Projects
This page sets out the kinds of electrical work I actually do across Red Deer and the surrounding area — drive faults, high-bay lighting, generator and light-tower service, shop power, controls repair and farm buildings. It is written as work types rather than as stories about particular customers, because the details of a customer’s site are theirs and not mine to publish.
I do not publish client names, site addresses, photographs of customer equipment or job values without permission, and most of the people I work for would rather I did not. Shop layouts, machine lists and electrical problems are commercially sensitive, and a lot of my work is for contractors and property managers who are answering to someone else again.
So what follows is honest about the work and quiet about the customer. Each entry below describes a type of job I am called out for regularly: the symptom that usually prompts the call, what the work involves once I am on site, and what I verify before I leave. Detailed case studies with permission, photos and specifics are being added as I get sign-off on them — they will appear on this page as they are finished.
If you want to talk to someone who has done the same work, ask me when we speak and I will arrange a reference where the customer is willing.
Work types
Twelve categories that make up most of my work. They overlap in practice — a lighting job often turns into panel work, and a drive fault often turns into a wiring repair.
The call usually comes in as a drive tripping on a fault code, resetting for a while and then tripping again, or refusing to start the motor at all. The work is diagnostic first: reading the fault history, checking the incoming supply and phase balance, testing the motor and its leads for insulation and winding problems, checking the drive’s cooling and filters, and confirming the control wiring and the parameters that govern the trip. Before I leave, the machine has to run its normal duty under load without the fault returning. More on motors, controls and VFDs.
Typically an older shop where the original fixtures have started dropping out one at a time and the light at the machines is no longer good enough to work by. The job is a lift-access installation: setting out the fixture layout for the bays and aisles, mounting, running circuits and switching, and removing the old gear. At the end I energize every circuit, check the light at the working height rather than at the ceiling, and label the circuits at the panel. See commercial lighting.
Rental and site power equipment takes a beating. The usual symptoms are damaged cordsets, receptacles that no longer hold a plug, breakers that trip as soon as load is applied, or a distribution panel that has been hit. The work is repair or replacement of the distribution side — panel, breakers, receptacles, cordage and terminations — and correcting grounding and bonding where it has been lost. Testing means voltage, polarity and ground continuity confirmed at each outlet with the unit running. See generators and light towers.
Wash bays destroy ordinary fixtures. Water, steam and cleaning chemicals get into housings and terminations, and fixtures start failing early or tripping their circuit. The work is selecting fixtures with an enclosure rating suited to a wet bay, sealing every entry and termination properly, using hardware that will not corrode out, and putting the right protection on the circuit. I verify the light level in the bay, check the seals and confirm the circuit protection operates. See commercial lighting.
A new or relocated hoist arrives and needs power brought to it. The work is sizing the circuit for the lift’s nameplate, installing a disconnect within sight of the unit, routing conduit so it stays clear of the bay and the vehicle path, and landing the connection at the lift’s own control box. On three-phase units, rotation is checked before the lift is cycled. Testing is a full up-and-down cycle with the disconnect proved and labelled. See shop and garage electrical and automotive shops.
Usually a ventilation fan being replaced, added or moved — often because the old one seized, or because the shop needs more extraction than it was built for. The work is the circuit and conduit run, a disconnect at the unit, the switching or control the customer wants, and any interlock with a door, damper or heater. Rotation is confirmed on three-phase fans, airflow direction is checked at the hood or louvre, and the control is operated through its full sequence. See equipment and machine wiring.
This one starts as a question rather than a fault: a shop is bringing in another machine and nobody is sure what the existing service will carry. The work is evaluating the existing load and panel capacity, then installing what the new equipment needs — feeder, subpanel, disconnects, and either receptacles or a hard-wired connection at the machine. I confirm terminations are torqued, circuits are labelled in a legible directory, and voltage holds where it should with the equipment running. See electrical panels and equipment power.
Often the same visit as the lighting: while the lift is in the building, the machine drops get sorted out too. The work covers fixture replacement over the machines and aisles alongside new power at the equipment — disconnects, receptacles, cord drops and conduit routed so it survives a working shop. Testing is light levels at the machines, voltage and rotation at each new connection, and a panel directory that matches what is actually there. See machine shops.
The bay stops partway through a cycle, a function does not come on, or the whole bay goes dead intermittently. The work is tracing the control circuit through the controller, relays, contactors, timers and sensors, and inspecting the wiring for water and corrosion damage, which is usually where the trouble is. Motor starters for the pumps get checked at the same time. Testing is running the bay through its complete cycle and confirming every function operates in sequence. See electrical controls.
A standby or portable unit that is not producing output, not transferring, or not ready when it is needed. The electrical work is checking output and the main breaker, going through the transfer switch and its control wiring, and confirming the support circuits — block heater, battery charger, controller supply — are actually live. Testing is a run with load applied and a check that transfer and retransfer operate the way they are supposed to. See generators and light towers.
Old panels get crowded: doubled-up conductors, no spare capacity, a directory that has not been right for years, and sometimes grounding and bonding that was never finished. The work is a panel change or an added subpanel, the feeder to serve it, correcting the grounding and bonding, and transferring the existing circuits properly. When it is done, terminations are torqued, every circuit is identified in a new directory, and the equipment on each one has been proved to come back on. See electrical panels and equipment power.
An outbuilding that was wired years ago for far less than it is now being asked to do — not enough light to work in, extension cords doing permanent duty, and wiring methods that do not belong in a dusty or damp building. The work is a proper feeder to the building, a panel inside it, and fixtures and receptacles chosen for the conditions, with protection where it is required. I confirm voltage at the far end of the run under load, prove the protection, and label the panel. See agricultural electrical and farms and acreages.
Four write-ups are being prepared in more depth — a drive fault on shop equipment, a machine-shop high-bay lighting installation, generator and light-tower service work, and a car wash controller and pump room repair. Each one is waiting on the customer’s permission and on photos before it goes up. I would rather publish four accurate ones slowly than a dozen invented ones quickly.
The fastest way to get anywhere is a phone call where you describe what the equipment is doing.
Tell me the machine or the building, what it was doing when it stopped, what has already been tried and whether it is down right now. That usually tells me what I need to bring, and it tells you whether I am the right person for it. If it is outside what a one-electrician operation should be taking on, I will say so.
I work across Red Deer, Red Deer County, Blackfalds, Sylvan Lake, Penhold, Innisfail and Lacombe, and the rest of the service area.
Owner-operated electrical troubleshooting and service across Central Alberta.
