warning- a cooker thats still on when its off.

[keithwilliams]

working on a cooker the other night switched off at the wall and the clock display went out. had my hands in there for a while then just as i was about to box it up i got a belt from it. double checked that id switched it off i decided to meter the terminal block. sure enough it was dead between live and neutral, however it read 240 between live and earth.
turns out that the double pole wall switch was switching neutral off and leaving live connected.
three year old house, bit concerned that the circuit didn’t trip.
i’ve refused to touch it until the sparkies have checked it all out.
the point of this post really is to remind us all that its not off until the voltmeter says so, and dont rely on the switch.

[jimluxe]

Re: warning- a cooker thats still on when its off.

the same thing happened to me about fifteen years ago
built in machine with a fused switch plate I removed the fuse thinking it was then safe to work on and then got an electric
shock, luckily there was no water on the floor otherwise I would not be writing this. every appliance that I cannot pull the plug from the socket I test to make sure it’s not live. twice since then I have found the switch plate wired the wrong way around.
so I guess we have to be careful of colour blind electricians as well.
also if a customer tells you they have pulled the plug out don’t believe them

[electrofix]

Re: warning- a cooker thats still on when its off.

had the lot

got a house about 20 years ago wrong polarity from meter

result live wire was only protected by 100A fuse all other fuses in neutral good job nothing went short to earth

dave

[funkyboogy]

Re: warning- a cooker thats still on when its off.

volt stick may have helped with this ? ..

not trying to preach but its a usefull tool

ally

[spanner51]

Re: warning- a cooker thats still on when its off.

A few years ago I went to a Miele commercial dishwasher on a ship. I switched off the main switch to work on the machine, but I got a big shock. It turned out that the machine had 2 live supplies to it via 2 double pole switches. The 2nd live supply was for the heaters.

I dont work on ships any more

[admin]

Re: warning- a cooker thats still on when its off.

electrofix wrote:had the lot

got a house about 20 years ago wrong polarity from meter

result live wire was only protected by 100A fuse all other fuses in neutral good job nothing went short to earth

dave

yep had that before 10yrs ago,switched off w/m and the neon lamp on the machine stayed on ❓ put socket tester in wall L&N rev- fault,took wall socket off but was ok,went to fuse box live & nutural in the wrong way in, 😯

lady said ….that fuse box was only just changed one month ago,Housing association work man done it 😯 .

[kwatt]

Re: warning- a cooker thats still on when its off.

I always tell the story…

Went to a Candy integrated washer on a Wimpey site in Prestwick one day. Simple enough call, no spin, module knackered and knew this before I walked through the door. Walked in with the module, a few tools to let me do the job as I was so sure of myself, probably bordering on cocky if not all the way there then some.

Knew all I had to do was draw the machine out, tip it back, swap out the module and away we went with a signed job sheet.

Only, it didn’t quite go that way for me on particular that day…

I reached in got the module off, pulled the old one down and WHAM!

The customer obviously hear the, “oh you mutha….” as my hand wapped off the cabinet and whatnot and, to be honest , probably the last thing I was thinking about was how the customer perceived my reaction to getting an unexpected 240VAC through my grubby mitt. The whole decorum thing in front of customers does tend to get a bit shredded in those moments but, I have to say that in many ways I did keep my cool and my temper in check. The reason I say that I didn’t lose it was that the dozy mare then says to me…

Cust: “Oh did you get a shock?” (No sh1t Sherlock)

Me: “Yep”

Cust: “I see you switched off the switch (13A spur) at the wall. But I’ve been telling the site agent for a few weeks that switch doesn’t work and that the washing machine won’t turn off.”

I didn’t lose the plot. I stayed calm.

You can however imagine what I was thinking and, it’s as well that those thoughts stayed there. 😉

After that, with the lesson learned the hard way, I check. I never assume.

K.

[admin]

Re: warning- a cooker thats still on when its off.

kwatt wrote:

After that, with the lesson learned the hard way, I check. I never assume.

K.

yep…i always say that now….you dont know whats happen in the past before you got to your job… ❗

[Criscold]

Re: warning- a cooker thats still on when its off.

I went to a machine a few years back, the machines all neatly lined up Washing Machine -Tumble Dryer-Dishwasher, they all had spur switches above marked with the appliance’s. Pulled out the Washing Machine after switching off, removed top and put hand inside and whack. customer then said he wondered why I had turned of the tumble dryer and then stated the plugs under the counter had been fitted into different sockets to save extending the machine cables.

[Author]

Posts