Tell us about your faults!

[needasparks]

Had a great job on friday in all that heat in a loft tracing cables. Doing corrections from a botched kitchen job where all sockets been extended as spurs off spurs, usual crock of. all ring extended correctly but still no cont to ring. all seemed original from seventies build so head scatch time and looked for rouge joint in loft as all cables went up. only way to do it was live up one leg and see where it stops, turns out for the last 40yrs a hallway s/spur had been wired wrong with one leg of ring in load so spent half an hour in loft for nowt.
Think i lost half a stone and my temper at the sparks of 40yrs ago.

 

[Kamikaze]

Well, today there was living proof of reincarnation. So many individuals could never possibly get to be this stupid in just one lifetime.

First job: Go to a school and reconnect the boys toilet hand dryer.
First question: Why has it been disconnected.
Teacher: We had an electrician out and he disconnected it because it keeps tripping the Mcb because it has an earth fault.
Second question: Has it been replaced?
Teacher: No we can’t afford to have it replaced.
Tested the hand dryer and it had indeed an earth fault on it.

Second job: Test and inspection on a house.
Checked it all out. Did the report. Attempted to go through about twenty defects on the list with the client so they understood what it was all about.
1[SUP]st[/SUP] defect: No earthing to the gas and water.
Client: That’s what the other electrician said.
Ignored that comment
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] defect: Exposed live conductors on a henley block.
Client: That’s what the other electrician said.
Ignored that comment
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] defect: Insulation falling apart on a lighting circuit.
Client: That’s what the other electrician said.
I said: What electrician? I don’t know what your on about.
Client: We had a test and inspection done last month and the other electrician told us all about the things that are wrong.
I said: So why then are you having it tested again?
Client: We were hoping you would find nothing wrong and it had all sorted itself out by now.

That must be why it’s called electrickery! :mad2:

 

[Robotstar5]

Worst I came across was my sisters first house (bought early 80's) the prevoius owner (BT engineer) had done a bit of rewiring. She was running a fan heater upstairs and noticed a warm/hot cable under the floorboards. After a couple of hours of inspection & testing I found:
Most of the lighting done with offcuts of 1.0 T&E and a bucket of choco blocks
Shower fed with 2 x 2.5 T&E
Immersion heater came out of CU in 4mm T&E but earth not connected then transitioned to 2.5 T&E for a run buried at 45 degrees across kitchen wall
Upstairs sockets on a radial in 1.5 T&E
I pulled the lot out and started again.
She told her neighbour (a sparky) about the rewire and he asked if she wanted a price, when asked if he could do it for less than cost of materials only he declined.

 

[ayjay]

i did a rewire on a bungalow with an existing roof extension ,the owner had wired it-
he used pieces of car-loom wire for the whole roof extension , it was joined up everywhere with choc block connectors
all of the wires had different colours & were different sizes

 

[Robotstar5]

i did a rewire on a bungalow with an existing roof extension ,the owner had wired it-
he used pieces of car-loom wire for the whole roof extension , it was joined up everywhere with choc block connectors
all of the wires had different colours & were different sizes

Did he show you the Haynes manual he had used for reference? :smile5:

 

[Daveash123]

First post in the main forum, thought I would share my experience below:The fault that sticks in my mind was at a food factory inSalford, about 15 years ago. We were asked to look at the flour delivery system with a view to upgrade the system. It was a pneumatic blowing system with a blower house at the silos with multiple compressor/blowers and a system of pipelines, diverters, rotary valves and worm conveyors, along with various limit switches and pressure switches to the delivery points inside the factory.The first part of the job was a survey over a weekend to plan the upgrade. Note that this plant had been in daily use for about 3 years.
As we looked into it we found that the main panel in the blower house was connected to the internal equipment (about 80 metres away) by a 100 pair CW1308 telephone cable. This ran from the main panel to a JB in the roof space and then out in various flexes to the machinery. On inspection we found that the cable had about 10 three phase supplies, a couple of single phase supplies and both 110V ac and 24V dc control circuits running through it. Granted that the supplies were only low power (up to .37kw), but it was a disaster waiting to happen. It had not been picked up as the engineering standards were lax to say the least and maintenance problems were usually at each end so they never picked up on the cable. Still amazes me how the cowboy worked out the colour coding from the twisted pairs and got the system working in the first place.
On the plus side, once we had reported this to the site engineer, we got the job to rewire the whole system and had many years as term contractors until the place closed down. The building is still in use as part of the Salford media city.

 

[ayjay]

rob ,haynes workshop manuels are notoriesy crap!

 

[ayjay]

we installed 22 night-storage heater into a library in lymington
the supply is overhead on poles
all was done and dusted
so-- we switch on to test
the lights dimmed a bit--h-mm all was good-ish
after about a week a posh fella in a suit from the seb(southern electric) turned up to said library and said-, " have you added any load ?"-me "yes,about 20/22 night storage heaters" he repyed "ive been looking for a week for this additional load!

the overheads couldn,t cope with the load, hence the library lights dimming a bit when the contactor shut

22 nightstorage heaters on start-up, thats a shed load af amps!

 

[Knobhead]

we found that the main panel in the blower house was connected to the internal equipment (about 80 metres away) by a 100 pair CW1308 telephone cable.
Still amazes me how the cowboy worked out the colour coding from the twisted pairs and got the system working in the first place.

Rule one with 100 pair cables on our plants was whoever made the cables off did both ends. This followed a major cock up when commissioning one plant, two guys had separately worked on the cables. The mix up of pairs took me ages to work out.

 

[rich.250]

Got called out yesterday to a refurb job just about to be started in a domestic property.
Basically no power at all in the property.
After a bit of looking round and finding the supply cupboard I found this.....


After a call to the local dno
I found out the property was deemed unsafe and they pulled the fuse.
But left the fuse out with live exposed parts!! Nice.

 

[ajpom1]

Called to a house with smoke coming from under the floor. The house had no earth and the customer had changed a socket and screwed into the line conductor. This had made all the earthing system live and the copper pipe under the floor was acting like a immersion heater.

 

[sedgy34]

I was called out to a property once the DB was burning away the Tennant reported the smell of burning plastic
It was the immersion and the fuse carrier had melted you could have lit a cigarette of it

 

[DNS]

I am due to install a new split load CU, at a neighbours house. After I saw where the CU is installed, in a small cupboard in the hallway. No regs when this was installed...?????

 

[rich.250]

I am due to install a new split load CU, at a neighbours house. After I saw where the CU is installed, in a small cupboard in the hallway. No regs when this was installed...?????View attachment 14559View attachment 14560

I think people are just ignorant!! Tbh.
I seen a new build last year with the db butted up against a gas meter.... Lol

 

[ayjay]

hi dns, is there any reg that says a db must be a ceartain distance from a gas meter?
the cables probably come in through the back, so you may have too fit the new db in the same place?

 

[DNS]

hi dns, is there any reg that says a db must be a ceartain distance from a gas meter?
the cables probably come in through the back, so you may have too fit the new db in the same place?

Yes in the regs it states that the incoming gas and incoming 240 supply have to be a minimum of 150mm apart. These are actually about 10mm. the wall that it is mounted on is the reverse of the garage, I will be pulling the cables back at least 600mm above the CU and draw them through the cavity wall, into the garage. Rear entry into the new CU, Nice and neat. No cables surface clipped. I do have OCD for neatness, lol

 

[ayjay]

thanks for that info dns,i,m still 16th but i,m getting the 17th soon and whatever else i need(i,m 59 btw so its annoying having to do this)
i,m not in the game at the moment--ive been repairing park-homes instead
andy

 

[Ohmyword]

thanks for that info dns,i,m still 16th but i,m getting the 17th soon and whatever else i need(i,m 59 btw so its annoying having to do this)
i,m not in the game at the moment--ive been repairing park-homes instead
andy

No doubt, that's an honest profession. :teeth_smile:

 

[ayjay]

went to a job years ago, it was an old bungalow, an eldrly couple lived there,
one of them got a belt when he/she touched the 2 taps in the kitchen(it had a butler sink)the wiring was ancient too -no bonding--
well wat happened was-- they bought a new elec shower- their grandson offered to install the supply,he spured it off of a 20a dp waterheater switch,in 2.5 twe, then up into the loft then he wrapped the cable round &round the pipe supplying the ballvalve over the water tank-then on thro the ceiling to the shower--
the cable overheated and melted , livening up the pipe(but not shorting)
the pipe wasn,t earthed anywhere, the incoming watermain was plastic
why he wrapped the cable around the pipe ill never know--
we didn,t mention this to the old couple as it would have caused a prob between them & g/son

 

[Strima]

I would have mentioned it, could have killed them.

 

[ayjay]

yeah strima,i know what your saying!
me and my mate went to the boss and told her the situation,
she said to keep it to ourselves--so we did
the firm got a rewire out of it!

 

[Strima]

Begs the question what else has he touched? Sounds like the sort of person that would tape cables to heating pipes to save a bit of hammering...

At least you made some money out of it.

 

[Robotstar5]

why he wrapped the cable around the pipe ill never know--

Maybe the loft was cold and it was trace heating?

 

[Robotstar5]

Some one bought in an infra red heater (car paint spot drier) to have the lamp replaced, I was more concerned about the lead!...



even the brass tips on the plug were worn round, I will be fitting a nice piece of blue arctic cable and a new plug before replacing the lamp.

It did have a PAT sticker, but couldn't make out the test date.

 

[Strima]

Just seen a 240/110v transformer delivered from a well known hire company with a cable looking a bit like that. Needless to say the driver was sent away with a flea in his ear...

 

[kingeri]

Found an unswitched FCU under the floorboards the other day. It was supplying a fan in the kitchen. Quality.

 

[scotsparky]

Well its a secure mechanical joint so doesnt have to be accessable! :49:

 

[DNS]

Well its a secure mechanical joint so doesnt have to be accessable! :49:

So what if the fuse blows? Or you want to isolate the fan ?

 

[kingeri]

The spark was obviously conscientious, he had written 'Fan Fuse' on floorboard above it.

 

[Ohmyword]

Got home 'earlyish' yesterday (Friday), to be greeted with the details of a 'lady in distress' only a few hundred yards 'up the road' from me. "No hot water". Thinking the obvious I ring her and explain that I will check it (the immersion), but if it needs replacing she will need a plumber.
Get shown to the airing cupb., mains pressure cylinder with immersion. Follow flex to partition wall, other side (landing) is a 20A. D.P. switch in the OFF position. I ask about this (being switched off) and she knows nothing of the switch, never used it........
Anyhow, I test at the head of the immersion. Everything working correctly, 'stat o.k., load test correct. So far - so good!
Looking further into things and because she knew nothing of the immersion switch I realised that, in the cylinder, there was a heating coil (from a boiler) with a cylinder 'stat.
She only has a programmable 'stat on the landing and one on the ground floor AND she explains that "the boiler is in the roof-space". There is NO 'central' programmer for the system. I discover that the fused spur (for the heating system) is the only control for the domestic hot water, ie. with switch ON - power is permanently direct to cylind. 'stat. Each 'room stat' controls a heating zone.
By turning 'off' the cylind. 'stat I hear a motorized valve 'spring back' - under the cupb. floor. I pull back the carpet and lift a 'trap' - there are the 3 motorized valves!
Deterrmining that each valve was being activated correctly by it's individual 'stat I thought it's time to have a look at the boiler. Up in the roof-space I go, and there it is. Flashing (warning) light and display showing .4 Bar water pressure. Obviously pressure too low to operate boiler.
Looking around the wall-hung boiler (and inside the casing) I can find NO water top-up 'link pipe'! Now I am stumped! Ring a heating engineer contact I know and he explains that the 'top-up link' could be in the airing cupb. or perhaps even the kitchen sink, and should have a pressure gauge by it.
Lo and behold, there it is...........in the airing cupb. Re-pressurise the system - turn back on the power - turn up the cylind. 'stat, valve opens and - hey presto - IT WORKS! Hot water circulating!
Try each of the two zones' programmable 'stats in sequence.............luvvly jubbly............now, at least 2 hours later, I am a central heating diagnoistic engineer :43:

 

[Robotstar5]

But as it wasn't an electrical fault, you couldn't charge her?

 

[pennywise]

Neat job :biggrin5:

 

[rich.250]

Called out to a job because the fuseboard they installed themselves started buzzing and glowing blue when the lights were off!!!



On inspection the neutral from the Rcd main switch wasn't done up in the bar and had burnt through. So no contact to the circuit neutrals.
Not bad for a 3 month old install!!

LOL

 

[willf]

Three month old install but with old colours? That Protek rubbish would have probably set light to itself eventually anyway, lol.

Called out to a job because the fuseboard they installed themselves started buzzing and glowing blue when the lights were off!!!

View attachment 14858View attachment 14859

On inspection the neutral from the Rcd main switch wasn't done up in the bar and had burnt through. So no contact to the circuit neutrals.
Not bad for a 3 month old install!!

LOL

 

[rich.250]

Lol!! Sorry he said he changed the board 3 months ago.
And yes, protec isn't a sign of quality in the slightest lol

 

[Robotstar5]

and the way all the breakers are staggered, looks like he's overtightened them?

 

[rich.250]

and the way all the breakers are staggered, looks like he's overtightened them?

You'd think so looking at it, but nothing was tight!
Scary thing is, there are 6 boards like this. In a care home!!
I now have all 6 to change, and EICR on the entire site.
Think he's learnt his lesson lol

 

[ashrow]

that DB looked a right mess !

 

[willf]

Six of those in a care home, that's scary!

You'd think so looking at it, but nothing was tight!
Scary thing is, there are 6 boards like this. In a care home!!
I now have all 6 to change, and EICR on the entire site.
Think he's learnt his lesson lol

 

[trev]

Six of those in a care home, that's scary!

At least the patients will be warm.
They might be a bit dead too though

 

[rich.250]

At least the patients will be warm.
They might be a bit dead too though

Obviously all the care went to the patients and there was just none left for the electrics.... Lol

 

[pennywise]

Been to a job today, Romanian sparks maintenance free JB. The whole extension and existing houses lighting not a single screwed terminal used other than at the fittings and switches and no earth cont anywhere lol.

 

[imago]

I'd love to say "I've never seen anything like it!" Sadly, I'd be lying :/

 

[rich.250]

The "Romanian maintenance free" junction box is very popular with the DIYer too!!

 

[trev]

Quality
Care esta problema cu ea. Am testat-o cu o lampa de mesa si fuctioneaza perfect in bara, astfel sa si reglementarile......

 

[pennywise]

I'd love to say "I've never seen anything like it!" Sadly, I'd be lying :/

I know I've seen plenty myself just never remember to get any pics, this ones up there though:clap:

 

[imago]

I know I've seen plenty myself just never remember to get any pics, this ones up there though:clap:

Good point, I either don't remember, am too scared to put anything conductive near it, or am too frustrated at trying to explain to the customer why it's a bad thing to get my camera/phone out.

 

[DNS]

Changed a cu today, On testing of the rings up and down.. end to end ground floor. R1 0.53 Rn 0.53 R2 0.79....first floor R1 0.54 Rn 0.53 R2 0.83..... Both rings were fine on the old rewireable DB. The ground floor ring is fine on the RCD, but the first floor trips, after testing it appears to be a fault between neutral and earth, I tried with just the live and neutral wired. no trip.....plugged in a tester and all three lights come on, I was expecting two lights suggesting no earth. the house has had four extensions over the years and it's a right balls up with sockets on the ground floor in the SNUG on the first floor ring. In one of the bedrooms upstairs in an extension there are two double sockets and one of these is a spur from the ground floor ring.......
Over the weekend I'm going to have to try and find this fault, and try and find where the earth is coming from.....Does anyone have any suggestions. ?????

 

[trev]

What about IR results?

 

[Knobhead]

Quality
Care esta problema cu ea. Am testat-o cu o lampa de mesa si fuctioneaza perfect in bara, astfel sa si reglementarile......

Mă întreb dacă au emis certificate de orice?