In message , John
Rumm writes

A tale of woe for your entertainment:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?...e_rubbing_pipe



Back in about 1968 my father had central heating fitted.
It was an old house with wired fuses and lead covered wiring.
A day or so after the heating was finished the lights in the lounge
started to flicker quite alarmingly.
We all sat there and wondered why?
Eventually the fuse on the single, whole house, lighting circuit blew.
Father replaced the wire link with what ever was to hand, I recall it
was probably 30A Well it was all he had, he was a chemist, not an
electrician :-)
The lights flickered for a while and then the fuse blew again.

Ah well too much excitement for one evening so we went to bed, by candle
light.

Next morning a large damp patch on the lounge ceiling.

Ah ha, water in the lights?? Blowing a 30A bit of fuse wire??

Well yes, sort of. Plumber had slid some 1/2" copper under the upstairs
floor boards, over a length of rather old lead covered cable.

I really wish we had taken photos of the evidence, as it was the plumber
replaced the holey pipe and a friendly sparky replaced the length of
cable.

House was rewired in about 1980 and all was well until father decided to
position a picture on a wall in the hall, directly above a 3 gang light
switch. A while later he complained that he was getting a tingle off
the plaster near the switch, it was a rather damp house, even with the
central heating!
A volt stick would light any where within about 18" of the nail!!!!!!

--
Bill
( A different one )