Pluggers by Rick McKee for May 24, 2024

Arc-sense breakers are a joke. Too sensitive. Running a Waterpik flosser keeps breaking the power in one bathroom. Expensive replacements. Two Waterpiks flossers later, two breakers later same problem. Electrician bills too high. I think the power wire length is “tuned” to the flosser motor noise. I went back to string floss.

Sometimes you have to do it yourself if you want it done right. I’m 70, and I don’t like to have to crawl under my car to change the oil. I got a coupon from my local Ford dealership for an oil change, so I took it in. They overfilled it, which is bad, bad, bad. Which means they didn’t even check the level when finished. I’ve had similar experiences with Jiffy Lube in the past… but I figured the car dealership would be able to “get it right”. So I’m back to doing it myself.

In many cases tis best to get a “Pro” ….

When I had a Peugeot for a while, I soon learned it was better value paying someone to change headlamp bulbs and go get a cup of coffee while they do it, than spend time disassembling half the engine to get at it.

I’m lucky. My grandson is a mechanic and he takes care of my car for me.

He’s a smart plugger. He leaves the plug to others.

if you hear or see arcing the first thing to do is turn off the breaker, not let it keep going while you call someone

A lot of being smart is knowing your limits.

If you could do it yourself (rights tools, etc), but choose not to, it’s because it’s too dangerous or too heavy for a Plugger.

I think, in the 10 years I’ve been here, I’ve had a circuit breaker need to be reset once.

Plugger said the bill was shocking.

I disagree.. pluggers are known for figuring it out and doing it yourself. Mostly because they are tight with money and believe in the penny saved penny earned thing.

As a 73+ after a lifetime of doing everything myself, I am very pleased to employ others to do those tasks. Gives me more time for pickleball.

I’ve never considered an electrical problem a “do-it-yourself” fix.

Always did my own work (Jack of all trades …. Master at none) …… the only problem now is that I can’t twist and turn or even get down and back up (well getting down, no problem ….. it’s the getting back up) ……. ;)

Was it sparking before of after he tried to unscrew the wall plate?

New smart washing machine was always tripping the arc sense breaker. Electrician added a ground fault plug at the washer. That worked for a while. Then every other load it tripped. We replaced the breaker with a standard breaker and no issues since. Electrician said the new washers are notorious for tripping breakers. Very noisy motors.

A local electrician often eats at the same place we have lunch. His business motto is, “We do it without shorts!”.

Keeping up with the times and the disappearance of incandescent bulbs, I just replaced our 30 year-old dimmer switch with one that is compatible with the new LED bulbs. Of course, some of the wires in the house are still from its 1940 construction and are almost impossible to replace.