Had an electrician the other day at house to install a new breaker, wire, and outlet box in the basement.
He opened the circuit breaker panel, pulled the wire in, stripped it, and hooked up the new breaker.. .without ever shutting off any of the other electricity in the house.
Is this dangerous? Or is it standard procedure for experienced electricians? Or did he subject himself and my house to a lot of risk?
Thanks, Tman.
I have done it. Not particularly dangerous if you know what you are doing.
No danger, no risk *if* the person knows what they're doing. You can safely grab a breaker in a way where your fingers don't come anywhere near the hot conductors inside the service panel. When he seated it into place, there wuldn't be any cause for a spark or surge because there's no current flowing at the time. So yes, for somebody experienced, it is easily done that way. But since you asked, that means you're not experienced, so you should either keep using an electrician or if you decide to tackle the next one yourself, absolutely turn off the main breaker.
I'm not an electrician, but I turn of the Main. the main (no pun intended) reason is that there are a lot of electrically hot surfaces in the box, and if you're fishing in romex wire, particlarly with the bare ground, it seems too easy to me to bump something and get a nasty shock.
If I were doing this for a living, on a daily basis, I'd figure out how to do it with the juice on.
-Tim
This is Turtle.
this is a judgement call for the electrican and some do and some don't. It is what the electrican feels safe with is weither they do or don't comes in.
TURTLE
While I have done it, I don't recommend it for anyone who has to ask. Frankly I should also shut it down, but it is only a slight danger when you know what you are doing.
Which is exactly what the licensed eeeelectrician (sic!) did when he was adding a subpanel for my new workshop.
I was outside the garage talking with his assistant and we heard what sounded like a rifle shot within. Dashing inside we found the electrician, ashen-faced but unharmed. Apparently one of those very stiff and heavy #4 wires he had pulled into the box had bounced onto something hot.
Verrrry carefully, is how.
And anyway, what was the point? We are used to Pacfic Power "turning off" the juice a couple times per week. I'm a master at reprogramming all the TV's, clocks, etc., in the house.
And restarting downloads! ;-)
--John W. Wells
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