On Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 4:08:43 PM UTC-6, wrote:
What home repairs are you most Afraid of?

From reading this newsgroup and talking to people, it seems that
electrical is the most feared. But there is good reason for that, since
electricity can kill. I always tell people that if they are afraid of
it, dont touch it, or get an education about it first.

Plumbing seems to come in second. Although plumbing is unlikely to kill
anyone, it can do a lot of property damage if a pipe breaks and there is
no way to shut off the flow. The bigger problem with plumbing is that
the jobs regularly turn into "a can of worms". Old pipes tend to break
or leak, and replacing one bad pipe often turns into replacing a lot
more, ripping open walls and so on. Plumbing requires skills, proper
tools, and a supply of parts on hand, or it can become a nightmare.

I'll include auto repair in this topic, and this is often a fear. Again,
there are dangers involved, for example, when working under a car it
must be jacked and supported properly or you can be killed. and then
there is always the busted knuckles, cuts, bruises and other accidents,
not to mention that one wrong move can do a lot of damage to the car.
Other machines in the home, such as furnaces fall into this same
category.

The other fear is anything involving heights, such as roofing. Some
people are just not comfortable with ladders and heights in general. I
have to admit that this is my own fear. I will work on anything
electrical or do plumbing and auto repairs without fear, but I dont do
well with heights.

What fears do you have regarding home repair and including auto and even
small engine and other machines around the home, repairs?
I think everyone has at least some fears regarding home repair....

The first thing to learn about utilities is like what you would teach someone about guns. Know how to make them safe. With utilities, show them how to turn them off and how to make them safe. I have locks I used to lock out valves and electrical disconnects to make things safe to work on. Of course knowing how to remove an electric utility meter when doing major repairs to the main breaker panel or replacing the main breaker is a good thing to learn. Because it's possible for someone to flip a breaker on while you're on the other side of a building working on that circuit, turn off the breaker, remove the wire from it and put a wire nut on it. When I was doing major repairs to the gas lines or anything connected to the gas service in a home or business, I'd put a lock on the shutoff valve because I've actually had someone fooling around the meter who turned the damn thing on. It's a lot of fun to be replacing water lines and have someone turn the water on at the meter. When working on utilities, trust no one, lock it out.

The best piece of advice I can give to anyone about working on an electrical power circuit is to get into the habit of treating it like it is energized even when you know it's turned off. When you have gained enough experience with wiring electrical power circuits, you can hold the wires in your mouth.
Seriously, a shirt pocket sized non-contact AC voltage tester is something you should have with your electrical tools. Many of them are dual range and will also detect low voltage AC like what's on a doorbell circuit. The flat plastic insulated tip will fit into the slot of an electrical outlet and can also be touched to an electrical outlet or switch to indicate if it's energized. The tip can also be touched to the insulation of a wire and it will light up and beep if the wire is connected to a power source. The detectors are inexpensive and available everywhere electrical tools are sold. ʘ€¿Ê˜

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moad9c1wTwk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9rSEkqI-h0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e28kYPi6Bpo

http://www.amazon.com/Klein-Tools-NC.../dp/B004FXJOQO

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Electrica...vZboffZ1z1180x

[8~{} Uncle Electrical Monster