The day I stopped wrapping cables like it was Christmas morning

Used to spend 20 minutes perfectly coiling every control wire on service calls, all neat and tidy. Then I saw a senior mechanic in Chicago just zip-tie the slack to the rail and move on, and realized my method was wasting time nobody pays for. Anyone else overthink cable management early on?

3 comments

3 Comments

price.ben1mo ago

Oh man, I feel this one in my bones. My first summer doing installs I would spend 15 minutes making those cables look like a braided loaf of bread, thinking it showed I was professional. Then I watched a old timer just take the slack and tuck it behind the unit with a single tie wrap, no loops, no pattern. It clicked for me that nobody but me ever sees that stuff again after the cover goes on. Now I just make sure nothing is pinched or hanging loose and keep moving. Saves me hours a week easy.

shane_hayes1mo ago

@price.ben nailed it with that old timer move. I started doing the same thing after watching a commercial HVAC guy spend 30 seconds total on a cable bundle. Now I just do one zip tie at the rail, make sure nothing rubs against metal, and move to the next call.

the_tessa1mo ago

Learned that lesson the hard way myself after spending way too long on a thermostat wire bundle my second week, only for my lead to come over and just shove it all behind the panel with a single wrap. Took me a solid year after that to stop overthinking every cable run and just trust that if nothing is getting cut or pinched, it's good enough. Saves so much headache when you stop trying to make the back of the unit look like a work of art.