What's that switch do?

[Pony]

I'm in an older building at work and occasionally we run into some "issues" with past "repairs". Today was one of those days.

A coworker and I were reorganizing some stuff to make room for him to move his toolbox, I see a light switch low on the wall and ask him "Hey, what's that switch for?" He says "I dunno" and flips it on.

http://i.imgur.com/aZEuUgY.jpg

*FLASH* *POP*

>power outage<

:shock:

"WTF was that!?"

He flips the switch off, I reset a breaker to get the lights and outlets back on and we start to trace the conduit from the light switch, it runs underground to about 10 feet into the middle of the concrete floor and the old cement patch job stops.

:-k

http://i.imgur.com/6jgg2WV.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ylHopOd.jpg


I look real close and there is now a tiny hole blown out of the concrete.

:huh:


He grabs a pick hammer and starts chipping away at the floor exposing the end of the conduit hammered flat with the remnants of solid core wire sticking out.


http://i.imgur.com/cyQ2Sb4.jpg


We're both amazed that someone could be so stupid as to pinch a live line and just leave it with only a light switch to keep someone from getting a good shock. Keep in mind the floor is often soaked with salt water dripping off of cars. I ran home and brought back my line tester and we've since disconnected that line at the switch. Sure was tough to spend 2 minutes to make sure no one got zapped. We're all betting it was the self proclaimed shop foreman that did it when they moved the frame rack to the other side of the building.

[Muddy]

So this wire is just buried in the concrete? :lol:

[Griffin]

I was going to guess filled in sump pump pit.

[Pony]

Yep, they just cut the wire and conduit off flush with the floor and then hammered the pipe down half an inch pinching the wire and patched over it. When we flipped the switch the arc blew out part of the concrete. Scared the shit out of us.

[DemonGeminiX]

Wow

:lol:

Where's Mike Holmes when you need him?

[Hal-9000]

this is a cool thread :lol:

more!

[PorkChopSandwiches]

:shock:

[Hal-9000]

I still don't understand the original purpose...the guy tapped into a ground line to make a light switch? :lol: Seems like a lot of work putting in the conduit and cement etc..

[Griffin]

I still don't understand the original purpose...the guy tapped into a ground line to make a light switch? :lol: Seems like a lot of work putting in the conduit and cement etc..

*psssst*
no...down here. I think the wire use to operate something. :roll:

[Hal-9000]

:-s












Did it turn on the floor? :lol:

[DemonGeminiX]

I figured it was just a shitty lazy electrical job. A "they'll never know it's there, but we'll save time and money by doing it this way, even though we're not supposed to" kinda thing.

[Hal-9000]

yeah but a wall switch shouldn't short out the shop :lol:



there was a nefarious purpose behind that switch....

[Griffin]

I bet Morgan wired it.

[Pony]

We think it used to be where the frame machine was. They cut a groove in the floor, laid the conduit and patched over it. The purpose of the switch? Who the hell knows? It was on a 20A breaker at the fuse panel, it didn't short the whole shop just a row of outlets and a handful of lights.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

No wonder the lights went out in my house yesterday :x

[Pony]

My bad.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

My bad.

:beatdown:

[lost in melb.]

Lazy sods ;)

In a house my dad was working on they had earthed the power to the water pipes. which was all fine until you started to unscrew them ;)

[redred]

i'm thinking that repair may have been done by someone more use to working on engines than playing about with electricity :lol:

[Pony]

I'll have to find some more of the shop foreman's "fixes" around the shop and post them. He's one of those guys that has no business messing with anything.

Example: We had a water line pop and his solution was to cut it, hammer it flat, fold it over and put a pair of vice grips on it.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Electricity scares me...at a place I used to work, the maintenance guy did everything 'hot' and checked the fuses with a screwdriver....the big three phase fuses. All the screwdrivers in his toolbox had burnt ends :huh:

http://i.imgur.com/Nw2hT5x.jpg

[Pony]

I'll have to take a picture of the tree he tried to cut down in a windstorm too, he just cut from outside to in at an angle /. :lol: the tree slid off the stump, embedded in the ground and remained upright leaning against another tree.. Dumbass made another cut exactly the same and it happened again. I swear it looked like an old cartoon. :rofl:

[Pony]

Off to work, back in 30.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I'll have to take a picture of the tree he tried to cut down in a windstorm too, he just cut from outside to in at an angle /. :lol: the tree slid off the stump, embedded in the ground and remained upright leaning against another tree.. Dumbass made another cut exactly the same and it happened again. I swear it looked like an old cartoon. :rofl:

:bwaha:

[Hal-9000]

Electricity scares me...at a place I used to work, the maintenance guy did everything 'hot' and checked the fuses with a screwdriver....the big three phase fuses. All the screwdrivers in his toolbox had burnt ends :huh:

http://i.imgur.com/Nw2hT5x.jpg

Me too....I watched a guy take off the side of his pc, remove the monitor cables from the back and take out a video card and replace it with another video card....while the PC was running!!!!! :lol:

I screamed at him - NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! and then spent the next 30 minutes trying to explain to him how many ways he could of screwed up his pc and his life :lol: