sharp re-bar and wire ties, the actual job goes very well, and the most amazing and almost divine intervention-like result was that the 20 ft. of pipe was EXACTLY the correct length. Not even 1/2" too long (no problem), but 1/2 " too short would have meant yet another trip to the wholesaler, and a whole bunch of swearing and cursing at myself for not doing a better job of guesstimating the amount of pipe needed.

With the pipe installed in good time, and a pause for a visit with some good friends who stopped by for a beer, the tools were returned to the rental shop with a full 5 minutes to spare before the 5:00 PM closing time.

-Add another hour to the total cost to return the tools.

So, to sum this all up, here is why I should have let the contractor do this job.
-Add the $285 in direct cost to the 6 or 7 hours of my time (with the actual job only taking about 2-1/2 hours) at $20 / hour (my time should be worth at least that), and about $25 for gas for a total of about $450.

As it turns out, the electrician would have squeezed the job in for us as a favour to the pool contractor, for about $200! Total DIY savings......... a net loss of about $250!

In hindsight I would have swallowed my pride and contracted this out for sure.

However, after it was all said and done, in some sick way, I felt quite satisfied that I had done it myself, even if it made no sense, dollars, or cents!

From Summer to Winter, what happened to Fall?

I must be one of the most inconsistent bloggers on the net. Good luck to me should I choose to tweet on the twitter! Here it is, only 4 days until Christmas, and I'm posting my first entry since Summer. Oh well, better now than not at all I guess?

In September we loaded up the boat and went out to the Okanogan area of British Columbia for some visiting, boating, and some golfing, staying at the Swan Lake Rec. Resort near Vernon, B.C. We returned to Alberta after a couple of weeks.

We pulled out of Carefree Resort on Gleniffer Lake about a week earlier than planned. The critical services in the resort are considered "shallow" services (water and sewer), and thus are buried well above the winter frost level and must be shut down and drained every fall. The tentative plan is to winterize the lines just after the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend (mid-October), but the weather took a nasty turn for the worst about a week in front of Thanksgiving, so we packed up quick and headed for warmer climates on October 7. We travelled south through Alberta in the wind and wet snow / rain mixture, got covered in 2" of wet snow that froze solid overnight in Lethbridge Alberta, woke up to below freezing temperatures, but nice and sunny, and then made our way south through Montana only hours ahead of the really cold, snowy weather. Two days later we were basking in the sunshine and warm temperatures of Las Vegas.

We stayed in Vegas for a week or so, then made our way to Mesa Arizona where we stayed until December 16.

Our plan was to purchase a house somewhere in the Valley area here in Arizona so our time here has been focused on that task. Several factors influenced our decision to purchase real estate here.

1. Need for an investment





2. The market conditions here being close to, if not at the bottom of a huge down-cycle.





3. The Canadian dollar close to par with the American dollar.





4. A nice intermediate place to call home, and to be able to have family and friends come to visit us, or to use for a nice place to escape the cold Canadian winters back home.

So when we got here, we hooked up with a local Realtor (Kristy) who had been faithfully sending us listings matching our search criteria for several months prior to our serious searching. We looked in Glendale, Mesa, Maricopa, Phoenix, and finally ended up making two unsuccessful offers on homes in Queen Creek, but 3rd time was a charm! We ended up very happy with the house we found in an area now known as "San Tan Valley", near Queen Creek Arizona. We got possession about the 8th of December, and our time has been filled with shopping, unpacking, and setting up all that is required to make a house a home.

Other activities have included two NHL hockey games (Phoenix Coyotes vs. Montreal Canadians, and Coyotes vs. my beloved Calgary Flames), my first NFL game with the Arizona Cardinals taking on the Seattle Seahawks, a trip back to Calgary Alberta for the CFL Grey Cup activities, golfing, visiting, tennis, jogging, hiking, etc.

Looking back I guess I can see why blog entries have taken a back seat. I have to find a way to make time more entries (said Terry, again).

Check out our new house and get a bit more up to speed on our travels on Sandy's canusamex travel blog, at http://canusamextravels.blogspot.com/

As far as the website goes, we did manage to shoot the raw footage for another "video short" that should be ready soon. The project involves the installation of some additional electrical in my trailer / garage using electrical metallic tubing (EMT). This video feature should be ready in the near future.

To all my family, relatives, friends, and website clients, have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! (or have a good, great, or happy whatever you might celebrate this time of year)!

Until next time..................

Terry.

Full Circle

Well, we've been back in Alberta now since June 2, and since my last post, we have been over to Europe to see my son Lyle, and we did a 3 week tour of Germany, France, Italy, and Austria, before returning to Germany for the flight home. Sandy and I flew from Vancouver in early April, and returned to Vancouver in the 3rd week of April . We then took the ferry over to Vancouver Island and stayed there for a month. Sandy's blog has more details of our travels at http://www.canusamextravels.blogspot.com/ Our trip back east took us to Vernon B.C. for a week or so before coming home to roost for the summer here at Gleniffer Lake near Innisfail, Alberta.

I'm not sure if this tells me that we have been travelling too much, or not posting enough blog entries? Anyhow, this brings the first year of our new life full circle, in what we hope to be many years of following the sun and avoiding winter. The weather wasn't very good this spring and the early part of summer here in central Alberta, but warm weather is here now so we're hoping it lasts for a while. I love boating, and this is where we keep our 22' Manitou Oasis pontoon boat. Lots of fun when the weather is good. Unfortunately our summer season here is pretty short (only between 30 and 60 frost free days). Sandy is busy getting our site converted over to a more user friendly editting tool, and I am working on adding more content, and improving some of the existing articles on the site. Time to work on the website is somewhat interrupted by distractions such as visiting friends and family, boating, golfing, playing ball, and relaxation.

We will be in Alberta until sometime in September or early October, when we will again migrate south.

Mex-electrical

We've all heard stories about interesting and frightening electrical installations from people who have travelled to Mexico. From my own experience, my favorite is from my last R.V. trip to Mazatlan, some 20 years ago. The 15A R.V. service to our campsite consisted of a duplex receptacle nailed to a palm tree (no box of course, just the receptacle), with a single black wire coming out of the sand, attached to the hot side, another white wire out of the sand attached to the neutral side (kudos for correct polarity), and then a bare wire from the ground terminal was connected to a metal coat hanger, pushed down in to the sand. Nice! I wish I still had the picture of that!

My sister and brother-in-law tell of a ceiling fan installation in one room they stayed in several years ago. It was hanging by the wires only, no mounting screws whatsoever. When you turned the fan on, it would twist the wires up tight , and then slowly unravel as the fan picked up speed, wobbling wildly around the room. Not sure if this is more funny than dangerous, or vise-versa. Needless to say, they requested a repair, but that didn't happen in the time they spent there, so they just left it off.

With this trip through Mexico, I've noticed that for the most part, things have slowly improved over the years. It's truly amazing that more people aren't injured or killed by installations such as this.

On our way back north from Bucerias, we stopped to visit some friends, Del and Angel, who are staying near San Blas. They have decided to stay year round, and had a palapa built to park their R.V. under. Del wanted me to check to see if the electrical service was sufficient to serve his needs. Well, I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but this installation was BAD NEWS! At first glance things didn't look too bad. An indoor panel was installed , with two receptacles mounted underneath it, and fed by a 20 A and a 15A breaker. The power source came in with a piece of plastic water line, and individual conductors inside. I assume some kind of ground rod was buried because a wire attached to the panel ground lug went deep in to the sand. Upon further investigation, I found that they had only 2 conductors inside this plastic pipe, and the pipe ran over 300 ft. to the source. This is where it got interesting. It went up a palm tree, across the roof of a house on the property, and then spliced directly in to the service conductors that fed the house, upstream of the meter, and right off the utility power transformer with no over-current protection, other than the high voltage fuse links that protect the transformer on the pole. The wire was only #10, and only 120V supply, the same service as the house. Not only was this un-safe, but also illegal, even in Mexico. Splicing in ahead of the meter is theft. Not sure if the ignorance defense works in Mexico, but I know it doesn't in the rest of North America.

After informing Del that as he had suspected, this was NOT adequate for his needs, he asked that I provide him some direction and advise. This is where it gets tricky. How do you give advise on electrical installations in Mexico? How do you strike a balance between what is the correct way, what is the safe way, what materials are available, etc. All I could do was to show what the options were providing he could source out the correct materials, and advised him to do the best he could with what he had to work with. It turns out that the newly constructed motel on the property had a fairly modern electrical installation, so I suggested taking a new sub-service from there. Good luck Del, and I'll inspect it for you next fall!

Here are some pictures of other interesting mex-electrical installations I observed.

This is a receptacle, fed from the light fixture in the bathroom of the villa that my family rented while in Bucerias. It is mounted high in the corner of the SHOWER! The receptacle is for the air conditioner unit for one of the bedrooms.

This picture shows the service conductors feeding power in to a villa in Bucerias. Note the meter at the left of the picture, with a mast that has been torn loose from its mounting straps. The conductors are sagged down to within about 4 feet of the sidewalk. To walk down the sidewalk and avoid the conductors you have to duck to one side or another, or push the wires out of your way with your hand. Luckily, Mexicans have a healthy respect for electricity, so most people just walk on the street to avoid this dangerous situation. Here is picture of an open meter socket for a service that has been up-graded or moved. However, this one is still connected to the utility power, so the open and exposed lugs on top are hot. Just the right level to be poked at by the curious hands of a child.

Here is a typical installation of an outdoor light fixture. Just a couple of wires coming out of the concrete, and a pig-tail lamp socket spiced on with electrical tape. Does the job I guess, and the price is right too!
And now for my favorite. I'm dedicating this one to the boys from Fortis (utility power company) back home in Olds. Gary, Scott, Randy, what do you think of this innovative idea when you need some separation between phase A and phase C? Just tie on a water bottle full of sand to make the line sag a bit more. The more separation required, just hang a bigger bottle with more sand! Genius!

If you have some interesting stories, or even better, some pictures of amusing mex-electrical, send me a note at terry@electrical-online.com

If you're interested in our travel progress, catch up with the latest on Sandy's blog, at http://canusamextravels.blogspot.com/

Until next time!

Christmas gift follow-up

In my Christmas greeting blog posting, I mentioned that in lieu of Christmas gifts to family and friends, we were planning to find some worthwhile charity to contribute to, or some needy family that could use some help. This proved to be a daunting task. Not that charity isn't needed in Mexico, because it is. However, the same can be said in my own hometown in Canada, or anywhere for that matter. We first planned to give some toys or gifts to a children's charity in Puerto Penasco. We read up a bit on that, and what we found is that they don't need toys, bikes, or clothes, as they have warehouses full of these items from well-meaning people that are all thinking the same way. What they need most in most cases is food, not toys. Arriving in Mexico only 1 day before Christmas meant that we missed out on the normal Christmas charities anyway, so on to the next idea. I was hoping that something would become obvious to me, and began thinking that if I could find a need by getting to know different people that we would get to know over our stay in Mexico, then I would find a way to help them out in a more personal way. My biggest fear was that we would give a cash gift to a needy family, and then find them all wearing brand new i-pods, and not putting some food on the table. We spent a lot of time on the beach in Bucerias, and we always parked ourselves in the same general area. This area was always occupied by an elderly beach vendor by the name of Marcellino. He was unique in that instead of treading up and down the beach, he took advantage of the constant parade of people taking the long stroll up and down this beautiful stretch. He would set up under an umbrella, sit in his chair, with his wares spread out on a blanket in front of him. I thought it was a great strategy, and we got to know him quite well over the time we spent there. My friend Gary would always help him carry his stuff up to his car at the end of the day, and he appreciated this very much, and considered our whole group as his friends as a result. Gary and I had my family bring down a mega-phone to help him get his sales pitch message out the the customers walking by. I had purchased an inflatable boat that got a lot of negative attention on Sandy's blog, but to the Mexicans, this boat was envied to a large extent. One day Marcellino expressed his interest in the boat, and how useful it would be for him to have a boat like that for him and his son to go out fishing in. Viola! I decided then that I would give him the boat at the conclusion of our time in Bucerias. He was thrilled, and wanted to give me all kinds of merchandise in exchange, but I convinced him that I wanted to give it to him as a gift, and we settled on a few T-shirts and a hat or two in exchange.In our little campground, the owner had a guy hired to look after the grounds on a casual basis. His name was Francisco. This guy worked construction by day, and part-time at a convenience store, and washed and waxed R.V.'s, and the gardening on the side. A very hard-working guy, and when I asked him when he rests, he replied: "I can't, I have 3 kids and a wife"! He explained that the construction job paid very well by Mexican standards, but the job was just about done. He was hoping to find another job when it ended. Well, it ended while we were there, and because the global recession was starting to affect things in this area too, he was out of work. The worry showed on Francisco's face. I wanted to do something for him, and when he told me his daughter was sick, and he couldn't afford to pay the doctor, I decided to help him out in some way. I was going to hire him to clean the motor home, the car, etc., and pay him in advance so he could pay the doctor, but before I could do that, Jim, the campground owner came to see him and gave him a 6 month advance on his pay to get him through this tough time. I hired Francisco to clean the car, and wash the motor home before we headed out. I payed him over double what he wanted, and bought a kilo of fresh shrimp for him and is family to cook for dinner, and gave him a voucher for a trip out on a day cruise on the "Santa Maria", a catamaran trip around the Bay area, with all food and beverage included, for him and his wife to enjoy. Francisco was very happy, and hopefully they will take advantage of the trip as I'm sure they never had the time or the money to do something like this in the past.Small gestures, but I hope that my family and friends will feel good about what we did for these individuals instead of getting some gifts that they would appreciate, but likely not really need.

Feliz Ano Nuevo! (Happy New Year)!

Another year has passed, and all in all, a very good one for Sandy and I! Speaking of my Wife, and my Best Friend, Happy Birthday! (today, Jan. 2, 2009). Love Ya!
On a very sad note, I have to say goodbye to a business associate, but more importantly, a friend. Bruce Turcotte, of Olds Alberta Canada. Bruce lost the fight after a short battle with a cancer that was only diagnosed a few short months ago. I have known Bruce for about 30 years. He was one of the hardest working people that I have ever met. I remember looking out from our deck after hearing a noise at 10:30 or 11:00 pm at night, only to find Bruce loading up a trailer of electrical supplies, heading for Black Diamond, yet another 2 hour drive south. He was just getting in from a jobsite that he was tending to, 4 hours north of us. His day started about 4 am. This wasn't a normal day for him, nor was it unusual. Bruce was a man of many talents in the construction business. Bruce, you will be missed dearly by your family, co-workers, and friends. I only wish I had been able to say goodbye in person. Adios Amigo.
Our travels thus far have taken us from Canada, through the U.S.A., and now to Mexico. You can check our travel log at Sandy's blog, http://canusamextravels.blogspot.com/ She is busy up-dating it right now as I write this. Then we will go out for her Birthday dinner here in San Carlos, Son. Mex. In our travels we have met people from all parts of Canada, U.S.A., and Mexico. The common thread? All great, very nice, friendly people.
To my friends in the United States of America, keep your heads high. The economy will pick up. Always be proud to be an American! I watched the "Winter Classic" outdoor hockey game from Chicago, with the Black Hawks hosting the Detroit Red Wings. The display of patriotism from the crowd, standing, singing, and cheering during the Star Spangled Banner, with fireworks and jets in the air, got me all choked up! That's the U.S. I admire! Healing your economic woes is much like trying to get out of a personal depressed state of mind. You have to like yourself first. Stop watching the news and all the gloom and doom stories about how bad things are, and go out and buy a new Ford, GM, or Dodge vehicle in the new year! The economic engine will start up only if you turn the key! God bless the U.S.A.!
Now on to Mexico. You all have heard how dangerous, dirty, and un-safe it is here in Mexico. People will advise against travelling here due to the danger, and even more so now with the drug wars going on in the border towns. We're here, and guess what? Haven't seen any of that. There are gang wars raging on in Calgary, Alberta! I haven't been caught in the middle of one of those either. This isn't to say that it couldn't happen, just not likely, in Calgary, or in Mexico. You can find trouble anywhere if you look hard enough for it. Yes, Mexico on the surface isn't as clean and sterile as it is in most parts of the U.S.A. or Canada. It's just different. They don't get all hung up on some of the details that we do. However, I have had some of the best restaurant meals here that I have had anywhere. Top notch service, and excellent food!
Sandy and I got a good laugh in Puerto Penasco when we saw a beat up old car with 2 men in it, the passenger holding the door closed with a piece of rope. A door sign made with colored paper and a felt pen said: "We repair fibreglass and paint motor home". Yeah, right. We'll get right on that! Don't call us, we'll call you! While parked in our R.V. park at Playa Bonita, these guys stopped by one morning and noticed that we had a 6 or 8" crack in our gel coat at the front of the motor home that I got when I bumped in to a steel bollard at U.S. border crossing. He asked me if I wanted them to repair it. Only $80 (usd). I had no intention of getting it done, but he proceeded to show me many pictures of his before and after repairs, and invited me to check with others in the park who had work done. He told me: "You no like, you no pay". I let him go ahead, and I would challenge anyone to spot the repair. He filled the crack, blended the paint and gel coat to perfection. All right there on the beach, with the sand, the wind, and no fancy paint booth. I was so impressed that I gave him a bigger challenge. I have always wanted to get my car trailer painted, or decals on it to match the motor home. He gave me a price of $450 (usd) and I told him to do what he can. Antonio and his helper, (also Antonio), worked really hard, and put in some long days, and here is what he accomplished.
As you can see he did a great job. Again out in the elements, with a small portable compressor and a paint gun. The motor home is done with decals from the factory. Antonio did this with paint, masking tape, and a decal for a pattern that he had made by a friend that makes signs I would presume. All I gave him for a pattern was a print out from a picture I took of the motor home. This is the result. The paint colors match perfectly, and he properly prepared the surface, primed, and painted. Thank-you Antonio's!

It has been said before, and it is so very true. The people that discourage Mexican travel have never been here, and are not likely to ever travel here. Come see this country for yourself. If not, you'll be cheating yourself out of meeting some excellent, friendly people, great food, and spectacular scenery. Again, check Sandy's latest blog entry for some pictures from this area of San Carlos. Arguably, one of the most scenic places on the planet (in my humble opinion).

Tomorrow we move further south towards Mazatlan.

Happy New Year!

Feliz Navidad!

Hello everyone, from Mexico!

It may be comforting for you up north, to know that down here, we are also having to cope with similar conditions as you are suffering this holiday season.



Seriously now, this is our Christmas letter to you all.

2008 brought some significant changes for Sandy and I. One major change was my favourite (only, but favourite) son Lyle, graduating from High School. The other was that the many months of planning for a transition of ownership of Olds Electric & Lighting Ltd., to Jeremy and Cindy Tookey became a reality in early September. With Lyle gone to Germany for the better part of a year on his own little adventure, the stage was set for Sandy and I to move in to our motorhome, and set off to explore the open highway. We plan to work more diligently on our website business, electrical-online.com, but so far we have been very busy with travelling, visiting, and doing a whole lot of nothing. Since we left the Olds area on September 22, time has really flown by for us. We believe that we are in a transition period, and with that I think comes a bit of a "state of shock". Although we miss our friends and family tremendously, we are having a great time on our new adventure.

To sum up our travels thus far, we went from Olds, to Fernie, to Whitefish Montana, back to Vernon BC, then off to Burnaby, then down the west coast, then to Palm Springs (Indio), over to Mesa AZ, then up to Las Vegas, down to Lake Havasu AZ, then over to Casa Grande AZ, then down to Puerto Penasco Mexico, where we are now at Christmas, and plan to move on further south for a couple of months.

To our family and friends, in lieu of Christmas gifts that we would have purchased for you all had we been with you this holiday season, Sandy and I plan to give gifts to some of the less fortunate people here in Mexico. We haven't found just where the best place to use the donations will be here yet, but when we do, we will be giving either a monetary contribution, or other worthwhile gifts that we see the most urgent need for. We will give the gifts in your names, and will take some pictures of who's lives you made a bit brighter if possible.



We really miss our family and friends, especially at this special time of year. It makes you realize what Christmas is really all about. To all of you, please have a very Merry Christmas, and all the best to you in the New Year! See you all in the spring!

All the best!
Terry, Sandy, Molly, Callie, and Champ!

Crisis in Columbia (oops, meant to say Canada)

I apologize for getting political again in my blog, but I believe it is essential that everyone that has any influence at all, needs to speak up about the situation in Canada, and what it means for any Country that claims to be a Democracy.

If you aren’t aware of what is happening, let me give you a quick update. We have several political parties in Canada, but the real choices boil down to two. The Conservative Party, and the Liberal Party, and you could draw a reasonably analogy here to the Republicans and the Democrats in the U.S.A. Conservatives are right of center, and the Liberals are left of center. Neither strays too far from the middle or they would be crushed in a country that has political views as broad and as wide as the country itself. Then we have some fringe parties on the sidelines that can make some noise, especially when they get a leader that rolls up his sleeves and boldly proclaims that he wants to be the Prime Minister, but in most Federal elections his party gets only about 15% of the popular vote. They are called the New Democratic Party, or N.D.P. for short. (Democracy in their name is a bit ironic). Another small percentage is split up among the other parties, one of which is only based in one province and the entire platform of that party is to take all the good things that Canada has to offer, but to split away from Confederation to be a country within a country. (I know, it sounds bizarre, but it’s true). In our last election, these fringe parties split up the votes for the main choices that we have, and like the last couple of elections, neither the Conservatives, nor the Liberals were able to get enough Members of Parliament to form a Majority Government. We elect M.P.’s to represent our interests in Federal issues, and each member that runs for office is normally affiliated with a political party (some are independent for various reasons). The party with the most members elected, earn the right to form a government, and the Leader of that party becomes our Prime Minister. If they don’t have enough elected members to form a majority, they get to govern with a minority. This is not really the worst case scenario as it keeps the government from doing anything goofy and forcing another premature election, but it gives them the mandate of the people to govern as they have a huge portion of the popular vote in comparison to the other parties. In the last election, the people chose the Conservatives to lead us, and with an even stronger mandate than the last election (from 36% to 38%). The Conservatives would likely have garnered a majority, but a lack of funding for Arts and Culture cost them some critical support in Quebec. The Liberal party got historically one of their worst results in Canadian History! Here’s where this all gets almost un-believably, incredibly stupid. The leader of Liberal Party may soon be installed as our Prime Minister! With only 26% of the popular vote (down from 30% in 2006), this man that was rejected by the people, has lost the confidence of his own Liberal Party (has agreed to step down as leader), could be our Prime Minister. Here’s how.

The New Democrats (cough, cough) under their egotistical party leader, have gone to the leader of the Bloc Quebecois (Separatists) and made a deal to support the Liberal Party (official Opposition) to form a coalition government, and install the leader of the Liberal Party as our country’s Prime Minister. With 26% of the vote, our Prime Minister. Really. I’m not kidding. Really.

News Flash! I just learned that our Governor General has just finished a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and has granted his request to Peroge (suspend) Parliament until January 27, 2009. This will give us some time to sort this all out, and will give the people time to let their elected officials know that this is not what we voted for!

Now I’ll admit that I’m a little biased, and this blog entry will provoke some lively discussion, even within my own family, but someone needs to counter-balance our so obviously left wing slanted national media. I watched an interview with our Global National news desk anchor, Kevin Newman, arguing with one of our government ministers about the validity of this proposed hostile takeover. (I thought the media is supposed to be un-biased when covering any news stories).

So let’s put all bias aside here, and we’ll put this situation in to terms that most Canadians should identify with, and my American friends can apply this to any professional sports league that they can identify with. Please, nobody take offense to this as it is only intended as an analogy!

The Toronto Maple Leafs have sometimes been referred to as Canada’s hockey team. Although they haven’t won a Stanley Cup since the 1960’s, these lovable losers have a firm fellowship of supporters, and equally as many who hate them. However, I suspect that if they were one the last teams standing in the Stanley Cup playoffs, many Canadians would jump on the bandwagon. So here’s my analogy:

Let’s say the Leafs have finally put together a team that has been improving over the last several years, and has been getting closer and closer to being a cup contender. Every year they make improvements, and now, after several years of growth, they have made it to the Stanley Cup finals against the Montreal Canadians.
They even have some support in Quebec, as they have shown that they are a good, solid hockey team, and are worthy of support. They get in an epic battle with the Montreal Canadiens, and would likely have been the sentimental favorites throughout the entire country, including a few in Quebec. However, just before game 7, a reporter asks the Leafs team captain what he thinks of Arts and Culture in general. He states that he would prefer to put that aside right now, as he is focused on game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. This costs the Leafs any support that they had in Quebec, but still most people are on side with them to win the Cup.
On the morning of the big game, the regular members of the Montreal Canadiens have been replaced by all the top players from the other teams in the N.H.L. It turns out that the owner of the Canadiens had been in secret meetings with the owners of the rest of the teams in the league, and had decided that if it comes to game 7, they would all ban together to defeat the Leafs. It’s a hollow victory that sparks outrage across most of the country, and the rest of the world, and destroys any confidence in a league that could allow such a thing to happen. The N.H.L. spins out of control, Ratings are way down, season tickets are cancelled throughout the league, and the league goes bankrupt before the next season gets underway.

I hope this puts this outrageous situation in to a perspective that everyone can understand. Stay tuned, as this isn’t over. We’ll see what happens when Parliament re-convenes in January.

If this concerns you, I urge my fellow Canadians to get involved between now and January. Don’t let it get pushed aside as this crisis is not over by any stretch. Attend the rally’s, write letters to the editor, call or write your Member of Parliament, call the talk shows, and join a Facebook group. STAND UP FOR CANADA!

Late Late Show, with Craig Ferguson, and Asbestos Concerns.

This past Wednesday, November 19, 2008, Sandy and I made the trek west to Hollywood to participate as audience members on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. We are both fans of Craig, and the taping of the show was very entertaining. We sat right near the stage, in the second row from the front. We rushed back to Indio to watch the show, and to see if we made it off the cutting room floor when the camera's panned the audience. Sure enough, as the camera panned across the crowd, there was my right arm just before the camera cut back to the real action. Now I have an appearance on CBS to add to my television portfolio that includes several guest appearances as the electrical expert, on Help TV, on Canadian Learning Television, and Access Network. That's the same arm that can be seen holding various tools on our website! I may now need to get an agent! Any offers out there?

On a more serious note, I recently received an e-mail request from Richard Moyle, National Awareness Coordinator for the Mesothelioma Cancer Center in Orlando Florida.

Richard writes:

"Right now we are in the midst of a public outreach, attempting to educate people on asbestos and the dangers of exposure. As you probably know, asbestos is the only cause of mesothelioma, a rare cancer. The most common form of this type of cancer affects the lining of the lungs, and is extremely difficult to treat.

Because electricians often work in buildings that were constructed during the years in which the construction industry made heavy use of asbestos-containing products, including wire and electrical insulation, there is often a high risk of exposure to asbestos.

Our website is considered one of the Web's leading educational resources for individuals affected by asbestos exposure. We are very proud of our information on symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options for those who have been affected. We recently received HON certification, an Internet standard created by the Health On The Net Foundation. This is a Swiss based, leading nonprofit organization promoting and guiding the deployment of useful and reliable online medical and health information. Additionally, our site has employed a full staff of writers dedicated to research and content creation on asbestos exposure and accompanying diseases, including Dr. Mauricio Salazar, our medical advisor".

Sandy and I have some first-hand experience with Asbestosis as her Father passed away from the disease back in 1995. He worked in an Asbestos insulation factory for several years in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. After his passing Sandy and her siblings were advised to get checked out for any signs of damage from second-hand exposure to asbestos, and after testing it was noted that some evidence of exposure exists, and will need to be monitored to see if the condition deteriorates over the years.

Over my career as an electrician, this was not something that I gave much consideration to until Richard's e-mail. I am going to post the article that he provided me on our website page dedicated to electrical safety.
Thank-you Richard, and the Mesothelioma Cancer Center for helping to raise awareness of this risk.

Please follow this link to the article.
http://www.electrical-online.com/asbestosremoval.htm

Hail to the Chiefs!

A lot has happened since my last post, most significantly the U.S. Presidential election. I'm a big supporter of the United States of America, and have the utmost respect for all that the nation stands for. The majority of the population wanted a change, and with the liberal media, and the throngs of celebrities throwing all the support and available resources behind Barrack Obama, you have a clear winner. The pure joy and jubilation on the faces of the people in the crowd in Chicago for the victory speech was very inspiring, and the President Elect didn't disappoint them with a historic and inspiring address. I hope that this new found optimism translates in to economic recovery in the long run, but so far the markets haven't responded very well in the wake of the election.

Maybe George W. Bush isn't the cause of all the economic strife as voters were led to believe? The sub-prime mortgage idea came from the Clinton Administration. Democrat, not Republican I believe. Yes, politically I stand right of center. However, the people have spoken, and I wish the next President all the best and I hope that he is even a fraction as good as the hype that sent him to the top.

However, one thing that I would like to comment on is the terrible treatment that President Bush has had to endure over the last couple of years. As I said before, I have nothing but respect for the U.S., and on that 11th day of September, I felt as though someone attacked my own family and friends, and I was angry. I commented many times that if I heard that they were handing out machine guns, and transportation across the pond to hunt down those responsible, I would have signed up in a heartbeat. President Bush was the Commander in Chief, and I believe that he handled himself with all the composure and leadership that all of us in the free world expected. To react with force is exactly what was required under the circumstance, and to do nothing would have been the wrong decision, in my humble opinion.

Now this isn't to say that I think George or his policies are without flaws. Nobody is perfect, and President Bush doesn't always come across publicly as the most educated and articulate man, but the public abuse and criticism that he has had to endure has to hurt, and hurt deeply. Sandy and I were in a Casino lounge in Florence Oregon on election night, watching the election results. Two ladies sat behind us watching Obama's acceptance speech, and after he was finished, I overheard one of them comment to the other: "So Bush is still in charge until January? That really scares me"! ......Scares you? Come on now! Do you really think that President Bush is out to do harm to the country and the very people that put him in charge of the country that he loves as much as you do? Think about that! George (and his close advisers) have had, and still have the best interest of the country in mind whenever they make decisions, even if they aren't the most popular ones.

I can only hope that after a cooling off period, the sentiments towards President Bush will be more favourable as he takes his place in American history. Bill Clinton wasn't all that popular when he embarrassed the country with his White House antics, and was nearly impeached for his actions, yet now he is treated as a hero, with people hanging on to his every word. George, there is hope for you yet. Time is the greatest healer! Hang in there President Bush! Thank you Mr. President, for 8 years of service to your country! God Bless the U.S.A.!

Terry the Electrician (Internet Electrician)

You've heard a lot about Joe the Plumber (if you are following the U.S. Presidential election and debates), so now it's time for Terry the Electrician to sound off on the economic slowdown (nice word for recession), and all the gloom and doom predictions that surround it.

I've been monitoring the TSX today, just to see how it closes, and it looks like it will be up about 300 points (3%) on the day, and the Dow Jones closed about even. This ends yet another week of wild swings in the markets, but maybe some stability is working its way in to the minds of investors? Wait a minute. That's being a bit too optimistic. That's not at all what we are used to. In the media, good news doesn't make very good news. They like to play on the negative in every way and this economic crisis has been a boon for them. Bad news makes GREAT news! I've seen more pictures in print and on the television of the masses in the soup lines of the great depression in the last few weeks than I've seen in my lifetime. Are we really heading for that?

I must admit that I have been caught up in this as well, and have had thoughts about how I wish I could have pulled out all my investments and stuffed them in my mattress for safe keeping. But when I look at the big picture, I hope I don't need to be pulling this money out as income for about 20 years or more. What will the market look like then? Who knows for sure. I certainly don't, and I'm even more sure that the 'experts' don't know either. I feel for the people that are now ready to start using investments as income now, but here again, are you pulling out all of your RRSP's today? This week? This year? We have to keep things in perspective before we panic and say no to a new car, or a vacation, and for sure no Christmas presents this year!

Look at your own situation. Yes there are people who have lost their job in this down-turn of the economy. Did you? Is your job relatively safe? Even if there is talk of down-sizing, is your name one of the small percentage that may be on the chopping block? If it is, you might start looking at your performance against your peers and see if you can't move up to the top half of the corporate ladder? If you own a business, is it slowing down? The business that we just sold is well on it's way to another record year, and 2009 looks even better for them. My point is this. With all the negativity, has your own personal situation changed as a result of all this? Most likely not. You probably have the same amount of disposable income that you had earlier this year when the TSX was over 15,000. Maybe even more if you look at expenses. They tend to fall in a slower economy.

Back to the stock market, and the extreme negativity. The TSX was below 6,000 back in late 2002. It was over 15,000 earlier this year. Today it closed at about 9,600. Are we down 35%, or are we up 37% from 2002? Is your glass half full, or half empty?

If you think the media and the experts can't possibly be wrong about the impending depression, and the complete loss of your personal wealth, let's look at what happened with the price of oil earlier this year. It climbed it's way to almost $150 / barrel. While on this wild ride up, what was the media saying about that? They were reporting all the most informed data from the experts with all the knowledge of this rise in price, and they all seemed to agree that we could be seeing oil at over $200/barrel by the end of 2008 and the price at the pump would be $1.50 / liter. ($5.85 US gal.). It's mid October now so with oil falling below $70 this week, we have a long way to go in the next 2 months to see this 285% gain in price come to fruition, don't we? And speaking of the price of gasoline.........

As I mentioned earlier, you may have more money to spend now as the price of getting to work, or operating your business SHOULD be getting cheaper as the price of gas must be destined to go down with the price of oil? No? Hasn't really kept pace with oil on the downward slide, has it. They say that the price of gas is very slow to react to the price of crude oil. But wait a minute. Every small increase in the price of oil on its way up reflected very quickly at the pumps. I remember clearly when the hurricanes were barely forming out at sea, the very prospect of them causing damage to refineries in the Gulf Coast region had the price of gas jumping in speculation. What a shameful double-standard! how dumb do they think we are?

So in closing, I think if you just keep all this in perspective, look at your own individual situation to see if it has changed much, and use that to guide as to how you would like to live your life. We're only here for a short time, so don't let the negativity of the media cause you to quit spending money or doing the things you enjoy. If you wanted that new car earlier this year, buy it! It's probably at a lower price now. If you were looking at a vacation, go for it. The price of that is probably down as well! To stop spending compounds the situation in the markets. They look at consumer spending as an economic indicator, and if spending is down, more downward pressure is put on the markets!

This is only my opinion, so take it for what it's worth! After all, I'm only "Terry the electrician".

Today we will pack up and tomorrow morning we will move on to Vancouver for a few days. I'll post another blog in a few days to up-date our situation. Follow our travels on Sandy's blog at http://canusamextravels.blogspot.com

PS. To Joe the Plumber. Buy that business! With the new fame and publicity you have I'll be very disappointed in you if you don't take full advantage of it as ride it as far as you can! Call me and I'll set you up as The Internet Plumber!

A Good Question

In my entry today, I am going to answer a great question that came in from one of our clients.

I have come across a question that I can't seem to get an answer to. I am AMAZED that I can't. Can you address with me the issues surrounding deliberately shorting a circuit in order to rapidly locate a circuit breaker?
Christopher.

This is an excellent question, and no, I haven't been asked this before so it is a good issue to address. I have never in my entire career as a professional electrician, purposely shorted out a circuit to trace the breaker location. However, I have seen others do it and use this practise on a somewhat regular basis. I do not support this practise.

A circuit breaker is designed to trip upon short circuit or fault conditions, and will open the circuit before damage can occur from the condition. Breakers are sized to protect the smallest wire size in the circuit, and the rated full load current of that wire. A properly functioning breaker will also trip under continuous over-load conditions at or near the rating of the breaker. Take for example, a circuit wired with #14 AWG wire, protected by a 15 amp breaker. I will give you 2 examples of why this is not a good idea. Some manufacturers of distribution equipment have lost their approvals for making breakers for household distribution because after tripping under a short circuit condition, once reset, they will resist tripping again under the same condition. No manufacturer names mentioned here, but one of them continues to maintain a large market share in the industry. I can't comment as to whether the problems have been corrected, but I will trust they have.

Example #1: I was using a reciprocating saw to cut off a wood ceiling truss in a porch, and failed to see a #14/2 wire stapled to the back of the truss that was covered in dust and dirt, and thus very hard to see. After completing the cut, with dust flying and debris falling, I looked at the blade of the saw and it looked as if someone had taken a human sized bite out of the blade. The live wire had arced and sparked it's way through the blade, blowing the metal away like a welding torch, all out of my view as I was on the other side cutting over my head. I couldn't believe that a 15 amp breaker would not have tripped under this condition. Just curious, I pulled out my meter and checked to see if the wire was still live, and to my amazement, it was! The breaker feeding that circuit was just a standard, 15 amp, single pole breaker (manufacturer name withheld).

Example #2: In older homes, where renovations to the system have been performed by well meaning homeowners, or helpful handy-friends, I have seen situations where an extra outlet or entire circuit has been added by splicing in to another circuit, like the 40A range circuit, using #14/2 wire spliced in a junction box tucked up in the floor joists. Imagine the extra pop that shorting out the 40A breaker will make! To sum it up, not a good practice. Imagine molten copper jumping from your intentional short circuit, leaping behind your safety glasses and melting through your eyelid in to the squishy part your eye!

On a personal note, we are still in Vernon B.C., and plan on moving on to Vancouver on Thursday of next week. Happy Thanksgiving to our fellow Canadians, and have a good weekend to the rest of the word!

Thank-you to my cousin Karen, and her husband Lloyd Knox for allowing us to stay on their R.V. lot here in Swan Lake Rec. Resort for the past couple of weeks.

Time to get to work!

Just returned from a golf trip to Sun Peaks Resort, near Kamloops B.C., and so far all our time since leaving home has been spent having fun. See Sandy's blog at http://canusamextravels.blogspot.com
Now it's time to get to work on the website. One of the first things we need to figure out is how to change our telephone help service. This aspect of the website hasn't been working that well as it seems every time the phone rings with a client needing help, I'm not in a good position to take the call, like driving, or visiting with someone, or I'm sleeping when the call comes in from an earlier time zone.
How it has worked before is when a call comes in, I answer it, or let it go to voicemail so that I can call the client back from a land line. Then I call back, get all the information from them, including credit card information, and then we begin timing the call when we get in to the client's question. After the call is finished, we would process payment through our other company's card terminal and transfer the funds to electrical-online.com. Now that we don't have a land line, or the other business, or a terminal now, this obviously won't work.
I'm not so sure the phone help is valuable, as many times I end up needing to create a diagram or drawing to get the question answered. I'm thinking that a timed session using chat software may be more useful and use a type of: "the electrician is in" button on the site to show when I'm online and available for a help chat. Any ideas out there? Feel free to drop me a line at terry@electrical-online.com if you have a suggestion.
Until next time.
Terry Peterman
The Internet Electrician

Jumping from a functioning airplane, why you ask?

What would you do after selling your business and were getting ready to begin the next phase of your life? I chose to tempt fate and find a way to possibly end mine. One of the apprentices in our company is an accomplished sky-diver and has done this silly stunt hundreds of times, so she thought that it would be a great team-building exercise for the Olds Electric team. Many signed up (or did Cindy sign them up initially?), but few carried it through to the end, or what could have been the end. The D-day was set for September 14, 2008, and Jody needed the commitment. I struggled with this in a large way, but my sister Judy, always game for new experiences, which has also included Bungee Jumping, said she would go if I did, but if I didn't, she wouldn't go. Great. Now some peer / sibling pressure to add to the decision process. I said OK, and the die was cast.

The day started with gathering at the small airport outside of Innisfail Alberta. We milled around for a while until the short lesson in the classroom, followed by flopping around on the floor of the preparation room pretending to be flying towards earth at upwards of 220 km/hr. (130+ miles/hr.) We chose the tandem jump for our first dive. This is where you jump from 10,000 feet, strapped to the guy behind you called the: "Tandem Master". This kind of bothered me as I don't usually do any recreational activities in tight jumpsuits with another person of the same sex buckled tightly to my back! (insert the famous Seinfeld homosexual disclaimer tag line, "not that there's anything wrong with that") It's just not for me. The other choice is a solo jump from only (only?) 4000 feet, with little or no free fall experience. We felt that if this was to be our first, and if it turned out to be the last time for this stunt, then why not get the full meal deal and go from the higher height. I reasoned that I would make the same hole in the earth reaching maximum speed from either height, so with a quick check for a trap door in the rear of the suit and finding none, it was all systems go. K.K, my Tandem Master likely prefers females for these jumps as well, so this particular fear was no longer a factor.

There are some procedures that you are taught to perform after hurling out of the airplane, and I thought that I would be OK with remembering them and how to properly perform them. They involve checking your altimeter, and then reaching for the rip cord to ensure that it's there, and when you get to about 6500 feet, you should again reach for the rip cord and pull it out for a chute opening of around 6000 feet. If you forget any of these steps, that's what the Tandem Master is there for. He doesn't want to die either, so he will pull the cord if you don't. This is good, because in the words of K.K., I was fairly unresponsive for about 3000 feet of free fall, so he slapped my hand away from grappling for the cord after I saw the 6500 foot mark come and go, so he pulled the cord for us. Poof, jerk, then silence. Wow,.... that's what I signed up for! Now it was quiet, the view incredible, and we drifted safely and silently towards the airport.

Once the chute is open the fear is gone and I enjoyed the ride down. When we were close to the landing area, we did a couple of spins left, then right, which left me quite nauseated and looking forward to getting back on the ground. I was instructed to lift my legs for the landing, but if we were coming in slow enough to land on our feet he would let me know at the last minute to stand up. I lifted my legs, but when he said stand up, I didn't, and we skidded to a stop on our buts.

All in all, it was a great experience, and thank-you Jody for talking me in to it.

Will I do it again? I don't think so. For me it was one of those "been there, done that" things, and I won't make a sport of it. It was scary, but fun. I'm also glad that I shared the experience with my sister Judy. She probably will do it again, only likely with her son Greg.

Until next time.

Let's Make a Deal!

After a fairly long, drawn-out, and difficult struggle, the sale of our electrical contracting business is complete! As of this past Friday, Sandy and I are now full-time R.V.’ers, and are working full-time on the website, http://www.electrical-online.com/. Our plans are in motion, and we are looking forward to enhancing our on-line services, and to improving the content on our site.


The sale of the business has been in the discussion and planning stages for well over a year now, and with us and the purchasers in full agreement over almost all of the details, including the purchase prices of the 2-part sale (the buildings and the business), it was surprising how difficult the process was, not within the affected parties, but with the legal wrangling, and then the financing from the bank. The first stumbling block was the lawyer for the purchasers. I’m not sure if he was just too busy, or if he was out of his comfort zone with a “share sale” all tied in with a real-estate purchase that was to close at the same time, but the delays that he caused were extremely frustrating for all parties involved. Our lawyer was fantastic throughout the process for us, and held the deal together, coming up with a 23rd hour solution that saved the entire process from collapse.


The deal was supposed to close on June 30, 2008, so all planning was pointed at that closing date, including a 2 day shut-down of operations to take a detailed inventory of the shop, vehicles, and jobsites. Then with the delays inflicted by the purchasers’ lawyer, it became apparent that we needed a new target date. We were hopeful that it would only be a week or two, but soon we set a realistic new closing date of July 31, 2008. With the “offers to purchase” now signed and in place, and closing in on the new deadline, the documents were ready to take to the bank. Verbal approval of the financing had been given by the bank, but needed: “one or two days” to run it through the official approval process.


After waiting to hear back from the bank for over a week, and us amending the target dates on the offers to purchase, we still had no word from the bank. Then came the answer that no one expected. The bank reneged on the down-payment requirements and now were asking for over twice as much cash up front, only financing a small portion of the amount required. The deal was in serious trouble, to say the least. The purchasers found a solution however, and off to the “people upstairs” for the rubber stamp of approval, and a promise that we would have a letter to take to our lawyer, ensuring that the financing was in place and the deal was saved. After yet another week, we still had no letter, and then another road block was erected by the bank. In the meantime, since July 31 (which we had named “the effective sale date”), the purchasers assumed the role of new owners, and had moved in to the living quarters of the business (with our blessing, but against our legal advise).


To make a long story even longer, time marched on and with the ever changing closing date now moved to August 31, 2008, we still weren’t sure what was going to happen. Sandy and I had sold or given away all of our surplus possessions, stored things we couldn’t divest of, and had moved everything else in to our motor home at our lake property. The new owners were all settled in with no place to return to, having sold their home back in June. To go back now seemed unthinkable, unbearable, yet inevitable. Then our lawyer, with less that 24 hours to disaster, came up with another option that involved Sandy and I providing the financing for the deal and leaving the bank to wonder what happened. Our lawyer drew up the revised offers to purchase, and the papers were signed before the deadline, and a new closing date of September 4, 2008 was established. Of course, the other lawyer missed the deadline by about 27 hours, but by 3:00 P.M. on September 5, the deal was done. What a ride!


Sorry to bore you with the details, but I needed to capture the process for future reference, so what better way than to use my blog? Now, as I have promised before, but failed miserably, I will be making more frequent entries. Way more. Really!


Sandy and I are looking so forward to the next phase of our lives, and the time is now! We will be heading out west to British Columbia for a month or so, starting around the 22nd of September. Then late October, or early November we will head south down the Pacific coast with a meandering path that will eventually get us to southern tip of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. Sandy is going to start a blog that will document our travels, complete with pictures or video where necessary. I will up-date you with the location and a link to it when we get that in place.



We plan to be very focussed on the website, improving the content, and answering the client questions on a regular basis.


Let’s get it started!

Spring in Alberta!

IMG_1295, originally uploaded by sandypeterman.

Winter returns (for now)

Here we are, 20 days into the month of April, and I’m happy that my blog entries are slowly becoming a little more frequent. The sale of our contracting business is moving towards completion, and we might be able to set a date for the change of ownership by the end of this week.

If we were having any second thoughts about spending more time closer to the sun, they were erased on Friday, with the invasion of a cold front, complete with high winds, cold temperatures, lots of snow, and no sign of relief for about a week! I just got back in the office from clearing our sidewalks of heavy, wet, drifted snow (see the uploaded picture).

As a contrast, one week ago Saturday, the temperature was about 21 degrees Celsius, or 70 Fahrenheit for our American friends.

A few weeks ago, we were approached by the nice folks at Warmly Yours to see if we would consider putting an article on our website introducing our clients to their line of home comfort heating products, including tile and stone, carpet and laminate, snow melting (I could use some of that right now), towel warmers, mirror de-foggers, and area rug heaters.

After reviewing their comprehensive and informative website, at www.warmlyyours.com , we were very impressed with the products and the company, and we have posted a short but informative article on our site that you need to check out, whether you are in the market for some floor heating now, or will be in the near future. Follow this link at: http://www.electricalonline.com/wiringanelectricfloorheatingsystem.htm

Recently a client sent me this question, which I will answer for you here on this blog as a timely compliment to the subject of installing some in-floor heating products.

Question:

I have tiles floor heat in my bathroom. As per the electrical inspector, I need to install a GCFI breaker for the circuit. Currently there is a 240v double pole 15a breaker installed with two screw terminals. There are two wires connected to these, and a ground that attaches to the bond terminals in the panel. The two wires go to the line voltage thermostat for the floor heat.

When I got the new 240v GFCI double pole 15a breaker I see it has three screw terminals and a white curly wire attached. I connected the white curly wire to the neutral bar in the panel per the instructions. Then I connected the two wires that are going to my thermostat to the two screw terminals that are black and labeled Load -. There is a screw terminal in between those labeled ‘Load N’, and nothing is currently connected to that. I have power to the thermostat but when I press the test button it doesn't trip the GFCI breaker. Any thoughts?

Answer:

If you have connected the new GFCI breaker to your circuit as you have described, you connected it correctly. The load neutral is only required if the appliance or the equipment that you are feeding with the GFCI breaker requires a neutral conductor. With a 240V electric heat circuit, there is no neutral, so leaving the ‘Load N’ terminal unused is correct.
As for the breaker not tripping when you push the ‘test’ button, this can only meant that the breaker is faulty, and should be returned for replacement. GFCI devices should be checked in this manner on a monthly basis, and need to be replaced if they do not function as designed.

Until next time, work safely, and check back often!