Tell us about your faults!

[telectrix]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

here's a nice DIY fault. Customer phone and told me his landing light was playing up, worked sometime off one switch and sometimes off the other, but not as should be. I checked connections in both 2way switches and could find nothing amiss. Was going to the van for a meter when customer said they worked ok till he fitted stainless switches all round the house. Turned out the landing light had an intermediate switch along the landing, round a corner where i hadn't seen it. Guess what B&Q had sold him a Double Pole switch and as it looked the same inside he had connected the strappers to the 4 terminals --- DIY---DOH

 

[chris gray]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

20 bay modular building split into 3 sections via swa to 3ph+n busbar trunking, tapoff box to sub-board in each bay.
one swa was feeding trunking that in turn was feeding 7 sub-boards.
got a call, some of the lights (grid lights on a suspended ceiling) were flashing like a disco hall and some werent working at all.
got there and a full bay of lights werent working and sure enough 4 of 5 lights were lik a disco hall.
went to the 1st sub-board and the mcb feeding the non working lights was in the on position?
pressed the rcd and then all the lights in the bays after this one starting flashing like a disco hall.
isolated the trunking and inspected.
turns out the socket feeding the trunking had not been installed properly and the neutral was only just making.
never seen anything like it before, shame i didnt have my phone with me otherwise i would of videoed it.
got me 2 days work inspecting every connection on the trunking and replacing the half dozen motion detectors and light fittings that had fried.

 

[nickblake]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

20 bay modular building split into 3 sections via swa to 3ph+n busbar trunking, tapoff box to sub-board in each bay.
one swa was feeding trunking that in turn was feeding 7 sub-boards.
got a call, some of the lights (grid lights on a suspended ceiling) were flashing like a disco hall and some werent working at all.
got there and a full bay of lights werent working and sure enough 4 of 5 lights were lik a disco hall.
went to the 1st sub-board and the mcb feeding the non working lights was in the on position?
pressed the rcd and then all the lights in the bays after this one starting flashing like a disco hall.
isolated the trunking and inspected.
turns out the socket feeding the trunking had not been installed properly and the neutral was only just making.
never seen anything like it before, shame i didnt have my phone with me otherwise i would of videoed it.
got me 2 days work inspecting every connection on the trunking and replacing the half dozen motion detectors and light fittings that had fried.

i have seen the same thing happen after a fire in a shop some sparks went in and replaced a TPN board powered up and it was like bonfire night ballasts exploding every where they had taken the board out not realising that the main neutral went through the board befor it went to the bus bar chamber and had only connected the neutral from the bus bar chamber ,lovely 400 volts across the ballasts

 

[nickblake]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

I had a good one to day ,DIY jobby bit like electrix nice Band Q brass light switches , call was circuit blowing the fuse every time you switched it on get there light switch hanging off the wall quick look at the wiring ,and it was switch the power off please , the numpty had connected the yellow of the 2 way to the metal face plate when he fixed it back to the wall it made contact with the earth and bang 10 minuit job to put right , gave him a bit of a lecture , charged and away , i must admit as he wasnt fried i did cuckle on the way home

 

[nickblake]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Ha one to day CDU upgrade , testing found N to CPC fault , plus what appeared to be to raidials but checking looked like a ring ,continuity open circuit on all conductors just bugged me , could walk under the floors which was just a mass of junction boxes spurs and a mess basically but checking around saw 2 cables going through the floor above so signe of a socket but there was a lump in the plaster board ,so i took the plunge and found a single socket complete with 2 wires curled into the back box with the N and CPC touching the back box , it was part of the original installation so must have been there live behind the plaster board since it was built in 1968 .... 42 years ago

 

[Lucy Greenfield]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Please can someone help! One of the bulbs blew in my extractor fan, then the whole thing went bang! I had it wired up to a fused spur so I pulled out the fuse casing and changed the fuse, but I couldn't get it to slide back in again, so i asked my brother in law to help and he ended up breaking it lol! So I went off in search of a replacement, but living in rural Ireland is like living on mars and I couldn't get one anywhere! So I changed it to a one gang socket and 3 point plug! Not as beautiful as it once was but at least it should work, right? wrong! dead as a dodo!! So now I haven't a clue what to do! My qualifications as an electrician are that I was married to a really good one for years lol and some of it rubbed off!! clearly not enough though!! Any ideas what I could check/replace?

 

[telectrix]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

might not be this, but i have had cooker extractors fail due to burnt out tracks on the pcb behind the switches. usually repairable.

 

[Lucy Greenfield]

Re: Tell us about your faults !

Thanks I'll give it a go

 

[Battlecrease]

What is the current carrying capacity of 1.5mm2!!!!

Came across this set up today in a void I was working in seems like the previous tenant didnt want to pay for his electricity so he decided to link out the meter and the ony cable he could find was the 1.5mm2 you see in the picture !!!!
I was very impressed with his VDE clothes pegs I must see if my supplier stocks them .

 

[High Tower]

Re: What is the current carrying capacity of 1.5mm2!!!!

Came across this set up today in a void I was working in seems like the previous tenant didnt want to pay for his electricity so he decided to link out the meter and the ony cable he could find was the 1.5mm2 you see in the picture !!!!
I was very impressed with his VDE clothes pegs I must see if my supplier stocks them .

View attachment 2489

made me laugh