There's only a few customers i answer the phone for out of hours and one called me 9.0 am on Sunday asking if i could help out a mate. Called the guy who told me he had opened his clothes factory Sunday morning to finish off a big order and smoke started billowing out of the fusebox. He had in 40 staff on overtime doing nothing. I told him to turn off the main switch and i would be there in 45min.
When i got there he was outside with his manager having a cuppa & a fag. He showed me in straight to a 3 phase busbar chamber with the lid off, the fuse box door off with all the live bars exposed and every other lid and cover open. Everything turned on and 20 people beavering away at sewing machines. This is what i found,
Its the L2 (old yellow) phase connection to the fuse box. The busbar chamber was fed from a 220A supply
Here's the removed cable
Surprisingly the screws in the clamp loosened off and i got most of the debris out, but resorted to drilling out the remainder as it had welded its self in. I had a go at the two guys for not turning off the supply and exposing all the parts, The owner replied ' well i have kept 20 of them working, if i tell the rest to come back in a hour will you have it back on ?'
It was only when i poked the cable in the trunking (with a long insulated screwdriver) to check which it was, that the burnt out connection must have arced out and the loudest crack i have ever heard followed by a burning taste (which remained on my tongue for 10 min) occurred. The two 'brave' guys then swore and moved to the other side of the room and would not come near. When i had it all turned off one guy asked what would have happened if he had touched the bars. I replied he would probably be dead, he then showed me where he had grabbed the neutral connection (he did not know this, its just it was the bottom one and easiest to reach) .
I asked him if he gambled as it was his lucky day.
Those fuse carriers are 60A each
When i got there he was outside with his manager having a cuppa & a fag. He showed me in straight to a 3 phase busbar chamber with the lid off, the fuse box door off with all the live bars exposed and every other lid and cover open. Everything turned on and 20 people beavering away at sewing machines. This is what i found,
Its the L2 (old yellow) phase connection to the fuse box. The busbar chamber was fed from a 220A supply
Here's the removed cable
Surprisingly the screws in the clamp loosened off and i got most of the debris out, but resorted to drilling out the remainder as it had welded its self in. I had a go at the two guys for not turning off the supply and exposing all the parts, The owner replied ' well i have kept 20 of them working, if i tell the rest to come back in a hour will you have it back on ?'
It was only when i poked the cable in the trunking (with a long insulated screwdriver) to check which it was, that the burnt out connection must have arced out and the loudest crack i have ever heard followed by a burning taste (which remained on my tongue for 10 min) occurred. The two 'brave' guys then swore and moved to the other side of the room and would not come near. When i had it all turned off one guy asked what would have happened if he had touched the bars. I replied he would probably be dead, he then showed me where he had grabbed the neutral connection (he did not know this, its just it was the bottom one and easiest to reach) .
I asked him if he gambled as it was his lucky day.
Those fuse carriers are 60A each
