ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Had a couple of humorous phone calls.....

I love it when the office at the housing dev. calls and says "we have no power in the upstairs bedrooms in the 1st model". I go over and change the light bulbs"again".and call them back telling them that its all fixed now....

Ohhh, that statement is fantastic!
Heard it too many times, with so many "Oh, Sorry To Blame You" results, it would fill this thread with fonts beyond capacity!

However...

Got two good recent "WHAT DID YOU DO?" stories to throw out.

"Whad'ja Do" Story #1:

This one involves a new Teppan Style Restaraunt, attempting to receive a TCO (Temporary Certificate of Occupancy).

Fire Inspector on site goes to test the "Ansul" System (Fire Supression System), to verify interlocks for the hoods + all bells and whistles work as they should.
Owner + Ansul Technician on site for test.

Interlocks and such work properly, however when the Inspector flipped on the Light Switch for one of the Hood's Lights, a relay began to freak out - and quickly caught fire!

Of course, the story we receive is:
"All the Hoods are short circuiting, and _EVERY_ Relay has fried, _ALONG_ with the Make Up Air control not working... GET DOWN HERE IMMEDIATELY!!!"

I get there the following morning, hear several stories prior to actually seeing any equipment.
Ansul guy arrives around 7:30 AM, and he has a different story.

Well, after checking every part of the Lighting Circuitry, it turns out that only one relay actually fried. It's failure was due to an incorrect mounting in the panel (it was mounted over a backed out screw head, which caused the relay to bend out of shape).
This resulted in the relay's contacts not seating completely, and ended up barbequeing the relay, due to red hot contacts!

There was one other problem, the fire supression interlocking switches were either connected in reverse (across the N.O. contacts, when it should have been thru the N.C. contacts), or the Limit Switch was completely broken - none of this was our responsibility (we did not terminate these interlocks or anything at the panels).

Spent a whole day on this one - and actually got some "Thank You's" + "Sorry To Blame You's".
That's a first!

"Whad'ja Do" Story #2:

Helping a Friend do some HVAC related work (upgrading control systems + equipment for HVAC and dampers + control in large air handlers on Schools).
We are "Knee-Deep" in Air Handler stuff, when his Cell Phone starts ringing, and ringing, and ringing!!!

Turns out to be the Supervisor (read "Stupidvisor") for the GC on some Custom House my Friend was doing.
The House was trimmed out for Power Electrical System items (Fixtures, Switches, Receptacles, Panelboards trimmed out, etc.).
Final Inspection had not been done yet, and the temp. power pole was still in the front yard.

Stupidvisor calls up with a doozy!

Stupidvisor: "The Doorbell Does Not Work"

Friend "OK, That's Probably Because There Is No Power Yet"


Stupidvisor: " But I Hooked It Up Where It Should Be, And It Worked Before"

Friend "It Worked Before???"


Stupidvisor: "Yes, It Worked Before, Then You Came By And Did Something In The "Big Panel" (Main Service), Now It Does Not Work"

Friend "Whaaaaat??? .. Let Me Call You Back"

He hangs up, then starts thinking about the doorbell situation. It is supposed to be part of the Intercom/Whole House Audio system, and therefore there is no location for the door chime, nor is there any doorbell button wiring.

Just then, the phone rings again, and it's our friend, Mr. Stupidvisor.


Stupidvisor: "Well, Are You Coming Down Here To Fix This, Or What?"

Friend "First Off, The House Has No Power, And Unless This Is A Battery Powered Doorbell, It Won't Possibly Work - AND Secondly, The Doorbell Is Part Of The Intercom Stuff, So Just Where Exactly Are You Connecting A Doorbell Anyway???"


Stupidvisor: "It Worked Fine Before You Came Here"

Friend "OK, Wait Until The Power Gets Turned On And It Will Work Again"

Somehow gets off the phone quickly, but the stupidvisor called endlessly that day.

Finally, a call was made to the actuall GC regarding this extremely important issue, and guess what??? that stopped the crazy phone calls!!!

Have no idea what ever happened with that stupidvisor, or the infamous "Self Powered/Wireless Doorbell", but that one had us both going crazy trying to make the joker understand that he really needs to stop smoking crack on the job!


So far, these two stories are the best this year!

Stay tuned for further developments

Scott35

edited for spellin' - hope I caught all the miss steaks ! < D'OHH >

[This message has been edited by Scott35 (edited 04-21-2006).]

I was wiring a new supermarket and the PoCo guys are on top of the awning connecting the new aerials. With the end of one phase still sitting on the metal roof they accidently stuck the other end into the live side of the service fuse. All of a sudden there are sparks flying out of everything, out of the sides of metal door frames and all over the place. All the other trades thought it was something I had done and wanted my blood.

I was doing some work in the state office of a large national company and went round to every desk telling everyone that the power was going out for a few minutes. I got the OK from everyone but when I came back I was told no one is going home tonight thanks to you. It turned out the woman who works out the wages didn't realize computers need power and they lost the weeks pays for every employee in the state.

"Alan? When are you coming round to fix my bloody electrics!! You said straight away and it's been weeks...etc. etc. ....." , the irate voice gave me a right earfull dahn the dog-and-bone[telephone].
I sussed the gravel-toned East-End accent of 'Scrapyard John', and in a slight lull in the torrent of adjectives I interrupted-
"Oi, John, which Alan do you fink this is?"
"er..'Alan the Sparks'?"
"No, it's Alan the Wood'."
"Oh, sorry Alan! Must have got the number wrong." ...pause... "'Ere, when are you coming round to fix my bloody stairs!" -a quick witted response which got us both laughing. I should explain that it's a cockney thing here to give descriptive nicknames to us ex-pats. I like '11 o'clock John' best - describing the fact he does not get up too early in the morning.

Alan the Wood

Not really electical but none the less, I work in IT and I got a call from someone with a big printer which kept jamming paper and wouldnt print. These printers take 2500 sheets of paper or 5 reams. When I went up, the numpty had loaded 2500 sheets of paper without unwrapping them from the packet! Of course, it was my fault for not having a suitable warning notice for it.

just remember, for every idiotic warning sign you see (IE Caution Coffee is Hot) there is an idiot out there that caused that sign to be made.

Got a call from a regular customer who was moving into a new Building no power to the A/C. Asked if A/C guy had checked it. They say He checked and there was no power to the unit. Go over open the panel and the breakers are on so head to the roof. There are 2 new 10 Ton A/C and one OLD larger unit. The smaller units had power and one of them was running. Go back down and look and the old unit was abandoned no duct no wire nothing. Find the 2 thermostats in the office and turn them up and they work fine. Tell the customer what I found.Get a call next morning from A/C guy "you moron there is no power to the A/C what did you do yesterday"? Back I go to check power again. Thermostats are off so turn them on. Works fine. The customer calls A/C guy to meet me on site. I showed him what I found and he said "not my fault they should have removed the OLD A/C when thy abandoned it". I think the customer uses a differant A/C guy now. Rod

When my wife was selling HVAC they had problems with throwing the wrong unit off the roof. Maybe the installer was just being careful