Thread: Stupid things you discover

Fun times!...

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!

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

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

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. 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.

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

Originally Posted by scarry

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

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.