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If any part of the drawing is forgotten or misinterpreted, the safety precautions taken by the designer may not work as intended and issues like errant sparks and electrical fires become major risks. It’s absolutely vital that anyone who reads an electrical blueprint can fully understand it down to the last detail so that they can follow its instructions competently and exactly. Sound complicated? It is, but none of these things can just be glossed over.
#Blueprint reading code#
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Once a designer has laid out all wiring, connections, and other important elements, the pictorial instructions of the blueprint must be followed to the letter. Becoming Literate in Electrical Blueprints Deciding how much power the wiring will be able to deliver to each part of the building and where the outlets can most easily and conveniently be placed are all conundrums that are worked out in the process of drafting the blueprint. They involve different considerations than traditional blueprints instead of starting mostly from scratch, the designer must work within the given parameters of the structure to create the safest, most useful electrical system possible. These documents lay out the wiring and connections that deliver electricity throughout the building and ensure that this infrastructure will be compliant with all current codes and bylaws. These blueprints can be difficult for industry outsiders to grasp.
#Blueprint reading how to#
A closer look at the annotations lets you see all the mathematical details that keep the building standing and solid, and most of these are denoted with clear markers that can be decoded with the accompanying legend.Ĭonstruction workers frequently consult blueprints as they build to make sure that their work isn’t deviating from the overall design, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) states that most of these workers have little to no formal training in their industry – it is assumed that they will soon figure out how to parse these blueprints with a little practice.Įlectrical blueprints, however, are a different story there are many specialized aspects to them. If you’re already familiar with the concept of space and dimensions, you get the gist of what the blueprint is trying to tell you just by glancing at it. While they’re still specialized documents, it usually isn’t too hard to read standard blueprints as a layperson. Electrical blueprint reading isn’t something you just pick up on the job – it’s a skill that requires a knowledge and understanding to fully master.
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Chief among them is their level of accessibility. The two types of plans differ in many significant ways. General blueprints are a well-known and integral part of construction, but their less-prominent counterpart, electrical blueprints, are just as important.
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Describe the special characteristics of commercial plans and explain how to read and interpret them.Tags: blueprints, electrical blueprints, how to read electrical blueprints, reading blueprints.Identify and describe the components of civil plans.Identify and describe the components of site plans.Identify and describe the components of an exterior wall section.Identify typical contract documents and describe their function.Define typical construction symbols, line types, and terminology.Describe and explain how complex plan sets are organized.Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: Emphasis on how to locate information and cross reference with details, schedules, and specifications for clarification. Layout, terminology, graphic standards and drafting fundamentals. Tweet this Page (opens a new window) Add to Personal Catalog (opens a new window)ĬONST 141 - Architectural Blueprint Reading IĪn introduction to reading and interpreting architectural drawings.
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