Tell us about your faults!

[ayjay]

i daresay it was tony, but we wern,t given any!
also,the only test equipment was an avo meter/ a wind the handle megger and a home made lamp to test for mains, oh and a battery bell to test continuity ect

 

[Englishsparks]

Had a brilliant call out tonight!!!

Just got home and one of my customers (Irate Ar-h-le) phoned me to say that he had no power in his house and was demanding that I returned immediatly (admitingly we had been and change the consumer unit today) so thinking that the trainee had turned the power off for some reason before we left, I duely turned out.
The customer met me at the gate, looking rather mad!
I went into the house to be met by an obnoxiouse mouthed (not sure it was really a woman as too much fire was being breathed) wife.
She was standing with her back to the consumer unit sort of blocking my way. As I am trying to make sense of what they where both firing at me but not really listening as you do. I was trying to look at what the problem was, without looking at the consumer unit because of scary woman in the way, i did try to ask her to move but couldnt get a word in edgeways, i could see the incoming head with meter. (Fault spotted instantly)

Trying not to laugh but trying to calm them. I finaly managed to get a sentence in.

Would you like me to give you the number for the local Distributor I asked?

Why? it's ur fiddling about that has left us without power ( in a sort of get it put back on voice)

My reply was quite simply:- I may be an electrician but i dont supply it to the property, you have no power coming into the property and if madam would stop and listen (the word madam I usually find dose the trick and makes them stop and listen)
I suggest that you contact the distributor to find out what the problem is or If you would like I will call them for you? (Putting on a friendly voice as though nothing had been said)

I called them only to find that it was going to be off for a further 3 hrs . I really enjoyed telling them this. The best bit is I had had the money upfront for the consumer unit change and then I charged them a further £60 for calling me out. Im not sure they will be coming back to me again but really enjoyed telling them that the power would be out for a further 3 hrs

P.S The tell tale sign was no display on the digital meter dispaly


THE JOB WOULD BE SO MUCH EASIER WITHOUT THE CUSTOMER!

- - - Updated - - -

Had a brilliant call out tonight!!!

Just got home and one of my customers (Irate Ar-h-le) phoned me to say that he had no power in his house and was demanding that I returned immediatly (admitingly we had been and change the consumer unit today) so thinking that the trainee had turned the power off for some reason before we left, I duely turned out.
The customer met me at the gate, looking rather mad!
I went into the house to be met by an obnoxiouse mouthed (not sure it was really a woman as too much fire was being breathed) wife.
She was standing with her back to the consumer unit sort of blocking my way. As I am trying to make sense of what they where both firing at me but not really listening as you do. I was trying to look at what the problem was, without looking at the consumer unit because of scary woman in the way, i did try to ask her to move but couldnt get a word in edgeways, i could see the incoming head with meter. (Fault spotted instantly)

Trying not to laugh but trying to calm them. I finaly managed to get a sentence in.

Would you like me to give you the number for the local Distributor I asked?

Why? it's ur fiddling about that has left us without power ( in a sort of get it put back on voice)

My reply was quite simply:- I may be an electrician but i dont supply it to the property, you have no power coming into the property and if madam would stop and listen (the word madam I usually find dose the trick and makes them stop and listen)
I suggest that you contact the distributor to find out what the problem is or If you would like I will call them for you? (Putting on a friendly voice as though nothing had been said)

I called them only to find that it was going to be off for a further 3 hrs . I really enjoyed telling them this. The best bit is I had had the money upfront for the consumer unit change and then I charged them a further £60 for calling me out. Im not sure they will be coming back to me again but really enjoyed telling them that the power would be out for a further 3 hrs

P.S The tell tale sign was no display on the digital meter dispaly


THE JOB WOULD BE SO MUCH EASIER WITHOUT THE CUSTOMER!

- - - Updated - - -

Had a brilliant call out tonight!!!

Just got home and one of my customers (Irate Ar-h-le) phoned me to say that he had no power in his house and was demanding that I returned immediatly (admitingly we had been and change the consumer unit today) so thinking that the trainee had turned the power off for some reason before we left, I duely turned out.
The customer met me at the gate, looking rather mad!
I went into the house to be met by an obnoxiouse mouthed (not sure it was really a woman as too much fire was being breathed) wife.
She was standing with her back to the consumer unit sort of blocking my way. As I am trying to make sense of what they where both firing at me but not really listening as you do. I was trying to look at what the problem was, without looking at the consumer unit because of scary woman in the way, i did try to ask her to move but couldnt get a word in edgeways, i could see the incoming head with meter. (Fault spotted instantly)

Trying not to laugh but trying to calm them. I finaly managed to get a sentence in.

Would you like me to give you the number for the local Distributor I asked?

Why? it's ur fiddling about that has left us without power ( in a sort of get it put back on voice)

My reply was quite simply:- I may be an electrician but i dont supply it to the property, you have no power coming into the property and if madam would stop and listen (the word madam I usually find dose the trick and makes them stop and listen)
I suggest that you contact the distributor to find out what the problem is or If you would like I will call them for you? (Putting on a friendly voice as though nothing had been said)

I called them only to find that it was going to be off for a further 3 hrs . I really enjoyed telling them this. The best bit is I had had the money upfront for the consumer unit change and then I charged them a further £60 for calling me out. Im not sure they will be coming back to me again but really enjoyed telling them that the power would be out for a further 3 hrs

P.S The tell tale sign was no display on the digital meter dispaly


THE JOB WOULD BE SO MUCH EASIER WITHOUT THE CUSTOMER!

 

[ayjay]

imo, the customer wouldn,t have known that the outside supply had gone off
they would have thought that it was your fault, as the installation was mid-way through
thats why they were irate
people(the genral public) have no concept of electricity, they just plug an accessory in and it works
they flick a switch and the light illuminates
interesting post though

 

[Englishsparks]

Think you have wrong end of the stick. The installation was complete.

 

[Knobhead]

You need to learn about people ES. You touched it last, that makes you prime suspect.
I hope you enjoy spending your £60, because when word gets around that you're a rob-dog don't expect any work in that area again.
Bad news travels faster that good.

 

[ayjay]

i was thinking that tony, but didn,t say!

 

[Englishsparks]

Yes Tony i understand what you are saying, and agree but the attitude of these people make me sick. I dont got to work for abuse of this nature and will not tolerate it.just a quick update on the matter i did receive a call from the husband today appologising to me about how i was spoken to. I dont think all is lost!I can understand them thinking it was my fault (undersatandable) but manners do go a long way.And your point about me being a (Rob-Dog) im not sure as to why you go to work but i run a business and charge accordingly. if you dont charge that is upto you!Yes i have done jobs for people that have not been charged for work done on may occasions especially the little old ladies.

 

[Ryanw]

Here's a nice one if you like pigeon!

Called to a restaurant/bar a few weeks ago at the end of the day which had just had a fire from the fridge cooling units on the flat roof at the rear of the place.
Fire brigade had been and put it out but i was asked to come and check over the wiring.
Every inch of the units were covered in crap, feathers and sticks! The unit on the top right is where all the crap caught fire and you can see whats left of the wiring from that unit in a copper tangle. Plenty of fire damage and the isolators had all melted.
It was all poorely covered by a big stainless steel housing which was sat away from the wall, too easy for the pigeons.
I was asked if i could get them running by that night even after i'd shown the owner the state of it! I disconnected the circuits and told them i'm not touching anything else until a cleaning firms been in!




I was called in again the next day, a manager wanted to know why all the fridge temps were showing 14-16 degrees...

 

[ayjay]

what a mess ryan! looks like the whole set-up needs replacing, they should have removed all of the stock and found somewhere with a freezer to store it,
don,t inhale pidgeon dropping/dust mate, it can cause serious health problems

 

[Engineer54]

Well I know why the stainless steel cover was left off now, the mounting of these units are completely wrong!! The fans are facing, and that close to the wall and isolators it's a wonder how these compressors worked with the cover on for any length of time.
I wouldn't mind betting that those isolators were suffering heat damage long before this pigeon crap fire... These units need tuning round and a mesh grill incorporating in the cover. The set-up needs free flowing air through the system....

 

[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.