Old guy in Phoenix last week watched me work. He said "you're wasting time making those ends look pretty inside the wall." It hit different because he was right. I was spending 5 extra minutes per drop on neatness that nobody sees. Now I just focus on the connection being solid. Anyone else had a customer teach them something?
Back in 2019 I had a job at a complicated apartment complex near the I-17 in Phoenix. The walls were all concrete block and the attic was barely two feet high. I spent 6 hours trying to fish a single coax line through a firestop that had steel studs and plywood blocking every path. After that job I bought a good flex bit set and started asking building managers about their construction type first thing. Has anyone else run into those weird firestop blocks that just ruin your whole day?
I dropped $250 on a Klein crimper last year for the coax work I do around here in Phoenix. Thing feels solid, no complaints. But my buddy uses a cheap one he got online for $40 and says his connections pass signal just fine. I'm wondering if I wasted my money or if the Klein will actually hold up longer. Anyone have a cheap crimper fail on them after a few months?
Was pulling through a 2 inch conduit under a new strip mall, about 80 feet of line. The tape went taut, then just broke clean in half. Shoved my hand back into the pull box and got fiberglass splinters so bad I had to go to urgent care. Switched to steel tape the next week. Anyone else ditch fiberglass after a bad break?
The homeowner didn't mention the smell at all when I showed up, and it took me 45 minutes to track down where it was coming from. Has anyone else dealt with animal carcasses in attics during cable runs?
Was swapping out a bad drop for an old lady in a condo complex near Tampa last Tuesday. She had a whole shelf of those long tube lights right above her TV. Her picture was cutting out every 15 minutes, and I almost blamed the tap until I looked up and saw the ballast buzzing 2 inches from the line. Moved the cable over a foot and ran a new piece, and now it's solid. Has anyone else run into weird interference from something that's not even supposed to be a problem?
I figured I'd save some cash and bought a cheap toner probe from Amazon instead of my usual Fluke. Hooked it up to what I thought was a dead coax line but it was actually sharing a conduit with a live 240v circuit at an apartment complex in Phoenix. Let's just say my eyebrows are a little singed now so has anyone else had a cheap tool do something completely unexpected?
After 5 years of doing this, I realized I was stripping too much jacket off before crimping. A guy I worked with in Denver last week showed me his method - leave about 1/4 inch of jacket on the connector and it holds way tighter. Has anyone else had that lightbulb moment on something so basic?
Was installing a new coax drop in a 1970s house in Phoenix and the old panel was so rusted I accidentally shorted something. $150 out of my pocket to get an electrician out there to fix it. How do you guys handle old electrical panels that look like they came from a salvage yard?
I was up in a crawlspace last week redoing old coax runs from 2014, and the before was a tangled mess of dusty cables with no labels. The after was my tidy work with Velcro ties and a clear junction box, which took me about three hours to straighten out. Has anyone else noticed how customers never see what their attic looks like until it's too late?
Was running RG6 down a side wall last Tuesday. Legs slipped on wet grass. Dumped me and my coil bucket into a hydrangea bush. Broke three branches and tore my shirt. Customer came out laughing, helped me pick up fittings. Offered me lemonade. I just wanted to finish before dark. Anyone else have a ladder slide out on them?
I was reading through our company's monthly stats yesterday and saw we average 12 minutes per job just moving and adjusting ladders. That doesn't sound like much but when you run 20 jobs a week it adds up to 4 hours of wasted time. At our shop rate that's basically $50 down the drain every single day. Has anyone else actually tracked how much time they lose on ladder placement?
Had to do a 300 foot drop for a new apartment complex near Dayton. I figured RG6 would be fine but my buddy said go with RG11 for less signal loss. Picked the RG11 and honestly it was a pain to pull through the conduit but the signal test came back perfect. Cost me an extra $60 but saved me a redo call. Anyone else choose RG11 over RG6 and regret the extra work?
I keep seeing guys jam a connector on the end and hope it holds, but after 6 years in this trade I found that a strip of electrical tape around the connector and tape head lets you pull 100 feet through a ceiling without the coax popping off, anyone else been doing this or still fighting with loose pulls on the regular?
Was swapping out a drop for a customer over on Maple Ave yesterday and found RG6 stapled right alongside some 14/2 romex for a good 20 feet. Asked the homeowner who did it and he said his brother in law "used to do cable." That explains the signal issues he was complaining about I guess. I see this all the time in attics and crawl spaces. Its like basic separation rules just go out the window once its out of sight. Do you guys bother fixing it or just note it and move on?
I was looking up code requirements for a job last week and found out the FCC actually mandates 18 inches minimum for direct burial coax in most cases. I always thought it was just a common sense thing, not a federal rule. Found it in Part 76 of their rules while digging for something totally different. It surprised me because most electricians I know just eyeball it around here. Has anyone else actually had an inspector cite this on a job?
That was about 2 years ago. I was out on a job in Cleveland, middle of August, and the customer said her whole house lost signal during a heavy rain. Found every single F connector I had crimped was letting moisture in, (the cheap ones without the rubber O-ring). Bought a decent compression tool and some waterproof fittings the next day. Has anyone else found a brand of compression connectors that lasts longer than others, or is it all pretty much the same once you get the right tool?
That expensive toner keeps giving false readings on live lines, meanwhile the cheap one I got from a pawn shop 5 years ago has never let me down - has anyone else had better luck with the basic models?
I used to crank coax cables as tight as I could get them to make them look clean and straight on the runs. This old timer, must have been 60, watched me for a minute and said "You're stretching the copper, you'll get cold joints in 6 months." He showed me how to leave a slight loop and just enough slack so the cable can breathe. Ever since I started leaving a little extra drip loop near the entry point, I haven't had a single callback for signal loss. Has anyone else gotten flak from old heads that turned out to be gold?
Honestly I forgot how bad some of these old drops look. This house in Phoenix had coax stapled along the baseboards and one line literally taped to the window frame. I spent 4 hours there yesterday rerunning everything through the crawlspace. The compare shot looked like two different houses. Anyone else ever get a call back years later and feel embarrassed for the previous guy even though it wasn't your mess?
I was running a new line to a bedroom and the whole wall cavity was packed with leftover insulation scraps from the builders. Couldn't get the fish tape through at all. Ended up having to cut a small access hole in the closet next door and pull everything through by hand, which added like an extra hour to the job. Anyone else run into builders just stuffing junk in the walls before drywall goes up?
I switched to a 3/8-inch flex bit and started checking for studs with a $30 scanner from Harbor Freight, so what's your go-to method for a clean pull through a finished wall?
Had to run a line to a bonus room over a garage, but the builder blocked the main chase with a huge hvac duct. Ended up having to drill a new hole from the attic through three plates I couldn't see. What's the weirdest thing you've found blocking a planned route?
Honestly, I was stuck for an hour trying to get a line down a wall in a 1950s house. I taped a small zip tie to the fish tape, with the tail pointing back, and it snagged way less on the lath. Anyone else have a go-to method for plaster?
I tried both ways on a big apartment job in Springfield last month, about 50 plates total. The drill kept grabbing and cracking the drywall, but the punch tool made a clean hole every single time. It took me maybe 2 seconds per plate instead of 5, and the finish looked way more professional. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a difference?