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

[FitzyB5]

Maybe @Richard Cranium can confirm. But this PC board appears to be from a Montgomery Miprom elevator control in post #12. That’s frightening.

 

[PlymCrazy]

I took a 2am service call about 15 years ago to a local high rise hotel.
It was dead in the middle of our freezing season around here.
On the 19th floor a 2 1/2" fire hose supply line froze and burst within a cold air intake plenum.
At least (2) problems with that... 1) Wet pipe in an unheated area and 2) No waterflow detection was installed in this particular section of the fire system.
So a lot of water flowed before the source was determined and brought under control.
By the time I arrived on scene the drop ceiling on the 3rd floor was demolished from water damage, leaving only the can lights suspended in the ceiling grid.
This could be scene through the front windows from the street.
The water was running through the light fixtures, creating a beautiful glisten to say the least. But...
The basement by that time already had several feet of water in it.
I was told by the time the water rose high enough down there to reach the first 600A service, it blew the panel clean across the hallway just missing one of the hotel workers.
It left quite an impression on the concrete wall it collided with.
And quite an impression on my memory to say the least.

 

[demonram]

Similar to above in a bathroom. My original electrician, Bob, retired finally at 70. He was a sub and had been doing remods for me for 25 years. I hired a new guy and we were doing one in an older home. I went by to check things out and there were 2 boxes on the walls from original sconces. I noticed the old wires were capped off and asked if they were disconnected. He said no, one was a junction box. I asked, how are you going to make that work, you know we’re eliminating them? He said, the drywall guy can just fill it. Needless to say, it wasn’t left like that. He did rewire as needed, (took a few hours) and that was his first and last job he ever did for me. I’ve seen so much crap through the years, from past work done (even new) I could fill pages.

 

[68-500]

I have to admit - for once the Americans have the better system.

60 Hz is way better - it makes for easy manufacture of clocks and time devices.

We operate on 50 Hz....I don't know why....I guess it was passed down to us by Grandma England many years ago. Although 50 Hz is a better fit with our Metric system.

Metric electric system!

 

[Mackman]

Similar to above in a bathroom. My original electrician, Bob, retired finally at 70. He was a sub and had been doing remods for me for 25 years. I hired a new guy and we were doing one in an older home. I went by to check things out and there were 2 boxes on the walls from original sconces. I noticed the old wires were capped off and asked if they were disconnected. He said no, one was a junction box. I asked, how are you going to make that work, you know we’re eliminating them? He said, the drywall guy can just fill it. Needless to say, it wasn’t left like that. He did rewire as needed, (took a few hours) and that was his first and last job he ever did for me. I’ve seen so much crap through the years, from past work done (even new) I could fill pages.

Most of this is done by people with no actual training. Just self-declared tradesmen.

 

[Ron H]

Had a couple shocks. One as a 12 year old in the garage. My dad brought home some scrap steel conveyor-belt from work finding it a nice foot pad in front of the door to wipe mud/snow off the shoes. Somehow an extension cord was stretched under it. Stepped onto it in bare feet to feel a tingling sensation. The cord had been cut under the pad. Later I learned that all I had to do was touch something conductive and…fortunately there wasn’t anything conductive nearby.

Another time when I was working at a machine shop running an old Bridgeport, I grabbed the work light on it, next thing I ended up stretched across the workbench behind me. Good thing it had a back panel on it or might have gone through the big window behind it. We had three mills set alongside of the other, angled to deter getting showered with hot chips – worked ‘most’ of the time; but not uncommon to get peppered with chips, in the hair, down the shirt collar. Ouchy. That old work light flex-conduit that had separated getting showered with chips burning the wiring..

Well, this weekend I’m doing some electrical work at my kid’s ancient house; if you don’t hear from me…

 

[kiwigtx]

There's your problem. You're an electrician doing someone else's job

View attachment 1546183

I think I found the next hard hat for you...

View attachment 1546182

Fixed it.....

 

[kiwigtx]

Maybe @Richard Cranium can confirm. But this PC board appears to be from a Montgomery Miprom elevator control in post #12. That’s frightening.View attachment 1546190

To the person who made those 'fuse links'......it probably didn't matter since it worked again.

 

[kiwigtx]

I went by to check things out and there were 2 boxes on the walls from original sconces.

That word 'sconce' brings back memories of probably the only time I have actually sworn at a customer.....for just being annoying. This woman decided she would project manage the remodel of her small two-floor, two-bed apartment.....49 sq metres (around 527 sq ft)....or 72 washing machines. She had been scouring leaflets from designer shops and antiques she had found. We had to install 5 sconces....basically very intricate tree-like things with each branch holding a small lampholder. The problem was we should have told her no way as the wiring did not meet minimum standards - not rated for 230 Volts, or even anything over flashlight voltage.

Anyway she kept going on about these bloody lights every day....so we installed them - into a plastered wall, chases down from the ceiling which the builder fixed up later....and they looked good at a glance, but totally the wrong look in this small apartment. Another thing she wanted done was under-floor heating in the bathroom and kitchen. I laid out the heating element mats, and proceeded to mix up the levelling compound in a big bucket on her deck. She's sitting in a chair watching me like a hawk the entire time. About 60 seconds into the mix, my mains powered Hitachi drill starts to smoke....quite a lot.

"ROGER.....Is your drill supposed to be smoking like that?" she called out loudly in her shrill voice.

I had already being wound up by her going on about those bloody sconces all morning.....and I couldn't stop what came out of my mouth next.

"NO, IT'S FU**ING NOT, NOW SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND LET ME GET ON WITH THE JOB!!!" was my response. My apprentice tried not to laugh.....she was shocked to the point where she realised I was pissed off...so she left for a while. I pulled my drill and mixer out of the bucket, let it cool down a few minutes, then tried again. I ended up finishing the mix with a battery drill. Luckily I had mixed it enough to use...and after letting the air bubbles surface, I screeded the floor. It all worked fine.

About two weeks after the job had been finished, I had cause to meet up with her husband at his work place as they still owed me some money. The subject of me swearing at his wife came up.......and it was hilarious.

He actually thanked me for yelling at her and swearing......he had lived his entire life with her and never raised his voice. I felt quite happy about that.
He even said to me that he wished he could have done the same many times before.

This was the same apartment where I had drilled through the roof the previous week.



I found the file where I saved the pictures.....file is called "BL*** B***H Parnell"
I felt sorry for the Tiler...a friend of mine. The bathroom was just total over-kill. Pain-staking installation.

 

[ESOXER]

I worked for a school district recently, the newest school has live uncapped wires hanging out of junction boxes everywhere. Building was 3 years old when I started and started finding them. When I quit I still believe they weren't all found. We had to install all new emergency exit lights, they were all 8 years old in a 3 year old building.
Electrical contractor went belly up a week before they opened it I was told.

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

I bought a building, when we were doing the remodel I found four, eight foot fluorescent lights wired on 14 gauge speaker wire. I also hate a messy breaker box, so when I was cleaning up that mess I found eight breakers that were switched on, when i followed the wires they were just hanging from floor joists live. I spent 10 days just cleaning up the wiring. I am so surprised that it never burnt down.

 

[kiwigtx]

I re-wired a 3-storey house about 10 years ago now, and I had about 3 weeks work for myself and an apprentice...so we got stuck in. One circuit has old steel conduit with rubber cabling joined onto fabric coated singles, eventually popping out the wall as a modern TPS cable. Another cupboard had a black rubber cable at the top, going down wood capping to a socket outlet with old bare earth TPS with loads of Verdigris on....copper oil residue.

We found five abandoned hot water cylinders in that house.....they were all in difficult places - too difficult fort even the plumbers to take them out for scrap money. I let my apprentice take the scrap off that job....I think he got a reasonable amount too. The switchboard was outside, and I condemned it upon first glance. The new owner was able to get insurance on the new purchase until I had made safe and written a lengthy report....all on the Thursday before Easter.

He got possession late on Thursday, and work started on the following Tuesday.

No pictures this time....they're on another hard drive tucked away. The house was an absolute nightmare to wire...old 1930's house with modern additions, and exterior stucco on top of concrete panels in a very Dutch design. Typical....previous owner was a big-shot Real Estate agent around town. I reckon he knew more than he let on.

Nowadays they have to declare everything to potential purchasers.

 

[Garceau]

I have been hit with 50,000 volts a time or three....but amperage was pretty low.

Damn tasers

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I have been hit with 50,000 volts a time or three....but amperage was pretty low.

Damn tasers

Gotta learn, No means No!!

 

[demonram]

I worked for a school district recently, the newest school has live uncapped wires hanging out of junction boxes everywhere. Building was 3 years old when I started and started finding them. When I quit I still believe they weren't all found. We had to install all new emergency exit lights, they were all 8 years old in a 3 year old building.
Electrical contractor went belly up a week before they opened it I was told.

I read these and I have to think, what were the inspectors doing during their inspections, especially in a school? We’ve all seen crap, and most of it I hope wasn’t paid for, meaning a DIYer. The things I see from so called journeyman tradesmen, just ticks me off (I’m being nice). I can’t comprehend how such people can sleep, knowing how they’ve ripped people off and the possibility of something catastrophic happening. We all see it all the time. It makes us all look bad to some. I will say, it’s been great for my business, word of mouth is the best advertising.

 

[Sahara]

As a drywaller working in renos I saw a few things.
The north was the Wild West for a while as far as building stuff goes. Everyone who ever watched those renovation shows on TV was going to get rich flipping houses. Doing all the work themselves.
I’ve seen drywall screws through copper pipe in walls, wall studs built by scabbing together scrap lumber, and speaker wire for house wiring.
Anyway… one place I was working on I could hear the electrician start shouting expletives. I wander over to see what was going on. He shows me why the microwave didn’t work: the wiring was burned apart in the wall. It acted like a fuse. A miracle it never caught the house on fire. Years later the house would burn down, nearly killing a child.
The house that we live in now. When we bought it we thought we did proper checks. Paperwork indicated it had been rewired. Three prong receptacles everywhere. Pulling a cover revealed three conductor wire. After we buy the place we start doing some renos. Turns out someone had spliced small pieces of three conductor wire onto the existing two conductor wiring. That’s fraud. Unfortunately the seller died of cancer at about this time.

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

I have electric heat in my house. They are heat storage units with a fan. So they are radiant and forced air. When we did our remodel I removed the heaters so the flooring could be replaced. Three of the five heaters had burnt wires going back about 8-10 inches from the connections. Three 10 gauge wires stuffed into a wire nut without being twisted together. Poorly marked breaker box, unusual circuits. Two plugs in my kitchen on the same breaker as the back bedroom

 

[Cranky]

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....

She was a 'B' cup or overall, a B?? lol

 

[kiwigtx]

Everyone who ever watched those renovation shows on TV was going to get rich flipping houses. Doing all the work themselves.
I’ve seen drywall screws through copper pipe in walls,

Yep, anyone with a hammer and the will can renovate a house themselves and make a fortune.....not.

The number of DIY disasters I have seen are incredible. Usually, it's a tradie from the wrong trade who did the work.....or a mate (and the homeowner can never remember who it was)...but fix it we must. I did some major re-wiring for a friend who died earlier this year, and we found a few things funky, but mostly it was good, just old. We did open up what was the kitchen wall, only to find a galv nail (used in the old days for drywall) that had punctured the water pipe, and somehow not leaked.

The nail has been there since around 1970 when the house was built.

 

[Cranky]

Man, hard to believe soooo much crap. It's no wonder there's not more fires. I'm one of the not so experienced in electrical work but have some but have done some 'hot' work before and really don't like doing that. Anyways, I did the wiring in my shop back in 84....100 amp 220 service. One mistake I made was not putting more than one circuit run in the back of the shop where I ended up doing most of my work. Even have a 3 phase converter to run my machines and so far, the place hasn't burned down....yet.

Helped a buddy wire his house that he built in 1980 and that was pretty much my introduction to hands on wiring but after talking to a couple of buddies at work about it and reading a lot, I felt comfortable enough to go for it at my own shop. I also put my service under ground from the pole since the overhead was in the way of the shop.

When I remodeled the house in the early 2000's, I had an recommended electrician come in and make the changes we wanted and this guy didn't know his *** from a hole in the ground. After questioning him several times, things 'became' right except for the wall outlets in the den where the top half was switched and the bottom half was hot and we wanted to keep it that way but he couldn't figure it out and wired the outlets hot. So now I have a 'dead' wall switch.

Can also write a small book on all the other crap I had to fix from the texture to the floor to the cabinet guys. Ran one guy off after he forked up several times and liked to pull onto the front yard instead of parking in the driveway. He didn't speak a lick of English and had to have someone else that was bi-lingual tell him to leave. Wish I had a pic when he turned to look at me and I gave him the thumb over the shoulder signal and said vamoose!