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RF Lighting
Member
Joined: 13 Apr 2007
Posts: 52
Location: Leeds
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 Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:02 pm Post subject: More electrical horrors |
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I have come across all these nasties whilst out and about in, and all in the last year or so 
Enjoy!!
This picture needs very little explanation.
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I got called to a house by a customer who said her shower stopped working about a week ago, and yesterday she heard a bang and some fizzing in the bathroom.
This is what I found under a floorboard:
It is a white sheathed 6.0mm˛ T&E cable, which was sat in a notch in the top of a joist with a nail through it. The joist and floorboard were charred, and the live, earth and all but three strands of the neutral have vaporised.
It was fed from a non RCD circuit with a 45A rewireable fuse which had not blown, so the cable was still live when I arrived.
The customer had been stood on the the floor with wet, bare feet after a bath.
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Breif history:
Extention / loft conversion to a bungalow. Original sparkie went AWOL. He had replaced the consumer unit, but left this under the floorboards below the consumer unit / intake.
The 1.5mm˛ SWA feeds a fairly well loaded 6 way CU in the garage. The joint box is fed in 2.5mm˛ fed from the 32A socket MCB. The armouring is no longer earthed either.
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This was taken in an under the stairs cupboard which has been converted to a downstairs WC.
The room did not border an external wall, so the soloution for the fan?
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This picture is of a CU with a loose screw connecting the neutral bars together.
The load was relativly light as the CU fed a portakabin.
There were 2no. 2kW panel heaters, 3no. 4' fluorescents and 4no. twin sockets.
You can see where the burning has been painted over on the trunking and ceiling
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This picture is of a fluorescent fitting in a factory.
It is fed from 2no. 1mm˛ red singles in PVC tube. Not a CPC in sight.
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Here is a 60VA DL transformer which stopped working, and was found sat on a DL lamp.
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Nice meter tails. 4.0mm˛ rubber twin cable. It had gone all crumbly.
Cutout fuse was a 100A BS 88
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This picture is of a pull switch.
A studwork wall was put up right where the 2 way pull switch was located.
What to do? Move the pull switch 2 inches? Oh no, that would be far too simple! Lets just cut the string off, and plaster it in to the new wall!
It had been like this for a good long while, and was still live when we arrived to rewire the lights!
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This picture is of a fuse box. It was still live until last week, when the head / meter fell off the wall. The dno arrived and replaced this but refused to reconnect.
Wonder why 
Kitchen fuse box
Note the fused neutrals, asbestos and wooden enclosure
The kitchen fuse box was fed from this mess
I refused to reconect it too
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This picture is a flush mounted 4 way wylex CU, which is supplied from an external meter box. The tails run through the cavity and enter through an oversized hole in the rear of the CU.
Not a problem until cavity wall insulation was installed!
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This is a GU10 downlighter.
It is connected to phase and earth only, yet it is on and working.
The neutral can be seen not connected just to the left of the DL.
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== Metal Clad FCU ==
This MEM FCU has had it's fuse holder retaining screw snapped off, and as these FCUs have a spring loaded fuse carrier it has been wedged in place with a matchstick.
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== Big Commercial Mess ==
In a cupboard in a nightclub in Leeds. Also feeds 4 offices and a shop above.
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== DNO cable repair ==
DNO cable accidentally got severed during some building work. Tho DNO attended and repaired it.
It does not feed anything in this building. It feeds the shop above.
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== Fusebox Fire ==
This is a proteus fusebox (Its a wylex copy)
The circuit fed a 9.5kW shower on a 6.0mm˛ t&e cable. The fuse was a 45A rewireable. These boards are designed for a maximum of 30A per outgoing way.
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== Hidden Joint Boxes ==
A couple of nasty joint boxes found hidden under floors.
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== Bath Socket ==
A socket rather close to a bath
(The bath was just being stored there on a new build project, but made for a good photo)
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Hinton Heating
Gas/Heating Expert
Joined: 16 Jan 2006
Posts: 4384
Location: Bournemouth
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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Nice collection of bad electrics!
Good to see they've made it to the rougues gallery!
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panlid
Senior Member
Joined: 16 Jan 2006
Posts: 3536
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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| i think the last one is the worst |
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Hinton Heating
Gas/Heating Expert
Joined: 16 Jan 2006
Posts: 4384
Location: Bournemouth
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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just imagine that, storing a bath next to a plug... I hope the plumber is Part P registered to place a water carrying device, so close to a socket... Was is notified?
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bathstyle
BANNED
Joined: 17 Jan 2006
Posts: 926
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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There's no grommet on the back box on the first picture, I'm appalled that you didn't point this out 
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ultimatehandyman
Site Admin
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 14323
Location: Darwen, Lancashire
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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That is an awesome collection 
Some of those pictures are very scary
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Hitch
Senior Member
Joined: 16 Jan 2006
Posts: 3209
Location: Somerset
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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I like the extractor fan in the floor
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Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one? |
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diypeter
Senior Member
Joined: 07 Jan 2007
Posts: 102
Location: scotland
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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sure are some scary things happened there i have come across some frighting sights in the electrics but thankfully nothing as bad as any of these
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skiking
Senior Member
Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 3558
Location: Cheshire
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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| The fan next to the toilet was good....one slip and its 'sh*t hits the fan' |
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panlid
Senior Member
Joined: 16 Jan 2006
Posts: 3536
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| Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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Andrew
Senior Member
Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Posts: 415
Location: Sunny Southend!
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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It's scary how close people can live to death without knowing it. It's not a pleasant thought and supports the argument for regulated working practices, however much they "get in the way".
I'm appalled at this post and can't believe people can do jobs like this and are able to sleep at night. They've got to be absolultely useless, because it doesn't take any longer to do a right correctly.
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Ducati Jack
Junior Member
Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 2
Location: West Sussex
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| Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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Holy Cow. I'm fairly new to electrical work and have only just passed my
Part P. I can see now why they introduced it !! |
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ultimatehandyman
Site Admin
Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 14323
Location: Darwen, Lancashire
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| Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Ducati Jack wrote: |
Holy Cow. I'm fairly new to electrical work and have only just passed my
Part P. I can see now why they introduced it !! |
They introduced part p as a stealth tax
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Hinton Heating
Gas/Heating Expert
Joined: 16 Jan 2006
Posts: 4384
Location: Bournemouth
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| Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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Part P wont stop bad workmanship like this... most bad DIYers will continue as they always have, and stick 2 fingers up to Part P, just as they do to Corgi!
Can we get this on the 2nd page, as takes ages to scroll thro all those pictures!
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Hinton Heating
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Joined: 16 Jan 2006
Posts: 4384
Location: Bournemouth
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