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| It seems like every year I manage to pull off one really stupid and bone headed move. Luckily for me I got it out of the way this week so now I can sit back and laugh at the rest of you when you do yours. I'm good to go now for this year.
Wife calls me at work Wed to inform me that we have no power and there is a pole snapped about 3 sections north of us. Well at least it isn't super cold so I tell her we'll figure something out when I get home (secretly I was hoping REC would show up before I did). Before I get home REC had told her not to look for them to fix it for a couple of days so I tell my wife don't worry, we'll fire up the generator when I get home.
Now a little background. We live on an old hog farm that has the switches to disconnect from the grid and run on generator. The pole this equipment is mounted on is within a couple of feet from our garage. The pole itself(where the plug in point is at) is about 3/4 of the way up a hill and a real bearcat for getting the PTO generator close enough to plug in. We've only needed to use it a couple of times in the past 11 years but each time I have struggled more getting the generator close enough to plug in than anything else.
A couple of years ago I had bought all the stuff to do a really nice job of running conduit into the garage attic and out the front of the garage to install a generator plug so the tractor could set on a nice level concrete pad. I even bought the bona fide and official generator weather proof plug and the real heavy cord with the official plugs. I had never installed this circuit because I was always too busy. Some would use the word lazy, but I prefer the term busy. At any rate it was one of those projects I always thought about when the weather was bad, but when the weather was good I seemed to be thinking of fishing instead of the emergency generator.
Back to the story. So I arrive at home Wed night and we hook the generator up and get some work lights, wood stove, and NIPCO heater going inside the garage. Being a good dad I wanted my 2 young fellows to be warm while I was doing the things necessary for us to survive the storm. I started getting these self inflated feelings of saving my family and how would they ever get by without me!
Now I round up all the items I had bought to install this nice circuit in conduit (there is NO WAY I can get to the pole at all this time) and try to come up with some backwoods hillbilly rig to get the boiler going and some heat in the house. Some of the issues were this cord I had bought was a 4 wire (earth ground, neutral, 2 phase lines) while my generator and pole plug in didn't have earth ground. No problem, Just change the cord cap to match the generator and don't use one of the wires. I had to sacrifice the 60 foot roll of wire I had bought to run through the conduit to reach around the garage to the pole.
So after a couple of hours I had my cord modified and had my 3 wires made to go to the existing plug in on the pole with a temporary cord cap on them.
So now remember the generator is running so that we have work lights and some heat in the garage and I have all the pieces that I need made and modified.. Kids are playing in the wood stove and I am reassuring them that in short order they can play their Wii and have a warm meal. It is getting late and I am cold, tired, and hungry. So I plug everything in and viola lights in the garage come on.
Does anyone see my mistake yet.
So I puff my chest out and Super Dad walks into the garage amongst high 5's from the 2 boys and "thanks dad" and a whole bunch of yee hi's. Feeling good! Once again I have saved my family from certain destruction!
Wife is standing there with a look of horror on her face. She say quietly "I heard something pop". No I says. You heard the generator load up because when I threw the switch we dumped a big load on it. she knows it is a waste of breath to argue with Super Dad who has just righted all wrongs and provided the means for hot meals and a warm bed. Wife walks to house and few minutes later she returns to the garage and states "every time I turn on a light the bulbs blow and half the breakers in the house box tripped."
Of course by now I a fully enthralled with my invincibility so I say "Oh, I may have the tractor running a little fast. No problem". I unplug my cord and go to check line voltage across the phases and when I see the 120v reading on the meter I immediately went from the most amazing Super dad in the entire history of the world to one step above qualifying for a Darwin award. I knew instantly what I had done. I got tired and in a hurry and didn't check the phases. I have worked with electricity for nearly 20 years now (I can't even tell you how many times I have worked with 220 and 115 circuits) and I always, always, and I mean always check voltages and phases (especially when working with 220).
7 or 8 years ago my FIL had a neutral and hot on his pole touch so I knew what the end result would be. I took out 3/4 of the light bulbs in the house, the oven, microwave, all alarm clocks, Wii, satellite receiver, VCR, outdoor boiler circuit (including the circulation pump, and the furnace fan circuit (which is needed to blow air through the heat exchanger for the boiler).
So Wed night we all sleep with empty bellies in front of a space heater in the living room in zero degree sleeping bags, coats, sweat shirts, and boggins. Of course I didn't feel my empty belly with all the humble pie my wife prepared for me even though she never made a comment. There are saints among women, but someday I hope one of them has a weak moment and imparts to me how they lay on guilt without opening their mouth.
We are good today. The power is back on as of 5 last night, wife got the furnace repaired (I usually do repairs, but didn't have time to chase parts yesterday), wife went to Paullinna and got the boiler parts which we managed to get running about 8pm last night.
I firm believer in we all make mistakes and you had just as well own up to it and move on. I typed this in jest so there is really no need to flame me.
Since no one was hurt and I didn't burn the house down (which was a real probability) you have to laugh. I have been trained and knew better, I just suffered a moment of total stupidity. Most of my crew at work are extremely talented electricians and electronics technicians and they had a great day yesterday ribbing the boss. I think my BIL got the biggest kick out of this screw up (probably because it wasn't him that did it) and he is still calling every few minutes just laughing. It's only money and I will make more tomorrow.
Edited by Cowpoke 1/23/2010 10:29
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FIRST STUPID STUNT FOR THE YEAR!!
