[Woodworkers] Joe Johns and the tale of a bathroom

[John McCaskill via Woodworkers]

I was installing a window A/C in an older house I had bought and ran a new 220V circuit. While running it through the attic, I discovered someone prior to me had also run a new circuit. They used brown zip wire (like an extension cord) instead of Romex.  I pulled that out and replaced it. Later, I was replacing a light switch. I traced it back to the breaker box, turned off the breaker, tested the circuit with a voltage tester to make sure it was off, then got shocked when I started to unwire the switch. They had cross-wired two circuits. Don't know till this day how the circuits didn't short out. 

I fixed the errors I found. But some years later, after I moved, there was still a fire. The report was "electrical problems in the attic". 

Lunatics. 

John

Everything is always okay in the end, if it's not, then it's not the end.

> On Sep 26, 2016, at 6:25 PM, via Woodworkers <woodworkers at lists.sawdusters.org> wrote:
> 
> Happens to us all. My first house had a bathroom drain made of.......wait for it.......DUCK TAPE!!!!
> 
> so......replace floor.....replace subfloor.......and we will not discuss what they used for wiring......just know.....it was not wire.
> 
> Karen
> 
> 
> From: "Dave Heitstuman via Woodworkers" <woodworkers at lists.sawdusters.org>
> To: "woodworkers" <woodworkers at sawdusters.org>
> Sent: Monday, September 26, 2016 11:03:47 AM
> Subject: Re: [Woodworkers] Joe Johns and the tale of a bathroom
> 
> Welcome to my world.  The little bathroom project for the daughter has also involved the replacement of cheap outlets and switches in the basement because half of them the cords fall out of and the switches feel like they are falling apart.  Half of the outlets barely pull out of the wall, thank god for those new slip on electrical connectors, and most of them the grounds are barely twisted together, some with those old crimps and some without.
> I was changing out some recessed fixtures in the basement Saturday.  Switch was off and as I was pulling the wire out of the old metal fixture there is the distinct fzzzt sound and the breaker tripped.  Hmmmm rat bastages switched the neutral………..  Took awhile to figure out how and where they did that. 
>  
> From: Woodworkers [mailto:woodworkers-bounces at lists.sawdusters.org] On Behalf Of Steve Bigelow via Woodworkers
> Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2016 11:05 PM
> To: Sawdusters
> Subject: Re: [Woodworkers] Joe Johns and the tale of a bathroom
>  
> Maybe I need to hire Joe to come work on my project.
> 
> I swear, today, if I had known where the person responsible for the remodel rewiring was, there may have been a warrant out for my arrest. Assault with wire cutters, or something like that.
> 
> This person obviously wasn't racist, because he had no preference for black vs white in his wiring. He was pretty much a tight wad with the wire, though. Two inches inside the box ought to be enough, right? Nobody will ever need to come back and fix his work...
> 
> Oh, and apparently it's perfectly fine to have random wire junctions with no junction box. And yes, those old outlets with the press in wiring also makes a great three way junction...
> 
> Glad that's almost done now.
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ya know, life is all about perspective; when the Titanic sank it was a miracle to the lobsters in the ship's kitchen
> Woodworkers at lists.sawdusters.org
> 
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> _______________________________________________
> Ya know, life is all about perspective; when the Titanic sank it was a miracle to the lobsters in the ship's kitchen
> Woodworkers at lists.sawdusters.org
> 
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