Stupid things you discover

[jx2mad]

We have just purchased a house at Sussex Inlet. Yesterday I had need to turn off the power to the cooktop. When I came inside my wife said the tv had gone off. Not quite true. The tv was on but there was no signal to it. Seems some enterprising antenna installer has tapped into the stove circuit to supply 240v to the antenna booster power supply. I wonder what other delights I will find.

[Bytemrk]

Fun times!...[bighmmm]

[cripesamighty]

Reminds me of when I went to a friends house for dinner and noticed the front porch light flickering. A quick look up top showed the light was connected up with speaker wire! Needless to say this 1940’s house got rewired not long after that before it burnt down, as the old insulation was crumbling off the wiring. New houses can be quite ‘interesting’ for the wrong reasons sometimes! Hopefully that will be the last of the surprises!

[austastar]

Hi,
Our first house had very dark green ceilings in the hallway, so one of the first projects was to repaint them white.
Found 75W globes in the oystershell lamp fittings, 30W I think is the maximum to be fitted.
The dual core rubber insulated wiring (no earth) had carbonised back about 300mm.

Grrrrrr

Cheers

[bblaze]

Had a bloody rat chew a wire , wife had rung me at work and said there was a big flash in the ceiling, told her to turn off power. ( purchased house about a month earlier), called the electrian, he pulled off a section of roof and found half a rat and the damaged wire. Checked the fuses and found a fuse made of electric fence wire (most likely 3 or 400 amp), every house purchased since, first job has been to check the fuses
cheers
blaze

[Stuck]

Updated all of the power outlets in the place and found one that was connected across the wall cavity from another outlet by a piece of twin core cable like the stuff you'd use for driving lights, mustn't have needed the earth for that one[bighmmm]. Not quite as nasty but just as frustrating, I've got a 20ft. half cabin that some genius has completely rewired, both actives and earths, from the same roll of cable.

[scarry]

I often wonder how many lives have ben saved with the introduction of RCD's.

Although,they still give you a good bite before they trip,don't ask me how i know[bigsad][bigsmile1]

[austastar]

I often wonder how many lives have been saved with the introduction of RCD's.


Hi,
I was using the computer in a room next to the kitchen, when power went off.
I heard the kids in the kitchen, so on my way down to check the fuse box, poked my head in to see what they were up to.
There was the eldest (maybe 10 at the time) with a stainless steel knife in the toaster, retrieving a stuck piece of toast.

No damage to knife or kid, worked as it was supposed to and cut power instantly. I suspect it was a short from active to the earthed frame of the toaster with out child in the direct circuit. But still, I was glad we had put the safety in. They were called Earth Leakage Circuit Breakers when we built the house. in 1986.

Cheers

[JDNSW]

My younger son specialised in that sort of thing when he was about six - poked the element of an electric radiator with a steak knife. Still have the knife somewhere, with a chunk melted out of the edge.

[Hall]

In our last house we had 400 volt stove power. Two phase power. Was not used as such for a long time before we brought the house. The two phase connection on the eves burnt out. Got a electrician to fix it. Electrician also had to replace out main fuse board. There where the two extra large porcelain fuses for the 400 volt power with fuse wire to match. Electrician let us know that at some point in the past some one had tapped into these fuses for a power circuit. So you would have been well cremated before those fuse blew. Also in the roof was some of the old rubber and cloth insulated wire. Electrician said it was still fine as it had not been exposed to sun light.
Cheers Hall

[Vern]

In our last house we had 400 volt stove power. Two phase power. Was not used as such for a long time before we brought the house. The two phase connection on the eves burnt out. Got a electrician to fix it. Electrician also had to replace out main fuse board. There where the two extra large porcelain fuses for the 400 volt power with fuse wire to match. Electrician let us know that at some point in the past some one had tapped into these fuses for a power circuit. So you would have been well cremated before those fuse blew. Also in the roof was some of the old rubber and cloth insulated wire. Electrician said it was still fine as it had not been exposed to sun light.
Cheers HallThe black rubber is the nastiest stuff i have ever worked with, its not the sunlight, its the heat from current draw! Get rid of it. Cotton wound is much better compared. Both crap though

[bsperka]

Had a sparking power point in my first house some 35 years ago. Went to replace it and saw bare wires at least 100mm up the wall. Old rubber insulation wiring!!!
On a house we inspected recently the switchboard was dripping with green verdigres. So wiring issues seem to abound.

[VladTepes]

Hi,
They were called Earth Leakage Circuit Breakers

I thought they still were ! What does RCD stand for then?

[austastar]

Hi,
Residual Current Device? (maybe??)

Cheers

[bee utey]

Residual Current Device...

Correct. They measure the difference between the current in the active and neutral wires, any current above a threshold found when you subtract N from A is the residual current and trips the breaker. An earth connection isn't actually required.

[scarry]

There are new rules concerning RCDs coming in soon.

Now have to be on permanently wired devices such as cooktops,hot water systems and AC units in domestic/residential.

Commercial, on all lighting,and socket outlets up to 32 A,and also fixed wired equipment up to 32Amp circuits.

That should make things a lot safer,but the down side is nuisance tripping,particularly when it comes to important equipment,such as refrigeration.

[JDNSW]

You say "a lot safer" - but actually, how many fatalities are there from these devices? Certainly safer, but is the improvement significant?

[austastar]

.......,but the down side is nuisance tripping,particularly when it comes to important equipment,such as refrigeration.

Hi,
I had the fridge, hot water and a 20A socket in the workshop left off the RCD circuits for that reason.
We do get nuisance tripping with domestic irons in the laundry, some times our portable hot plate will trip the circuit, and a Fowler bottling urn does the same.
I can't fault the wiring with the multimeter, but it sure is a pain sometimes.
Cheers

[scarry]

Hi,
I had the fridge, hot water and a 20A socket in the workshop left off the RCD circuits for that reason.
We do get nuisance tripping with domestic irons in the laundry, some times our portable hot plate will trip the circuit, and a Fowler bottling urn does the same.
I can't fault the wiring with the multimeter, but it sure is a pain sometimes.
Cheers

Refrigeration has lots of moisture around and heaters,so nuisance tripping can be an issue.

Freezers particularly have electrical terminals covered in ice and condensation all the time,but pure water does not conduct electricity.Until it gets contaminants in it.

Multimeters often won’t pick up earth leakage faultsyou need a mega.

[Vern]

Hi,
I had the fridge, hot water and a 20A socket in the workshop left off the RCD circuits for that reason.
We do get nuisance tripping with domestic irons in the laundry, some times our portable hot plate will trip the circuit, and a Fowler bottling urn does the same.
I can't fault the wiring with the multimeter, but it sure is a pain sometimes.
CheersNot a great idea to take things off an rcd because of nuisance tripping! The rcd is there for a reason, find the issue and fix it!

[Vern]

Refrigeration has lots of moisture around and heaters,so nuisance tripping can be an issue.

Freezers particularly have electrical terminals covered in ice and condensation all the time,but pure water does not conduct electricity.Until it gets contaminants in it.

Multimeters often won’t pick up earth leakage faultsyou need a mega.Megger[emoji6]

[austastar]

Hi,
I don't have access to a megohm meter any more, but yes, the best thing would be to fix it.
However, the house was built in 1986, and ELCBs were the new kid on the block at the time and most houses around here still don't have them.
Cheers

[Vern]

Hi,
I don't have access to a megohm meter any more, but yes, the best thing would be to fix it.
However, the house was built in 1986, and ELCBs were the new kid on the block at the time and most houses around here still don't have them.
CheersI've fit rcd's to houses a lot older than 86, if the wiring is not up to scratch or the fittings, then it must be fixed, as there is an issue.

[simonmelb]

My fist house bought in 1996 still had fully functioning cloth insulated wires in nice flat wooden conduits in the ceiling - worked fine! In fact much safer than the rubber insulated stuff in metal conduit that came after the wooden stuff.

[carjunkieanon]

hmmm. Our house was built in 2009 so should (I hope) be perfectly safe re electrickery, but....

sometimes, every now and then, when I touch the metal surround of the cooktop I get what feels like a tingle in my finger. Electric shock? Nah, can't be. Today my son touched the same place and stepped back in surprise looking at his finger, 'hey, that tingles.'

hmmm....

[Fifth Columnist]

Check your house earth connection. Make sure there's not a plastic pipe somewhere giving you a bad earth.

[pop058]

hmmm. Our house was built in 2009 so should (I hope) be perfectly safe re electrickery, but....

sometimes, every now and then, when I touch the metal surround of the cooktop I get what feels like a tingle in my finger. Electric shock? Nah, can't be. Today my son touched the same place and stepped back in surprise looking at his finger, 'hey, that tingles.'

hmmm....

Please do something about that, soon

[cuppabillytea]

Also: when you do a rewiring to replace old rubber insulated wires don't leave the old wire running alongside the new. AC current can induce current flow in the old wire. Houses have been lost in this way.