Special Mission

My foreman called my mechanic and I off of our pipe-run today to quickly pipe-in, pull, and terminate a sump pump disconnect and contactor.  The suddenness of the change in task caught me off-guard and I spent the first few minutes spinning in circles trying to locate all the material we needed and the specific tools I wanted on me to do the job.  I'd forgotten about this feeling: it was a special mission, and it needed to be done fast.

My mechanic made a bold move.  He gave our foreman a completion time before we had our first stick of pipe in the air: "Done by break, man, 11:00."  That gave us three hours.  And anybody who happened to pass by us in the first hour or so would've been impressed--we were a ball of fire.  The pipe practically ran itself.  Our wall-penetrations--just guesses--always poked through right where we hoped they would and never even grazed a stud along the way.  The wire pulled easily, looked great when we shaped it into the panel, and we were flying.  It was only 10:00.  And then... the contactor.

It was 3:15 when I finally closed the little door on the disconnect.  Five electricians and one control guy later, we were done.

It was a learning experience, to be sure.  There were a lot of reasonable explanations for why everyone had such a hard time wiring it up, but it got me to thinking more about what it will be like being a journeyman electrician.  There are going to be times where I'm baffled--that much became clear today!

I never tried so hard to decipher a schematic.  I found myself calling up a bunch of basic truths that I knew were right that I'd learned in school: "When the water reaches this level, we want the switch to close and the pull the contactor in.  That brings power to the pump."  I knew that much was true.  But here in this situation we had several float switches and an array of possible termination points for various functions.  Schematics and real-life situations don't always match up!

The good thing about electrical work is that, for the most part, you know when you're right: the pump runs and empties the sump pit.  Perfect.  It's getting to the point where you hear that motor kick in that may be difficult.  But if it's difficult, you're probably learning along the way.  Today I learned three things: 1. how to wire up this particular contactor for this particular pump; 2. don't be embarrassed to ask others on the job for help; and 3. maybe it's prudent not to give your boss a completion time before you begin a project (!).