Was quite proud of myself yesterday. We have had an intermittent power problem int he basement - where the power suddenly starts shorting out and the trip switch goes - or rather the trip switch does not go, but the rest of the power in the house trips out. I knew it was in the basement as I could isolate that are with another trip switch and then everything was fine.
We thought at first it was the rain - but this time it was bright sunshine and no reason.
Now the washing machine and the dryer were a nuisance but not essential - but the freezer int he basement holds all the house chickens for dining in the future. But as important - we discovered early that the chest freezer by the kitchen was on the same circuit!
This was inconvenient but manageable while we were here - but the worry was the intermittent part!. If it tripped when we were in Crete then we could have ten days without power and lose all the food int he house.
So - having had an electrician over once - waiting a week and then not getting the job done - I decided to do a jury rigging - take some power from another part of the house and run wires to the freezer by the kitchen and then do something similar for the basement.
I was glad I did it that way. I duly found a hole in the wall and stripped down a 4 gang socket and managed to get the wire through the wall with the help of sellotape and a skewer from the kitchen drawer - and put it all together - so that we had power on the freezer. But then - there was no power!. I thought - must be an old socket set - probably needs new fuses... Nope - all good - and then I discovered by taking plugs out one by one that the Chest Freezer was now tripping the power in the house!
It seems obvious - but it took me a few minutes to work it all out. Indeed - I took the fuse out of the freezer and checked to see if the neutral wires were affecting it - nope. Put the fuse back in - tripped!
There is not a lot of room to move a full freezer - but I managed and got behind it. The freezer is over 30 years old - actually probably more than that if I think about it. Certainly it is battered and might need replacing. At the back I could see that at some time I had done some form of repair - there was green insulating tape along one section - and I could not be sure but there might be some teeth marks or perished wire....
So - with my trusty pair of scissors - I removed a section of wire and twisted it back together with plenty of Blue insulating tape. The Colour is not important - just there for poetic value.. it wasn't a Green one anymore!
And - lo and behold - no more tripping - all the power works and we seem to be firing on all cylinders...
A bright spark I am ...
In other news - I saw this lovely video - when paintings come alive...
So, trying to get my newsletter together for a new Court in Pembroke Dock for the Order of Athelstan...
Best remove my finger ..
Cheers !
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