5 replies to this topic

[longtimer]

I do not think I would have so much fun remembering some of the stories that I have participated in.

A couple of short gems.

Service call customer compliant that refrig shocks them. I go out and sure enough the
handle on the refrig is reading 115 volts to a good ground. I start examing all of the wiring but I am getting annoyed at getting hit several times with a solid 115 volts.
It doesn't hurt but I am losing my patience. I finally decide to find this short once and for all, I attach a wire to the case and a cold water pipe. This will end this cat mouse game, well it did.......the bare wire was from the compressor and draped over the condensor tubing. well I hit Oil.............and freon and quite a dramatic display in the customers Kitchen...........I did find the short!

[longtimer]

Not even a Thank you....

I was called out on a dishwasher repair (an old Kitchenaid Vintage KD15)

dishwasher runs but not cleaning, as I am checking it out I am getting hit with shocks.
I immediately check voltage at junction box and is ok so I disconnect the power lead.
Still getting hit so I figure polarity is switched so I disconnect white (ground) wire.
Still getting hit and there is not electric hooked up to the dishwasher.
I cannot see any wires around dishwasher that might be resting on frame ( those old K/A dishwasher frames would leave you bloody)
I decide to remove dishwasher from underneath counter so I could see more and as I disconnect water fill line from the valve a huge arc snapped. Got my attention, I checked the frame and it is finally safe, but to my surprise the hot water feed has
110 volts live to it.
Impossible right?  wrong, I then go upstairs to bathroom and measure 115 volts
on the hot water faucet in the bathtub ( this scared the crap out of me)
I told the customer to get out of the house and call electrician to find out what was going on.

The electrician called me the next day to tell me what he found, In the process of changing the electrical service someone drove a ground spike right into the service cable underground before the box and attached to the plumbing. The whole house plumbing was live and unbreakered. The bonus ...The Customer cursed me because she had to call electrician in to fix...she never called me again to fix anything and I thought I did something good!

[Crouching Tiger]

A funny thing happened to me about a year ago.  I had a service call on a brand new Kenmore (Whirltag) dishawasha that was just installed in a brand new home.  The complaint was that it wouldn't fill with water.  I check for power at the valve and I get 0 volts so I check line to ground and neutral to ground and get line voltage on both.  I then check the junction box on th unit and line and neutral are good.  I connect my patch cord to the water valve and plug it into my trouble light and low and behold I get water.  So I do some other various checks when I get a lifter off the damn thing.  So I disconnect the mains in the junction box and test frame to ground and neutral on the supply wiring from the panel and I get line voltage.  I don't recall now the steps I took but I traced the problem to the hot water line under the sink and it was live.  I then explained to the customer the unit is probably o.k. but the wiring in the house needs to be checked by the electrician.  He is skeptical about the problem so I test the d/w by connecting my patch cord to the unit mains and it tested o.k.  He says he wants a new dishwasher.  What a dick.  I still don't know what the cause of the problem was or how many dishwashers the guy went through.

[nickfixit]

I have a well established policy on butt cleavage....

If you don't want to see any butt cleavage, for a small gratuity I can keep everything covered properly.

But if you WANT to see butt cleavage, a LARGE gratuity is in order

Nick

[Chat_in_FL]

Nick, is that you?

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[nickfixit]

That cost her a $10 spot, and I wasn't even there for the 'frig