Electrician

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Always check that the electrician is Licensed. A local license is good (ER) but a license Certified by the State of Florida is the best (EC). Contact the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to check the status of a license.

Always get a firm bid or at least a "not to exceed" price.

Pete Stiles; EC13001986.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. The wiggle test;

If you are having problems with some lights or receptacles on a circuit not working, working intermittently, or "wavering" this is often due to bad connections in one or more receptacle boxes. These connections might be made by means of wire nuts inside the box which will need to be checked to see if they are fully tightened as they can become loose over time.

Another possibility is that the original wiring to the receptacles was done via the “back stab” holes at the rear of the receptacles and not with the side terminals. Over time this back stab method very often causes problems because the connections become weak. The only way to cure this is to place all wires presently in the back stab connections on to the corresponding side screws. There is a way to possibly tell if this is the case although it will probably NOT work for detecting loose wire-nuts;

Plug in a working lamp into one of the dead receptacles then using a 3 prong plug from something else go around to ALL the receptacles on that circuit (including the working receptacles) and insert this plug.

Next wriggle it firmly up, down and side to side while checking the plugged in lamp. If this lamp flickers on and off then the receptacle you are checking is where the loose wire is located.

Should this not work then with power off a physical inspection will need to be made, not only of all receptacles and their wire nuts on this defective circuit but also wire nuts in all lighting points and switch boxes on the circuit.

Remember that (although counter-intuitive) the wriggle test and wire-nut checks should be carried out on ALL devices/boxes on the bad circuit, NOT just non working ones.`

If the above methods fail then One other thing which may assist you in locating this fault is a 2 lead volt meter (Not a voltage sniffer) which reads out an exact voltage value. If you have one of these, or are prepared to get one (Home Depot $23) then let me know.


For all future questions you may contact me directly; SIR SPARKS.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. Fast fault finding and State Certified work means less hassle and lower end prices to the customer; Guaranteed.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. The diversity of customers I get to help.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. How much?; Less than others
How long?: Quicker than most.
Guarantee?: 100%
When?: NOW.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. Circa 1977 Portsmouth England. At this time I had been a cop for 2 years.


This, as all my stories are 100% true.


THE OPERATION



I arrived a little early for night shift and was told not to wait for parade but to get straight down to St. Mary's' hospital to guard a prisoner. Apparently a guy had been arrested and later claimed abdominal pains while in the cell, the Police surgeon was called and thought it might be possible it was appendicitis, so sent him to hospital. Someone can not just be "De-arrested" because he is sick, so he needed to be guarded.

As I went into the emergency ward I met a porter who spoke like a mush (A strong Portsmouth dialect similar almost to a semi illiterate) he told me the prisoner had been operated on with a general anesthetic so would me unconscious all night, he told me there was no point in me staying to guard him. I informed him that I had no choice as he was in police custody and I would be staying. I asked if he did indeed have appendicitis to which he replied, "Nah! We don't think so mate but it'll stop him pulling that trick again"

Oh boy I thought, what a moron.

I positioned a chair just outside of the prisoners private room in the hallway where I could watch the pretty nurses all night, after all there would be nothing else to do.

One nurse in particular caught my eye, but that is another story, it was about 10.15pm and I prepared for a long boring night. All was quiet until about 2 am. When suddenly all hell broke loose with the porter pushing a gurney full speed down the corridor with a nurse at his side holding a drip for the luckless patient on the gurney. I always thought nurses didn't run but this proved me wrong. I quickly moved my chair to let them pass and watched them disappear into another private room.

After about 30 minutes I saw the porter studying some x-rays in a room near by, I was bored so went in to take a look too. I studied the x-rays on the screen and noticing large black blotches near the center of the abdomen, I exclaimed that it looked pretty serious.

Nah Nah! Exclaimed the porter "That's just wind, it's if they are white it's serious"

"Oh really", I said thinking this guy was a bit of a jerk.

"Why are you interested? We think he might have peritonitis and we are going to take him down shortly to the operating room, open him up and look see" he said..

Now this guy was really starting to P me off, "Interested" I said "I'll assist if you want"

"Oh I'd like that' he said, "Give me 15 minutes then come on down, I'll leave the green scrubs out for you." With that he disappeared and I was becoming just a little bit worried.

I found the pretty nurse and asked her about this jerk porter, she assured me all the porters went home earlier, so I described this mush to her.

"Oh! That's Mr. Bagshore the Consultant Surgeon" she replied.

"But he talks like a mush" I exclaimed.

"Yes he is a little eccentric" she retorted. And disappeared on her rounds.


Now I thought my big mouth had really put me in the muck, but life is about experience and pride so I couldn't turn this down no matter what. I waited 10 more minutes and made my way down to the operating theatre, and what ever fate awaited me and my mouth.


In the entrance/scrub room I found a neatly folded set of green clothes waiting for me, I wasn’t sure if I should undress but they fitted over the top of my uniform anyway, with a deep breath I walked into the operating room.

There was the patient lying on the table, to his left was a nurse and an anesthetist, to his right near the chest was the surgeon Mr. Bagshaw and toward the thighs was another man, I went right to the feet to try and stay as much out of the way as possible but Mr. Bagshaw exclaimed “No not there, next to me, move out of the way Dr.” so I changed places with this other man I now learned was a doctor.

The patient was nearly 80 and quite overweight, the surgeon very unexpectedly (to me) made a quick slash across his fat upper stomach and suddenly the skin and fat flew back and I was left staring into a gaping hole. As my body instinctively raised bolt upright to the tips of my toes it quite obvious to me that I was swooning and was about to pass out. My only concern was if I would fall backwards into a big array of expensive looking equipment which may have been keeping the patient alive, or forward into the gaping chasm which had just appeared.

Fortunately I managed to stay conscious, and as the surgeon continued his cutting he was explaining that as this was not an emergency incision but exploratory, he had time to sculpt around the muscles and not straight through them, this way would lead to a much quicker recovery time. I found myself becoming very interested in the procedure and almost forgot my repulsion, finally as the surgeon used something like G clamps to spread the ribs I saw a pulsating organ. I was so amazed that I made my one and only comment of the operation.

“Ah the Heart” I observed.

The surgeon quickly informed me that actually it was the diaphragm which also pulses, but it was too late the damage was done! I felt burning on the back of my neck (seriously) and turned toward the feet of the patient where I saw the doctor staring in disbelief at me and shaking is head. Of course it was clear now, this doctor thought I was senior to him because he had been pushed to the feet, and I had just screwed up heart for a diaphragm!

After some more work it turned out that the patient had a hole in his intestine which was leaking stomach acids into the chest cavity and creating a pain similar to a heart attack.
The surgeon took a small piece for later biopsy and then began sewing up. Once more I was amazed to see the surgeon empty an entire bowl full of what appeared to be soapy water into the hole, insert his hands and begin singing as he made an exaggerated cleaning action as if washing socks.

My shift was nearly over and it was time to leave as the last stitches went in, I checked upon the patient for the rest of my night shift week and he was doing fine

16 years later I came across the location of Mr. Bagshaw quite by accident, I wrote him a story similar to this and he confirmed by return mail that it had indeed all taken place.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. 14 hours of grueling Mandatory Continuing Education is needed every license renewal cycle.
In end though it ensures I stay on top of my trade which benefit my customers and how deep they need reach in their pockets.

Paying handyman a few dollars less will cost you big time in the end.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. Although difficult to find an apprenticeship is the ONLY way to go. Add a good night school college to this and you will be setting a path for your secured future.

Choose a State Certified Electrician to be your mentor.

Bite the bullet now and reap the rewards later. You will be grateful you did.