Comment by SchemaLoad
15 hours ago
>How do people learn to maintain their house or learn to hack improvements?
You don't when it comes to mains electric. You hire an electrician who learned through study, training and certification rather than just proding things until it either works or kills you.
Play around with low voltage power all you want but leave mains voltage alone.
> You don't when it comes to mains electric
You definitely can. Any residential home in the US was probably built by those who had no formal training on "mains electric" and was inspected by a building inspector who also knows nothing really about electricity, but can follow guidelines.
It isn't difficult to buy devices that are built and rated to interface low voltage with "mains electric".
The issue is when you arrogantly assume you know things you don't, and that can harm you regardless of the application. Yet, that is often a path for some to learn and become experts or cautionary tales.
IMO, the gatekeeping risk-averse shouldn't stand on soap boxes attempting to dictate the lives of the curious.
I live in a 240 Volt country with reasonably strong regulations.
Yet I'm regularly having to identify and resolve electrical safety issues because other people create risks. Sometimes issues are historical, or have developed over time.
Some of those risks are created by qualified and licensed people.
The most recent: a licensed electrician putting a female supply plug on a friend's bus (I think because he knows houses have female sockets) and then suggesting taking the power supply lead and replacing the female connector with a male one (male to male leads are rather unsafe and illegal for good reason and the friends were skeptical).
I see people that have done the study, training and certification create serious risks. So I don't blindly trust study, training and certification for my safety or safety of those I care for. I do use professionals but I'm very careful when choosing who to trust (for more than just electricity, water and gas).
We learn how to do things correctly because of our own interest in risks. I appreciated the comment because they didn't just say "don't", they also explained the engineering reasons for saying "don't".
However I am a risk-taker, and I take risks that would likely shock you. I am somewhat careful to avoid creating risks for others (when there is a floor level of risk, you can't go below the floor).
It's a balance. The logical conclusion of your world-view is that we shouldn't do anything for ourselves!
Don't fix that leaky tap without training! Too risky. Good example since I lent my pipe wrenches to a friend and told her to have a go at replacing her tap. Very successful. It was outdoors so low risk?
> just proding things until it either works or kills you
I am not suggesting that strawman.