On Thu, 4 Jan 2018 15:18:44 -0800 (PST), Its Me
wrote:

On Thursday, January 4, 2018 at 6:01:32 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Thu, 4 Jan 2018 13:01:34 -0800 (PST), Its Me
wrote:


That's because electricians are schooled on the mechanics of wiring, but not theory. If a device's tag says it draws 30 amps, they know what size and type wire for the run to it (or where to look in the NEC book to find it), breaker size and type, conduit or not, etc. I'd bet close to half don't understand that the two legs are actually 180 degrees out of phase. Their exposure to theory is very brief, then it moves on to mechanics. Nothing wrong with that. The book tells them what size neutral, too.

That was true in places where training is left to the unions but
places that get actual continuing education for the new guys (and the
old guys) will be exposed to a lot more theory.
Union training is basically the old guys dribbling out what they know
to the new guys over 4 years. Very little new ever penetrates that
cycle.
I remember trying to explain triplin harmonics to a bunch of union GSA
electricians and having them tell me how long they had been wiring and
how I was just a snot nosed kid who didn't know ****.
A week later when their neutrals were burning up, the manager told
them they needed to listen to me.
Nobody had ever seen electronic ballasts and switching power supplies
before the 70s and 80s but they learned.

I guess I'm thinking more about residential electricians who rarely touch industrial, 3 phase power systems where triplen harmonics really cause problems. SC has no CE requirements for electricians/electrical contractors.

That is true. It is hard to find a house in the US with 3p although I
tried to get it in Maryland, just because of the access I had to
cheap/free 3p equipment. It probably would have been red leg but I
could deal with that. They still would not drop me another
transformer.
It is crazy that your state does not have a CEU requirement.

An electrical engineer should be designing the distribution system for that power, and the electrician installing it by the print, IMO. I can certainly understand the union shop being snotty... I've experienced it firsthand.

This was GSA (federal government) union workers so that is
incompetence squared.

This was not the first time I dealt with them. The Bureau of
Radiological Health was building a computer room in the early 70s. GSA
got the job because it was "government"
The first day they showed up at 10AM and left at 2 with an hour off
for lunch and they did not really do anything but walk around and
look. The second day they showed up at 10 again and said they still
did not have all the materials they needed and basically did not get
much done then either.
The guy who was trying to get the work done got so frustrated he just
went into his discretionary budget, called a regular contractor and
got the whole thing done in a day.
The GSA guys tried to protest but it turned out this was a leased
building and GSA was not really supposed to be there anyway.