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Paul.M

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On site today and I had an Ashley backbox that was loose on one side because the plasterer is rubbish (another story). Anyway, I thought I'd do a quick fix by putting some fire foam on the dodgy side to hold it in the cavity wall. The walls are full of the stuff anyway.


I'm there putting a bit in at a time so not to over fill the void. Ok a bit more as nothing is showing. Ok a bit more, still nothing foaming back at me. Ok a lot more until it starts foaming back at me..... That was a bit of a mistake.

One of the building site labourers said "are you sure your not going through the other side?"

Me "No, don't think so mate. Let's just have a look to check." Then I saw this coming out of the other room:-

What Mistakes Have You Done? {filename} | ElectriciansForums.net


Paul you rounded door handle. I've only gone and put way too much in and its now running down the wall like a slow moving waterfall! Btw this picture was taken just as the flow began, ten seconds later I was too busy to take a pic but it was worst than that!

Twenty mins spent cleaning the foam from the other backboxs and cables, another 40 mins cleaning the bloody foam from my hands and screwdriver, what a prat :). Oh, that's a £40 socket that I've just wrecked, its in the bin, they can clean it if they want because I'm not.

Head spark just laughed at me and then banned me from using the foam gun again unless supervised! Think he was joking but I'll put that to the test tomorrow :):).

Lesson for today Paul, don't be out done by the words of wisdom from a builders labourer again lol.





What silly mistakes have you done in the past? This could be an interesting thread if people own up?
 
should have left it to set. it's easy to cut away with a knife when set. no gooey mess. next time use some dryline adhesive.
 
Digging down for a cable to move a meter on a caravan site. Marker paint mark on the floor I was told, 3 feet later, no sign of cable. Called the site manager over, oh no mate that's where we want the new meter, the cables around the other side of the van. :6:
 
When i was 17 i cut about 20 fastafix boxes into the walls.. I turned them so the face was on the plaster drew around and cut them all out.. Turned them around to push them in once id cut all 20 out and OOOPS they pushed straight into wall cavity.. Cos im PROO

 
Cut the tip of my left index finger off on the second week of my apprenticeship with my shiny new stanley knife! Made fitting things off difficult for a month and a half!
 
Loads of times when I first started, I forgot to put shrouds on the SWA before glanding it. Ive also cut the wrong cable down to gland it, and it was short.
Try not to make to many mistakes these days, but they still happen!
 
While I'm a third year apprentice and my mother bought these two bloody horrible brass chandalier things so I said I'd put them up at the weekend for her. She told me because I'm not a proper electrician yet I'd do no such thing, so to keep her happy I said ok and that I'd ask my mentor to pop round one day after work.
I made the mistake of asking him just outside the bait cabin. Sparkys, plumbers, joiners, even the bloody labourers tore into me for about a week then one of the other apprentices cocked something up so I was left alone
 
knocked a scafolding coupler down some stairs on to fire alarm setting off alarm and evacuating food factory, a couple of thousand in down time for factory helicopter fly by to check no harmfull gas escaping, was working as a mate at the time and denied everything.
 
I don't mind owning up. Best to own up & learn & move on...

Was working in a department store & was up on the second shop floor with the spark below me up near the ceiling on the phone asking me to drop the rod through. I did as he said...the phone goes silent, next thing he's come up the escalator to me and says "You were supposed to attach the cable..."

Best one for me & not proud of it, same chain of department store. Altering a power socket in a concession & kept getting last minute calls from the building contractor to change position. Anyway, must have been 3rd time I changed the socket placing. The Electrician went up a few floors to do a minor job elsewhere, asked me to join him when I was done. Grabbed the double extension ladders & battery drill. Ladders on my shoulder, onto the escalator...next thing I hear is a 'Crash, Bang, Wallop' with the escalator coming to a grinding halt & bits of ladder flying off. Only got the top of the ladder jammed on the ceiling, which in turn jammed on the escalator tread. Disaster!!!! As I'm self employed subbie to the guy I got the insurance quote from the escalator engineers...8k!!! But in the end, nothing got put through...absolutely died a death of shame that day!! I couldn't stop apologising...
 
When I was starting out as a mate the boss dropped me off at a house to fit a security light. I knocked on the door, told the lady who I was and what I'm here for (rented property) and away I went.

Almost finished the job when the neighbour from down the street came up and asked if I was the sparky fitting here security light at number 46? That's right, the boss sent me to 64 and she dint say anything! Lol, free fitting due to a spelling error.
 
about 2 years ago i was fixing down boards after running a new cable in in my own house (2 way light conversion) i carefully marked out where on the end of the board the cables were running accross the joist(and not to put a screw)and then proceeded to put a screw right on the mark. right throught the cable. then at that point i banned myself from using the cordless and gave myself a good talking too!
 
When i was 17 i cut about 20 fastafix boxes into the walls.. I turned them so the face was on the plaster drew around and cut them all out.. Turned them around to push them in once id cut all 20 out and OOOPS they pushed straight into wall cavity.. Cos im PROO



done that last month, wasn't thinking straight...dont want to relive that feeling...
 
Was poking through a false ceiling once in a canteen, (the tiled type in offices), had half my body up through it, then for some reason when I was coming back down the ladders I put my wieght on the framework of the cieling and it all fell down :eek:mg_smile:. It was just hanging onto the wall in certain parts and my work mates proping it up in the middle. Massive sweat on trying to get it back up before dinner started, I tried not show i was panicking but really I had a little poo in my pants.


Funny when you where an apprentice and you relize you have done some wrong and made a big mistake and you just start sweating thinking oooooohhhhhhh sh*t!!!!!!....trying to think how you can fix it before you have to tell your boss...
 
Evacuated a site or two with forgeting to turn the fire beams off in my early years. Then up you go on your scissor lift, reach the top of the building and off goes the fire alarm. oh sh*t!!!. Back down again to gather outside, the shame as you walk out and news has already spread its your fault, especially if its raining. Then up turn the fire brigade lol.
 
When I was serving my time many years ago before the H&S culture took over we where putting in a fire alarm system in pyro into a very large printing site.

We had to run a leg into the buildings large boiler room so I asked the maintenance fitters chargehand if it was OK to go into the boiler room to install the pyro? no problem he said, we were pulling the pyro in when a large coil dropped onto the lever which operated the CO2 fire suppression system, me and the spark out of that boiler room at such a speed that Usain Bolt would have come third if there was a race between the three of us.

Went and told the chargehand there had been a slight accident and we had set the CO2 off he replied thats OK we set a bottle off every so now and again to test the system I said yeh but we have set off all 14 bottles, oh but don't worry he said it's our fault as we should have put the safety pin in to stop it going off.
 
On site today and I had an Ashley backbox that was loose on one side because the plasterer is rubbish (another story). Anyway, I thought I'd do a quick fix by putting some fire foam on the dodgy side to hold it in the cavity wall. The walls are full of the stuff anyway.


I'm there putting a bit in at a time so not to over fill the void. Ok a bit more as nothing is showing. Ok a bit more, still nothing foaming back at me. Ok a lot more until it starts foaming back at me..... That was a bit of a mistake.

One of the building site labourers said "are you sure your not going through the other side?"

Me "No, don't think so mate. Let's just have a look to check." Then I saw this coming out of the other room:-

What Mistakes Have You Done? {filename} | ElectriciansForums.net


Paul you rounded door handle. I've only gone and put way too much in and its now running down the wall like a slow moving waterfall! Btw this picture was taken just as the flow began, ten seconds later I was too busy to take a pic but it was worst than that!

Twenty mins spent cleaning the foam from the other backboxs and cables, another 40 mins cleaning the bloody foam from my hands and screwdriver, what a prat :). Oh, that's a £40 socket that I've just wrecked, its in the bin, they can clean it if they want because I'm not.

Head spark just laughed at me and then banned me from using the foam gun again unless supervised! Think he was joking but I'll put that to the test tomorrow :):).

Lesson for today Paul, don't be out done by the words of wisdom from a builders labourer again lol.





What silly mistakes have you done in the past? This could be an interesting thread if people own up?
wiring out an RCBO for Zs (my MFT won`t do a low current loop)....fizz fizz puff of smoke...and killed it.....what a dic....should have known better...lol....come on Paul...you were there to witness it..lol....went and replaced it like for like..(40A b curve wylex)....
 
wiring out an RCBO for Zs (my MFT won`t do a low current loop)....fizz fizz puff of smoke...and killed it.....what a dic....should have known better...lol....come on Paul...you were there to witness it..lol....went and replaced it like for like..(40A b curve wylex)....

Yep I wasn't happy about that one but ssshhh**** happens, its how we deal with it that counts.
 
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