Usually, running power into a manufactured home requires that wire be run in conduit under the home for some distance.  Sometimes the distance is short (less than 10 feet), sometimes it is longer (the whole length of the home).  Over the years, changes in the NEC required that we change our manner of installation.

When I was starting to install a lot of manufactured housing, we could run flexible metal conduit under the home.  Then the requirement changed to dis-allow FMC and require PVC.  After that, different types of PVC were required.  One gauge of PVC was allowed under the home, another gauge of PVE was required outside the home.

Then a change came that affected the depth of burial for the PVC outside the home.  Changes also came regarding how the conduit was secured under the home.  For awhile we could secure the conduit by any means we could determine.  Sometimes it meant driving pieces of remnant EMT into the ground and bending it over the conduit.  Then more of a manufactured nature was required – i.e. strapping.

Soon cement pads/footings were poured for the home to sit on and we had to change again by shooting concrete nailing shots into the concrete to secure the strapping and conduit.  I purchased a powder actuated “gun” and we would drive 2 inch nails into the concrete.

From previous experience on large commercial projects I had learned that you should call out a warning before activating the nail gun.  One time while installing the conduit under a manufactured home for a friend, I called out; “fire in the hole.”

I didn’t realize my friend was under the home at the other end when I did so.  I was just calling out the warning/notice as I thought I should.  After calling out the warning I activated the gun.  My friend came out from under the home a little perturbed.  He said; “Adrian called out “fire in the hole BANG!”  What you are supposed to do is allow time for everyone to get clear.”

We’re still friends.

On a different tack, this account reminded me of another dear old friend over in Glasgow, Montana.  Whenever I would meet him on the street, or any place unexpected for that matter, he would say; “Well what a man won’t see when he comes away from home without his gun!”

Another friend of mine, of German descent, would call out; “Adrian, Vas ess loes?”

I would try to reply and he would say; “No, no.  You are supposed to say ‘Alles ess nacht ochtopune.’”   (At least that is what it sounded like to me, since I didn’t know the German language.)  The exchange was supposed to mean; “What’s up?”  Followed by; “Everything is not tied loose.”

Permision granted to laugh at my poor German now.

I had been in business for myself for just a few years when the Spokane area received the blessings of Ice Storm.  The storm was so eventful, that today it is just referred to as Ice Storm, indicating there is nothing with which to confuse it.

The storm had coated the overhead lines and made them so heavy the power poles broke off up and down the roads out in The Valley.  Trees came down on top of the power lines and knocked many of them down.  Services were pulled off of the walls of houses and laid down in the yards.  Many times the meters stayed intact and the power lines remained energized.

The storm was hardly over and we were out in the field looking at needed repair work.  When we walked across the yards the grass was coated in ice.  It felt like we were walking on peanut shells.

The Utility companies were recommending electrical contractors for the repair work, and AdenBecks was on the list.  This was a very nice validation of our work quality, as we were just a small shop with two journeymen and two apprentices.  It gave us plenty of work for many months.  In fact we completed the last repair about one year later.  That particular residence had not had their power lines or service destroyed.  However the lines were resting on their roof so repairs were necessary, just not an emergency.

We had equipped ourselves with current detectors that would tell us which lines were energized.  We could lay the tip of the detector against the outside of the wire.  On high voltage lines the detector signaled power just by getting close to the wire.

We heard of one man that was killed by walking across the wire on the ground.  It didn’t take us long to make a habit of carrying the detectors in our hand when we went where the lines were down.

One person called us to say they couldn’t go to work because the power lines were draped across their driveway about eye level.  Their car was in the garage and they didn’t know what to do.  When I arrived I looked from across the road and thought to myself; “Those are telephone wires.”

I was gauging my determination on the apparent size of the wire.  I walked over and grasped the wire with my hand and broke off some of the ice.  Ooops.  The ice on the wire had only made them appear to be telephone lines.  Instead they were the high voltage lines.  They were also de-energized.

I propped the lines up with some 2x4s and the residents drove their car out under the lines.  I removed the 2x4s and advised them to park in the street until the power company got things straightened out.

I could have ended my career right then and there because of a lack of caution.

Besides being regulated by the National Electric Code and Inspectors, electricians must keep safety regulations in mind.  We must continue to be up-dated on safety matters.  Records must be kept on safety meetings and we must have a safety regimen.  Sometimes the reason behind the safety measure is not immediately apparent.

I mentioned previously how I was puzzled about how to use a two foot step ladder when you’re not supposed to stand on the top two steps.  However, I have received injuries due to not strictly obeying safety regulations.

One time I leaned the top of a ladder against an overhead beam.  Though it may have been at the correct angle, the feet of the ladder slipped on the oil slick floor.  I landed flat on my feet.  Boy did the bottoms of my feet hurt.  I went to emergency.  They x-rayed my feet and found I had no broken bones.  The doctor said I should stay off my feet for a week.

I replied; “I can’t stay off my feet for a week.  I’ll lose my business.”  It took about three weeks for my feet to heal.

Another time I was drilling through wood and the drill bit chipped off the edge of a nail and the piece flew into my eye.  I was wearing glasses, but not safety glasses.  The doctor removed the metal shard from my eye with a magnet.  An easy fix, to be sure, but painful.

Previous to that experience, I had been pointing up a chimney on a windy day.  (That’s an expression that indicates the replacement of mortar between bricks which has worn away with time and age.)  I got some sand in my eye.  Sand is what is used to make glass.  It is very uncomfortable in your eye.  And if it gets too deep into your eye socket there is no remediation.

The doctor gave me some salve to ease the pain.  Every year it would work out a ways and I would have to use the salve again.  Eventually it either wore down or fell out.

Safety glasses are a good idea.

Not related to work safety, I have totaled a car and wound up in the hospital with half my teeth, broken ribs and punctured lungs.  I have had a heart attack and a stroke (on the same weekend).  I have had pneumonia a number of times.  I’m not sure how much more abuse my body can take from carelessness.

I can tell more stories about near misses.

Maybe I will.