Kit's Khaos

[The Rat]

I could suggest building a safer temporary wing on the house in the meantime, but knowing you it will extend across at least three neighbouring properties. 

[PR19_Kit]

Only three? 

[The Rat]

 

[Old Wombat]

Only one wing?   

Now we're getting into Tophe territory! 

[PR19_Kit]

We have POWER!     

An emergency electrician showed up this evening, and did a superb job tracking down the problem, step by logical step. (I watched him the whole while of course....)

Whoever did the re-wiring when they added the extension to this place made a pig's ear of the job, they didn't split the existing ring main and add more of it, they just added spurs off the existing sockets! The electrician was appalled, but said re-doing the wiring would cost thousands, and we don't have that kind of money.

But he found one faulty socket, or at least the cable leading to it, and that's now isolated, and the others have all been checked and proved good, so we're only one socket down and we can live with that.

Magic stuff. 

[Rheged]

We have POWER!     

An emergency electrician showed up this evening, and did a superb job tracking down the problem, step by logical step. (I watched him the whole while of course....)

Whoever did the re-wiring when they added the extension to this place made a pig's ear of the job, they didn't split the existing ring main and add more of it, they just added spurs off the existing sockets! The electrician was appalled, but said re-doing the wiring would cost thousands, and we don't have that kind of money.

But he found one faulty socket, or at least the cable leading to it, and that's now isolated, and the others have all been checked and proved good, so we're only one socket down and we can live with that.

Magic stuff. 

We are all greatly relieved to hear that  you are now in contact with the national grid once more.   

[scooter]

Whoever did the re-wiring when they added the extension to this place made a pig's ear of the job, they didn't split the existing ring main and add more of it, they just added spurs off the existing sockets! The electrician was appalled, but said re-doing the wiring would cost thousands, and we don't have that kind of money.

To quote a Texan building inspector whose videos I catch on Nannybook: That ain't right.

Whatever building inspector who signed off on that ought to be flogged as well.  It's like an electrical fire waiting to happen. 

[Rick Lowe]

Whoever did the re-wiring when they added the extension to this place made a pig's ear of the job, they didn't split the existing ring main and add more of it, they just added spurs off the existing sockets! The electrician was appalled, but said re-doing the wiring would cost thousands, and we don't have that kind of money.

To quote a Texan building inspector whose videos I catch on Nannybook: That ain't right.

Whatever building inspector who signed off on that ought to be flogged as well.  It's like an electrical fire waiting to happen. 

Correct on both counts. 
("Signoff? My Mate Gaz wot did the job for mates-rates said it was all a-ok and good to go, and he should know, right?")

Glad things are safe and working now.   

[Gondor]

Glad to hear that the problem has been rectified.

[frank2056]

It sounds like a good solution. One dead outlet isn't too bad - unless it's the only outlet in the room.

There's a building inspection/repair company here in Los Angeles that posts "Things seen this week during structural assessments!" Pretty horrifying!

[NARSES2]

There's a building inspection/repair company here in Los Angeles that posts "Things seen this week during structural assessments!" Pretty horrifying!

I have a mate who was Senior Building Inspector for one of our local councils. Some of the tales he told scare the **** out of you.

[Rheged]

There's a building inspection/repair company here in Los Angeles that posts "Things seen this week during structural assessments!" Pretty horrifying!

I have a mate who was Senior Building Inspector for one of our local councils. Some of the tales he told scare the **** out of you.

My late father's building and engineering inspectors kept  "THE GREAT CUMBRIAN BOOK OF WIZARD PRANGS"  As far as I know, the local authority Department of Building Services  still make entries in it  of the  various catastrophes---actual and potential--- that they find.

[Rick Lowe]

There's a building inspection/repair company here in Los Angeles that posts "Things seen this week during structural assessments!" Pretty horrifying!

I have a mate who was Senior Building Inspector for one of our local councils. Some of the tales he told scare the **** out of you.

My late father's building and engineering inspectors kept  "THE GREAT CUMBRIAN BOOK OF WIZARD PRANGS"  As far as I know, the local authority Department of Building Services  still make entries in it  of the  various catastrophes---actual and potential--- that they find.

Is there anyone still working there that knows what the term means, anymore? 
Pip-pip!

[Charlie_c67]

If it's any consolation Kit, my grandfather used to be a Sparkie and so wired up his own house. Although it wasn't "to code" by modern standards, I never knew of them having any electrical issues in the house. No doubt many modern electricians would be totally horrified/perplexed by what he did! Have to say I'd sooner trust his work than some I've come across and he's been gone for 26 years!

[PR19_Kit]

Going back in history  somewhat, when my Mum and Dad bought their first house in Oxford after he retired from the RAF, it  had a  large garden shed right  across the bottom of the garden which had mains power even!

My brother and I annexed the shed for building our racing bikes, and the others that we built for our mates at school, and also for building our kayak, which was larger than the door, but that's another story...........

One winter evening we were building a quite expensive bike for a school mate (who's Dad was a millionaire for real.....) and Dad came down to see how we were getting on. He said 'How did you get on with the power cut then?' and we looked at him blankly and said 'What power cut?'

He explained the main circuit breaker in our consumer unit had tripped out and wouldn't re-set, but he'd looked out a spare one and replaced it, and the cut only lasted about 10 minutes. We told him we'd not seen a sign of a power cut, and so started a big investigation, involving an electrician and the local power company etc. etc.

It turned out that the big armoured power lead that went down the edge of the garden path to the shed was connected to the mains power line BEFORE the 'Company Fuses', which was very illegal of course! It all got re-wired legally and investigations showed that the previous owner of the house was an electrician working for the National Grid! 

They were thinking about charging us an estimated amount for the 2-3 years worth of 'Shed Power' that we'd used, but we got my Uncle on the job, as he was a Senior Barrister, and they decided not to pursue the matter.