In message
From: Lobster )
Subject: Re-wiring - high current through junctions - problematic
?

"HarryD" wrote in message
om...
Hi guys,

I'm re-wiring up my place, as part of renovations.
It was last wired about 50yrs ago, so needs it :-)

Hey, wasn't it a Harry who was posting last week about his mate 'who
knows
about electrics' who had wired an electric shower as spur from a ring
main?
Hmmm....

I was alerted to summat up before even reading Harry's post: just look
at the title.

Its not very reassuring, but at least lets face one fact: I've seen
and lived with far worse, seen it many times. Unfortunately there are
no shortage of UK houses with wiring that would be improved by this
ill informed person having a go. sounds scary, but there is worse
about.

One of the worst I saw was an industrial site, a factory full of
sewing machines. It had been closed down, and a visit soon apparented
why. Each machine was supplied by 2 core bell wire that went straight
up in the air and was choc blocked onto whatever odd bits of
wire/flex/cable/more bell wire happened to be strung across the
factory just above reach. There were several rows of this overhead.
One choc block failure, or one pull on the bell wire, and that
overhead would have come down live, and with bare ends. And thats
industrial wiring...

Another unusual one I saw was a large retail premises that looked like
an installation from somewhere around WW1. I dont know the actual
install date, but on the wall was a switch fuse that did not use a
removable fuse wire carrier, the bare unenclosed fuse wire was removed
by undoing its end holding scerws - with it still in circuit of
course. When the fuse popped it would have sprayed all over the box.
Naturally no tool was needed to open that box, in fact it was sitting
there open and bare as we walked round. The large shop was (very
poorly) lit by 4 big filament bulbs on the high ceiling. We're talking
a furniture shop, not small.

Bell wire and choc blocks seem to be the bodgers favourite, I still
remember the wall lights in a pub where you had to look twice before
picking up the salt and pepper, because the famous bell wire choc
block combination was nestling comfortably among the condiments.

I think anyone thats lived in a round pin wired building long past its
rewire-by date, with disintegrating perished rubber wiring, missing
and ineffective earths, occasional burnt wiring smells and dimming
lights, would know there's worse than our OP here. He may kill
someone, or 2 or 3, but at least he's unlikely to kill en masse....
unlike this chap:

Arse, I cant find the link. Its an American guy that used a shampoo
bottle as a float, cut a hole in it and taped a double mains socket in
there. It was for his pool, so he could float in the water while
watching his portable TV - I guess he must have figured out how to
make that float as well! Classic stuff.


NT

"N. Thornton" wrote
| Arse, I cant find the link. Its an American guy that used a
| shampoo bottle as a float, cut a hole in it and taped a
| double mains socket in there. It was for his pool, so he
| could float in the water while watching his portable TV - I
| guess he must have figured out how to
| make that float as well! Classic stuff.

One of the photo/volation forums on www.electrical-contractor.net ?

Owain

"N. Thornton" wrote in message
om...
In message
From: Lobster )
Subject: Re-wiring - high current through junctions - problematic
snipped
make that float as well! Classic stuff.

NT


I was asked, a good while ago now, to have a look at some tube heaters in a
bar in Edinburgh, ok, it was the Artisan Bar in London Road if anyone is
interested, and when I removed the wooden front covers of the wall seating I
was amazed to find multi core alarm cable going into each and every heater
in series around the walls. Seven heaters in total had been connected with
multi core. Each cable had been stripped back and the individual stranded
conductors had been wrapped to form, in essence, two thicker wires.

When I said that the heaters needed to be rewired quite urgently, as the
cable between them was now burned through, I was told that they couldn't
need all that much work done, because they had just been sorted by a guy
that comes in the bar who knows about these things.

I showed the manager the wiring and how badly burned it was and he nearly
took a fit. When told how close they had come to having a fire, he nearly
fainted. It was then he told me of the burning smells that customers told
him about, and to which he'd been replying "Yes, but it's only the new
heaters settling in".

Why didn't the fuse blow? Because it wasn't a piece of fuse wire in the
holder. No, it was a piece of 2.5 mm csa' copper wire. The heaters also
didn't have any earth, so that wouldn't have helped anyway. The only thing
to act as a fuse was the strands of multi core cable in the first, second
and third lengths under the wall seating.

Yes. It still goes on till this day.

Owain wrote:
"N. Thornton" wrote
| Arse, I cant find the link. Its an American guy that used a
| shampoo bottle as a float, cut a hole in it and taped a
| double mains socket in there. It was for his pool, so he
| could float in the water while watching his portable TV - I
| guess he must have figured out how to
| make that float as well! Classic stuff.

One of the photo/volation forums on www.electrical-contractor.net ?

I was thinking more along the lines of
http://www.officialdarwinawards.com (a terrific site for those that
don't know it!)

David

In article ,
(N. Thornton) writes:

One of the worst I saw was an industrial site, a factory full of
sewing machines.

My grandfather owned a factory which made dresses and I remember
visiting that quite often in the 1960's. No bellwire, indeed no wire
at all. There was a giant motor at the end of the long seamstress
table driving a shaft the length of the table. There were probably
some 10-20 sewing machines along the table, and each one had a belt
drive tapped off the passing drive shaft. I think there was a foot
operated clutch pedal for each machine.

In spite of how lethal the whole lot would look today, I don't
recall any injuries resulting from the open drive shaft or drive
belts. I do recall a few occasions when one or other steamstress
managed to sew one of their thumbs or fingers into a dress, for
which a bottle of brandy was kept in the office. (These industrial
sewing machines were much more powerful than anything you might
have at home, and would go through fingers without any hesitation.)

Another dangerous area was the cutting table. This is where some
30 or so layers of material were rolled out onto the table, the
pattern pinned to the top, and an electric knife was used to cut
round the pattern by hand, through all 30 layers of fabric in
one go. I never got to see how the knife worked; as a child I
was kept away from it, and to this day I'm still mildly curious
as I can't imagine its mechanism. It cut through the fabric
effortlessly, like a hot knife through butter. It was suspended
from the ceiling on a contraption which allowed it to move
anywhere over the cutting table but was weighted or sprung to
hover about 1' above the table until it was pulled down into
the pile of fabric. My grandfather had a cutter, but when she
wasn't in, he did the cutting himself. Anyway, one day he managed
to slice the tips off two fingers whilst doing so. They were
stitched back on and recovered except for the feeling in them.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On 20 Dec 2004 22:08:13 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

There was a giant motor at the end of the long seamstress
table driving a shaft the length of the table.

A lineshaft. Usually in the ceiling, but the rag trade had these under
the counter ones.

One of my neighbours is a house built around 1903. In the garden is a
large shed, built along with the house as a small commercial workshop.
It still has a functional Crossley gas engine in there, driving a few
lathes and drilling machines by the original lineshaft.

(These industrial
sewing machines were much more powerful than anything you might
have at home,

Actually they're exactly the same as the machines several of us have
at home 8-)

and would go through fingers without any hesitation.)

A Pfaff 1222 (a fairly small domestic) will go through a finger too.

an electric knife was used to cut round the pattern by hand,
through all 30 layers of fabric in one go.

I was offered one of those cheap a while ago, from a retiring chap who
repaired sewing machines and built special feed feet for them. We
turned it down as simply too dangerous !, but did buy a few hundred
yards of 2" Velcro and a large Harrison lathe that takes two of us and
an engine crane to move. That's with practice and three moves of the
damnable thing - first time it took four of us..

--
Smert' spamionam

In message , Owain
managed to combine nouns and verbs in a
pleasing form to communicate the following;
"N. Thornton" wrote
| Arse, I cant find the link. Its an American guy that used a
| shampoo bottle as a float, cut a hole in it and taped a
| double mains socket in there. It was for his pool, so he
| could float in the water while watching his portable TV - I
| guess he must have figured out how to
| make that float as well! Classic stuff.

One of the photo/volation forums on www.electrical-contractor.net ?
That'll be this one...

http://electrical-contractor.net/ubb...ML/000125.html

Andy
--
Andrew Sinclair http://www.smellycat.org