Whats the best cowboy job you've seen?

OK,I have come accross a 9.5kw shower wired in 1.5mm t & e,fortunately hadnt been used yet.

I did hear of a job (from a mate who's usually quite reliable) where some 'pikies' had rewired a house for a woman who then found nothing worked,only to find that behind the nice new sockets there where no wires !!
Still not quite sure if i believe it or not.

Worst i've seen is a 4 core 1.5 swa wired straight into the bottom of the DNO's isolator, 1 core to MET (good practice), steel and spare core just flapping about, foots worth of single insulation on show. This then went 100+ metres around a farm to various sheds, powering lights and sockets. I got a call asking why his new power hose wouldn't work right at the end of his circuit. Not enough volts. Good old farm yard electrics!
Wish i'd taken a photo of his handy work in the meter box.

A few pics from things i've been to recently. The first two relate to a couple of sockets in a property i replaced a consumer unit in. Two of the sockets on one wall of the play room weren't working properly and there was no ring continuity on the circuit. The two sockets were at a different height to everything else in the room and i could see a single white twin coming through from the cavity which made me investigate further considering everything else was in grey twin. After knocking the back box out which took me straight in to the cavity i found a 30A JB behind each socket, one was completely burnt out and the other had a disconnected earth. I cut two new boxes in at a matching height to the existing and managed to pull the existing cables in to these boxes with just enough wire to crimp extensions on to them in the socket box and subsequently curing all existing faults on that circuit.




I found this gem at a property that i visited for a telecoms problem. The socket wasn't actually live but i can guarantee that it would have worked at some point considering that there was a plug on the floor beneath it which went to the customers pond.



The final one is particularly worrying as it was work carried out only a month previous. The previous electrician had been kicked off site for taking the p*** with his invoices but his work wasn't really up to scratch. Out of 20 odd glands only 3 or 4 where rated to be used outdoor but even then they hadn't been done properly causing the armouring to be exposed and water was getting in through the gaps. None of the armouring had been bonded properly using banjos at the consumer unit. There was also a three phase consumer unit feeding the house and separate outbuildings. The tails feeding the existing house consumer units entered the new three phase DB through a rough cut hole in the back with no protection against abrasion so were nicely chafed and for some reason he'd used a 63A 3 phase breaker for a single phase supply. I know this isn't wrong but pointlessly expensive. There is quite a list of c**p work at this place but the customer won't report the contractor to his governing body for some reason much to my annoyance.

A strange one I found probably 25 years ago now (no RCDs back then) was a call i got from an indian chap whose cellar light had stopped working since the damp proof course was replaced, went and had a look and found the live was just a single core running from the live side of a switch in the hall at the top of the cellar stairs, and the "neutral" was a nail banged into the joist (which until recently was quite damp) with the lampholder from a batten holder screwed onto this nail.
I dont know if it ever worked but the customer said no-one had altered it , it just stopped working!

Hi all went to test a ring main in a kitchen and found it to be wired in 1.5 tw/e and an other job was kitchen ring wired up and 4 way ex-leads glued to the kitchen units with the flex tiled in the wall to connectors behind the tiles and no earth great when you plug the kettle in all that steam

View attachment Garage-Shed Supplies[1].pdfOne i went to recently, follow the meter tails from the main incomer fuse! the 3 singles are supplying the garage.

Please ignore the link I uploaded the wrong thing

are my eyes bad or is the meter by-passed?

Yes, I had to look twice, been like it for 3 years feeding new circuit to bathroom.

Good way to get cheap lecci.......

Hi all my name is Saf and have registered today on this forum. I am self employed inspection tester and sparky wanted to say hello to all. A job today has been on my mind. House in bristol gas and water bonded correctly at incoming but no sign of them in the consumer unit where do you think they went?

CPC lighting circuit junction box!!!!

I saw a kitchen fitter chase a 1.5 from the lighting diagonally to the cooker switch, then couldnt figure out why it tripped the lighting when he put the oven on!

i saw an electrical labourer/improver wire a low voltage light fitting direct to the mains ( no transformer ) BANG lamp fired off like a bullet. He also wired a back door bell with no push in circuit, bell rang constantly, told me it was faulty, i just told him to wire it properly :-0

Probably the best I've come across was on council refurbs , apart from two pair bell wire feeding from the kitchen ring for power and lighting to nearly every old coal shed we came across !
There was one that did stand out for the Darwin awards .
Some oxygen thief had wanted a ring main in his loft ( so all very neatly and with loverly sweat-ed joints i may add ) he had put two 15mm copper pipe bus bars around its perimeter on twin plastic clips , and was using those clamps that you find on market stalls to tap of where needed to a trailing socket !!!!
I have saved the best bit till last , he was a serving fire man ! wtf