XmisterIS Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 XmrsIS was digging the flower bed yesterday evening, clearing out the old plants, when she got an electric shock! (from a flowerbed - yes I thought she was winding me up at first). Then I realised that one of the ring mains was off in the main house, and that the 20A breaker had tripped for that circuit.The previous owners had a fish pond, which we demolished and filled in and I wondered if there was still some live wiring to a pump, so I did some investigating and sure enough, there was a bog standard bit of 2.5mm twin and earth (the kind that you use for internal wiring), just buried in the flowerbed, coming out through a hole in the bottom of the wall of the garage, that had been knocked out with a lump hammer (not neatly drilled) below the damp course and just had the earth pushed back on top of it. No conduit, no external-grade armoured wiring, no, just earth. They had taken the pump away and, to make it nice and safe, they'd put the bare wires into a 5A chock block and buried that too.It turns out that XmrsIS had put a spade straight through the live wire because she thought she'd hit a root, so she gave the spade a good hard shove.My initial reaction when I found out what they'd done was "you have got to be f**king joking ..." Needless to say, I've now stripped out that wire, right back to the junction box which, incidentally, they had left open and in order to fit all the wires in, they'd just twisted the earths together, without sleeving and without any kind of clamp to keep them together. If they had come apart, then that would have left one half of the ring without an earth connection. And I repaired the hole in the garage wall!We've been here 14 months and still I keep finding DIY bodges that just beggar belief.The thing that gets me is, who the hell actually sets out to make a complete mess of something so dangerous as electrics?? Quote
Fozzie Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 To answer your question:It doesn't seem risky to someone who knows exactly where it is, and it doesn't seem risky to someone who thinks no one will ever unearth it!It's amazing how many people botch stuff up because it is easy.Sounds like you are correcting these things as you find them, thankfully it was clean AC power moving through those cables. If he'd run a DC line off a driver to a cheap pump your mrs could have been hurt! Be glad he did it the really easy way! Quote
raesewell Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 I was working in a house a few years ago where the homeowner was one such bodger and here is a photo of one of his bodges. I had to take a photo as I didn't think anyone would believe me.I did my job and left quickly.http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a540/raesewell1/Image030_zps9220b024.jpg Quote
Joe85 Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 I was working in a house a few years ago where the homeowner was one such bodger and here is a photo of one of his bodges. I had to take a photo as I didn't think anyone would believe me.I did my job and left quickly.http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a540/raesewell1/Image030_zps9220b024.jpgGenius! Quote
XmisterIS Posted December 12, 2014 Author Posted December 12, 2014 I should have taken a pic of the junction box before I put it back together. It was ... errr ... "special" ...I think the old plug-through-the-wall trick is quite common! Quote
cockercas Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 I know were theres a 3story house built on sand. Groundworkers messed up with the foundations and 1 leaf of the cavity wall isnt on the footing. The site manager told the gang to just build it werevit should be. 10 years + and its not fallen down. Quote
Joeman Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 I know were theres a 3story house built on sand. Groundworkers messed up with the foundations and 1 leaf of the cavity wall isnt on the footing. The site manager told the gang to just build it werevit should be. 10 years + and its not fallen down. Make a mockery out of the building control insisting on 1meter deep concrete footings for my single storey extension... Quote
eastanglianbiker Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 I know were theres a 3story house built on sand. Groundworkers messed up with the foundations and 1 leaf of the cavity wall isnt on the footing. The site manager told the gang to just build it werevit should be. 10 years + and its not fallen down. Make a mockery out of the building control insisting on 1meter deep concrete footings for my single storey extension...we done a downstairs bathroom/wetroom for my parents many years ago and had to take the footings down 2.5 metres as there was a lavender tree within 20ft of where it was being built so we went 1.5 metres below the orginal house foundation for a tiny room extension really made sense that did Quote
cockercas Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 Done that before to. Building a porch onto a really old cottage. Cottages foundation was a couple of bricks on there flats, porch had to have 2m deep footings because of a nearby tree. The reason the 3 story house was never picked up by building control is because on a large site they only check the odd house. Not every one. Quote
Tango Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 Sorry mate......just had a mental picture of the cat playing with the Christmas tree lights in National Lampoon's Christmas.......bet you didn't have any cat sh*t in that flower bed...... Quote
Guest Posted December 12, 2014 Posted December 12, 2014 I think the old plug-through-the-wall trick is quite common! yes.. Ive seen that before. Chap wanted to move the freezer to the other side of a plaster board partition and so did this same thing.. unlike the picture the socket he used was low down and so didn't look so 'bodge-like'. personally.. I saw no problem with it. My own kitchen has similar connections.. power sockets low down inside the units with a hole drilled in the side for the washing machine. freezer etc. I had to remove the plug to feed the cable through then refit. I don't see why this is any different.. aside from it looking a bit messy. Its not 'unsafe'. Quote
klingelton Posted December 13, 2014 Posted December 13, 2014 been in my house 5 years and still turning out crazy DIY bodges the previous tenants put in.most recent one was a crazy light wiring job in our porch (and the porch ceiling). not entirely sure why it's wired the way it is! Quote
Who else but Quagmire Posted December 14, 2014 Posted December 14, 2014 Best I have seen was in one of my customers houses. A chimney breast mounted tv with aerial and power cables run through the back of a flue, down the chimney and plugged in downstairs through a fireplace. I didn't bother asking why..I should have taken pictures and submitted it here >> Clicky Quote
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