todays job

[Andy™]

got a call earlier - customer getting a shock from taps

stick tester on tap, its live.

stick tester on gas meter & neutral, 230v

the place is one large house split into 2 flat, with shared entrance. each flat has its own meter & gas meter. TT supply. all equip bonding done. but no RCD.

after a while find the problem is room was made into 2. they 'removed' the old light by cutting the feed & switch cable and throwing them into ceiling / loft, which then shorted out, making all pipework live

and to top it off, fault current was around 10a. which kept blowing the 5a fuse when other lights also switched on. solution? 30a fuse wire. FFS

and unfotunately, the people getting affected by this was the downstairs flat. and possibly the neighbours since the gas supply is steel, and they will be TT aswell

 

[tom1]

bloody ell, some people are numb.

i had one dodgy diy this week

ring split over 2 fuses one of which doubled up with cooker circuit

 

[Manator]

:slap :slap :slap

My thoughts exactly

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

:CAwe.....

cum on guys....

the poor sod who did the work said he was competent and knew what he was doing...

and he WAS cheap....

so he didn't rip the customer off..

you lot are getting TOOOOO harsh on these kind natured DIY'ers helping people out!!!!

:C

If only it was the people doing the job who got the shocks...

Not the poor innocent homeowners!

 

[NozSpark]

I think the must have mis heard him,,,, I recon he said he was incontinent

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

I was just reading this IET Forums - Tenant gets shock from sink! from the only other sparkies forum i occasionally visit, earlier today

 

[Andy™]

this story just gets better....

just had a call from 'dave' asking what the fault was causing the pipes to become live. he denied anything to do with live ended cable

he also denied all knowledge of using teminal blocks to exntend cable, saying they were already there....

he even told them they need someone qualified to change the CU because he cant give paperwork, asked him where the paperwork was for the work he had done and he said he though he didnt need to. and he didnt have a clue about part p. said he knew about the connectors in loft when he removed wall lights from it, but just left it

he said he was only doing what his mate had told him needed done, still couldnt figure out what was wrong with spur from spur

said he was a joiner, told him to stick to joinery before he kills someone.

wonder if he will take any notice

just incase he phones back wanting more advice ive saved his number under 'dave, ****'

(also posted in a PIR thread, since they are both the same job)

 

[Robin Spark]

He should have used one of these

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z270/sparksoon/Photo0366.jpg

then all would have been ok

[quote name='Andy

 

[Andy™]

He should have used one of thesehttp://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z270/sparksoon/Photo0366.jpg

then all would have been ok

no need, i just removed all that crap, dropped all 3 wires through ceiling and fitted a normal pendant

 

[Robin Spark]

So what was the point in Dave removing the light fitting in the first place? Or was it a pointless exercise!

 

[Andy™]

So what was the point in Dave removing the light fitting in the first place? Or was it a pointless exercise!

getting a bit mixed up here, the light with the dead end was a dead end, and a chocbox or something would have been used to terminate it (conductors in a terminal of course), i was thinking of the other light jb it was supplied from (pics of its in another thread)

 

[Robin Spark]

Oh ok, I thought it was similar to the job i had just done where fuse kept on blowing due to L-E fault in loft with mash up of conductors twisted together, dodgy choc block connectors to supply 12v downlights ( B&Q specials! )

Easy to find fault as only happened when switch for that room turned on.