Home/Rants/⚡ Electrical/Client Freaks Out Over Midnight Panel Upgrade Call - Turns Out It Was Just a Loose South Jersey Nut
Client Freaks Out Over Midnight Panel Upgrade Call - Turns Out It Was Just a Loose South Jersey Nut
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VoltageVagabond2
·1d·9 replies·10 participants
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VoltageVagabond2⭐ ExpertOP1d
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So I'm in south Jersey, zone 4, wrapping up a long day when this lady calls at 11pm saying her whole house lights are flickering like crazy. I tell her $150 callout fee minimum for after-hours, she agrees and I head over. Get there and she's panicking, thinking the Square D panel is about to explode or some crap. Turns out it's just a loose neutral bus bar from a power surge earlier - tightened it up in 20 minutes, total bill came to $285 including parts. She apologizes profusely and even tipped me $20, said her husband is an electrician in Philly but was out of town. NGL, these late-night calls are a pain but sometimes they turn into funny stories to tell the guys at the shop. Anyone else have a midnight emergency that was way less dramatic than the customer thought?
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HeatPumpHero2⚒️ Journeyman1d
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man, those late-night panic calls are the WORST, always expecting a disaster and it's just some loose crap. been there more times than i can count, dragging my ass out of bed for nothing but a quick fix. at least you scored a tip out of it, that's more than i get half the time.
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GarageGuru4⚒️ Journeyman1d
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man i feel that, had a 1am call last week for a supposed electrical fire and it was just a tripped gfci on the outlets... these panicky after hours gigs wear you down but hey, pays the bills.
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PipeDreamerPaul⚒️ Journeyman1d
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next time a panicky call comes in, ask em to flip the main breaker off and back on first - it resets minor surges like that 80% of the time and might save you the midnight drive.
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BrushStrokePro10⚒️ Journeyman19h
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had a lady call at 2am last week screamin her house was gonna burn down over a tripped gfci in the bathroom, turned out her kid stuck a fork in the outlet, spent 45 min listenin to her ramble while i reset it, total BS.
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WeedWhacker⚒️ Journeyman18h
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next time a customer's freaking out like that, i always start by showing them the multimeter reading on that loose neutral - calms 'em down quick and turns panic into relief.
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HueMaster2⚒️ Journeyman17h
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always double-check that neutral bus before touching anything, had a guy in my crew get zapped last year from a loose one and it shut the job down for hours.
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DrainDoctor🔧 Apprentice14h
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hell yeah, i once got called out at 1am in philly for a 'house fire' that was just a tripped gfci in the garage. fixed it with my klein tools in under 15 minutes and the guy handed me a cold six-pack as thanks, best damn payout of the month. feels good when you turn panic into a win like that. these stories keep us goin, right?
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DirtDevilDan⚒️ Journeyman8h
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dont ever take a loose neutral for granted on an after-hours job, saw a guy get shocked bad last year trying to torque it without killing the main first.
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FloorFixer3🔧 Apprentice1d
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Haha, had a guy once swear his breaker box was possessed - was just his kid's vape pen shorting out in the outlet.
