On 3/23/2012 7:06 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

The Daring Dufas wrote:

On 3/23/2012 5:02 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

N_Cook wrote:

Michael A. wrote in message
m...

N_Cook wrote:

Perhaps the voltage rating was lower than the required use, ie in fused
state not rated for the service voltage across the broken section so
someone
thought, I know , we'll put 2 in series ;-)


Which would do nothing, if they couldnn't handle the voltage.

Have you ever looked at the wiring in a furnace? They use multple
thermal shutdowns, for liability in the US.

so you have no visual sense for emoticons


I did too many fire restoration jobs after a pair of switches failed
and people died. I see no humor in people dying from failed and jury
rigged repairs. Laugh all you want. It fits you.


I repaired a furnace for one of my favorite customers, a little old lady
about 90 who had her children and grandchildren staying with her
and she had no heat. I found that water flooding the basement had
shorted out the control board for her furnace but some moron had
bypassed the roll-out safety switch on the furnace because another
safety wasn't working. Needless to say, I had to replace a whole section
of the wiring harness because the flames blew back from the burners
destroying the wiring. It was a lucky break that the burned wiring
shorted out killing the furnace or I fear the house would have caught
fire with all those folks in there. I wish I could get my hands around
the neck of the asshole who decided it was a good idea to bypass the
safety switches on that furnace. o_O


I used to subcontract electronic repair for a fire restoration
company. Most of their jobs were to repair the buildings so the heirs
could sell them. They wanted nothing to do with the place their parent
or parents died. More than one death was caused by an incompetent
repair. A thermal overload failed? No big deal: "he terminals on the
wires will push together, so all I need is some tape and I'll charge the
suckers a couple hundred dollars."

That's basically what the idiot did and I come across that sort of thing
all the time across the many fields I work in. My friend GB
who owned the mechanical company I often helped him with was very
much like me in that we couldn't live with ourselves if we were to
cheat folks. GB passed away last fall so I'm not doing much in the
way of residential HVAC work but there is enough commercial work to
keep me occupied along with all the other stuff. I see incompetent
work and dangerous shortcuts quite often and I make sure the customer
is aware of how dangerous that sort of thing is and I would be
absolutely devastated if someone were harmed because of something I
did, especially if it was a child. If you've ever come across the
website "There, I Fixed It" and seen some of the insane shortcuts and
godawful dangerous things people do you may laugh like I do because I've
actually seen people do the same crazy things. o_O

TDD