House electric debauchery, crazy things you've seen/done...

[1 Wild R/T]

This actually started over on FABO but I thought maybe it could amuse a few over here...

Sketchy Electrical "fix" from my past.... A good buddy bought a house, a few weeks later the electrical in the living room, dining room & half the kitchen quit... He's broke... Calls me looking for help... I show up & discover there is power, but no neutral... I pull a few outlets but don't find the problem quickly... It's already 9 PM & I have to work the next day... Soooo, I struck a key in the neutral slot of a outlet & used a set of automotive jumper cables over to a water pipe.... It worked till the weekend when I discovered the real problem.... An added outlet in the garage....

It completely freaked the roommate out, She moved out.... She was a B anyway....

 

[kiwigtx]

Quite a few years ago I started re-wiring my house.....slowly and room by room. I eventually got to the stage where I needed to change the kitchen light fittings. The previous owners had installed cheap recessed downlights, and I could never figure out why the circuit for the kitchen, lounge and entrance was tripping when I installed the new RCCB units. After biting the bullet, I replaced the crappy lights with new LED recessed downlights - found the right size for the holes.....and its only temporary as I will re-model the kitchen one day soon....ish.

By the time I had replaced the 4th light, I had discovered the problem....some numb-nut had crossed the earth (ground) and neutral terminal wiring up - that gave an instant trip on the RCCB....not necessarily dangerous, but enough to be wrong, and a dang nuisance. Fixed that and now the RCCB's all stay on. Happy days.

and as they say around here.....

Here are the pictures....some funky cable was used also....must have been an industrial sparkie doing a cashie many years ago. The second picture shows how close the guy came to getting it right.....lol (Not me definitely)

 

[kiwigtx]

On an actual job another time, I was having a hellava time drilling up a tight corner in a wall for a couple of cables. I eventually broke through....through the stud, the waterproofing, the batten and eventually the roofing material.

My apprentice got some good laughs at my expense.....I don't often F***up, but when I do, it's a doosie.

Video of aftermath.....



Apprentice Josh finally got to big-dog me. It was usually him making colossal cockups.

 

[WileERobby]

Recently, I went over to a buddy's house to remedy electrical issues in his basement. He was taking down a bar, and some other partitions. The prior owner was a complete idiot, and it would take a Budnicks post to list the dumb, amateur, dangerous mess that was done. People who don't know what they're doing should refrain from doing butcher jobs, whether its electrical, plumbing, or automobiles ! I corrected all .

 

[Photon440]

A friend was re-doing one of his walls and found out that some previous owner had installed an outlet that was powered by...a string of Christmas lights hidden in the wall and spliced into another outlet.

At least it isn't a server room!

 

[kiwigtx]

Recently, I went over to a buddy's house to remedy electrical issues in his basement. He was taking down a bar, and some other partitions. The prior owner was a complete idiot, and it would take a Budnicks post to list the dumb, amateur, dangerous mess that was done. People who don't know what they're doing should refrain from doing butcher jobs, whether its electrical, plumbing, or automobiles ! I corrected all .

I wish I had a dollar for every thread I've seen on these sites where people are asking how to go about replacing or upgrading an electric supply - whether it be a meter, a main switchboard, or moving sub-boards.

Leave stuff alone that you know nothing about - electricity kills - the untrained get killed twice as hard.

 

[moparedtn]

Warning - Ed Story Time:
I'm no electrician - hell, I barely understand the basics - but I come by my redneck knowledge of it honestly.
My dad was the ultimate do-it-yourself-er, simply because he came from nothing and just had the ability to
figure out how to build, wire, plumb anything himself.
Dude would work "live" when working on house wiring all the time, which is sorta nuts of course - never saw
him get bit, though. It's from watching him that my own healthy respect for the juice eminates...
I also have the benefit of knowing guys who actually are professionals to lean on.
Well...came time years ago for me to energize my garage....

The electric co-op insists on having your outside stuff looked at by an inspector, but once the juice hits the
breaker box, they don't care one whit...
They also insist on you making the connection to the main from the pole with the meter pulled, which is where
I sort of jumped the gun one Sunday.
You can almost see this story coming, can't you?

Impatient to wait on them to come out Monday to pull the meter, I had the whole garage wired, new 100 amp
(220VAC) breaker/box all set to go, to be fed by a 100amp breaker in the main disconnect on the side of the
house nearby.
All that was left was to install that big breaker in the box and feed the garage.
Well, I decided at that time that I didn't have to wait on them to come out Monday....
My dad, still alive then, insisted on coming up to "supervise" this stupid move of mine and brought with him
a wood 2x4, which he held as he sat down in a lawn chair to observe the show.
When I said to him "hey Pop, I've seen you work "live" all my life, what's the difference?"
He gave me one of those wise old smirks and said "that was 110, son. You're about to find out all about 220
at 200 amps".
How right he was, turns out...

The master disconnect box on the side of the house was/is a Seimens type that you sort of have to reach around
behind the breakers to tie in the wiring. Not above them or even beside them, mind you....behind them.
So, live from the pole to that box - here I went, new breaker and a screwdriver in hand....
The first bite was one leg, which made my elbow wiggle and I dropped everything and jumped back a little.
Wife yells at me to stop; Pop says to her "that was just 110. He got lucky."
A smart fella would have come to his senses at this warning delivered...

Me? Y'all know me....I get a little ticked off instead and head right back in there again.
And again....aaaand again....getting more pissed off every time, if not a little toasty from the fryin'.
Then it happened: I get the full boat of juice and it felt like someone had hit me square in the chest with a
sledgehammer. Knocked me back about ten feet and on my ***.
Wife hollered LOUD and Pop actually got up out of the chair, 2x4 at the ready...tells her "now THAT was 220".
Me? I get up slow and growling like some sort of wounded animal, pick everything back up...
and head back in, as mad as I've ever been in my life and despite all the protests from them both to
"just wait until tomorrow and they come pull the meter!"
Nope. This **** was gonna happen NOW or I was going to die trying...

Y'all know how this story ends. God's got a sense of humor and I must amuse hell out of Him or something...
The next attempt was successful, me finally learning how to get it done without frying!
I cursed that damn box for the next couple minutes, slammed the lid down on it and hurled the screwdriver
at it for good measure. Bastard!
The aftermath was sort of me sitting down, all jittery and sore, covered in gravel dust - but triumphant, too.
Pop, now genuinely equal parts proud and concerned for me, tells me I was lucky the juice didn't just grab
ahold of me and commence frying - which is why he had that 2x4 at the ready, to be used to knock me off
the thing had that happened.
Wife is still hopping mad, wanting to know why I kept on after getting bit so many times.
Pop tells her "well....he comes by that honest" and smiles that knowing grin he had.

I still miss hell out of my dad all these years later - and the garage wiring is actually better quality than the
house wiring (by others) according to my licensed electrician friend.
I tend to overbuild when I construct stuff.
Ok, there's your "crazy things I've seen" story - about yours truly.

 

[Mackman]

As part of a contract I was to replace some wire in conduits for parking lot lighting. Pulled out the old with new attached. One run was very hard to pull out. Finally pulled out a red wire nut on the old wire that was pulled into the underground conduit right about in the middle. 3/4” conduit.

 

[Richard Cranium]

No problemo here …

 

[1967coronet]

One of my favorites is junction boxs behind sheet rock / finished walls.
Then one better is the old black tape junction wad of tape and wire nuts behind a wall.

 

[gkent]

When I reno'd my kitchen a couple years ago I found two receptacle boxes on the opposite side of a wall - with live wires and exposed ends. Obviously the plasterer had just mudded them over and the electrician forgot about them. Lucky plaster isn't a good conductor !!!

 

[68gtxman]

My wife’s old house lost the neutral wire at the meter. She kept burning out sump pumps, trying to keep her wet basement dry. I finally bit the bullet last month and hired an electrician to replace the service drop with a new upgraded service and a 200 amp main breaker. This replaced her old barrel fuse main with glass screw in fuses. While I could have done this myself, it wasn’t worth my time and the $2K I paid to a local electrician helped our local economy.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Interesting the timing of this thread.
I'm going over my daughter's house tonight to fix an electrical issue she has in her house. I've been troubleshooting little bits at a time as we've visited there over the last couple of months.
She lost power to several outlets in her living room and a ceiling fixture in her dining room. All on the same circuit.
I'm trying to avoid ripping walls open.
The house was gutted and redone after a fire that we're aware of about 30 years ago (it was owned by my wife's grandparents at the time).
I checked continuity section by section and discovered a faulty portion of older wiring (visible through J-box connections). The wire was never replaced as most of the house was during the post-fire renovation.
Fortunately, it's in a spot where I can terminate the faulty wiring between (2) J-boxes and install a new J-box in the basement right below it and tie it all back together.
Essentially abandoning the faulty wiring and bypassing it elsewhere.
I mocked up a dual-male-plug cord with a switch so I could bypass the the failed wire across (2) wall outlets and confirmed my proposed repair would be the solution.
Now, tonight I'll be coaching my son-in-law on the permanent repair.
It's his house. His responsibility. And he's willing to learn. Good combination IMO.

 

[Fran Blacker]

On an actual job another time, I was having a hellava time drilling up a tight corner in a wall for a couple of cables. I eventually broke through....through the stud, the waterproofing, the batten and eventually the roofing material.

My apprentice got some good laughs at my expense.....I don't often F***up, but when I do, it's a doosie.

Video of aftermath.....



Apprentice Josh finally got to big-dog me. It was usually him making colossal cockups.

Gotta take your punishment like a man.

 

[Ron H]

You can almost see this story coming, can't you?

GEEZUZ Ed, you ever think of just dying of old age?

 

[BigFlo]

A friend was re-doing one of his walls and found out that some previous owner had installed an outlet that was powered by...a string of Christmas lights hidden in the wall and spliced into another outlet.

Not quite as bad as ^ but the previous owner of our house did a similar thing with extension cords. You know those cut-to- length, terminate yourself, 2 conductor lamp cord type deals. He plugged it into the outlet, looped it into the Sheetrock and made a channel in the sheet rock and spackled over it. He didn’t bother to go behind the sheet rock. The cord went up thru the ceiling into the attic and over to a ceiling fan. We had 3 different extension cord tricks in the house.

 

[kiwigtx]

I have lost a few pairs of side-cutters thanks to other 'wannabee Electricians' having their first rodeo.

One house had an extension cord going under the floor in the lounge and appearing like magic at the front doorway with some sort of voodoo mystery connection connected to the doorbell. I don't know why people don't understand that a 12 Volt doorbell is never good on a 230 Volt outlet.....no matter how many joints along the way.

Volt drop doesn't quite work like that.

 

[Photon440]

I have lost a few pairs of side-cutters thanks to other 'wannabee Electricians' having their first rodeo.

One house had an extension cord going under the floor in the lounge and appearing like magic at the front doorway with some sort of voodoo mystery connection connected to the doorbell. I don't know why people don't understand that a 12 Volt doorbell is never good on a 230 Volt outlet.....no matter how many joints along the way.

Volt drop doesn't quite work like that.

Well, it's AC, so half the volts were going the wrong way.

 

[kiwigtx]

Well, it's AC, so half the volts were going the wrong way.

True.....but it's the other half I was worried about.

 

[kiwigtx]

That feeling you get when receiving a 230 Volt shock is one that stays with you for a while. I have had a few over the years....all by someone else's misadventure, and me failing to test thoroughly

The set frequency of supply at 50 Hz doesn't seem to match the sensation of being shaken by what feels like a ***** Grizzly Bear grappling the last bit of food from your hand.