Dodgy trade pictures for your amusement! - 1 Million Views!

[nicebutdim]

Just shut the door on this lot!!

That the newly rewired place?

Edit: Thought that was posted by DD.

 

[mainline]

There's a PTFE reel and a compression olive in the pic., so the wetpants may have been here with his blowlamp.

It was probably used instead of electrical tape.

 

[tony9i9i9i]

I do wonder, where the grey tails (top left) are going. I didn't stay long enough to ask!

 

[littlespark]

I do wonder, where the grey tails (top left) are going. I didn't stay long enough to ask!

Upstairs flat, or next door neighbour?
Looped supply.

 

[brianmoooore]

Potentially free supply.

 

[littlespark]

Potentially free supply.

aren't all supplies "potentially" free if no one comes to check the meter?

 

[tony9i9i9i]

Potentially free supply.

That's where my mind went.

 

[freddo]

Well this is how my afternoon went. Oops.

At least I only hit 4 out of the 5 cables...
I'm definitely not going to post a photo of the temporary repair.

 

[littlespark]

did anything go bang when you did that, freddo?


start a new thread on step by step repair of MICC

 

[freddo]

did anything go bang when you did that, freddo?


start a new thread on step by step repair of MICC

No these are fire alarm cables.

We called out the fire alarm company who have the maintenance contract for this system, but the chap they sent out had never worked with MICC before so I had to do something to get it going again while they send someone else out tomorrow to rewire the damaged bits. My MI tools are at home so had to strip it with side cutters in the traditional way.

I do secretly like working with MI, the last repair I did involved silver soldering a patch over a nicked sheath.

 

[littlespark]

i just though, orange sheath it would be power circuits

 

[DefyG]

Well this is how my afternoon went. Oops.

Sort of thing that always seems to happen to me on a Friday afternoon!

 

[freddo]

i just though, orange sheath it would be power circuits

All the wiring here is all over the place, the cables are not near anything or in any zone, not that that maters with MI. Here is some conduit from the same place, was buried in the wall. Twin cables in one end singles out the other, inline crimps inside the conduit.

And why bother un-plugging the Klik plug in ceiling rose when you can tape up the end of the live flex and stuff it in the void.

 

[davesparks]

start a new thread on step by step repair of MICC

I'm installing a bit later this week to bypass a faulty section of fire alarm cable, if there's time I can try and get some pics and write something about it if anyone is interested.

 

[timhoward]

EICR. After completely failing to identify this circuit, something occurred to me.
I was right. (Breaker is off)

Both ends of a former ring in different breakers.

 

[DPG]

EICR. After completely failing to identify this circuit, something occurred to me.
I was right. (Breaker is off)
View attachment 113112
Both ends of a former ring in different breakers.

Solar feeding it?

 

[timhoward]

Solar feeding it?

Both ends of a ring in different MCBs. One was a B16 other was a B20.
Obviously trying to identify it by turning one off at a time was getting nowhere!

 

[Mikegh]

 

[pc1966]

Wow, that is a whole special level of fail!

 

[Mikegh]

Unknown origin but too good to pass up

 

[James]

wow, someone has been saving up all there bad luck and saving it for one sh!t day!!

 

[buzzlightyear]

It's like a arrow passed through it.

 

[pc1966]

A sad tale here, a friend of mind died recently and I went to see his workshop with one of his daughters to give her a hand. He was quite an interesting guy and generally very practical, but sadly not terribly good at electrical work, shall we say. Some of the originals stuff there was installed to a good standard, but in at least one of the boxes L2 was white wire, making it older than myself!

I was not there for electrics, just to lend a hand cleaning/moving stuff, so the only thing I could actually deal with there & then was the extension lead's plug with tools I usually have in my car boot.

The SWA from the switch (or switched-fuse) is really a spectacular example, it is connected but only by a handful of strands. I really would like to know why it ended up like that as I presume it was properly glanded in the past. The main set of DB used to feed multiple units in an industrial block but the left box of fuses now has just a single 40A circuit that is not on the unit's own billing meter, but nobody I asked has any idea of who/why it remains from this separated unit now.

Of course it needs major renovation, realistically a rewire and all of the stuff replaced, but I might have to do something (like a new SWA gland!) until the estate is sorted out and the siblings who now own it can agree on getting it sorted out professionally.

 

[ipf]

View attachment 113319
I was not there for electrics, just to lend a hand cleaning/moving stuff, so the only thing I could actually deal with there & then was the extension lead's plug with tools I usually have in my car boot.

Well, looking at the photo, you did a good job with the plug...

Sorry about your friend, RIP.

 

[nicebutdim]

There's never anything good to be found at the end of a length of orange flex.

 

[ipf]

High level supply, above ceiling, picked up for office LED panel lighting. One faulty. Loads of LSF on the ceiling, nearly strung myself up when a tile was removed.

 

[leesrubberroom]

Poor man’s chandelier

View attachment 28539

I think this might be considered stylish in some circles

 

[pc1966]

Back to my old friend's place again. Turns out there was no earthing of the armour! So the car lift had been really dangerous for years! I put a gland on so now it is earthed, but left it switched off anyway. As I finished doing that I knocked an envelope nailed to the wall, and lo! A "new" 20s gland fell out from some perished plastic bag. So clearly he had the gland for a long time with the view to fixing it but never got round to it
In the process I took a look inside and its a bit grim:

Yes, those are bits of fuse wire in what should be the location of bolted HRC fuses in the Dorman-Smith switched-fuse, and indeed that is white for L2 showing it dates pre-1966, and I agree the CPC to the Wylex box below is far too small.

The MEM box of rewirable fuses has asbestos flash-pads, so a problem for ultimate disposal, and it has way too much connected to it with little or no regard to adequate protection. It is most certainly a rip-out and replace the lot job once the estate is finalised.

 

[mainline]

Can you put some smoke alarms in the big farmhouse.

And btw watch your head

 

[SJD]

Removing a room of downlight converters, not only did they convert the large ceiling holes, but also the connections ... by means of the MR16 lampholder!

 

[pc1966]

Removing a room of downlight converters, not only did they convert the large ceiling holes, but also the connections ... by means of the MR16 lampholder!

Well it is creative, you could say that!

 

[pc1966]

Creative adaptation of a 13A plug:

 

[Avo Mk8]

Creative adaptation of a 13A plug:
View attachment 113818

Top notch job

 

[pirate]

There's never anything good to be found at the end of a length of orange flex

My neighbour's neck would be a good start...

 

[Greenarmy]

There's never anything good to be found at the end of a length of orange flex.

I have never realised before, but that is very true

 

[Darkwood]

Wow - this thread is still getting plenty content, at this rate it will be the first thread to hit 1million views soon.
Not bad for a Electrical trade forum I must say so myself

 

[Pete999]

I have never realised before, but that is very true

 

[LewisM]

Fans going to be fun to change

 

[brianmoooore]

Fans going to be fun to change


View attachment 113880

Not too bad, as long as you can release the two clamp bands holding the motor/fan assembly in place, and you are replacing with the same model.
Motor and fan just slides out, leaving the frame and pipes undisturbed.

 

[timhoward]

I turned up to change an outside light. This was the supply cable as I found it and the photograph to explain to customer why it needed to be a bigger job. Needless to say I took it out of service and ran a new cable.
When the place was rewired I think no one fancied tackling the slate roof to replace it.

Twin (without earth) and tinned copper conductors, so it's probably sat here in its buckle clips since the early 60's

 

[bill01803]

More SY use, apparently only six years old

 

[Dan]

GO EFFIN ON LADS AND LADIES!!!!!

This single thread alone has nearly 1 million views (956,000+ right this second)

Well done people, for making such a lovely forum that's so so busy it's ace.

Thank you.

 

[littlespark]

We could post up a “calendar girls” style naked photo shoot to get those views up.

 

[Dan]

G'wan then. You first.

 

[oscar21]

We are currently re-wiring a run down house, just your average 3 bed end terrace. Everything inside it electrically pointed to it being some sort of old commercial business, EM lights dotted about for one. but according to the new owner it wasn't, he said an old bloke lived there that was a bit mad, nothing shows up on Streeview either showing it anything but a house. I could have taken many more photos of things but this is the sort of stuff he got up to apparently.

That one is my favourite, screwed to the underneath of a floorboard, fed in alarm cable so maybe some sort of booby trap.

Secuirty light switching

Cables everywhere, these were for the CCTV

Backdoor

All that was left of the shed, it was full of electronic stuff apparently, would have loved to have a look around it but it was gone before we turned up.

And lastly a bit of switch wiring

Looks normal but it was years old and wired about 30 years ago or more, those cables are twin and earths, not 3 cores with the grey cut out. Where the hell did he get black and brown cable from?

 

[LewisM]

Another lug heatshrank too low meaning one got super hot and burnt the heat shrink off

Before

After

 

[littlespark]

Saw this for sale and soon realised the seller had the terminology wrong…

Battery… not “wireless”…. Or does it need to be connected to local Wi-Fi or mobile data??

 

[brianmoooore]

Not the current normal usage of "wireless", but if it can be described as cordless (an imported US term?), it surely can alternatively be described as wireless.

 

[LewisM]

Fusebox age? 1920s?

 

[DPG]

Fusebox age? 1920s?



View attachment 114975

Very nice. Lucien would have definitely been interested in that one.