DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD

Bad Electricians

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When called to a rented property with complaints of no electrics and a leaking radiator on the first floor we  put two and two together rather quickly. Upon arrival we sorted out the leaking radiator first and then started to test the electrics.

We isolated and tested the main floor ring main and the readings were, to say the least, nonsense. It didn’t matter what we tested or in what order. The reading made no sense. We started to pull up an old hatch so we could look under the house and found we could see our reflection in the water.

As it turned out the crawl space under the house had two inches of water from the leaking radiator which, after further investigation looked like it had been leaking for months or longer. We couldn’t go under the house for safety reasons so isolated the circuits and ran an emergency circuit to the main floor. We set up pumps and fans and once the crawl space was dried out went underneath. What we found can be seen in the various pictures.

The ring main ran into this junction which also fed two spurs. It was no wonder our readings with the meter were odd. All of the wiring under the floor ended up flowing through this junction which was full of water! This is another good example of why electrics should not be connected and thrown under a house. All connectors should be mounted out of harms was where they are unlikely to have nails or screws driven through them and all cables should be clipped up and out of the way as well.

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