Please don't play with Electricity

[Railglider]

Yesterday while attending to a service of clients Railglider (Cable car) The owner asked if I would look at some lights in his loungeroom as he had added dimmer controls, and they were now not working.

I always get a bad feeling about things when the owner of a property informs me he has installed something that is Electrical.

Anyway - after removing the plate from the wall, and checking the wiring through the switch, it was clear he didn't have a clue what he was doing.
He had short circuited through active and neutral, and this whole side of the house would have been in darkness as the breaker had tripped. I made the correct connections and restored the breaker.

He acted a little defencively about it saying he had his mind taken away from what he was doing at the time by kids acting up in another part of the home.

I don't take excuses lightly when talking Electricity. I don't believe in saving money over saving lives or property with it either. So I let fly with some words that I'm sure he won't forget.

People - Please" Do not play around and pretend to be a DIY Electrician for the weekend, or any other time. It is illegal to carry out any Electrical work if you are not Licensed to do so.
You cannot see Electricity, it bites hard when it bites. Sometimes with fatal results.

Forget about how much it's going to cost to call an Electrician, you need to stay alive to enjoy your homes and family. Your insurance will be void if found you have tampered with the wiring if something goes wrong, and it's just not worth the risk.

I personally don't care how smart you might think you are, having studied the basic principle in High school. Don't **** with this.
I've seen over my 35 yrs in the trade way too many faulty or incorrectly installed fixtures that are life threatening. I urge you to resist the temptation of DIY Electrical work.

Have a good and safe weekend.

 

[Perp]

I couldn't agree more. You're not supposed to do plumbing or tiling either - and I don't - but at least if you screw up it's going to make a mess and cost you $, but it's not going to kill you.

I remember the story of a school friend's Dad being killed, about 20 years ago. He wasn't doing DIY electrical, but it was a vivid reminder of the power of electricity.

He was trying to fix something on top of a fairly large agricultural tank (water or silo, not sure which). He was climbing a ladder, and had another ladder which he was carrying on his back; it was laid down the length of his body, and he was holding it with one hand, while he held the ladder he was climbing with the other. As he approached the top of the ladder he was climbing, the ladder he was carrying hit the overhead lines which he'd forgotten about, sending electricity coursing through his body and - the coroner found - instantly stopping his heart, killing him. The ladder also burned deeply into his back, embedding itself. The shock sent him (and ladder in back) flying through the air, and he landed some 15 feet away. The impact jolted his heart back into beating, bringing him back to life, and he was then able to die a slower and more painful death of shock and burns, lying there with the ladder embedded in his back and unable to move.

It's a horrible story. As far as I know, it's true. I know the name of the individual; it's not an urban legend I've heard 20 times removed. And if it's not enough to stop you from ever being tempted to take any chances with electricity, well, I'm not sure what is...

 

[evand]

I fully agree Rail. As a sparkie in another life and owning a pretty successful electrical contracting business i have seen (and fixed) plenty of dangerous DIY situations.

As any electrician i have copped my share of belts over the many years i was on the tools. One monumental one in particular when i became complacent once. I saw God, and i'm not kidding. I'm lucky to be alive.

So people, take some good advice.

And perp, thats sounds like a feasible story as there was no protection (circuit breaker or RCD) to cut off the current from the overhead mains through the ladder. He would have received the full undiminished current through him. With nothing to trip it. Scary stuff.

People dont want to end up like this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcrLtQiZKAM

 

[units4me]

Yep RG, I see it all the time. DIY work that is extremely poor.

Often, when going to rectify a (DIY) fault on a job, the owner will either insist "wasn't me, that's how it was" or worse, not point out what they've done, causing me to spend my time and their money locating the fault.

I also get a lot of "my husband/brother/father etc was an electrical engineer". LOL if if wasn't so serious.

I think the next one I come across, I may report them to ESV.

 

[Perp]

I also get a lot of "my husband/brother/father etc was an electrical engineer". LOL if if wasn't so serious.

My husband *is* an electrical engineer. This qualifies him to draw great circuit diagrams, but I don't let him actually TOUCH anything!

 

[Deena]

Crazy, I would never in a million years have the audacity to think that diy electrical work is anything but unsafe.

Perp terrible story.

 

[redwing]

I never play with electrickery...it "bites"

 

[joanmc]

Can anyone tell me- we have to paint a barge board on the outside of a property and the power comes from the road to the apex of the boards- would I be electrocuted if I accidentally touched that wire whilest painting?

 

[Railglider]

Can anyone tell me- we have to paint a barge board on the outside of a property and the power comes from the road to the apex of the boards- would I be electrocuted if I accidentally touched that wire whilest painting?[/QUOT


No you would not, the cables are insulated, still in saying that - the insulation on the cables may not be in the best condition. They are connected to the barge board with loop insulators which will be porcelain or now days a non conductive acetal plastic. You should be able to paint arround these without having any contact with the mains cables coming into the property anyway. If nervous about painting around them - call a painting contractor or Handyman who is confident in working around them.

 

[Dazz]

Forget about how much it's going to cost to call an Electrician, you need to stay alive to enjoy your homes and family. Your insurance will be void if found you have tampered with the wiring if something goes wrong, and it's just not worth the risk.

....BUT....you'd have to agree that unhitching cost and risk, you've just created an economic situation which is infinite, and that's unrealistic and unsustainable.

In a capitalist society, one can never "forget about cost", otherwise you end up in the surreal marketplace such as { wedding dresses, open heart surgery, safety harnesses within parachutes and epipens } where the deliverable cost of such items and services is totally detached from reality.....and the retail cost of those things is totally disproportionate to what it otherwise would be if the providers didn't think they could get away with lumping massive profit margins in there that they just know their captive consumer will just cough for.

It's a service providers wet dream to be in a position to say to all clients - what price your health, what price your life......but actuaries need to answer those questions every day.

What price health and happiness ?? It ain't "infinite". That's just new age wannabes being hyper-philosophical.

 

[joanmc]

Can anyone tell me- we have to paint a barge board on the outside of a property and the power comes from the road to the apex of the boards- would I be electrocuted if I accidentally touched that wire whilest painting?[/QUOT


No you would not, the cables are insulated, still in saying that - the insulation on the cables may not be in the best condition. They are connected to the barge board with loop insulators which will be porcelain or now days a non conductive acetal plastic. You should be able to paint arround these without having any contact with the mains cables coming into the property anyway. If nervous about painting around them - call a painting contractor or Handyman who is confident in working around them.

Thanks!!

 

[Bargain Hunter]

Yesterday while attending to a service of clients Railglider (Cable car) The owner asked if I would look at some lights in his loungeroom as he had added dimmer controls, and they were now not working.

At least he let you know he'd been stuffing around. I attended a call once and what the owner told me seemed a little odd so I asked him straight out whether he had been doing any work himself. He categorically denied doing something anything and claimed it just failed, so I proceeded to find the fault based on no known cause.

In the end I traced the fault to some recent dodgy wiring in one of the ceiling roses and he still denied any knowledge of the work.

I never did find out why he'd wanted to play with the wiring, and all I did was put things back the way they were so it cost him more than it would if he'd been up front with me, and he probably went back to work after I'd left.

Gets the award for dumbarse of the year.

Regards

Andrew

 

[Ausprop]

all a bit fluffed IMO. Aussies love all this 'legislate against stupidity' and cotton wool stuff. It's probably a bi-product of living in a boringly safe country where death isn't confronted often. Here's more the spirit:

http://www.housebuildersupdate.co.uk/2007/09/are-diy-electrics-still-allowed.html

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

How else am I supposed to pass the time on a Saturday night?

 

[RumpledElf]

I also get a lot of "my husband/brother/father etc was an electrical engineer". LOL if if wasn't so serious.

My father-in-law is an electrician. It is really, really handy to have one of those in the family.

I'd like to know how people survived houses wired with the wire-wrapped-in-shoelaces wiring though, that's how this whole house was done. And some idiot had made some kind of thing resembling a light fitting halfway up the wall (by tapping into a power point). It left nice burn marks in the blue paint. Glad we got this entire house rewired.

 

[b simpson]

Not just an electrocution risk, most of the dodgy stuff I have seen is a real FIRE risk. Overloaded circuits, insulation on top of down lights, down lights installed against timber battens, 15 amp earth pins filed down...

Insurance void if proven unlicensed work was the cause, that would really suck!

 

[devank]

All these time I though it is safe to leave my multi plug out as long as the power button is switched off! Apparently that is not the case in Australia! Is it true that you can still get an electric shock if you insert a metal object into a plug even if it is switched off?

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

 

[vbplease]

You're not supposed to do plumbing or tiling either

Really? I didn't know about tiling.. why is that?

 

[Perp]

Really? I didn't know about tiling.. why is that?

In QLD, you need a licence to perform or supervise any works where labour and materials comes to more than $3,300 value. The "value" part is really significant; even if you do the work yourself, and got the materials free, if the market rate for retail purchase and laying of the tiles would be $3,300 or more, you need a licence.

See "When is a Licence Required?" on the QBSA website.