The Hardest CU Changer Over Ever ?

[green-hornet]

I went in to work today trying to catch up on my workload and get a head start for Monday.

My intention was to do a quick cu change over whilst no other trades where in the house. This quickly turned into a comedy of errors.

Firstly I made a mounting board for the cu, and my jig saw blade retention screw came out, with no screwdriver long enough or more to the point thin enough to reach down the hole to tighten the screw up I was forced to strip the insulation from one of my drivers so I could re tighten the screw.

This done I made myself a very nice mounting plate.

I screwed the new cu in position and attached the tails and earth.

Then off with the old cu.Simple.

When I offered the new cu up to the position I realised that the tails I had connected to the new cu where too short, first mistake.

Re connected some longer tails and tried again, perfect.

Then came to drilling the holes for the screws, 24volt dewalt decided to pack up, never mind I will try the 18volt.

First hole the drill went to a depth of about 6mm and decided to go no further.

Try a different bit same problem the drill was just not up to it.

At this point I decided to ask a neigbour for help no joy sunday and all where out, so I tried accross the road, they obliged and let me plug my extention cable in and away I went first hole mushroomed the drill bit the brick was that hard, finally the second drill bit broke clean snapped in half.

I managed to get one screw secured out of three.

Unplugged the extention and gave my thanks, and off to screwfix for some more drill bits.

Back on the job I had to wedge the cu in place and connect up the socket circuit so I had some power, once this was done I eventually got the holes drilled and secured in place, but not before snapping two screws in place that refused under any effort to come out.

Eventually my one or two hour job took over 4 hours and a rather lot of swearing (and in line with the poll on smoking) a lot of cigarettes.

Sundays are supposed to be relaxing mine was ruined today.

1. Broken 24volt dewalt

2. Stupid mistakes that take up valuable time

3. Red face asking for power from a neigbour

4. Trying to tell the wife it was worth it!!Priceless.

5. Now I need some new insulated drivers.

Overall not a very good day but at least the job is now done and I have a head start on Monday.

How bad have your cu changes been? If you have had similar experiances I would be happy to know if only to prove it was just not me

 

[Andy™]

At this point I decided to ask a neigbour for help no joy sunday and all where out, so I tried accross the road, they obliged and let me plug my extention cable in

thats the reason why i keep a few leads for connecting direct to meter/service head, and a genny, in the van

(and why i dont often work sunday!)

 

[a1]

Oh Gawd.

That reminds me of the time I relocated the Kitchen door in my house.

All my top Bosch drill bits burnt out, or buckled.

The ONLY way that I could get through the solidest bricks that I have ever come across was to get my SDS out - which went through them like a hot knife - through butter.

 

[batty]

Worst ones are ones under stairs with no light. I usually put in temp socket so I can see what i'm doing. Sounds like you have had a rough day. Tomorrow will be better all being well.

Batty

 

[a1]

Pick 3 packs of 20 Cigs up, on the way there.

 

[RussellR]

Haven't got a CU change story, but I did have the e-Light from hell the other week

Simple little job have been moaning that I couldn't get to the elight to maintain it for ages, anyway they had a leak in the roof so had to scaffold the staircase, so thought I would take the oppurtunity to move the light from the ceiling down the wall and wire a new fitting as a police light for the staircase. simples

4 Hours Later !!! finally finished.

My cordless sds packed up drilling the wall, the wiring was so bad had to rewire all the way back to the board, managed to break the head of the screw in the CU earth bar !!!

When i finally opened the box for the fitting the acid had leaked from the battery all over the inside, so a trip to the wholesalers to exchange.

UIt is not just you Green Hornet

 

[green-hornet]

thats the reason why i keep a few leads for connecting direct to meter/service head, and a genny, in the van(and why i dont often work sunday!)

I have a genny, I lent it to a mate and asked for it today to be told that he had lent it to some one else so there was I with no genny either lol.

The connecting direct did cross my mind and will be makingan adapter for doing this.

 

[Andy™]

The connecting direct did cross my mind and will be makingan adapter for doing this.

one of mine consists of a 16a socket and a little bit of flex...... although for small jobs i nomally use the one with a fuse on the flex

 

[Robin Spark]

I have a genny, I lent it to a mate and asked for it today to be told that he had lent it to some one else so there was I with no genny either lol.The connecting direct did cross my mind and will be makingan adapter for doing this.

I hate it when so called mates do this without asking or they loose or break your tools and dont replace them! I dont like being mean but i now try and avoid this after many a lesson learnt

 

[Evans Electric]

Couldn't agree more Robbo.

 

[Nicky Tesla]

I have often used the old fuse board hanging down on the old tails and to this i fit a socket on a short length of 2.5

 

[300TDI]

I made up a small rig to deal with the power side

A neat piece of board with a consumer unit screwed on, also a socket, and a light on a piece of flex connected to the appropriate rcbos

Disconnect the meter tails on arrival, connect them to my rig, then i have a light if needed and a socket so i can boil the kettle - i sometimes plug power tools into it aswell Applaud Smiley

And i can rest assured that the existing installation would not be live ( in a domestic situation anyway )

 

[a1]

I made up a small rig to deal with the power sideA neat piece of board with a consumer unit screwed on, also a socket, and a light on a piece of flex connected to the appropriate rcbos

Disconnect the meter tails on arrival, connect them to my rig, then i have a light if needed and a socket so i can boil the kettle - i sometimes plug power tools into it aswell Applaud Smiley

And i can rest assured that the existing installation would not be live ( in a domestic situation anyway )

That is what I would do - Plan to do.

Photos of your masterpieces would be good Gentlemen.

Come on, don't be shy now.

 

[Andy™]

That is what I would do - Plan to do. Photos of your masterpieces would be good Gentlemen.

Come on, don't be shy now.

tails - 16A. there is also an inline RCD (attached to most used extension) that normally gets plugged between this and anything connected

main extension - can be plugged into just about anything (even 3 phase sockets via an adapter)

tails - 32A. for larger loads. there is a 32A SP distro, but i dont keep that one in the van. ( dont have a pic of it here)

connects to above if needed (via adapter)

this is just a small selection of temp power stuff

is this what you wanted Admin?