Spaghetti Logic

 

Spaghetti Logic is a philosophy I developed after dealing with the characteristics of wire and wire pulling.

I realize that the Bible warns against philosophy. The warning is not against any particular philosophy, but against the idea of philosophy altogether.

Colossians 2:8 "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

I don't base my life on this but use it as a teaching tool and expression to help those I work with be better wire installers.

Usually, new alarm installers come with little experience but lots of zeal. I try to turn them quickly into productive alarm techs. I realize that quick training almost always fails, so my goal is to give them some of the experiences and knowledge I have learned to make them better as they spend more time learning how to fix things. The man that taught me the electrical trade, Don Nelson, used to introduce me by saying, "I taught him everything I know, and he still doesn't know anything!" I thought he was making fun of me, but later understood that he was commenting on his lack of knowledge and making fun of himself!

What I have learned is that wire has characteristics and memory. Spaghetti logic is a way to use these characteristics and memory to your advantage. Instead of fighting these tendencies of wire, the idea is to use them to make the wire do what you want it to do.

Using the expert "stick figure" drawings at the end of this article, a principle and way to run alarm wire is shown that allows it to be pulled and not get tangled up. I used to call this process "knotology" but found out that someone else had used the term. So, I started calling it "spaghetti logic".

I think I got the term from the comic strip "Dilbert" by Scott Adams. In it spaghetti logic is described as a computer code that is written more complicated than it needs to be. I am very familiar with this also. When I first started programming fire alarms and writing the rules, I was really clumsy at making them work. When I compiled them, it would take a long time to compile. Compiling is a process that the program does in checking the rules, making sure they do what you want them to do. As I progressed in my ability to program, I got better at it. I think they use the term to mean writing a complicated code that does the same thing as a simpler code.

I use the term to describe what happens to wire when it gets tangled up. To me it looks like a plate of spaghetti! Sometimes it is referred to as a "bird's nest"! Have you ever tried to untangle an extension cord? If so, you know how hard it can be. It can be frustrating. Did you know that there is a way to roll up the cord and unroll it so that it doesn't get tanged up?  Coiled wire has memory and if you use that memory, you are performing "Spaghetti Logic"!

Back when I worked for Brother Nelson, he showed me a way to run "romex" electrical wire so that it wouldn't coil up. I have run so much of it I don't really think about it but do this out of habit. The wire comes in 250-foot rolls. What he showed me to do was to unroll some of it before I started pulling it and then it would run smooth and not coil up. What I do is take about thirty feet of the coil off the end and unroll it in a long straight path. I then grab the end and pull it where I want it to go. This keeps the wire flat, and it goes smoothly where I want it to go, and it looks neat when it is stapled.  I have watched the "newbie" do this and the wire looks like a spring, and he spends more time trying to get it to lay straight. Usually, it looks like a mess when he is finished!

When I started running low voltage wire over long distances, I learned another trick. As you pull the wire and must go around a corner or change direction, you must pull some slack that ends up being a long loop sometimes hundreds of feet long. The reason you pull a loop is so the wire doesn't get hung up on the turn but runs smoothly. Look at the drawings. As you pull the loop, the end of the wire ends up on the bottom of the pile. Now this part is important! If you pick up the end of the wire while it is on the bottom, you cause the wire to tie itself into a knot and tangle up. The trick is to pull the wire back and lay it on itself with the end on the top. Now when you grab the end and start pulling it will untangle itself, run smoothly, and not get tangled up! Before I learned this trick, I spent countless hours untangling knots to finish the wire run. It only takes a few minutes to do this and saves an incredible amount of time and frustration! I explain this to the new guys and call it "Spaghetti Logic". I always tell them before we start, "Use "Spaghetti Logic". If you have a partner, the job goes even smoother and faster as he performs the "spaghetti logic" while you run the wire.

 

            Look at these "stick" figures and see if you can understand the principle:

 

1. When you have a long run and must change direction, pull a large amount of wire and let it pile up onto the floor.