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drew35
This was a close call. I was changing a consumer unit this week, the house was a real mess, five fuse boxes in total, one original with four add ons, all done badly. The sort of job that makes you want to cry when you look at it! The house had been extended, converted, and messed with in every way, but I don't think a qualified electrician had ever been involved, just as big a mess as you could possible imagine.
So I started early, tried to make sense of what cables did what, then ripped everything off the wall, put up a new piece of chipboard, and fitted a supply isolator. And like most of you probably do, I have a small board I carry with a couple of RCD protected sockets that I power up so there is temporary power. I ran an extension lead through to the guys kitchen so he could power up his computer, and the kettle obviously. Then I set about putting all the circuits back into the new 16 way dual consumer unit.
Now as the cables all came up from below, and I was lowering the new consumer unit, I was having to shorten all the cables. When I came to one leg of a ring, as I cut the cable, loud bang, flash, RCD on my temporary board trips, work light goes out, WTF???????????????? How did that happen???? Scratching my head now, what have I missed??? Customer comes and finds me to complain that the computer has crashed.
Well now I'm thinking I've missed another supply somewhere? Maybe when the two cottages where knocked together to make one both supplies have been left connected, but no I had checked it was all dead and it was???
As I'm walking around trying to figure it out I walk into the kitchen and to my horror I see what had nearly killed me. The customer in his wisdom had decided he needed more sockets than the four on the extension lead, so he had taken the end off a four way extension lead, put a plug on the end, so now he's got a meter of cable with a plug on either end, and he's back feeding from my extension lead into one of the kitchen sockets, hence livening up the whole kitchen ring circuit, and more importantly the cable I'd had in my hands back at the consumer unit.....
When I had calmed down and stopped swearing I walked the customer through the near consequences of what he had done. The result a very apologetic customer, a fine imposed on his bill, and a new pair of side cutters.
So I started early, tried to make sense of what cables did what, then ripped everything off the wall, put up a new piece of chipboard, and fitted a supply isolator. And like most of you probably do, I have a small board I carry with a couple of RCD protected sockets that I power up so there is temporary power. I ran an extension lead through to the guys kitchen so he could power up his computer, and the kettle obviously. Then I set about putting all the circuits back into the new 16 way dual consumer unit.
Now as the cables all came up from below, and I was lowering the new consumer unit, I was having to shorten all the cables. When I came to one leg of a ring, as I cut the cable, loud bang, flash, RCD on my temporary board trips, work light goes out, WTF???????????????? How did that happen???? Scratching my head now, what have I missed??? Customer comes and finds me to complain that the computer has crashed.
Well now I'm thinking I've missed another supply somewhere? Maybe when the two cottages where knocked together to make one both supplies have been left connected, but no I had checked it was all dead and it was???
As I'm walking around trying to figure it out I walk into the kitchen and to my horror I see what had nearly killed me. The customer in his wisdom had decided he needed more sockets than the four on the extension lead, so he had taken the end off a four way extension lead, put a plug on the end, so now he's got a meter of cable with a plug on either end, and he's back feeding from my extension lead into one of the kitchen sockets, hence livening up the whole kitchen ring circuit, and more importantly the cable I'd had in my hands back at the consumer unit.....
When I had calmed down and stopped swearing I walked the customer through the near consequences of what he had done. The result a very apologetic customer, a fine imposed on his bill, and a new pair of side cutters.
