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Warning: A 'simple' retrofit in a 60s office building turned into a 3-day nightmare
Last week I got called to install a new panel in a downtown office. The old wiring was a mess of cloth-covered stuff, and the previous guy had just twisted and taped everything. I spent a full day just mapping it out, and on day two I found a whole zone was backfeeding through a junction box in the ceiling. The building manager kept saying 'it was working fine before,' but it was a fire waiting to happen. Ended up running all new wire for that section and billing for the extra time. Anyone else run into these hidden disasters on 'easy' retrofits?
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ben_nguyen6mo ago
Ugh, classic. Always budget double the time.
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ben_nguyen6mo ago
Learned that the hard way last week. Just started adding a buffer for every single step now.
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riverthompson6mo ago
Used to think adding buffer time was just being lazy. Then I got burned trying to fix a simple bug before a demo. Took three hours instead of one and I looked like a fool. Now I pad everything, like @ben_nguyen said. That extra hour for a meeting or even just to send an email saves my sanity every single day.
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