Electricians don’t really like digging ditches.  Not only is it difficult to do, it’s not really a “skilled” labor job.  And customers don’t appreciate paying an electrician high wages just to dig a ditch.  However, from time to time it is necessary.

Running conduit under a road, across a parking lot, or under a drive way always involves extra caution.  Today, much of the conduit buried in the ground is made of PVC.  But it wasn’t that long ago that the buried conduit was rigid metal pipe.

I had acquired a number of ends that could be pressed into the ends of threaded rigid pipe.  One end was a pointed piece of metal.  Another end was a “cap” that could be pressed onto the pipe that would enable you to strike the pipe without damaging the end.  They were very handy when I needed to run conduit under a roadway.

I would dig a ditch about 10 feet long, press on the pointed end and the capped end on a length of conduit, and drive the conduit under the roadway.  When the capped end was nearly covered I would remove it, screw on another length of conduit, attach the capped end to the next length of conduit and continue driving.  When you got through to the other side you simply removed the ends and continued connecting conduit until the raceway was complete.  The press-on ends kept the inside of the conduit clean from dust and pebbles too.

One time when I was doing this a fellow was on the job site working with his back hoe.  I suggested that if he could turn his back-hoe sideways and use the hydraulic arm to push the pipe through the dirt, it would be helpful.

He did so and it worked like a charm.  I got two hours of work done in a few minutes.  Later on I learned that there is a piece of equipment available for this purpose called a “Pipe Pusher.”

This is all good and well unless you encounter a large rock.  I heard that one crew was using a Pipe Pusher when they struck a rock.  The pipe bent and came up through the roadway, right through the asphalt.

When that happens there is no alternative.  You must stop traffic, dig a ditch, lay the pipe, backfill the excavation and resurface.  In the end that saves no time or money.

Back at the job where I had used the back hoe to push the pipe, I had run the conduit next to the building and entered the structure through an L.B.  (An L.B. is a metal elbow with a cover.)  Some months later I returned to do additional work, and brickwork had been installed on the outside of the building.  It had been installed right over the cover of the L.B.

I had to explain to the homeowner that covering up an access point, like an L.B. cover, was a “no-no.”

If I had known they were going to do the brick work, I would have left it out far enough that the cover would be exposed.

Lesson: We live and learn.

While working in the Davenport hotel I was introduced to a number of new and unexpected circumstances.  For instance:

Surprise 1. All rubber is not all rubber.  The front desk had a large number of control operators underneath it.  At that time the hotel was busy, and the management of the hotel did not want to shut off any of the electrical power while I was working on the front desk area.  Consequently I had to work on it hot.

I decided I would use a rubber mat while I was working on the controls.  I took an old truck tire inner tube and cut it open and made a nice mat to stand on.  It didn’t seem to work too well as I was constantly getting bit by electricity while I was working.  I couldn’t understand it.  Finally I convinced the management to shut off the circuits I was working on.  I later learned two interesting pieces of information.  One, – that in the making of those particular types of inner tube, the manufacturers use metallic compounds in the rubber for strength.  And two, – You can get a manufactured rubber mat for the specific purpose of working in such situations.

That would have been good information to have.

Surprise 2.  All of the old panel boxes had the neutral wires fused.  Today that is definitely a no-no.

Surprise 3.  There was very little access between floors, except in one instance there was about a four foot space between the ceiling below and the floor above.  We cut an access hole in the space to do the wiring between those two floors.  I was working in dust that had accumulated over a 75 year period.  Not a good idea.  I’m not sure how much it affected my health, but it was at that time I had a round of pleurisy.

We would remodel the rooms one room at a time.  To run the new electrical in the rooms, we would cut a notch in the plaster, lay the conduit in the notch, and the plaster crew would cover over it, and the painters would cover the damage.

The panels were old fuse type panels and we replaced them with breaker type panels.  We would use the new panel interiors and throw the new can away.

I never had the opportunity to work on the recent major renovation of the Davenport Hotel, but I often wondered how much of the work we did back then survived.

I guess, either way, that might be a surprise too.

I was working on a job out in Seattle.  My apprentice partner was of Latin- American descent.  He was a rather strong fellow.  He had just started his apprenticeship and was anxious to learn.  He was a good worker.

We were installing the trim in one building, and the sheet rockers had leaned a large amount of sheet rock against the wall in front of one of the receptacle boxes.  I suggested that I could hold the sheetrock straight up, away from the wall, while he went behind and installed the receptacle.  This would give him real electrical experience.  He obviously didn’t need sheetrock holding experience.

A moment of clear thinking would have allowed me to reconsider.  He was the stronger of us two.  I would take up less room between the sheet rock and the wall.  It was a snap decision that didn’t turn out very well.

While holding the sheet rock upright I became overbalanced.  The sheet rock started falling back toward me.  As I tried desperately to hold it upright, I fell over backward with the sheet rock on top of me.  (We later determined that the sheet rock weighed a ton.)  A number of men came and lifted the sheet rock off of me.

I was able to get up but my feet had been flat on the floor while my legs were turned sideways at the ankle.  It was not a pleasant experience!  I wouldn’t recommend it.  They hauled me off to the hospital.  The doctor kept asking me if I had heard a pop or a snap.  I hadn’t noticed either one.  The X-rays did not show anything broken but the ligaments had been stretched considerably.

I had been staying with my daughter and son-in-law in Seattle, so my wife came over to the coast to pick me up and take me home.  There followed four or five months of hobbling around and physical therapy.

During that time we had very little income.  L&I was very slow to compensate us.  I received an opportunity to inspect wiring for FHA homes.  At the time it seemed like a reasonable solution.  I could hobble around a home and verify wiring, and wait for the compensation for being injured on the job to show up.

I was mistaken.  The fact that I was earning something cut off the very little that L&I was compensating me.  A great number of correspondence letters ensued, with me trying my best to get everything cleared up.  My lawyer said that I just dug the hole deeper every time I wrote a letter.  He eventually got it all corrected.

It took some time before I was able to contact the apprentice who had been working with me and assure him my injury was not his fault.

It was my own mistake.

Besides, dry wall is heavy stuff.