The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 3/23/2012 7:06 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
The Daring Dufas wrote:
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
Ever looked at "White Trash Repairs"? Some dangerous idiots on that
site like the guy who blows up microwave ovens, or the one making
fireworks in his house.
The losers who do some electrical work should have to live in the
houses they wire.
I installed the computer networking, fire alarms and TV antenna
systems at a new college campus years ago. The HVAC crew was the
biggest idiot's I've ever had the misfortune to work around. The
blueprints showed where every air handler was supposed to go, so that
the ducting would have plenty of clearance. They not only set them in
the wrong places, one was backwards, with their wiring hanging from the
20 foot ceilings. the gofer for the general contractor kept running
around pulling the fire boxes while I was trying to test the prewire,
until I caught him in the act. I followed him to his bosses office and
read him the riot act. Then I promised to kick his sorry ass all the
way across the campus if anyone pulled another box. he told me I
couldn't do it, but his boss said that he would be a fool to try, and
find out for sure.
When it was time for the state inspector & his punch list he said the
system failed, because the glass break rods were missing. I told him
they would be installed, but only after the building was accepted and
that the weren't installed due to over 100 attempts to cause a false
alarm.
That was the last time I did any sub work for that electrical
contractor.
--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.