I Hate Electrics

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richardandtracy
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I Hate Electrics

Post by richardandtracy »

I really hate electrics. Even more than plumbing at the moment.

At work I & a couple of colleagues are designing a stupendous size box to transport a communications satellite. It is huge. Vast. And while it could comfortably house a family, it is only just big enough, as is the world's largest commercial transport aircraft (the AN124 - they make a Boeing 747 look tiny). Anyway, there is a lot to it and last year I didn't.t have time to take all my leave as we had to get to a big milestone review.

The leave was deferred until this week, and I had prepared lots of things to do in my week off, not least some casting in aluminium to make some toolholders for my lathe. The car needed its annual safety check (MOT), so on Monday I took it in, walked home had some tea and was just about to go outside.

When the electrics popped.

As they have every 5 days or so since Christmas. Anyway, this time, the electrics didn't spontaneously decide to work, and I had to start fault finding, as much of my work outside needed power tools.
So, unplug each main circuit from the fuse box and try to isolate the circuit. Naturally, it was the kitchen power ring, the one that feeds our leaky outbuildings. I unplugged everything. No joy. Then, I opened up the wiring outside and disconnected the outbuildings - including a freezer. No joy.
So, spent time rigging up extension leads from the house for the fridge & freezers and started to dismantle the ring main. After opening up each socket, tested & found no change.
Then separated the ring at each socket until it was individual bare cables poking out of the wall, and re-assreassembled the ring, testing the fuse box after every move. At lunch on Tuesday I had found one bit of cable that caused all the problems. Buried in a wall. A damp wall. On Wednesday I finally got it out, and saw mouse damage on a second wire that wasn't causing problems, but the conductor was exposed. The wire causing the problems had no external damage, but there was sufficient conductivity to throw the RCD. Having put new cables into the wall I now have to re-plaster the channels, and spent the best part of a day putting the kitchen back together.

I now could start on my casting.
But the sand no-longer had time to dry out after adding clay binder slurry into the sand, and I got aluminium honeycomb as the water turned to steam when I poured 700C metal into the sand mould.

So, for my week's leave, I have achieved a new plastering job and no tool holders for my lathe.
As I said at the beginning, I hate electrics.

Regards,

Richard.
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rcperryls
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by rcperryls »

:tantrum: :tantrum: :tantrum:

I hate weeks like that! A break at the stash and grab with whatever food and drink in whatever quantities you want is definitely called for.

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Mabel Figworthy
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by Mabel Figworthy »

How frustrating! You must hate that mouse with a vengeance :evil:
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by BizzieLizzie »

Most of that was gobbledegook to me, but I got the gist. Sorry your much-looked-forward-to week off turned out to be such a nightmare. :tantrum: :( Hopefully you can relax and enjoy the weekend.
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by fccs »

:tantrum: :tantrum:

Oh no, that's just wrong! But knowing you this will end up a funny story - once the frustration wear off.
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poppy
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by poppy »

Oh Richard!
Best-laid plans of ( Shall I write it...?) mice and men!
At least, you now know what the problem was and it won't happen again.
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by Squirrel »

You really are amazing Richard. Hopefully everything is now working as it should and that it stays that way. :whoop:
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richardandtracy
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by richardandtracy »

Squirrel, we've not yet reached the 5 day mark, but I hope it's sorted.

It has been a really frustrating week. Especially as the car failed its MOT and was being fixed at the point where my 30 yo electrical tester (multimeter) fell apart due to age degraded plastics and I needed a new one. I had to walk 3 miles into town to get a replacement.

Gaah!

Regards

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Serinde
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by Serinde »

:evil: That mouse has a lot to answer for, I can tell you. It would seem -- on the up side (if there is one) -- that you have now had your 'three things' go pear shaped. The only way is up? :idea:
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by wendywombat »

poppy wrote:Oh Richard!
Best-laid plans of ( Shall I write it...?) mice and men!
At least, you now know what the problem was and it won't happen again.
My thoughts exactly!! What a frustrating week!! Big :wine: and :hug: and sympathy await you in the Stash & Grab I know just how frustrating rodent damage can be!! :tantrum:
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richardandtracy
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by richardandtracy »

I don't think a mouse had got at the cable that was causing the fault, it was an internal failure somewhere along its length. The second cable I changed looked as if it had been moused before being buried in the wall and I only noticed it when chipping the failed one out of the wall. That second, moused, cable had been there since the 1980's without problems, but I thought I should change it because bare conductors is bad practice!

The worst thing I came across was in my first house. Whoever had wired it up in the 1960's had saved money on cable clips by nailing straight through the cable into the wall before plastering over the top. Years later, I put in a new light switch and plastered over the nail head. That evening I touched the plaster while not wearing shoes and got a real jolt. The nail had gone through the live conductor and my new plaster was at 240 volts until it dried out. I was glad to leave the house!

Serinde:
You may be right about the luck changing. This morning it was nice and sunny in Kent, so I popped out and made some open moulds, on the basis that if it's open at the top and I'm filling a dent in the sand, the steam shouldn't cause problems. I think it worked, I deliberately over heated the aluminium so it would remain molten as the steam boiled away. What happened was for the first 30 seconds after pouring, the aluminium looked as if it was simmering, then this stopped before the aluminium froze. I poured 7 castings, and think 4 worked. A reasonable success rate given how damp the sand was.

The weather here is now really horrible, so I'm glad I did it this morning.
I will have to do something about my furnace, though. I made it in 2003, from a bit of scrap stainless steel ducting and lined it with concrete. The base has now cracked through, and I may be able to do one more firing with it before the base drops out. However, I really cannot complain, I've done 20-30 firings with it, and given that it cost, ooh, maybe £0.50p to make, it has done very well. The crucible has surprised me. I made it from a bit of 2" square steel box section and welded a couple of lugs and a base on it. I expected it to rust through many firings ago, but it hasn't done that yet. I may make a bigger furnace next time round, for a 2 litre/4 pint capacity crucible. That will extend what I can cast a fair bit compared to my current 0.5 litre/1 pint crucible.

Regards

Richard.
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by Mabel Figworthy »

That's a very cost-effective (and very effective all round) furnace!
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richardandtracy
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Re: I Hate Electrics

Post by richardandtracy »

Did I ever mention that I'm a cheapskate? :wink:

Regards,

Richard.
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