Hey All - with all the different threads lately I thought we could start one that tells about the stranger things that have happened to us during our workday - lets keep it clean and share some good stories - here's mine.
I do new residential construction in an upscale senior citizen complex. A while back we had a batch of smokes that kept giving nuisance alarms - you can imagine the scene that causes in a senior complex. Anyway, my company decided we would just exchange out the brand that was causing the problem, which was a couple hundred of them. One day I went to an old ladies home and started the change out, first thing I do is kill the breaker for the smokes, then test the line to make sure it's dead, then start the change-out. While I am changing out the first smoke I unplug the tail from the smoke and the hall lights go out, (hmmm, what's going on I'm thinking?). I proceed to wire up a new tail and when I connected the replacement smoke up the hall lights went back on. (At this point I'm waiting for the guys from candid camera to pop around the corner). The old lady was sitting on her couch in the living room recovering from a recent surgery - I asked her if she turned the lights in the hall off, she said no, I can't move too well - and I could tell she was kind of worried and upset - while I am talking to her I can see all the LED clocks in her home flashing - I can tell she's worried about my ability to do electrical work - I still can't figure out what happened - what caused her whole unit to lose power from me disco'ing one smoke detector - I changed the rest out, set all of her clocks for her and went and threw the breaker back on - still wondering what happened, I leave and go back and tell the other guys on the jobsite about the problem, turns out the POCO was doing line work in the area and disco'd the power for about a minute - at the exact time I unplugged the first smoke and reconnected it with the new one - what are the odds of that exact timing?!!!!!! - Long story - but is kinda funny !!

I put in two 2x2 drop in fixtures in a basement drop ceiling on a new grounded circuit, they work fine. The customer call me back to replace two russels with two 2x2 drop in fixtures in a new drop ceiling on an existing non-grounded circuit, they work fine, customer calls me that night, lights not working, go back ,ground lights, lights work fine. Customer calls me that night, lights not working. Now I feel like a dope, can't figure it out. Voltage is fine, tubes in, ballast good. I call a friend of mine and start to tell him the problem, before I can finish he tells me he knows what it is, but lets me finish. The "u" tubes with the metal brace cause this problem. I change the tubes with the plastic brace and the lights work fine. I check the ones that I put in first for the hell of it and they had the plastic brace. Amazing!

I was rewiring a pretty old wooden house about 12 years ago in a very nice old influential area near where our university is located. The owner was an occupant during the whole ordeal. Each day I made sure to power up as much as I could to leave her in safety- yet comfortable conditons. One day, right after I re-energized a number of branch circuits, the smell of wood smoke became really noticeable. Not like a barbeque,- this was wood smoke. There isn't a whole lot of fireplaces in my area to begin with, and this was summertime. She started to panic and thought the house was burning down. Me, I shot up the ladder to the attic to see what was going on, (right after throwing the main breaker to the house). After about a half hour I ended up peeking thru the bushes and saw a bunch of boy scouts and they were camping at the estate next door, and were making camp fires there. I will probably remember this as long as I live.

Back in the summer of ought three we were unloading materials with the asstance of an electric conveyor. Took a break around 4 PM EDT, went back found no power at the conveyor, and I ran around trying to find where the power failed, only to discover quite a few people lost their power too. Took a longer break whilst alternative power was arranged.

[This message has been edited by classicsat (edited 02-24-2006).]

This is one I posted here a while ago: )It got published) http://www.ecmweb.com/mag/electric_everyone_makes_mistakes_10/index.html

Heres another one:
Doing service work years ago, and get a call from this guy, and he tells me that he and his son were trying to install CATV in the sons bed room, and he thinks he it something in the wall, and now the whole neighborhood was out. So I listen to his story and I think... Usual questions 'did you check the breaker, is it off now?' Well it is prohably just a coincidence, power outage... Until he tells me the drill he was using exploded in a fire ball. "I'll be right over."

I get there to the darkened neighborhood and the owner and his 10 yr old son show me the drill and where they drilled through the wall. The son was watching on the other side in the garage to see where the drill would come through. Said there was a loud noise and said he saw a bright light ?inside? the wall. So I bash a hole there to find the blob of AL that used to be his 2/0 feeder. It melted back across the garage, through the FPE main and meter to the weather head. two quick snipps there, and spent all next day putting it back together.

In retrospect, I am very lucky there was no reconnect while I was there that night...

I've had the utility power go out more than once while we were on a job. When others near by loose power and look outside they see our truck and start blaming us. One summer morning we showed up to a comercial job right when the power went out. People were comming out yelling "you killed our power, I think you did something wrong, or when are you going to turn us back on". I remember one lady came up a started a conversation by saying "hot day isn't it?". I said ya it is. She said "we don't appreaciate this". Me "what do you mean". Her "you turned off our power". Me "no we didn't, it was a utility power failure" Her "don't give me that...."

Tom

I remember one morning I was getting ready for work when everything went dark... Not a problem really... I stepped out and took a look at the neighbours KwH meter as he is on a different distrubution transformer and his meter was still turning. A few neighbours that are on the same transformer as me came out asking if I had power and what was going on, told them it was most likely the transformer fuse I would call the PoCo and take care of it...
On my way in another neighbour that is always in a rush and always gets bent out of shape easily yells " What you do this time Adam??"
So I told her "Well, I tried to heat my cup of coffee up really quick with the welder but I guess it didnt work!

She believed it for the LONGEST time...


A.D

Many years ago I worked for a guy who was a GC as well as an EC, and he used to take on little jobs doing general fix-ups on bank owned resi properties. One day I was told to head over to a house that needed some work done. The previous home owner had converted the garage to a rec room, and had replaced the old garage door with a 3-piece sliding door. The first thing I needed to do was to take out that door so that a regular garage door could be re-installed.

So, I get there bright & early and start whacking away at this garage door, which was located in the front of the house. No one there but me. Apparently a watchful neighbor decided to fulfill his/her civic duty and called the cops on me, figuring I was up to no good. I guess they never wondered why I would wait untill early morning daylight to start breaking into a house. Whatever, I was working away when someone wearing a badge and with a gun in his hand is yelling at me to put down the tools. I did, right quickly too. I remember thinking this could be funny so long as the cop doesn't get too panicky.


On another occasion we were fixing up a house in a run down neighborhood. Parts of the house were disappearing at night, neighbors were taking fixtures, doors, etc about as fast as we could install them. One day I stopped by to check on a subcontractor, and noticed a stripped down Camero in the garage. No wheels, engine, doors, seats, etc - nothing much but a bare body & frame. Then I noticed the kid accross the street bolting new seats into his Camero. We notified the local cops, they removed the hulk, but I don't think they ever went accross the street to talk to the kid.

Radar

Last year or so we were trouble shooting a broken neutral on ONE circuit in an apartment building. By "we" I mean myself and two of my guys - "we" had three trucks parked outside this home.
As we are doing our thing bashing holes, I see a bright white flash outside - an electrical short/arc! I check to see if my guys are alright - they are fine and didn't even see the flash.
I go outside and see a POCO transformer quietly smoking while urinating oil onto someone's car. I call the POCO and the city FD, responsed within seconds. All the while, my guys are still inside doing their job.

I go inside and start screaming and yelling at them "WHO CUT THAT WIRE - YOU BLEW UP THE XFMER!!!" One guys turns white, the other falls to the floor laughing his tool belt off

3 trucks and a blown up transformer - that is an expensive service call ;-)

If only it was in my contract $$$$. The xfmer was old...a small hole was in the side - almost like it got shot ...but we have strict rules for firearm carry permits here in NJ.

Years ago I was doing some work in a jail and someone reported that an exhaust fan wasn't working so I proceeded up to the roof to check it. When I got to the guards tower there was no one there so I just climbed out onto the roof. While looking at the fan I hear someone yelling in my direction. The guard had returned to his tower and was telling me to stop what I was doing. Then he tells me to look over at the other tower and there's a guard looking down the scope of his rifle at me. Seems they thought I was an inmate trying to escape and this guy was ready to take me down.

A little off topic
We have very strict rules on that here in California too. A regular citizen just can't get one.

[This message has been edited by Radar (edited 02-26-2006).]

"WHO CUT THAT WIRE - YOU BLEW UP THE XFMER!!!"

Celt, how do you pronounce "xfmer"?

After a recent storm a lady called to complain that a street light was out and it was very dangerous because there were barricades in the street and someone could run into them.
I asked her why there were barricades.
She said it was because the wires to the pole with the street light were laying in the street.
I asked if she thought the two things might be related.
After a long pause she said, Oh, and hung up.
Alan--

Depending on the application:
- cha-ching
- ka-boom

LOL

OMG - does that mean all the irregulars are armed???

[This message has been edited by Celtic (edited 02-26-2006).]

actually celtic, that's what it really does mean. not going to get really political here. But gun control only affects regular law abiding citizens. irregular, outlaw type citizens, don't worry about the strict gun laws.

sorry, just had to interject.

Long ago before I even started my apprenticeship, my former employer was at his home and was making repairs to an ancient clothes dryer of his. upon completing the repair he turned the breaker back on, only to have it trip immediatly ( this dryer was hard-wired).
Anyway right after the breaker trips open he notices all his lights and appliances are acting weird , some lights are bright, some are dim, fridge wont start, vacuum sounds like its gonna grenade... Anyway I go over there with a tester knowing it was an open neutral SOMEWHERE on the mains.. Couldn't find anything.. Even did an amp check to see if a current is trying to flow through the ground conductor, into the water line, trying to find another path to the transformer... Zero current there.. Everything outside looks good too...
Finally I told my old boss to call the PoCo, as there is a problem in the meter socket OR on the street... He called but then got all worried they were going to blame him and left!!
I stayed for the PoCo and when they showed up they did some tests and found out that several houses had the "open neutral syndrome"... They traced it to the bolted connection between the transformer's neutral lug and the overhead distrubution busswork... Turns out that it was a poor connection to start with and when the boss' dryer shorted out, it wiped out the connection at the transformer, and left all the houses fed from it with a floating neutral!

No damage done as far as we knew in other houses... Some emery cloth and new hardware, the PoCo was on their way in 20 minutes!

A.D

Celtic - Mahlere is exactly right (I was gonna say the same thing). Sorry to stray off topic.

Radar -

"A little off topic

quote: ...but we have strict rules for firearm carry permits here in NJ


We have very strict rules on that here in California too. A regular citizen just can't get one."

I have a CCW (permit to carry) and I would like to think I'm a regular citizen. I also live in Ventura county, not LA County. I personally know 4 others (2 are electricians) that have CCWs also.

Steve

Years ago, I did some work at the Utah State Prison. I was accompanied by a guard at all times. First day, I wore my normal work outfit: boots, jeans, and a denim shirt, with a denim jacket, all from JC Penny's. I got a lot of looks and taunts from the cons. The guard told me the reason: the uniform for the cons was JC Penny jeans, denim shirts and jackets. They thought I was a new con and they were priming me for my first encounter. Next day, and every day after, I wore my red and green flannel shirts, and my Carhart jacket.
They offered us a free lunch every day. It was served by the cons, and after eating once, I considered who was serving me, and brown bagged it.
While I was there, some cons burned an empty barrel of oil hidden in a pile of trash under the Utah Power and Light main High Voltage feeder, it blew up and the fire-ball caused the entire State of Utah to be without power for a couple of days. Initially, they were looking at me as the cause.

OK, here are a couple of my "funny stories".

More than once the PoCo would drop power when I was working on a job. Once I turn power on for an electric heater and there was none. (A Poco job) Another time in a public library, I told the helper to turn on a breaker, sure enough the Poco did it again. Of course I saw that there were no stop lights and didn't let on to the helper. However the best one was when I went to a job looking for a payment, and half kidding around, I told the boss that if he didn't pay me, I would turn the power back off. Sure enough the Poco came through. Only this time it was a transformer fire down the street on the pole. But I got paid real quick from that time on! LOL

Sorta Off Topic but this happened in 19777. Was asked to check a house that my attorney had taken in lieu of money retainer. The HVAC ductwork was in the crawl space. Pretty far into the space I spotted something pushed way back on the duct. It was a bank bag. I brought it out and the lawyer, myself, and a building inspector opened it. There was a 9mm and $17,000+ in the bag. Was turned in to police. BTW, the son of the former owners had been charged with bank robbery and the attorney had won an aquittal. I always thought that I had a great attorney.

You don't even want to think about what it's like over here in England now......

paul,

does any law abiding citizen in the UK own a personal firearm? Handgun?

Of course not. Remember what Robin Williame said:

"In America, they cops say "Stop, or I'll shoot!"

In Britain, the cops say "Stop, or I'll say 'stop' again!"

Let's put one of my experiences in which comes to mind.

I was working for the POCO, then Power New Zealand, in the metering department, around ± 1996 - 97, when I upgraded quite a few CT meters, when tariffs changed from 2 rate to T.O.U. metering in commercial installations.

I did a meter change at the Parakai Hotpools, Helensville, NZ and pulled the PT fuses of the CT meter to prepare for a meter change.
At the same time the contactor from the 100 HP hydroslide motor dropped out with a loud clunck, all the other filter pumps stopped and the lights went out as well, Within seconds the pool owner rushed in and said " Did you turn the power off?" , "No!", I said, "Why did it go off!" , "don't know", I said back, while checking the main switch at the same time if I didn't accidentally tripped the Main switch.
I had a chat with the owner and explained that the CT meter does not require a shutdown for a meter change.

Power remained off for about 20 minutes, then everything started up again.
When power was restored I checked the voltages at the isolation points and all was fine, and continued with replacing the 2 rate meter, and doing the necessary CT checks to confirm multiplier and CT tappings etc.

Later that day I heard that a Tornado knocked out the 11 kV feeder line to Parakai, hence the power cut.
It took the faultman about 20 minutes to isolate the damaged section of line and back feed the area from a different circuit.

I was working on a block of units that had recently been renovated and was up on the metal roof with a sheet lifted trying to find a lost cable. At the same time the apprentice is having a bludge leaning against the aluminium ladder I used to get on the roof. I pulled on a cable and found it was cutoff. Thinking it was disused I threw the end of it onto the roof. In fact it was live so now the whole roof is at 240V. I didn't notice because I was standing on top of the roof but it certainly made the apprentice jump.

What's a bludge?

standing around not doing any work.

Shotguns are still legal, although apparently it's becoming increasingly difficult to get a permit for one. A friend and neighbor has one, but he's owned it and carried the appropriate firearms certificate since the 1960s. If he applied now, he would probably be refused for "insufficient reason."

Handguns? Forget it, unless you want to see what Dartmoor Prison looks like from the inside. The already draconian laws were tightened up even further a few years ago, so that even those who owned pistols for target shooting at recognized clubs would be turned into criminals if they kept their guns. I understand that quite a number of them in the south sent their guns over to clubs in France and now go over there regularly to use them.

Of course, we all know the new laws must be working, because gun crime is the highest it's ever been.

A couple of links for you:
http://www.parker-hale.com/law.htm
http://www.tsra.com/Lott112.htm

That's probably about as far as I should go on this topic, but for the record, you might have gathered that I'm definitely a 2nd Amendment proponent.


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 03-04-2006).]

I guess there is no equivilent thing to a BATF form 4 that lets you own a machine gun?
($200 tax stamp, the FBI tears your life apart for about 14 weeks and the local CLEO looks in your underwear drawer).