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GBDamo

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Four jobs on a grand tour.

1, "A live cable is sparking on a roller door" gets to site and sure enough there is a live cable touching a roller door and sparking. Someone had removed a loght and just slung the cable over some trunkig and left it.

This cable was 30" long and plugged into a clik rose. Whichever tool who thought he was competent enough to remove this light could not even work out how to unplug it first.

2, lighting circuit tripping, open DB and three circuits in one MCB, pull them out and all three dead short live-earth, eh.....start looking to identify each circuit, continuity between all three circuits.

Went into loft and found three live cut cables in amongst the lagging traced them back and disconnected them...and..still dead short.

Disconneted the outside lights which tested good so the faul is inside.

Four hours later had to leave, needs rewiring. Reckon it'd do it quicker that finding this one.

3, to inane to discuss but now 17:00

Call, can you get to a job five hour round trip..fuming.

4, Arrived at site to the landlord livid, already had three sparks out to find this fault, two left as there was no fault, the third replaced a socket. Apparently they dont know what they're doing blah blah.

Opened the socket, wet...yellow, smelly.

Yep, dog pi55es on this socket, only this socket every other time it has dried before the spark arrivied, this time it was still wet.

The look on the gobby landlords face was a picture, oh how I laughed.

Dried the back box, stuck a new socket on all good.
 
I had one years ago, Christmas eve evening, ' cant get anyone, can you come, electrics gone off' It was only a couple of miles away, found the house in darkness lit by candles and a camping light, first thing I ask was what where you doing when it happened ?

The answer was along the lines of, he was watching tv, I was in the kitchen and my daughter was in the living room with the rabbit, apparently it was a house rabbit.

Anyway I found the rcd had tripped, flicked it back and it held for a few minutes then tripped again, so off go the breakers and I put them on one at time, flick the 32 for the downstairs ring and pop, off goes the rcd, ah ha, found the little blighter !

Just by chance the daughter who's a small kid shouts in that bunny was behind the tv and wont come out and its pee'd on the carpet, hoping I was in luck I had a quick look, the rabbit had pee'd but over an extension that was on the floor behind the tv, removed that and all was well again, some of the cables had nibble marks in them so it could have been worse, I trimmed off the damage and fitted the plugs then did an insulation test to be sure.

A few years ago Mrs Tux asked if we could have a rabbit, her friends one had multiplied, took a long time to be forgiven for the look I gave her when she asked.

--
 
Had a faulty lead that was taped together under a dog bed, when I was there the dog for our outside, 2 hours later I left couldn't find the fault. Lady let her dog back in, dog got straight back on its bed tripped the RCD. Luckily I was sat in my van writing report
Went back in last tenant had left a stand lamp which he had extended flex using the pins from a 13a socket as connectors then wrapped the whole lot in tape. Some times when the dog lay on the bed RCD tripped ? some things are so daft you have to see it to believe it.
 
Had a faulty lead that was taped together under a dog bed, when I was there the dog for our outside, 2 hours later I left couldn't find the fault. Lady let her dog back in, dog got straight back on its bed tripped the RCD. Luckily I was sat in my van writing report
Went back in last tenant had left a stand lamp which he had extended flex using the pins from a 13a socket as connectors then wrapped the whole lot in tape. Some times when the dog lay on the bed RCD tripped ? some things are so daft you have to see it to believe it.

Maybe it was keeping the dog warm.......

Half the time we should wear a shiny badge that read 'ELECTRICAL DETECTIVE' and have increased rates to reflect the skills required to deal with oddballs.
 
1, "A live cable is sparking on a roller door" gets to site and sure enough there is a live cable touching a roller door and sparking. Someone had removed a loght and just slung the cable over some trunkig and left it. This cable was 30" long and plugged into a clik rose. Whichever tool who thought he was competent enough to remove this light could not even work out how to unplug it first.

Sir, did you report this so that he or she 'what did it' is charged under the appropriate HASW Act and EAWR? If he/she wants to be regarded as a professional then they must bear the consequences when they don't act or do so. Being a professional is not a blame free game. The company is also liable. Until one has had to clear up the mess after someone has been killed by electricity - as I have had to even though I was not appointed to the site at the time when it happened - and met the weeping wife and 3 toddlers in the Coroner's Court - will one ever fully grasp how quickly death and lifelong sadness can happen.

For those of us who work with electricity it is an occupational hazard: For those who just use electrical equipment or benefit from an electrical installation it must not be.

I have calmed down now.
 
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1, "A live cable is sparking on a roller door" gets to site and sure enough there is a live cable touching a roller door and sparking. Someone had removed a loght and just slung the cable over some trunkig and left it. This cable was 30" long and plugged into a clik rose. Whichever tool who thought he was competent enough to remove this light could not even work out how to unplug it first.

Sir, did you report this so that he or she 'what did it' is charged under the appropriate HASW Act and EAWR? If he/she wants to be regarded as a professional then they must bear the consequences when they don't act or do so. Being a professional is not a blame free game. The company is also liable. Until one has had to clear up the mess after someone has been killed by electricity - as I have had to even though I was not appointed to the site at the time when it happened - and met the weeping wife and 3 toddlers in the Coroner's Court - will one ever fully grasp how quickly death and lifelong sadness can happen.

For those of us who work with electricity it is an occupational hazard: For those who just use electrical equipment or benefit from an electrical installation it must not be.

I have calmed down now.
Judging buy the dust amd grime on the cable id say this "electrical professional" has long since retired, fortunately.

You're right though, it's onĺy luck that prevented someone getting a serious belt.
 
1, "A live cable is sparking on a roller door" gets to site and sure enough there is a live cable touching a roller door and sparking. Someone had removed a loght and just slung the cable over some trunkig and left it. This cable was 30" long and plugged into a clik rose. Whichever tool who thought he was competent enough to remove this light could not even work out how to unplug it first.

Sir, did you report this so that he or she 'what did it' is charged under the appropriate HASW Act and EAWR? If he/she wants to be regarded as a professional then they must bear the consequences when they don't act or do so. Being a professional is not a blame free game. The company is also liable. Until one has had to clear up the mess after someone has been killed by electricity - as I have had to even though I was not appointed to the site at the time when it happened - and met the weeping wife and 3 toddlers in the Coroner's Court - will one ever fully grasp how quickly death and lifelong sadness can happen.

For those of us who work with electricity it is an occupational hazard: For those who just use electrical equipment or benefit from an electrical installation it must not be.

I have calmed down now.

I did a job a couple of weeks ago where I was installing a new strip light in a garage. Investigating the existing cable there was a flex leaving a ceiling rose and disappearing over a joist where I was reliably informed the previous owners had had a light. The cable was simply cut and left lying, live (whenever the garage lights were turned on) in the dust.

On the subject of dog pee, I got called out to a nuisance RCD tripping to find a damaged extension lead... wet, sticky and smelling of dog pee... love it :) Unplugged, fault disappeared, then many months later at the same place, nuisance tripping again... tracked that one down to a lead that appeared to once have fed an electric fire... client had plugged it in thinking it was the extension for her lamps... the end was located... all three conductors bare, separated by only air and dust. It had simply been disconnected from the fire and left there with the lead running neatly on the floor along the skirting, just waiting to be plugged in.

People just don't think about and the average Joe on the street seems to have no understanding of how dangerous their seemingly innocent actions can be.
 
I did a job a couple of weeks ago where I was installing a new strip light in a garage. Investigating the existing cable there was a flex leaving a ceiling rose and disappearing over a joist where I was reliably informed the previous owners had had a light. The cable was simply cut and left lying, live (whenever the garage lights were turned on) in the dust.

On the subject of dog pee, I got called out to a nuisance RCD tripping to find a damaged extension lead... wet, sticky and smelling of dog pee... love it :) Unplugged, fault disappeared, then many months later at the same place, nuisance tripping again... tracked that one down to a lead that appeared to once have fed an electric fire... client had plugged it in thinking it was the extension for her lamps... the end was located... all three conductors bare, separated by only air and dust. It had simply been disconnected from the fire and left there with the lead running neatly on the floor along the skirting, just waiting to be plugged in.

People just don't think about and the average Joe on the street seems to have no understanding of how dangerous their seemingly innocent actions can be.

Ah dust and air, the new improved bakalite invisable insulator !

Its just joe pubic... errr I mean public that doesn't have a clue, some trades don't either, earlier on today I heard for the second time in a few days of cabinet fitters hitting cables and capping the screws off with those plastic screw covers, its either a common thing or there's a cable fanatic on the loose.

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