Mistakes you have made

[Megawatt]

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?

Yes I have one and it was marring my first wife ?

 

[Baddegg]

I’ve always been a fan of the Micky Flanagan approach.....turn up the next and start shouting ohhhh who’s done that!?!

 

[LewisM]

Covered smoke alarms with latex gloves as we were drilling, everyone else with a brain rolled them off I had the idea of pulling the glove by the fingers which stretched it then the glove split and basically fired all the dust etc directly into the smoke alarm and basically caused a massive evacuation of a site without ~2,000 people working there.

But it wasn't my fault the glove split!

 

[magnoliafan89]

Trying to do an RCD test the other week.
Kept coming up ERR--- checked the rcd was on, changed my testers batteries....TWICE! Was almost at a loss 5 mins later....
Can you spot my little mistake?

 

[buzzlightyear]

Wired up a shower turned the water on plumber forgot to plumb in the isolator for shower. It's was like the titanic. No violins was not playing that day.
Holding a undbrella on the ground floor. Lol

 

[KennyKen]

Joining the current company I work for.

 

[Micktw68]

Cut though an intertrip on an ACB in a local substation years ago which caused the circuit breaker to open cutting power to a pretty large area of a local council estate. In my defence the I/T had been run through the same conduit as the small power/lighting that we were ripping out .

 

[telectrix]

biggest blunder ever. ... stripping out redundant cables in 9" steel trunking. red/yellow/blue for 415 3 phase, red/white/blue for 230 3 phase. told all the 230 3 phase was redundant. ripped loads out on a sunday. ... monday mornong works canteen ovens and fans not working... apparently they were 230 3 phase. spent all week re-cabling..

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

Trying to do an RCD test the other week.
Kept coming up ERR--- checked the rcd was on, changed my testers batteries....TWICE! Was almost at a loss 5 mins later....
Can you spot my little mistake?

Oh the amount of time I’ve done this. Ring mains with no end to ends. Full mains board with fantastic IR readings.

 

[hasel5]

Years ago working in a large comms room with a few servers feeding a rather large digital TV And radio network all critical services under floor to the racks etc
We were alerting some lighting and had to unplug a plug from local dado that was for non essential turns out it served the one of the Racks no UPS fitted took out quite a few Radio stations all hell broke loose
Was not a good day but not our fault

 

[radiohead]

Ok I'm going to add a cautionary tale.
A while back my head was in a bad place for various reasons and I had just started taking prescribed anti-depressants. There was a period of a few weeks once I started on the pills where I made some monumentally bad decisions at work under pressure, not mistakes just bad calls. I wont go into details but one of those decisions in particular still brings me out in a cold sweat when I recall it.
It taught me a real lesson, that medication can seriously impact your decision making process and judgement.
So for anyone who may find themselves in a similar predicament be warned and think twice....three times until your head is straight again.

 

[123]

Wired entire lighting circuits in a house in twin brown. 2nd fix was interesting.

 

[buzzlightyear]

while back my head was in a bad place for various reasons and I had just started taking prescribed anti-depressants. There was a period of a few weeks once I started on the pills where I made some monumentally bad decisions at work under pressure, not mistakes just bad calls. I wont go into details but one of those decisions in particular still brings me out in a cold sweat when I recall it.
It taught me a real lesson, that medication can seriously impact your decision making process and judgement.
So for anyone who may find themselves in a similar predicament be warned and think twice....three times until your head is straight again.

One flew over the cokoo nest comes to mind lol.

 

[radiohead]

One flew over the cokoo nest comes to mind lol.

Tell you what Buzz it was scary, which was why I posted it up. Those tiny little tablets caused havoc for a few weeks.

 

[Baddegg]

Tell you what Buzz it was scary, which was why I posted it up. Those tiny little tablets caused havoc for a few weeks.

Ha ha yep I’ve been on them tablets a while now and it’s a good job I’m me own boss cos I’d definitely have been sacked by now ?....the upside is the tablets also enable you to not give a f&@k ??

 

[HappyHippyDad]

I genuinely don't make many mistakes (I can hear you all cringing and saying 'what a tXXt' ). I spend far too long thinking about everything and drawing out diagrams. The builders cant believe how long I take drawing accurate diagrams of all the joists so I know where to drill for my downlights etc etc...

However....

A good few months back I was rushing and under pressure to get a rewire finished. Got it done in time just, the plasterer had neatly plastered and the couple were moving back in very soon. I had my last look around and suddenly got that panicky feeling, although I disregarded it as I thought I cant possibly have made such a large error. I then realised I had! I had completely forgotten the 3 core + E from the hallway switch to the landing switch, so you couldn't switch the top floor lights on from below!!!! God it was horrible.

Always works out though doesn't it. I spent the next few hours getting the cable in and the plasterer was a mate so he didn't grumble at having to come back. Customer was none the wiser and all was well . Ridiculous to forget it though! Rushing is not good.

 

[radiohead]

Somebody in the wholesalers told me he'd wired a whole ring in 1.5mm on a new build once.....which only got noticed during the second fix, don't know what the outcome was but it sounded like a real horror show.

 

[LewisM]

Somebody in the wholesalers told me he'd wired a whole ring in 1.5mm on a new build once.....which only got noticed during the second fix, don't know what the outcome was but it sounded like a real horror show.

Be cheaper to burn the house down at that point

 

[Baddegg]

Somebody in the wholesalers told me he'd wired a whole ring in 1.5mm on a new build once.....which only got noticed during the second fix, don't know what the outcome was but it sounded like a real horror show.

I refer to my Micky Flanagan post ?

 

[buzzlightyear]

I refer to my Micky Flanagan post

A ho what did you do that four ist me micky Flanagan. Last time I saw him, was in mollorca stand at the side waiting for peaple to buy food.