Electrician Joe

Electrician Joe Master Electrician
The road to success is
always under construction.

Name a better lighting upgrade… I’ll waitThese slim LED can lights might be the best thing to happen to lighting in the ...
06/06/2026

Name a better lighting upgrade… I’ll wait
These slim LED can lights might be the best thing to happen to lighting in the last 50 years. Thin enough to slide under a rafter, easier than fighting old-school cans, and no more rough-in nightmares where one can light gets caught on everything and drags five more with it.
The old remodel cans with those tabs you had to beat into place? Absolute garbage, especially if the hole was a little oversized or the drywall edge was crumbling.
Now you get a wafer light, five color temps, no giant bulbs, no bulky housings, and no more fighting those terrible spring-loaded plastic trims.
Honestly… whoever invented these deserves a raise.

Romex is about 6 inches short of the range hood box.Which is perfect, because apparently this wire trained its whole lif...
06/06/2026

Romex is about 6 inches short of the range hood box.
Which is perfect, because apparently this wire trained its whole life just to quit at the finish line.
Best move here? Junction box in the ceiling? Extension? Sacrifice a cabinet? Start over and pretend we never opened this hole?
It’s right there… but also very much not right there.

My co-op is making every apartment replace the breakers because of insurance requirements.They’re saying these old Feder...
06/06/2026

My co-op is making every apartment replace the breakers because of insurance requirements.
They’re saying these old Federal Pacific / FPE Stab-Lok breakers are a fire hazard, and judging by the panel, they look original to the building from around 1962.
They’re charging $1,300 per unit here in NYC.
Is that a fair price for this kind of breaker/panel work, or are we getting absolutely cooked by the co-op/electrician?

Inspector failed this recessed light box for being “overfilled.”Label says max (4) #12, (6) #14, or (9) #18 conductor...
06/06/2026

Inspector failed this recessed light box for being “overfilled.”
Label says max (4) #12, (6) #14, or (9) #18 conductors. We had three 14/2 Romex going into it.
Inspector insisted that meant 6 conductors total, and by counting all the grounds as one, he said we had 7… so fail.
Spent half the day waiting for him to show up, then the other half rerunning cable and redoing boxes for something that made zero sense.
By that logic, you couldn’t even run two 12/2 cables into this box without failing it.
Absolutely love when the code interpretation costs more time than the actual job.

Charged $3,000 for this water heater setup.Now the homeowner suddenly wants a permit… and I already know I’m not getting...
06/06/2026

Charged $3,000 for this water heater setup.
Now the homeowner suddenly wants a permit… and I already know I’m not getting one.
Panel next to the heater, missing cover on the switch, questionable clearances, and a whole lot of “that’s not how this was supposed to go.”
So let’s hear it.
Guess the violation.
And be honest… am I eating this one and giving a refund, or are we calling it a very expensive lesson?

Brand new Klein lineman’s and I’m wondering if this gap is normal…Just picked these up and noticed the jaws don’t close ...
06/03/2026

Brand new Klein lineman’s and I’m wondering if this gap is normal…
Just picked these up and noticed the jaws don’t close perfectly flush all the way down. There’s a visible gap through the cutting/ gripping area, and I’m not sure if that’s how they’re supposed to be or if I got a bad pair.
Before I take them back and look like an idiot at the counter…
Are new Klein lineman’s supposed to have a gap like this, or is this a return/exchange situation?

New build and my outlet tester is already throwing errors… should I be worried?I went around checking the receptacles an...
06/03/2026

New build and my outlet tester is already throwing errors… should I be worried?
I went around checking the receptacles and found one outlet showing “open ground” and about 20 outlets showing “hot/neutral reversed.”
I understand what the tester is saying, but I’m trying to understand the actual risk here. How dangerous is an open ground? And what problems can hot/neutral reversed cause if everything still “works”?
Also, the last picture is something I found in the basement with the cables stapled/secured like that. Is that a simple fix with a proper junction box, or is this a bigger “call the builder back immediately” kind of situation?
Brand new house, so I’m trying to figure out if this is normal punch-list stuff… or if the electrical crew needs to come explain themselves.

Has anyone ever seen this before?Walked onto a jobsite today and found an “isolated ground bar” setup that made me stop ...
06/03/2026

Has anyone ever seen this before?
Walked onto a jobsite today and found an “isolated ground bar” setup that made me stop and stare for a minute.
I’ve been doing this for 30+ years, and somehow this is still a first for me. Green conductors everywhere, lugs hanging off the bar, and the whole thing looks like someone said, “Just isolate it… aggressively.”
Not sure whether to be impressed, confused, or concerned.
What are we calling this one — creative grounding, overthinking, or full-send electrical art?

When do I actually stop bending?I’ve asked a few journeymen, even asked my teacher, and somehow every answer is differen...
06/02/2026

When do I actually stop bending?
I’ve asked a few journeymen, even asked my teacher, and somehow every answer is different — or they explain it in a way that makes even less sense.
Every time I do offsets, it feels like a full guessing game. Bend a little, check it, bend the other side, check it again, walk back and forth, question my life choices, repeat.
How am I supposed to properly use the degree markings on the bender? Am I watching the pipe, the mark, the handle, the star, my hopes and dreams?
Apprentice brain is buffering. Somebody explain offsets before I turn more EMT into modern art.

How do I make this look like it wasn’t bent by emotional damage?First-year here looking for some advice on how to tackle...
06/02/2026

How do I make this look like it wasn’t bent by emotional damage?
First-year here looking for some advice on how to tackle this run. It’s 1” EMT, and the first pipe coming out of the box is supposed to be a 45-degree bend.
Ignore the second pipe — that one already lost the fight and is headed to the scrap pile.
What’s the clean way to get these lined up and make the bends match without turning it into conduit spaghetti? Any tips, measurements, or “stop doing that before your journeyman sees it” advice is welcome.

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