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Posted By: sparky Those service calls that..... - 05/05/10 02:45 AM
just make you shake your head......

The call> deli workers getting bit off meat slicer

initial findings> energized grounding conductor, but not tripping breaker....

the RX> simply unplugging one of the 'suicide adapters' which someone had plugged into a receptacle outlet in the dark, and missed. One prong was in the hot, the other lightly touching the metal receptacle cover
(TP anyone ?)

NEXT!
~S~

Posted By: gfretwell Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/05/10 03:34 AM
Did you check the EGC impedance? (Sure test, Ecos or similar tester)
I see the reason why this happened, objectionable current on the grounding conductors but it also points to a high resistance ground path.
Posted By: sparky Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/05/10 03:53 AM
60's cloth/tar wire, with boston backwrap Greg, egc impedance is a given....~S~
Posted By: gfretwell Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/05/10 05:02 AM
We have already established this will not provide user safety, are you even confident that it will clear a fault?
Posted By: sparky Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/05/10 12:07 PM
i think the term your looking for is existing Greg.

1/2 my biz comes from existing wiring not cuttin' the mustard

lotta field stories due to that

got one for us?

~S~
Posted By: HotLine1 Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/05/10 06:34 PM
Service call way back...dead short, 20 amp, 120 circuit, resi.

Long to quick version..after 45 min of checking & tracing, found a receptacle that was on wall with bed against wall, sideways.

Turns out the kid was counting coins, dropped a quarter which magically crossed the hot/neut of a lamp cord cap that was not fully inserted.

Lucky...the bed did not ignite from the arc, and the repeated "on" the HO did before he called for help!

That's 25 cents turning into $125.00!!
Posted By: gfretwell Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/05/10 07:17 PM
Back in my IBM days I was in a computer room with a raised floor. The customer was complaining that they had a machine people were getting shocked on. I figured out it was served by a surface raceway coming up the wall to a 5-15 that had obvious damage and checked the receptacle. Yup, 120v on the EGC compared to the bonded floor grid. It was a bolted fault in the raceway. The resistance of the EGC was high enough that it did not operate the OC device. You could cook a hot dog on the box under the floor that had the bad connection tho (loose EMT locknut, no green wire ground).
If we had been happy just repairing the bolted fault we would have only fixed half the problem.

Posted By: sparky Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/06/10 12:36 AM
the call>
"waterfall coming out of main panel"

initial findings>

lb under panel via UG service taking on water from recent storm

the rx>
driled hole in bottom of lb, and plugged incoming pipe with spray foam sealer


~S~
Posted By: poorboy Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/06/10 09:33 AM
Customer: "When I unplugged my clothes dryer to move it the plug sparked and all my lights went out"

Finding: The "service" was some surface mount porcelain fuse holders on the porch (yes, outdoors but with a roof over it). The neutral was fused and that fuse was blown.

The dryer had (like they all used to) its neutral bonded directly to the frame of the machine. Some well-intentioned person had attached a ground wire from the frame of the dryer to the cold water pipe feeding the adjacent washer.

This gave the electrical system a path to ground as long as the dryer was plugged in.

Of course, when we first got there my boss (I was a helper at the time) was sure they had to be wrong and was he ever surprised when he pulled the 30 Amp plug out and it drew an arc and the lights went out!

They had a new 100 Amp service within a week.

Posted By: Scott35 Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/07/10 02:26 AM
My favorite would have to be the infamous "Every third Computer is fried" issue, where a Commercial Building's Service is derived from a 240/120V 3 Phase 4 Wire Delta system.

One particularly odd head-scratcher was back in 1989, on a new "Ground-Up" project (multi unit Commercial Warehouse complex).
Services were 208Y/120V 3 Phase 4 Wire, ranging from 800 Amps to 1200 Amps.
Gear consisted of UGPS, Main Disconnect section, with Three or Four Meter Sections attached.

Went to shoot trouble per a Tenant's complaint of very dim Fluorescent lights, and some equipment's power supplies losing smoke.

Issue was Open Common Grounded Conductor (aka "Neutral").

After close to an hour of searching, the problem was not poor make-up in J Boxes or at Outlets - it was at the Meter Sections!

Culprite: "someone" forgot to tighten the Bolts for the Bus Jumpers between the Main Section and the first Meter Section.
That "someone" happened to be the guy I was working for at that time.

Found out later that He was a major Pot Head, who also decided to start using Methamphetamine.
This, along with keeping His Head inside of His own A$$, may have been the reason for not tightening those Bolts!
wink

Scott
Posted By: sparky Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/12/10 10:59 PM
Gotta call to a residence i hadn't been to before, so i pull up, do the meet/greet and all. The owner showed me to the 'list' of electrical woes, which i spent the better part of the day fixing

end of the work , i'm filling out the paperwork and ask " Mr. & Mrs. XXXX, P.O. Box XXX ? (there's so many unmarked places , even this long after 911 here) , to which they replied 'No, they're down the road there" <poimting to nieghbors>

turns out i'd ended up at the wrong place.....~S~
Posted By: HotLine1 Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/13/10 01:53 AM
Sparky:
Reminds me of the 200 amp resi service installed in the wrong side of a side-by-side duplex. That was quite a few years back...late 70's & it turned out as a free-bee for the neighbor.
Posted By: gfretwell Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/13/10 06:25 AM
A guy where my wife used to work built a house on the wrong lot.
Posted By: jdevlin Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/13/10 02:25 PM
Originally Posted by sparky
Gotta call to a residence i hadn't been to before, so i pull up, do the meet/greet and all. The owner showed me to the 'list' of electrical woes, which i spent the better part of the day fixing

end of the work , i'm filling out the paperwork and ask " Mr. & Mrs. XXXX, P.O. Box XXX ? (there's so many unmarked places , even this long after 911 here) , to which they replied 'No, they're down the road there" <poimting to nieghbors>

turns out i'd ended up at the wrong place.....~S~


Did they pay the bill?

Posted By: ghost307 Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/13/10 02:53 PM
A GC in our town built a new house that was oriented the wrong way. He hired a house-mover to lift it up, move it into the back yard and turn it 90 degrees so that it could be set on a new foundation that the GC would put in.

They dropped the house while turning it...into the house next store.

It gets better.
The house-mover had not bothered to get a Permit for the work...and had let his insurance lapse.
Posted By: Scott35 Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/14/10 01:06 AM
Sparky:

Quote

turns out i'd ended up at the wrong place.....~S~


D'ohh! blink coffee bash

That goes in the "Classics" position!

Scott
Posted By: sparky Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/14/10 08:06 PM
oh most definitely, but they did pay me , so the filibuster (door to door) ideal of biz might actually have a place in our trade....?

~S~
Posted By: gfretwell Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/15/10 03:08 AM
I do think if you can remove the mystique of calling an electrician, there may be a lot of work out there.
Unfortunately there are so many hacks out there people are scared.
Posted By: sparkyinak Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/16/10 10:32 PM
one of the buildings i help take care of was built 180 degrees backward. i think the foundation was oriented backwards on the drawings and no once caught it til the modules came in. still that way today
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Those service calls that..... - 05/17/10 02:31 AM
Ahh yes, the old wrong house trick. grin
I was once asked to do a TV aerial job for a guy who gave me some directions on how to get there and what the place looked like.
I get to what I thought was the place and the aerial there was in a VERY poor state of repair.
I found it strange that the key he gave me didn't fit the front or back door.

It didn't bother me that much as I had a field-strength meter with me at the time and could do the job pretty much up on the roof.
Anyhow, I'm up on the roof and the people that DID own the place came home, the guy didn't look the same as the guy I had been speaking to.

I really thought I was in trouble at this stage, having installed and aimed a brand new aerial and a mast-head amplifier.

Guy said to me "Crikey, that was a stroke of good luck, I've been trying to get someone out here for ages, everyone is just too busy, we've been putting up with terrible reception since the last big winds blew our old aerial to bits!"

"By the way, the place you're looking for is Dick's place just down the road, it was built by the same builder and it looks identical".
Guy paid the bill the next day, no worries.

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