DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Cowboy Electrics Fitter

Whilst removing a gas fired air heating system we found this mess of connector blocks and green tape. At the time it was installed twenty or so years ago a flue had to be run through the house and apparently these cables where in the way. Instead of lengthening the cables and then re-routing around the heat source in a thoughtful manner the cables were cut, a foot of cable spliced in between with some miscellaneous sized connector blocks added and then all wrapped up with lots and lots and lots of green tape.

Tape is a wonderful thing unless of course it’s sitting directly above a heat source, like for instance. . . a gas fired air heater! Also, it’s not so good when located nearby to a  flue which also gets hot! Tape stops becoming tape once heated and cooled over a twenty year period. Tape in fact becomes a thin strip of vinyl. A cracked and brittle plastic strip.

After we removed the old heating system and finished installing the new central heating system consisting of a combi boiler and radiators we took the time (only an hour) to repair the cabling. We also discovered just a couple of feet away a socket which was always intermittent according to the home owner. It was intermittent because the live (or line) (the red cable in old money) had never been tightened up when the other splices were made twenty odd years ago. We replaced all connector blocks with the properly rated items and also used approved covers for all connections.

Another cowboy electrical problem sorted out. One down and a million to go!

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