Possibly quite shocking!

[Lectrician]

Working in a pub near to a consumer unit and heard an RCBO trip. Very soon followed by the cleaner coming over to turn it back on, saying "oops, I keep doing that".

When I asked what, she showed me the christmas lights close to the window seat she was cleaning. "The curtains keep catching this" she said.....

The cable has been ripped out from a lamp holder, leaving a beared end which keeps touching the dis-used central heating pipe!

 

[xdave]

It always surprises me how people will often just go and reset a circuit without thinking "I probably ought to find out why this safety device has just disconnected the power..."

I caught my partner trying to reset a circuit by holding the switch up despite it resetting immediately. After prompting it was acknowledged that a new heater had just been plugged in. It turned out the plug was wired up incorrectly (E/N reversed) but at no point did they stop and think about it.

If you were visiting a paitent in hospital and their monitoring alarm went off would you start turning the machine on and off at the plug to try and reset it? There is no other scenario when an intelligent people would deliberately act like that. That's what I find the most shocking!

 

[chivers67]

Working in a pub near to a consumer unit and heard an RCBO trip. Very soon followed by the cleaner coming over to turn it back on, saying "oops, I keep doing that".

When I asked what, she showed me the christmas lights close to the window seat she was cleaning. "The curtains keep catching this" she said.....

The cable has been ripped out from a lamp holder, leaving a beared end which keeps touching the dis-used central heating pipe!

Imagine a drunken punter touching that on Christmas eve!

 

[ericmark]

Imagine a drunken punter touching that on Christmas eve!

Bet he would sober up quick!

 

[JohnW2]

If you were visiting a paitent in hospital and their monitoring alarm went off would you start turning the machine on and off at the plug to try and reset it?

Unfortunately, I've not only seen that, but I've also seen some even worse cases of visitors interferring with hospital medical equipment (in the name of 'trying to be helpful' and/or 'not bothering the busy staff'). Some, otherwise seemingly intelligent, people can be plain daft (and positively dangerous) at times!

Kind Regards, John.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There is no other scenario when an intelligent people would deliberately act like that. That's what I find the most shocking!

There seems to be something about electrical work which causes people to abandon all reason, and even though they know they don't have a clue they don't see that that should in any way be a reason not to just plunge in and have a go.

We see them here all the time.

 

[JohnW2]

There seems to be something about electrical work which causes people to abandon all reason, and even though they know they don't have a clue they don't see that that should in any way be a reason not to just plunge in and have a go.

Electrical work doesn't have a monopoly on this. In terms of the 'hospital visitor' pheneomena to which I referrred, some are also quite happy to 'try to be helpful' in relation to the 'plumbing' of medical equipment, as well as the electrical bits!

Kind Regards, John.

 

[SimonH2]

If you were visiting a paitent in hospital and their monitoring alarm went off would you start turning the machine on and off at the plug to try and reset it?

Or even if you were the patient

But funny you should mention that, as I've been in that very situation. Couple of years ago I has a short* spell in hospital, as as I couldn't keep anything down they put me on a drip for hydration. Now, as an engineering type of person, I could see even as it was being installed that the intravenous cannula was a p**s poor design, and sure enough it turned out to be. A little movement and the very small plastic pipe would bend and kink - blocking the flow. The infuser pump detects the back pressure, stops, and starts beeping.

The first time it happened, as I reached for the button to call a nurse, one of the others patients told me the trick - just press the (IIRC) bottom right button. And indeed, all it required (and all the nurse actually did) was to press the reset button. After a while you got used to making sure the weight of the tube didn't pull on the cannula and kink the pipe - and also how to hit the right button in the dark when you failed

* It could have been half the stay, but it seems all they do at weekends is make sure you don't die or have anything fall off. So I recommend that if falling ill, do it during the week.

 

[SimonH2]

Oh yes, don't forget that to most people, a fuse or circuit breaker isn't a "safety device", it's there with the sole function of blowing/tripping so as to be a nuisance.
In the case of a fuse, if it blows then it's because it's not big enough, and the fix is to fit a bigger fuse so it doesn't blow again.