Just finished my first 200-amp panel swap alone in Cleveland last week

I've been in the trade about 3 years now and my boss finally let me do a full panel swap by myself at a house in the old West Side. The old FPE panel had the bus bars all corroded and breakers that wouldn't trip right. Took me 6 hours start to finish but I got every circuit labeled clean and the new Square D panel looks sharp. Anyone else remember their first big solo job that made them feel like they actually knew what they were doing?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_diana5d ago

Oh man, this brings up something I don't see anyone talking about yet. Nobody ever mentions that feeling after a big solo job where you're driving home and you hit that weird mental crash, like you're suddenly terrified you left something loose or forgot to tighten a neutral somewhere. I remember after my first service upgrade I actually pulled over and called the homeowner to double-check a breaker was off because I convinced myself I heard buzzing that wasn't there (it was just my anxiety, of course). There's also this weird thing where you start second-guessing your own work on the drive home, even though you know you were careful and methodical the whole time.

emma_dixon706d ago

Yeah that line about "made them feel like they actually knew what they were doing" really hit me. It's funny how in this trade you'll think you've got it all figured out after a job like that, but then the next day you'll run into some janky old wiring that makes you feel like a complete newbie again. I swear half the time I feel like I'm just learning as I go and the other half I'm pretending I know what I'm doing. Every panel you open up feels like its own little puzzle.

patricialee6d ago

That's a good point, @emma_dixon70, but I think you got it backwards. It's the other way around for me - I spend half my time pretending I know what I'm doing and the other half just learning as I go. Actually had a moment last week where I installed a new smart panel in a house from the 60s, thought I was hot stuff, then spent two hours troubleshooting a ground fault that was just some old Romex stapled too tight. You're right about every panel being its own puzzle though, that part's dead on.