We could have died!

Check out these pics. All fixed now, but we blew a pole fuse on Thursday night then could smell a little bit of smoke. Had some lights doing funny things to begin with. Turns out this was the reason.

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It's all fixed now, but it was a real shock to find out how close we came to having our house burn down. Fortunately we have a steel frame house and insulation in the ceiling with fire retardant in it or we'd be all dead, or homeless at the least.

:eek:
Holy carp, Ali, I'm glad you're all okay.

Thanks Ortho. We're pretty happy about it too. ;)

That's service entrance wire isn't it? Was that wire in the floor, the wall, the ceiling? Did they say what it shorted to, itself or something else.

It's a sign! A sign you are supposed to enjoy life. ;)

The wiring here is fucked. It is an entry wire, but we have a divided switch board. It was associated with the main fuse which is inside instead of in the meter box outside. It blew the electricity out to the street. They had to replace the pole fuse. Its just a nightmare. The best guess is that there was a tear in one of the wires because the sparky who wired this house didnt use grommets to seat the wires as they were pulled through the steel frame.

That's scary. I'm glad you guys are okay.

Wow. Glad you are OK, Ali.

Is steel frame common in residential there? We use almost exclusively wood frame around here, but even I know you need grommets around wires in steel frame. Steel is sharp! They make knives out of it.

Wow! That's shocking. Glad you're, ohm, currently ok.

Glad y'all are okay. :)

so, this is the first day of the rest of your life. the part where you didnt die. in an alternate universe, there's an Ali who was burned horribly in the fire, and in another one who died, and yet another where she got a huge cash settlement and lived like a drunken Queen for 2 years and then had a heart attack and died.

In this reality, she.......

Aliantha;895381 wrote:

The best guess is that there was a tear in one of the wires because the sparky who wired this house didnt use grommets to seat the wires as they were pulled through the steel frame.

Yeah, that's what I wondered when you said steel framing. That sucks. As I recall your house isn't that old, I wonder if you can go back to the builder to rectify their mistake?

xoxoxoBruce;895407 wrote:

...I wonder if you can go back to the builder to rectify their mistake?

'Rectify their mistake'...is that Latin for 'sue them to death'?

I hope so.

Aliantha;895367 wrote:

We're pretty happy about it too. ;)

:lol2:

Gravdigr;895408 wrote:

'Rectify their mistake'...is that Latin for 'sue them to death'?

I hope so.

An American named Sue. :rolleyes:

No, Australian... just pay to fix it so it can't happen again.

The rewiring was organised by the previous owners. We're thinking the sparky that did the job is probably dead by now.

Oh, OK, I thought it was new when you bought it.

No, had just been fully renovated.

Aliantha;895427 wrote:

We're thinking the sparky that did the job is probably dead by now.

Somebody beat ya to it.


Also: I didn't say what I said in the typically-expected-it's-America-sue-'em type way. If the 'sparky' didn't protect the wire entry(ies) properly, he would be legally responsible for damages incurred due to his negligence.

And, if someone's negligence puts my family in the jackpot the way Ali's was, dude better be happy to find himself in court. There's every chance he could find himself on the receiving end of a hammer.

Yeah, i get your point grav. Problem is its hard to tell if that really was the cause. If we report him, they will likely take our pole fuse out till its repaired. We are deciding on the best course of action for now.