Your worst Electrical DIY Disasters!
- Thread starter eveares
- Start date
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However you could have a cable for a switch drop, with live and switched live. If the cores are labelled, it would make oversleeving very very important. Or special cable needing to be produced.
I honestly think colourcoding is the best solution, and people who assume blue / black are not 'live' are foolish.
And then there's the oh so not minor issue of ... have you tried reading the numbers/letters/symbols on small wires ?
Fine when it's new, and you've got a good length, and it's good light, and ...
But when it's a bit older, been squashed up in a JB, there's only an inch visible (and the markings are only every few inches), and it's covered in sh... err dirt, and it's in the darkest corner of the attic. Much the same argument against the new colour code really !
Fine when it's new, and you've got a good length, and it's good light, and ...
But when it's a bit older, been squashed up in a JB, there's only an inch visible (and the markings are only every few inches), and it's covered in sh... err dirt, and it's in the darkest corner of the attic. Much the same argument against the new colour code really !
A disaster for my reputation and the buyers pocket was:
A potential buyer asked me to inspect and cost out a house. During the inspection i pulled plates from a number of switches and outlets - new cable, all is good. HO claimed a recent re-wire.
The consumer unit and basement wasn't accessible for some bizarre reason - the occupier's couldn't find the keys to the closet/door or something?
I only had limited time so reported back that alls ok.
Big mistake - all the "new cable" was simply faked on six inch tails, the rest of the system required a very extensive and difficult, and expensive, re-wire. The previous occupants had also been fiddling both elec and gas (the meters were in the basement) and the new owners were then pursued by debt collectors.
In love, war or house purchase, dont believe anything thats said until you've given it a thorough once over.
A potential buyer asked me to inspect and cost out a house. During the inspection i pulled plates from a number of switches and outlets - new cable, all is good. HO claimed a recent re-wire.
The consumer unit and basement wasn't accessible for some bizarre reason - the occupier's couldn't find the keys to the closet/door or something?
I only had limited time so reported back that alls ok.
Big mistake - all the "new cable" was simply faked on six inch tails, the rest of the system required a very extensive and difficult, and expensive, re-wire. The previous occupants had also been fiddling both elec and gas (the meters were in the basement) and the new owners were then pursued by debt collectors.
In love, war or house purchase, dont believe anything thats said until you've given it a thorough once over.
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Hope I don't ever encounter this! 
http://rospaworkplacesafety.com/2013/04/23/spotted-accidents-just-waiting-to-happen/
http://rospaworkplacesafety.com/2013/04/23/spotted-accidents-just-waiting-to-happen/
That's really dangerous, it's missing the matches to wedge the ends in!
Bit late to this thread.
Worst I can remember seeing domestically, were a couple of those incandescent type strip lights connected directly by their supplied flex into a connector box which had been added to a sub main. All nicely hidden beneath the floor. Another one that springs to mind is a lady had just moved into a cottage. "I'm getting shocks off the sink" Antediluvian rubber wiring and rewireable ceramic fuses as expected then. No earth trip of any kind, either the common (then) voltage type, or the relatively new RCD. Earth was a stake by the back door. Earth fault on fridge was making stainless sink live. When the fridge was on, you could actually hear the earth stake "zizzing" in the ground.
Rewired the whole place.
Bit late to this thread.
Worst I can remember seeing domestically, were a couple of those incandescent type strip lights connected directly by their supplied flex into a connector box which had been added to a sub main. All nicely hidden beneath the floor. Another one that springs to mind is a lady had just moved into a cottage. "I'm getting shocks off the sink" Antediluvian rubber wiring and rewireable ceramic fuses as expected then. No earth trip of any kind, either the common (then) voltage type, or the relatively new RCD. Earth was a stake by the back door. Earth fault on fridge was making stainless sink live. When the fridge was on, you could actually hear the earth stake "zizzing" in the ground.
Rewired the whole place.
That's what the shutter is for isn't it
Ah! I forget about all these modern safety devices!That's what the shutter is for isn't it
Hang on a minute, the 5A, 2 pin plug for the computer has come unplugged from the adaptor off the light pendant! It's the cable from the one bar electric fire in the bayonet adapter that does it!
It's RCD protected
But that's no excuse!
I suspect there are few people who haven't done something like it at least once in their lives
Really!?, I bet no one who has will admit to it though.
You mean they were only protected by the incoming 60/80/100A fuse!
No, IIRC, the sub main itself was a feed to a CU in a rear outbuilding, and was correctly (then) protected by a 30A rewireable.You mean they were only protected by the incoming 60/80/100A fuse!
Still 30A rewireable would have a fusing factor of 2 or 2.5 times? On 0.5mm flex or whatever it was. . .
I admit to having done that, although purely on a very temporary basis for testing the function of an appliance, and I never left the location for a second before removing the wires.I suspect there are few people who haven't done something like it at least once in their lives
Really!?, I bet no one who has will admit to it though.
I'll take cover now!
I saw it in a Spanish factory where the contractors breaking through a wall did not have plugs that matched the sockets.
Yep, done that to test small motors that I had repaired, (drills etc).
Regarding Ree's comment about 6" tails at each outlet. When I was buying my first house asked the guy if it needed rewiring or plumbing. He said no, he believed it had been done and removed a socket face for me. (Bear in mind I was about 23 at the time). From the back of the socket there were two lengths of 2.5mm T&E going down behind the skirting board. He then opened the sink cupboard and showed me a length of copper pipe going to the cold tap, (house was 2 up/2 down with outside loo and no hot water).
Buy the house, move all furniture in during day light. Evening draws in and turn a light on. Fuse pops. No fuse wire handy so plugged in a standard lamp. Another fuse pops. The following day I repaired the fuses after looking at the light fitting and seeing that everything seemed ok I assumed it had been a dodgy bulb. Turn light on, fuse pops. Decided to try a different socket, fuse pops.
Lifted a few floorboards and found loads of JB's underneath with T&E's going in but black vulcanised rubber feeding them. Complained to solicitor, (who by now had received his fee!), and said I didn't have a case as there was no record of previous owner declaring it had been re-wired and re-plumbed. I would be relying on hearsay for evidence.
One very hard and expensive lesson learned as we eventually found out the water was fed through an old lead pipe and shared amongst three other houses. He had simply put in a short length of copper to the tap which developed a leak at the joint with the lead pipe. This joint was directly in line with the concrete floor so was impossible to repair without digging a hole in the concrete.
Regarding Ree's comment about 6" tails at each outlet. When I was buying my first house asked the guy if it needed rewiring or plumbing. He said no, he believed it had been done and removed a socket face for me. (Bear in mind I was about 23 at the time). From the back of the socket there were two lengths of 2.5mm T&E going down behind the skirting board. He then opened the sink cupboard and showed me a length of copper pipe going to the cold tap, (house was 2 up/2 down with outside loo and no hot water).
Buy the house, move all furniture in during day light. Evening draws in and turn a light on. Fuse pops. No fuse wire handy so plugged in a standard lamp. Another fuse pops. The following day I repaired the fuses after looking at the light fitting and seeing that everything seemed ok I assumed it had been a dodgy bulb. Turn light on, fuse pops. Decided to try a different socket, fuse pops.
Lifted a few floorboards and found loads of JB's underneath with T&E's going in but black vulcanised rubber feeding them. Complained to solicitor, (who by now had received his fee!), and said I didn't have a case as there was no record of previous owner declaring it had been re-wired and re-plumbed. I would be relying on hearsay for evidence.
One very hard and expensive lesson learned as we eventually found out the water was fed through an old lead pipe and shared amongst three other houses. He had simply put in a short length of copper to the tap which developed a leak at the joint with the lead pipe. This joint was directly in line with the concrete floor so was impossible to repair without digging a hole in the concrete.
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