Mistakes you have made

[James]

Just thought I would put a thread up to admit to some of our mistakes.

Like uncoiling a run of twin and earth off the side of the reel and finding out it has become a tangled mess.

Wiring a motor up so it turns into a large lump of mixed metal scrap.

Many years ago when I knew I was perfect, I have made both of these mistakes and more.
Anyone got some good tales to tell?

 

[littlespark]

None we’re going to admit to!

 

[James]

None we’re going to admit to!

@littlespark aka Mary poppins (practically perfect in every way)

 

[Dustydazzler]

Rushing to finish a rewire I put my foot through a ceiling...(seriously)

 

[Colin Jenkins]

Just thought I would put a thread up to admit to some of our mistakes.

Like uncoiling a run of twin and earth off the side of the reel and finding out it has become a tangled mess.

Wiring a motor up so it turns into a large lump of mixed metal scrap.

Many years ago when I knew I was perfect, I have made both of these mistakes and more.
Anyone got some good tales to tell?

Hello James.
I had just left school and was working in a domestic property with a "tear----". Floorboards up all over the house, all rusty nails left sticking up. I knew the hazard, but being so junior thought this guy knows what he's doing and rushed on with helping with the cable runs. Five minutes later I had a rusty nail in my foot, stopped only by a bone. Blood everywhere for several minutes, luckily soon staunched with the householder's first aid kit. I finished my day, then spent three hours in the local accident unit which organised primarily an anti-tetanus jab in the butt. This taught me a lesson that never left me.......all nails are always knocked back STRAIGHT AWAY!
Regards,
Colin Jenkins.

 

[littlespark]

Hey I’m not perfect (Although being Scottish is close!)

It’s just the list would be endless, and there’s not enough internet out there.

 

[snowhead]

Having worked for 51 years, now retired, I can honestly say I've never made any mistakes.

Any actions which may have caused failures and or breakages, unexpected loss of power, the odd puff of smoke, occassional flames, the accidental fire alarm activation and clearout of buildings, more than once, or any other similar events including the odd excess flow of water, Off load generator tests which turned out to be On load etc, etc, were not mistakes they were part of a fully comprehensive, sometimes VERY steep learning curve..

Some or all of the above also provided usefull learning for others.

 

[Julie.]

Rushing to finish a rewire I put my foot through a ceiling...(seriously)

Very similar, as an apprentice circ 1977/8 i was above a suspended ceiling ripping out some "old" wiring, it had all been declared dead and we were just tearing it out.

Obviously it was more convenient to chop the cables rather than deal with long lengths, but this one time I just didn't feel comfortable, so I cut the red and yellow at the same time, a big blinding flash followed, and I fell right through the tiles!

It would appear it wasn't quite as isolated as the electrician had indicated!

The two most upsetting things was it totally destroyed my new side cutters - absolutely now jaws left on them at all - and i still had to pay for them as the money was deducted out of your wages bit by bit each week.

But annoyingly the site manager just blamed me for the replacement ceiling cost.

After that, apprentice or not, I proved isolation myself, even though that was the electrician's Job!

 

[telectrix]

first time i came across a split CU. (2 N bars, 1 ror RCD side and 1 for non-RCD side ). every time the shower was swiched on, RCD tripped. Checked all N conductors in correct bar. Naively replaced the shower , same problem. 2 hours later, found that the N bars were linked and I'd not removed the link.

 

[James]

Hey I’m not perfect (Although being Scottish is close!)

It’s just the list would be endless, and there’s not enough internet out there.

Aye, and outside lights can be tricky when the wind is blowing your kilt!

 

[littlespark]

Ok....

As an apprentice, back in the day, it was our job to drive to the bakers at lunchtime.
Well, silly me got a sausage roll instead of a sausage ON A roll for the journeyman.....

Never made that mistake again.

 

[plugsandsparks]

I echo snowhead, no mistakes, just random testing of the insulation properties of tools, random testing of Fire Brigade response times, ditto for DNO for service interruption response, lately, breaking strength of fibre cable VS MIs,

 

[Andy78]

Definitely put my feet through a ceiling before. Was renovating a manor house when I was still the trainee. Kneeling carefully on centuries old joists clipping cables along them with nothing but new plasterboard on the underside. My electrician called me for break and in my excitement I totally forgot my situation, stood up and a foot either side of a joist.

I've not done it since so must have learned a lesson. It was only 15 minutes before I could stand again so can;t have been that bad. I've also fathered three children that I know of since then so no lasting damage.

 

[James]

Lol, I have checked out Coleshill fire station response time before.

It breaks up an otherwise boring day for them and gives them an excuse to educate people about the need to properly isolate fire alarms before commencing work!

 

[littlespark]

I've also fathered three children that I know of since then so no lasting damage.

no offence, but are you sure about that? Kids not got the same hair colour as the window cleaner?

 

[Andy78]

no offence, but are you sure about that? Kids not got the same hair colour as the window cleaner?

I AM the window cleaner !

 

[Baddegg]

Lol, I have checked out Coleshill fire station response time before.

It breaks up an otherwise boring day for them and gives them an excuse to educate people about the need to properly isolate fire alarms before commencing work!

Ha ha ha....Ermmm well done boys great work we will take it from here.....??

 

[pc1966]

Well at least I had the decency to put my foot through my own ceiling!

Not doing electrical work, up to see if there was a leak during stormy weather and was not looking down when stepping forward and foot just missed the beam. Thankfully I did not fall through but I was amazed at how much damage it caused due to a huge chunk of old horse-hair lath and plaster coming off.

 

[hasel5]

Yep Fire brigade to a retail park a sainsburys and M&S full evacuation
Lost count on water pipes

 

[Moley]

Just thought I would put a thread up to admit to some of our mistakes.

I got married!!
As for work, I did get a power station evacuated during an outage. Everyone at the muster point and me hoping no one would mention why the fire alarms had gone off. Luckily it wasn't raining.