Day from hell!

[Welsh_sparky_21]

did any of yous ever have days just after you’ve qualified when your doing a simple job but you encounter a slight wee problem and it just snow balls and you’re close to giving up after it’s done lol! Had one a those days

 

[pc1966]

Often!

Most jobs are never as simple and quick as you hope!

 

[Welsh_sparky_21]

Often!

Most jobs are never as simple and quick as you hope!

went home feeling absolutely deflated

 

[MJPD29]

went home feeling absolutely deflated

I still have them days sometimes, I've just learnt not to let it get the better of me. Best to rest and go back with a clear head

 

[mattg4321]

Many. Sounds like you’ll learn something from it though. You tend to learn more and quicker when things don’t go to plan.

 

[Welsh_sparky_21]

I still have them days sometimes, I've just learnt not to let it get the better of me. Best to rest and go back with a clear head

that’s what I need get better at, always dwell on it!
[automerge]1598645014[/automerge]

Many. Sounds like you’ll learn something from it though. You tend to learn more and quicker when things don’t go to plan.

definitely, the stuff that’s went wrong sticks in your head more. When you first pass your test you’re constantly throwing yourself into new territory

 

[pc1966]

went home feeling absolutely deflated

Tomorrow is another day, onwards and upwards!

As others have said it is always a case of learning and some days will be good, others not so good.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Loads of times , for loads of different reasons

but over the course of your working life you will have more good days than bad

so stick with it and learn from your errors

 

[Baddegg]

Loads of em....learnt something from every one of em....

 

[nicebutdim]

Seems that no one else is going to ask, so I'll do it..

What was the slight wee problem that snowballed?

 

[Mike Johnson]

I learnt very early on to put everything in writing, so any project I was attending was explicitly explained in my fee submission, if any variation happened it was re-quoted, my mantra was always "if its not in writing, it was not said"

 

[westward10]

A bad day at work isn't likely to be a day from hell. A doctor saying take a seat we have your test results may well be, put things into perspective.

 

[Welsh_sparky_21]

Seems that no one else is going to ask, so I'll do it..

What was the slight wee problem that snowballed?

changing 2 outside lights over, couldn’t get one to come on. Couldn’t get one to work right, eventually got it. Then went to change a socket over, was an old socket and the back box snapped, couldn’t find a replacement one in van so had to use a metal back box with the plastic socket face. Ended up taking about 2 hours for the whole job

 

[nicebutdim]

changing 2 outside lights over, couldn’t get one to come on. Couldn’t get one to work right, eventually got it. Then went to change a socket over, was an old socket and the back box snapped, couldn’t find a replacement one in van so had to use a metal back box with the plastic socket face. Ended up taking about 2 hours for the whole job

I'm going to guess the first issue was trivial, but you couldn't see the problem as you were looking for something more complex?

 

[Welsh_sparky_21]

I'm going to guess the first issue was trivial, but you couldn't see the problem as you were looking for something more complex?

You are correct lol!

 

[nicebutdim]

Common or switched live in wrong terminal and what appeared to be "on" position was actually off?

 

[Welsh_sparky_21]

Common or switched live in wrong terminal and what appeared to be "on" position was actually off?

No the outside light was coming off the sockets, so it was controlled by a unswithched spur strangely. The fuse wasn’t sitting right in the carrier

 

[nicebutdim]

Curiosity now satisfied

 

[Dartlec]

did any of yous ever have days just after you’ve qualified when your doing a simple job but you encounter a slight wee problem and it just snow balls and you’re close to giving up after it’s done lol! Had one a those days

Anyone who says they've never had one is lying or has never done the job.

It's usually the simple ones that get you because you haven't thought about them in advance and planned like you do with the more complicated ones.

Also when you have a smaller van the part you didn't expect to need is always the one you took out a few days ago while 'tidying' the van...

 

[James]

Bad days are not that bad when you look back on them after a week or two.

Glad you sorted it all out.

 

[Vortigern]

Yes yes yes. It is nice though that there is this forum where you can get a sanity check, or a dressing down if needed though, is it not?

 

[Dustydazzler]

Generally The worst ‘jobs‘ are the ones where you told yourself it would take 20 minutes , but in reality took you 4 hours...
done It so many times where I have told a customer it’s an hours job tops for x amount of money, and as soon as I put the phone down know full well I probably sold the job short.
its part of the learning curve and eventually learned never give a fixed figure but a ball park figure especially on small jobs...
its the smaller jobs that often give you the most trouble simply because you never allow enough time...

 

[davesparks]

changing 2 outside lights over, couldn’t get one to come on. Couldn’t get one to work right, eventually got it. Then went to change a socket over, was an old socket and the back box snapped, couldn’t find a replacement one in van so had to use a metal back box with the plastic socket face. Ended up taking about 2 hours for the whole job

Presumably you are going back to replace the metal box with a plastic one, or is it a metal surface box and the customer is happy with it?

As per @westward10 you need to take a step back and get a little perspective, that's hardly a day from hell in the big scheme of things.
Just wait until you accidentally set off a fire alarm 3 times in a week evacuating a busy building, have the local fire chief give you a rollicking by the end of it and pick up a few £k bill for the privilege.

 

[KennyKen]

I feel deflated when I have to deal with rubbish like this.

 

[UNG]

I had one bad day about 20 years ago and nothing before and nothing since has come remotely close to that one. We had to take a 1/2 in coax cable from the roof of a building down to the basement 18 floors below and then through the basement to the main computer suite but it could only be done after 6pm, all was going well I was feeding the cable at the roof and the lad working with me was routing it down the riser at the ground floor he radioed me to tell me there was a sprinkling of water coming down the riser and it was getting worse and worse it got something like 50 - 60,000 litres of water flowed before it was stopped, a pipe had sheared and ran at full bore for an hour or so
The end result was 5 passenger lifts were put out of action along with the basement post room and there was water damage to the first and ground floors didn't sleep too well that night wondering how to explain what happened. In the end we escaped the fall out as the company who were contracted to replace the rotten pipework had not replaced every pipe they should have and the blame was placed with them we dodged the bullet that day but anytime things are going wrong that job reminds me how wrong it can go. Had to go back to that job a few years later to do some mods and was asked not to do it again
So I flooded the AA's HQ and it was somebody else's fault but for a number of hours I was panicing it was my fault even after all these years there are a few people who remind me of it strange how they never remember all the other job's

 

[telectrix]

love it..another good blame the wet-pants .

 

[Welsh_sparky_21]

I had one bad day about 20 years ago and nothing before and nothing since has come remotely close to that one. We had to take a 1/2 in coax cable from the roof of a building down to the basement 18 floors below and then through the basement to the main computer suite but it could only be done after 6pm, all was going well I was feeding the cable at the roof and the lad working with me was routing it down the riser at the ground floor he radioed me to tell me there was a sprinkling of water coming down the riser and it was getting worse and worse it got something like 50 - 60,000 litres of water flowed before it was stopped, a pipe had sheared and ran at full bore for an hour or so
The end result was 5 passenger lifts were put out of action along with the basement post room and there was water damage to the first and ground floors didn't sleep too well that night wondering how to explain what happened. In the end we escaped the fall out as the company who were contracted to replace the rotten pipework had not replaced every pipe they should have and the blame was placed with them we dodged the bullet that day but anytime things are going wrong that job reminds me how wrong it can go. Had to go back to that job a few years later to do some mods and was asked not to do it again
So I flooded the AA's HQ and it was somebody else's fault but for a number of hours I was panicing it was my fault even after all these years there are a few people who remind me of it strange how they never remember all the other job's

Presumably you are going back to replace the metal box with a plastic one, or is it a metal surface box and the customer is happy with it?

As per @westward10 you need to take a step back and get a little perspective, that's hardly a day from hell in the big scheme of things.
Just wait until you accidentally set off a fire alarm 3 times in a week evacuating a busy building, have the local fire chief give you a rollicking by the end of it and pick up a few £k bill for the privilege.

said to the customer that’s all I had and he seemed happy enough, was only in a work shop in his garage so a don't think He was too fussed. Different story if it’s in his house

 

[telectrix]

my day from hell is about to start, old wylex CU with 3871's, back of bottom of corner cupboard in kitchen. all sockets on a 30A, random tripping of MCB. did a few basic tests yesterday without being able to access the CU. Nothing appeared abnormal. testing at a socket L-N and L-E both > 9999 ohms, but L-E and N-E both 0.02 Meg. obviously the IR readings are misleading with circuits still connected in CU. replaced MCB with a 60898 as the original was intermittent resetting even with power isolated, took 3 or 4 presses to get it to stay in,and it was a 2 minute job. cakll last night, still randomly tripping but holds when reset. back today to strip out the cupboard, remove shelf so can access and diss. then some sensible testing.. split ring and track it down. could be simply an intermittent short in a back box (I hope) or maybe rodent damage entailing floors up etc. btw. no RCD on installation. Zs readings all sensible ranging from 0.22 ohms to 0.45 ohms. let you know what i find later.

 

[Welsh_sparky_21]

my day from hell is about to start, old wylex CU with 3871's, back of bottom of corner cupboard in kitchen. all sockets on a 30A, random tripping of MCB. did a few basic tests yesterday without being able to access the CU. Nothing appeared abnormal. testing at a socket L-N and L-E both > 9999 ohms, but L-E and N-E both 0.02 Meg. obviously the IR readings are misleading with circuits still connected in CU. replaced MCB with a 60898 as the original was intermittent resetting even with power isolated, took 3 or 4 presses to get it to stay in,and it was a 2 minute job. cakll last night, still randomly tripping but holds when reset. back today to strip out the cupboard, remove shelf so can access and diss. then some sensible testing.. split ring and track it down. could be simply an intermittent short in a back box (I hope) or maybe rodent damage entailing floors up etc. btw. no RCD on installation. Zs readings all sensible ranging from 0.22 ohms to 0.45 ohms. let you know what i find later.

Good luck with that one!!

 

[James]

my day from hell is about to start, old wylex CU with 3871's, back of bottom of corner cupboard in kitchen. all sockets on a 30A, random tripping of MCB. did a few basic tests yesterday without being able to access the CU. Nothing appeared abnormal. testing at a socket L-N and L-E both > 9999 ohms, but L-E and N-E both 0.02 Meg. obviously the IR readings are misleading with circuits still connected in CU. replaced MCB with a 60898 as the original was intermittent resetting even with power isolated, took 3 or 4 presses to get it to stay in,and it was a 2 minute job. cakll last night, still randomly tripping but holds when reset. back today to strip out the cupboard, remove shelf so can access and diss. then some sensible testing.. split ring and track it down. could be simply an intermittent short in a back box (I hope) or maybe rodent damage entailing floors up etc. btw. no RCD on installation. Zs readings all sensible ranging from 0.22 ohms to 0.45 ohms. let you know what i find later.

It’s nice to do some proper fault finding every now and then

Good luck

 

[Dartlec]

my day from hell is about to start, old wylex CU with 3871's, back of bottom of corner cupboard in kitchen. all sockets on a 30A, random tripping of MCB. did a few basic tests yesterday without being able to access the CU. Nothing appeared abnormal. testing at a socket L-N and L-E both > 9999 ohms, but L-E and N-E both 0.02 Meg. obviously the IR readings are misleading with circuits still connected in CU. replaced MCB with a 60898 as the original was intermittent resetting even with power isolated, took 3 or 4 presses to get it to stay in,and it was a 2 minute job. cakll last night, still randomly tripping but holds when reset. back today to strip out the cupboard, remove shelf so can access and diss. then some sensible testing.. split ring and track it down. could be simply an intermittent short in a back box (I hope) or maybe rodent damage entailing floors up etc. btw. no RCD on installation. Zs readings all sensible ranging from 0.22 ohms to 0.45 ohms. let you know what i find later.

Sounds like fun. Rodent damage sounds possible, but make sure to check every point before getting any floors up. I had an RCD constantly tripping on Friday that was fine by the time I got there in the evening. Tracked down to an external socket that had lost it's cover and had a small tree pressed against it - so the rain overnight and the wet tree had tripped it all morning, but had dried by the time I got there.....

 

[pc1966]

let you know what i find later.

Yes, interesting to hear once it is done and you are home with a beer or three.

 

[telectrix]

update. worse than anyone can think. opened up old fuseboars (3036, updated with 3871s). 4 x 2.5 T/E enter from rear in a bunch, sheathing not in box, so no way of telling which L,N,E are same cable. pulled lives out of MCB. no r1. pulled assumed N's ..no rN. left r2 for now as no way of telling which is which. both legs of L's read >999K to E, but both read 0.01meg on IR. opened a couple of sockets to split circuit. half the sockets are spurs with hidden JBs under bedroom floors. got 1 leg reads OK, so connects up and 4 sockets working. 5 dead. at this time also pugged in socket tester 3 greens.. OK. then asks the old dear if she's sure nobody been nailing or screwing floorboards ( cables are notched in joists)." my son secured a loose board in my bedroom a few weeks ago". so board up. screw straight through cable. joist charred, adjacent cables blackened. OK, so cut and stripped damaged cable. back at CU, fault clear. joined cable , fault back. split cable again 1 leg good. 1 bad, so leaving the bad leg dissed at the join and at CU, powered up "good" leg. several socket appear to be working, but socket tester shows L-E reversal. also 1 socket only works if the adjacent 15A MCB is on. then the 30A MCB trips. after 5 hours i finally admit defeat and advise a socket rewire and a new CU in an accessible position. obviously some cross connections meaning beds out of house, carpets and floors up. nightmare. thoughs being if this amount of disruption is needed, then rewiring is only option.


1. CU under fixed shelf
2. shorted cablecut and stripped
3. connected in hope.

in 2 and 2, you can see the black scorch marks on the joist.

 

[pc1966]

Oh that is nasty.

 

[nicebutdim]

update. worse than anyone can think. opened up old fuseboars (3036, updated with 3871s). 4 x 2.5 T/E enter from rear in a bunch, sheathing not in box, so no way of telling which L,N,E are same cable. pulled lives out of MCB. no r1. pulled assumed N's ..no rN. left r2 for now as no way of telling which is which. both legs of L's read >999K to E, but both read 0.01meg on IR. opened a couple of sockets to split circuit.

My brain expected to read "beers".

 

[telectrix]

in pic 1. the shelf below the DB is the bottom of the base unit, 6" above floor. above the DB by 6" is the non-removeable shelf, so no room to work. half in, half out the cupboard, and to make it worse, having to use a terminal driver in left hand, so hand blocking off the light from rechargeable work LED light.

them connectors are the dog's danglies. quick connect even if hardly any slack, cover with heatshrink. voila, MF joint.

 

[Dartlec]

update. worse than anyone can think. opened up old fuseboars (3036, updated with 3871s). 4 x 2.5 T/E enter from rear in a bunch, sheathing not in box, so no way of telling which L,N,E are same cable. pulled lives out of MCB. no r1. pulled assumed N's ..no rN. left r2 for now as no way of telling which is which. both legs of L's read >999K to E, but both read 0.01meg on IR. opened a couple of sockets to split circuit. half the sockets are spurs with hidden JBs under bedroom floors. got 1 leg reads OK, so connects up and 4 sockets working. 5 dead. at this time also pugged in socket tester 3 greens.. OK. then asks the old dear if she's sure nobody been nailing or screwing floorboards ( cables are notched in joists)." my son secured a loose board in my bedroom a few weeks ago". so board up. screw straight through cable. joist charred, adjacent cables blackened. OK, so cut and stripped damaged cable. back at CU, fault clear. joined cable , fault back. split cable again 1 leg good. 1 bad, so leaving the bad leg dissed at the join and at CU, powered up "good" leg. several socket appear to be working, but socket tester shows L-E reversal. also 1 socket only works if the adjacent 15A MCB is on. then the 30A MCB trips. after 5 hours i finally admit defeat and advise a socket rewire and a new CU in an accessible position. obviously some cross connections meaning beds out of house, carpets and floors up. nightmare. thoughs being if this amount of disruption is needed, then rewiring is only option.


1. CU under fixed shelf
2. shorted cablecut and stripped
3. connected in hope.

in 2 and 2, you can see the black scorch marks on the joist.

That is a nightmare and I bet there are thousands of houses out there like this, waiting to sneak up on any of us any day now...

Sleep well and don't have nightmares!

 

[telectrix]

what i can't get my head round is the L-E reverse shown on 2 socket testers a chinese import and a fluke, when clearly the L is to L. N is to N and E is to E. the only thing i can think of is that due to the screw in cable, the 1.0mm cpc has been compromised due to repeated fault currents, gone O/C somewhere down the line and confusing the socket testers.

 

[pc1966]

what i can't get my head round is the L-E reverse shown on 2 socket testers a chinese import and a fluke, when clearly the L is to L. N is to N and E is to E. the only thing i can think of is that due to the screw in cable, the 1.0mm cpc has been compromised due to repeated fault currents, gone O/C somewhere down the line and confusing the socket testers.

Or someone has managed to swap L & N in a hidden junction box?

Did you do any other check to see if it was really reversed?

As you say, if and open CPC is floating close to L the socket tester might just think that N is the live one as the "odd one out".

 

[Baddegg]

in pic 1. the shelf below the DB is the bottom of the base unit, 6" above floor. above the DB by 6" is the non-removeable shelf, so no room to work. half in, half out the cupboard, and to make it worse, having to use a terminal driver in left hand, so hand blocking off the light from rechargeable work LED light.

them connectors are the dog's danglies. quick connect even if hardly any slack, cover with heatshrink. voila, MF joint.

That joint is a nice fix tel ??

 

[telectrix]

Or someone has managed to swap L & N in a hidden junction box?

Did you do any other check to see if it was really reversed?

As you say, if and open CPC is floating close to L the socket tester might just think that N is the live one as the "odd one out".

checked at a socket. first, voltstick.. lights up on red (L) no reaction on N or E. then the fluke . 246V L-N. 246V L-E. 40V N-E. thinking cpc is floating due to damage caused by the screw in the cable. as it's only a 1.0mm cpc. however, the leg that showed 0.01 meg L-E was dissed.

 

[David Prosser]

did any of yous ever have days just after you’ve qualified when your doing a simple job but you encounter a slight wee problem and it just snow balls and you’re close to giving up after it’s done lol! Had one a those days

Days from Hell, looking back are the best days you will have!! You will learn more, remember more, understand more and finally get more confidence from them than you ever will from a hundred easy jobs. Suck them up and learn from them. No one ever started a conversation down the pub with an easy job that went according to plan.

 

[123]

what i can't get my head round is the L-E reverse shown on 2 socket testers a chinese import and a fluke, when clearly the L is to L. N is to N and E is to E. the only thing i can think of is that due to the screw in cable, the 1.0mm cpc has been compromised due to repeated fault currents, gone O/C somewhere down the line and confusing the socket testers.

checked at a socket. first, voltstick.. lights up on red (L) no reaction on N or E. then the fluke . 246V L-N. 246V L-E. 40V N-E. thinking cpc is floating due to damage caused by the screw in the cable. as it's only a 1.0mm cpc. however, the leg that showed 0.01 meg L-E was dissed.

Did you test voltage at the connections at sockets that flummoxed the plug in tester?
I've had before plug in tester showing L-E reversal...what happened was the fault blew apart the cpc, which in turn welded itself onto the L from the socket. So at socket L-N 230v, N-E 230v, L-E 0v.

The downside of MCB's and the like, folk will flick them back on until they stay on, damaging god knows what in doing so.

 

[cliffed]

Most of my bad days come from putting things right,especially work that some Subbies who are not actually interested in the job
We all make mistakes,the art of that is to make sure You correct them.

 

[telectrix]

Did you test voltage at the connections at sockets that flummoxed the plug in tester?
I've had before plug in tester showing L-E reversal...what happened was the fault blew apart the cpc, which in turn welded itself onto the L from the socket. So at socket L-N 230v, N-E 230v, L-E 0v.

The downside of MCB's and the like, folk will flick them back on until they stay on, damaging god knows what in doing so.

think it may be something similar, yet, before I'd found the nail in cable i had several sockets powered off the "good" leg, showing correct polarity. (3 greens on the fluke).