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Found out the hard way why you never trust a "hot" wire is off
I was swapping out an old ceiling fan in a 1950s house outside Portland last Tuesday and went to strip a wire that I thought was dead. Turns out the previous owner had tied the switch leg into a live circuit from a different breaker box in the basement. Any other electricians run into weird panel setups that weren't on the plans?
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bell.felix27d ago
Why would you assume the previous owner even knew how to label things right?
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the_linda27d ago
Ugh, that sounds like a nightmare. I swear old houses are just a game of "guess which wire is actually live" and the house always wins. It's kinda wild how people just patch things together without labeling anything, but I guess that's life you never know what shortcuts someone else took until you're the one fixing it.
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leo_fisher25d ago
The Portland area is full of that 1950s wiring chaos. I ran into a house in Beaverton where the panel was labeled wrong for the kitchen and bathroom. The previous owner tied the bathroom light into the same circuit as the garbage disposal. You think you know which breaker to flip but the house has other plans. Always test wires with a meter even if you're sure. Old houses don't forgive shortcuts.
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