Old timer called me out for skipping a step on a service call

Was swapping out a main panel in a house built in 1958 in Akron last Wednesday. Had everything wired up neat and was about to button it up when the homeowner's dad, an old electrician from back in the day, walked in. He pointed at my grounding electrode connection and said I didn't clean the rust off the rod enough before clamping down. Told me a bad connection there could make the whole ground useless in a surge. So I spent 15 minutes grinding it down to bare metal and re-clamped it. Has anyone else had a simple thing like that pointed out by an older guy that actually made a difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia_rodriguez6d ago

That "clean the rust off the rod" tip is golden, I started doing that after an old timer chewed me out too.

beth_green6d ago

Oh man same here, that old timer basically saved me from ruining my own setup!