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Let me start by saying I love the man who invented rubber. Truly, madly, deeply love him.
Not because of that. Get your minds out of the gutter, people!
No, I love rubber so very much because it is electrically non-conductive. You though I was joking about being happy the hospital was close by? Luckily, through no help of the previousjackasses, may they rot in hell owners of this house, rubber kept me from going there.
See, we were tracing the wiring back to the fuse box, meticulously untangling the spaghetti that was the electrical lines. We'd been careful, turning off the appropriate fuses and testing the lights and outlets before I worked on them. I'm not an idiot, and I respect the power of electricity.
What I didn't expect - and I don't think anyone in their right mind would have expected - was that I should have turned off the circuit to my furnace in order to remove a ceiling light. Yes, let me say that again. In order to have avoided the incident, I would have to have psychically known that theincompetent morons previous owners of the house, in their infinite DIY stupidity industriousness, had wired the furnace fan through a light.
Thankfully, I wasn't just replacing the light fixture, I was doing demo - so I was just snipping the wires. I say 'thankfully' because if I have been trying to wire in a new fixture I would have been untangling the wiring with my hands. Instead, I still had my leather gloves on, and wasn't touching anything - just snipping the wire with the rubber-handled wire cutters. And I was also wearing rubber soled sneakers.
What did happen was that there was a loud *POP*, a shower of bright sparks, I squealed like a little girl, and then the air was filled with the sharp tang of ozone. I wasn't even shocked, thankfully. There was a scare that we had fried the furnace fan, but a quick splice (after turning off the main circuit breaker - luckily it was still barely light enough to see) and a few frantic moments of trying to 'reset' everything, and the air conditioning is working again. The lights in the living room and front hall, however, are temporary casualties. I thought I had them re-connected, but there's still some wiring I'm not sure of, so maybe next weekend I'll look into finding a way to patch it into a circuit we've cut off already. I know of two wires I could probably use. But that can wait.
For now I'm going to relax, watch some TV (we'd also just watched the very end of Season 3 of Ballykissangel last night, talk about prophetic! Luckily, I fared far better than her), maybe read a little... fantasize about poking thedip shits previous owners with a cattle prod while they're sitting in a pool of water...
Not because of that. Get your minds out of the gutter, people!
No, I love rubber so very much because it is electrically non-conductive. You though I was joking about being happy the hospital was close by? Luckily, through no help of the previous
See, we were tracing the wiring back to the fuse box, meticulously untangling the spaghetti that was the electrical lines. We'd been careful, turning off the appropriate fuses and testing the lights and outlets before I worked on them. I'm not an idiot, and I respect the power of electricity.
What I didn't expect - and I don't think anyone in their right mind would have expected - was that I should have turned off the circuit to my furnace in order to remove a ceiling light. Yes, let me say that again. In order to have avoided the incident, I would have to have psychically known that the
Thankfully, I wasn't just replacing the light fixture, I was doing demo - so I was just snipping the wires. I say 'thankfully' because if I have been trying to wire in a new fixture I would have been untangling the wiring with my hands. Instead, I still had my leather gloves on, and wasn't touching anything - just snipping the wire with the rubber-handled wire cutters. And I was also wearing rubber soled sneakers.
What did happen was that there was a loud *POP*, a shower of bright sparks, I squealed like a little girl, and then the air was filled with the sharp tang of ozone. I wasn't even shocked, thankfully. There was a scare that we had fried the furnace fan, but a quick splice (after turning off the main circuit breaker - luckily it was still barely light enough to see) and a few frantic moments of trying to 'reset' everything, and the air conditioning is working again. The lights in the living room and front hall, however, are temporary casualties. I thought I had them re-connected, but there's still some wiring I'm not sure of, so maybe next weekend I'll look into finding a way to patch it into a circuit we've cut off already. I know of two wires I could probably use. But that can wait.
For now I'm going to relax, watch some TV (we'd also just watched the very end of Season 3 of Ballykissangel last night, talk about prophetic! Luckily, I fared far better than her), maybe read a little... fantasize about poking the