First week on the job, old timer named Jerry told me to always flag my own drops even if the prints looked clean. I thought he was just being paranoid so I skipped it on a job over in Elmwood last month. Ended up drilling through a buried fiber line from three years ago that wasn't on any map. Cost the company about $400 in repairs and I had to work late to re-run the whole drop. Has anyone else had a senior's advice come back to bite them when they ignored it?
I've been doing residential installs for about 2 years now. Every few jobs I'd get a call back for a bad termination. Checked my compression tool, checked the connectors, checked my stripping technique. Finally my buddy Mark who's been doing this for 15 years watched me one day. He goes 'you're twisting the center conductor when you push the connector on'. I was bending that copper wire every single time without noticing. Fixed it by just changing my grip and now zero call backs in 3 months. Anyone else have a dumb little habit that was messing up their work without realizing?
I started out using gel filler on every single drop like the old guys taught me. Swore by it for years. Then last month I did a job in a 1970s building downtown and the gel just wouldn't set right in the cold crawl space. Had to redo three drops. A guy on site told me to just use tape and move on. I tried it and honestly it was faster and held fine. But now I'm wondering if tape is going to fail on me later in the heat or something. What do you all use for sealing drops and why?
I had a run of 6 installs back in 2019 where every customer had their equipment ready, the crawl spaces were clean, and I even found a 20 dollar bill in the driveway, what's your record for smoothest day on the clock?
I was using those cheap $20 crimpers for years and my hands would be killing me after a big apartment complex job. Finally broke down and bought the Klein heavy duty ratcheting set last month and the difference in comfort is insane. Has anyone else switched to a premium tool and felt dumb for not doing it sooner?
I was out on a job over on Maple Street last week and saw a cable line just hanging down from a big oak tree branch. The weight of the line was actually starting to pull the branch down, and I bet a good wind would snap it right off onto a house. Have any of you run into problems with trees causing issues with aerial drops like that?
I replaced 12 of them last week on one apartment complex in Nashville, and every single one had green crud inside the port from sitting in the weather for 3 years has anyone else run into this on newer buildings?
I was working a job in a 1970s house in Denver last Tuesday. I kept snagging on something in the wall and couldn't get the coax through to the living room. Turns out my fish tape had a tiny burr on the tip from a previous job that kept catching drywall. I filed it down with a pocket knife and the run went smooth in 10 minutes. Anyone else ever wasted time on a dull or damaged fish tape?
I was running Cat6 in a new office building near Denver and my old Klein crimper just locked up on me around drop 47. The ratchet mechanism stripped and I had to borrow a replacement from a sparky on site. Anyone had luck rebuilding one of these or is it just time to bite the bullet and buy new?
I was out at a job site in Spokane last Tuesday trying to bend some 1/2 inch rigid and the metal just didn't want to cooperate like it does in summer. Last month I could do a 90 degree bend in under a minute flat, but last week I ended up with two kinked pieces before I got one right. Any of you guys have a trick for bending when it's below freezing outside?
I was at the Graybar supply house in Denver last Tuesday grabbing some RG6 and this old electrician, probably late 60s, starts watching me strip cable. He says "son you are working way too hard on that thing" and I laughed it off at first. But he showed me how he uses a simple utility knife at a 45 degree angle instead of those fancy coax strippers I always use. Took me maybe 30 seconds to try it on a scrap piece and honestly the cut was cleaner and faster than my $40 prep tool. I have been doing cable work for like 8 years and never thought to try anything different. It got me wondering how many other little habits I have that could be easier if someone just showed me once. Has anyone else had an old timer teach them a trick that totally changed how you do a basic job?
I was over at a job site in Raleigh last Tuesday helping a new guy terminate some RG6. He watched me strip the jacket and said ‘why are you cutting into the braid like that?’ I had been nicking the shielding with my coring tool the whole time. Took me back to the van and showed me a trick where you twist the coring tool an extra half turn. My signal loss has been better on every refit since. Anyone else discover a basic step they’d been messing up for years?
Had a retired cable guy flag me down after a job in Arlington last month and show me how my weatherproofing was all wrong on the ground block. I used to just wrap tape however, now I do a proper double wrap and seal with silicone grease. Anyone else get feedback that actually stuck?
I used to do it freehand with the cheap crimper from the van, but after a dozen callbacks in 3 months I tried a pass-through connector kit from my local Graybar. Now I can actually see the pairs line up before I crimp. Anyone else switch to pass-throughs and notice fewer fails?
I used to buy the expensive gel stuff from Anixter until I realized plain dish soap and water works just as well for residential jobs here in Austin, and it costs me like $3 a month instead of $25 a gallon, so has anyone else gone back to the basic stuff and felt like a dummy for spending more?
How do these builders get away with loose cable flopping around up there when we have to follow code to the letter on every single job?
After struggling with a rigid auger that kept binding halfway through the double top plate, I finally grabbed a Milwaukee flex bit with a swivel tip and cleared that whole run in under 10 minutes-has anyone else found flex bits way faster on really dense wood?
Last Friday I had a job where none of the wall plates were labeled and the customer was pissed about downtime. I spent 2 hours guessing cables and pulling the wrong ones before I grabbed a toner from my van. Traced every live line in 45 minutes flat. Anyone else still see techs skip basic test gear?
Had a job last Tuesday out in Maplewood where I was running a new line under a front yard. The homeowner came out and asked if I was looking for old coins or something. I told him no, I was just burying cable, and he got real quiet and went back inside. Later he came out with a metal detector and started scanning the lawn while I worked. Took everything in me not to laugh. He didn't find anything but told me he "had a feeling" about that spot. Anyone else get folks who think we're up to something weird?
I keep seeing guys in this sub recommending those cheap push-on F connectors for outdoor installs. Did a service call in Phoenix last week where a customer had 3 of them fall off in 2 months. They just don't hold up to heat expansion or wind. I only use crimp-on connectors with a proper compression tool for any exterior runs. How do you guys handle long term reliability on exposed lines?
Was running coax through an office building in downtown Austin last month and hit a dead end after 40 feet. Spent 20 minutes yanking and pulling before a senior guy walked over and showed me to snake it in a slow zigzag through the drop ceiling. Turns out straight pulls catch every random screw and clamp. Now I wiggle it side to side on every long run and it saves me about 15 minutes per job. Anyone else have a small trick like that that cut your install time down?
I was at a job site last Tuesday in a new subdivision out near Edwardsville and I heard one of the framing guys tell the foreman to just bury the cable under the concrete instead of using conduit. He said it would save them a day of work and nobody would ever know. I stood there for a second trying to figure out if he was joking but he was dead serious. I told the foreman that if they did that and something ever shifted or needed a re-run they'd be cutting up a brand new foundation. He just shrugged and said "not my problem that's for the electrician later." I ended up talking to the site super instead and he agreed to put in a sweep conduit but man the attitude some builders have about future proofing drives me crazy. Has anyone else run into this kind of pushback on new construction jobs?
A batch of those cheap compression fittings from my supplier started splitting on me yesterday on a new build in Maplewood, had to re-terminate 12 lines by hand. Anyone else run into bad batches of fittings lately or is this just me?
I was using a regular utility knife to strip coax cable for years. Kept nicking the braid and getting intermittent signal issues. An old timer named Dave on a job site in Nashville watched me for 30 seconds and handed me a proper coax stripper. He showed me how to match the blade to the cable type and now my terminations pass every time without a second look. Has anyone else used the wrong tool for basic tasks way longer than they should have?