5k in damage from an idiot doing something stupid

[mrjaw14]

We recently had the county fair here. A week after that there's a group of horse show people camping out labor day weekend doing a horse show. Someone rented a trailer that was 120v and plugged into 120v outlet. shorty after that most of the electrical lights, appliances, etc stopped working. AC went last. The renter called the rental company and they dispatched someone to take a look at it.

The tech discovered that the standard 120v outlet had been wired as 220v! the fairgrounds were contacted, but denied doing such a dumb thing. What they figured out happened is who ever rented a booth at the fair needed more power and rewired a 120v outlet for 220. they hang outlet boxes off of the panels, so this is easily done. It's dumb enough to do this in the first place, but to leave it that way for the next person is just ineptness.

The fair grounds is going to pay for the damage to the trailer and try to find what dumb *** is responsible for doing it. They can figure out who had that booth, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[DynoDave]

That's scary!

 

[Speedy Petey]

People knowing just enough to be dangerous. The bane of professionals everywhere.

 

[JerryC]

I once went on a service call as a computer tech for a system that had blown two replacement power supplies and the third replacement was the last in the country.

First thing I checked was power at the outlet, it was 220 in a standard 110 outlet. You never know...

 

[fireguy]

I did some work in a drive-in restaurant. The owner was known for sliding by in everyone of his endeavors. I plugged in my 110 V vacuum cleaner. Wow! talk about suction. Then the vacuum stopped. I took it to a local repair shop and found the commutator bars had lost some solder and some of the commutator bars were loose. The drive-in owner had wired a 110 receptacle into a 220 circuit. He said he knew it was 220V and did not understand why I did not meter the receptacle before using it. There was an adjustment in my service call to that place, forever.

There is a reason why there are so many different electrical plugs.

 

[nehog]

I once plugged a mini-computer (a DEC PDP-11) that was jumpered for 120 into 240. It went "BANG" and I went "oh, ****..."

Had the outlet (a twistlock) rewired for the correct voltage, replaced two varistors and the machine ran for a few more years before it was scrapped.

 

[John Mc]

A friend of mine kept blowing out lights in her bathroom. When the electrician checked, every light and outlet in the bath was 220V! This was not a cheap tract house, they are both MD's, but the original wiring was done by an idiot. They had him check every circuit while he was there.

At a county fairgrounds, someone needed 220V to run a welder and a power hammer for a blacksmiths conference. They ran two hot wires, one from each of two 110V outlets on different circuits. They just did not leave it that way when they were done.

 

[Norcal]

Aways good for some equipment damage when some numbnutz sees empty spaces in a 120/240V 3Ø panel & uses one, & the one chosen was the high leg, which is 208V line to neutral, bye bye any 120V equipment connected to it. At a ranch across the Sacramento river from where I live they moved a Hoshizaki 1200 LB ice machine to a new location, it worked before it was moved but would not work after the move, so they called a friend of mine to fix it, the circuit board was signaling "high voltage" the line to line was 240V as it was supposed to be but any Hoshizaki 208-230V single phase machine I have seen also requires a neutral, as the condenser fan & water pump run on 120V, turns out that the electrician used the high leg & another phase to power the machine & by sheer luck ran the high leg to the line going to the compressor only & not to the leg for the motors & control power, a bit of rewiring & that antique machine started producing ice, (any ice machine that is 10 years old or older is a antique but take care of them & they go on & on), Since this was a ranch, PG&E loves to supply AG customers with 120/240V 3Ø, the electrician was from a good size shop that does good work from what I have seen. If that machine had been a straight 208-230V rated machine instead of 115/208-230V the hook up would have been OK as long as a 240V rated breaker had been used, normal circuit breakers are 120/240V rated so cannot be used that way.

 

[Lotek]

I should take some pics of the rewire job that the "electrician" did on my smog machine when they relocated it last week, the 220 line has a piece of flex conduit going to the dyno controller, he used half size breakers and old conduit, I think maybe he put the Volt charger on the same ckt, and for the piece de resistance, hardwired an old 14ga orange extension cord from a ceiling box to a plastic box left loose on top of the controller box to power the smog machine computer(an old 286 computer). Now the Volt charger kicks off whenever I use the smog machine, I had a bench failure Thursday, $1400, was it related? I dunno, but I hadn't any issues for 3 months before the move... Way to cheap out.

 

[zilla68]

I own a website and I sell led light bars for offroad use, boats, whatever.

this ******* buys one, and calls me to say this thing don't work.
I tell him it worked when it left, I test every light on the bench prior to going out.
He keeps telling me it won't work, and I walk him thru some tests. Sure enough it doesn't work.

Well, the detective in me, googles his screen name, to find him on several forums, and he's telling guys he plugged it into his wall socket, because it was too cold to go outside.

I email him back a copy of the forum post, and denied his warranty.
He took a 499.00 hit on the lightbar, what an idiot, then he lied right on the phone.
Had he been honest we could have worked out something, but a liar, not so much.

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

The tech discovered that the standard 120v outlet had been wired as 220v!

Please explain how this was done.

I presume the outlet was a standard 120v 15amp or 20 amp outlet.

How do you get 220v to an outlet like that?

Thanks!

 

[SSAAHemiFan]

The light switches were sparking at work when turned on and off - Brand new 1 million dollar expansion

Electricians were powering the lights directly thru the wall switches - lights are 277V

They were back installing relays after I made the call to them

 

[ratman2]

Please explain how this was done.

I presume the outlet was a standard 120v 15amp or 20 amp outlet.

How do you get 220v to an outlet like that?

Thanks!

take beaker for the plug out, put a double pole breaker in there and attach the neutral wire to the other hot leg.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Please explain how this was done.

I presume the outlet was a standard 120v 15amp or 20 amp outlet.

How do you get 220v to an outlet like that?

Thanks!

A 120vac receptacle uses a hot wire, a neutral wire, and a ground. Apparently what happened is someone went into the panel and moved the neutral wire to the other hot leg so they could get 240vac at the receptacle.

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

take beaker for the plug out, put a double pole breaker in there and attach the neutral wire to the other hot leg.

A 120vac receptacle uses a hot wire, a neutral wire, and a ground. Apparently what happened is someone went into the panel and moved the neutral wire to the other hot leg so they could get 240vac at the receptacle.

WOW!

I'm NOT an electrician. The little bit I know about the NEC I've learned on the GJF.

But that is industrial strength stupid. Before I was on the GJF I knew this was very, very wrong.

Once some bone head did this, wouldn't he or she have to have a hillbilly plug on the appliance (I think someone said welder) to make this work? That being the case, the apparently had been done before!

Sorry if any of the hillbillies on the Forum take offense.

 

[SlappyWhite]

To be fair.... I once wired up a 220v water heater, to 220v. It was previously wired as 110v and one of the complaints was how long it took to heat the water.

Breaker kept tripping, turned out at some point the 220v elements were replaced with 110... but all the labels etc still said 220.....

 

[Norcal]

To be fair.... I once wired up a 220v water heater, to 220v. It was previously wired as 110v and one of the complaints was how long it took to heat the water.

Breaker kept tripping, turned out at some point the 220v elements were replaced with 110... but all the labels etc still said 220.....

Doubt any WH elements say "220" they are not made for the US market. The elements will be rated for 240 volts, or 120 volts, or other standard voltages.

This rule from the Old Wood Working Machines website does fit a lot of situations. "OWWM Rule No. 1: The seller, standing in front of the machine with access to all sides and in full daylight, will not/cannot describe the machine correctly."

 

[Rob_b]

[ "OWWM Rule No. 1: The seller, standing in front of the machine with access to all sides and in full daylight, will not/cannot describe the machine correctly."[/QUOTE]
LOL....Can I use that for work? My Tech support team would love it...

 

[skiingman]

Please explain how this was done.

I presume the outlet was a standard 120v 15amp or 20 amp outlet.

How do you get 220v to an outlet like that?

Thanks!

My experience was this: Someone needed a light near a machine. They tapped a handy piece of live romex, installed a duplex 15a receptacle, and plugged in a typical T12 shop light.

However many years later, I needed to drill a hole in something near that machine. I unplugged the light, plugged in the drill, and pulled the trigger. The drill ran really fast for a couple seconds which was alarming, but the shower of sparks and the trigger welding itself in the ON position really made me jump.

Turns out your typical fluorescent light ballast is perfectly happy operating on anything from 120-277 volts input.

 

[nehog]

The light switches were sparking at work when turned on and off - Brand new 1 million dollar expansion

Electricians were powering the lights directly thru the wall switches - lights are 277V

They were back installing relays after I made the call to them

Why not just install switches rated for 277 volts? http://www.lowes.com/pd_246442-1571...currentURL=?Ntt=switch+double+pole&facetInfo= is a good example of such a switch, and http://www.lowes.com/pd_89198-334-3...currentURL=?Ntt=switch+double+pole&facetInfo= is a slightly more expensive but basically identical switch?

 

[Falcon67]

I own a website and I sell led light bars for offroad use, boats, whatever.

this ******* buys one, and calls me to say this thing don't work.
I tell him it worked when it left, I test every light on the bench prior to going out.
He keeps telling me it won't work, and I walk him thru some tests. Sure enough it doesn't work.

Well, the detective in me, googles his screen name, to find him on several forums, and he's telling guys he plugged it into his wall socket, because it was too cold to go outside.

I email him back a copy of the forum post, and denied his warranty.
He took a 499.00 hit on the lightbar, what an idiot, then he lied right on the phone.
Had he been honest we could have worked out something, but a liar, not so much.

Buahahahahah - another Charlie Wenzel. Good on you.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Why not just install switches rated for 277 volts? http://www.lowes.com/pd_246442-1571...currentURL=?Ntt=switch+double+pole&facetInfo= is a good example of such a switch, and http://www.lowes.com/pd_89198-334-3...currentURL=?Ntt=switch+double+pole&facetInfo= is a slightly more expensive but basically identical switch?

I was thinking the same thing. I don't buy the cheap residential switches, even for here in the house. I use a good commercial switch, and they are marked right on them, 120-277v.

Look at the box on the left in the pic below. 20A 120-277VAC Spec Grade

Charles

 

[Falcon67]

I considered running my lights at 240V but figured I'd get bit later when I got senile about the shop wiring..

 

[nehog]

I was thinking the same thing. I don't buy the cheap residential switches, even for here in the house. I use a good commercial switch, and they are marked right on them, 120-277v.

The main reason I pointed out the ones I did was they were double pole, suitable for 240 and any voltage where both sides must be broken.

I also agree: commercial grade is best!