Originally Posted By: Nils Rodrick This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Hi. I have virtually no experience/knowledge of electrical theory/practice, and I think I’m one of those guys who are just dense when it comes to the whole electrical thing - to me, service panels look like my terrier after a roll in the burdock.
Any good instructional electric books out there, possibly with HI in mind??
Originally Posted By: dhadler This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
your lucky enough to have a friend that is an electrician, see if he will let you hang out with him for a day or two while he works. Just ask him to explain things out loud and give you as much info as possible. Start with the basics and don’t try to get into the technical too quick or it might overload the old brain
Be sure he checks with his employer first and gets his OK. Be mindful not to slow him down...just ask him to talk out what he's doing at the time and why etc... You can offer to help pull some wire. (notice I said some wire and not His wire ) and do what you can to help out, sort of like an apprentice would do the first time out.
The pay sucks but the knowledge you'll get is worth its weight in gold! I've found a day at a job-site is worth a month of reading books.
-- Darrell Hadler
Five Star Home Inspections
Medicine Hat, Alberta CANADA
Originally Posted By: Nils Rodrick This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Thanks, both of you. I feel an enormous weight of responsibility to go into this with as much accurate knowledge and judgement possible. It’s scary to think of going into HI with anything less (never mind fear of litigation). I’ll check out the book. I know a licenced electrical contractor who’d probably be O K with some company. I helped him pull his OWN horribly lubricated wire once, beneath a 70’ trailer.
Originally Posted By: janderson This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
One way to understand something unfamiliar is to find a familiar subject that is similar that it can be compared with.
Water flowing through a pipe is familiar to almost everyone. This has some similarities to electrical current flowing through an electrical system. Because of these similarities, a limited comparison between a hydraulic system and an electrical system can be used to understand an electrical system.
I have found this comparison useful on many instances when dealing with different aspects of electrical systems.
-- Within the seeds of ignorance lie the fruits of denial
Originally Posted By: gbeaumont This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
It is very well written, has very clear pictures and illustrations and while it was not written specifically for home inspectors, Rex's other inspection book is very well known.
It is published by Taunton press the ISBN # is 1-56158-527-0, it reatails for $25.00 and I think you can get it at home depot.
Originally Posted By: rcloyd This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Nils:
Electrical Wiring Residential by Ray C. Mullin (based on the 2005 NEC) published by Thomson/Delmar learning is great. The book is used in many trade schools and colleges to train electricians and walks you through the complete wiring of a residential home (electrical plans included).
Originally Posted By: jkline This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I like the Audel series of books. Check out Audel Practical Electricity by Paul Rosenberg and Robert Middleton. You can look at a summary on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. They also do a good 3-volume set on HVAC (which in my view is even more complex than electrical systems).
