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	Subject - What was your most difficult service call? SteveMc While reading another post concerning an underground wiring problem I remembered a particularly bad service call dealing with direct burial of aluminum wiring and thought it might save others some heartache and provide some amusement if others told of their worst, hardest, most embarrassing, awful service calls ever. So, what about it? Give us your worst. To start I'll tell everyone about my experience with the street light wiring. It was aluminum tri-plex direct burial, about 250-300' between poles. I was getting about 60 volts on one end and 220 on the other. A tracer was of no use since the wire wasn't completely burned apart, if you haven't had the pleasure, aluminum wire turns to a paste when expose to earth for a while. So I ended up digging all these holes (by hand)in peoples front yards, checking voltage and refilling the holes. To make matters worst this was a lake front property with manicured lawns and houses in the mid to upper 6 figures, and it was summertime in North Carolina. Finally found the problem after only two days. Scott Vickrey Sounds like a strong argument for conduit Steve. I could put about 5 posts here myself, but I'll start with one. I was on call for a large plastic plant. I was called in the middle of the night to fix an old GE VFD for a 2000 hp extruder. The VFD was really old, the size of a dump truck and had only small pieces of it's documentation. I had the whole plant breathing down my neck because this had a $50,000/day line down. After 2 hours I called for more help after 16 hours(that seemed like more like 3 hours)The GE reps arrived(who bill out at $400/hr). A day later they found a capacitor shorted internally with no visual signs of damage. It took 2 more days to get the part and get the extruder running again. cs409 maybe not the hardest but a bit funny,,,,,,,,after a 16 hour day and this lady promissing me the world if i would only stop by and fix her light in the laundry room(also the back porch and rear entrance to house)......i was super tired,,,i arrived and when i ask, where is the problem she told me,,,no light on the porch...i ask the easy questions,,,did u change the bulb,,,YES,,,,i said,,is it ok if i check it LOL,,,didnt want to upset this 80plus lady...so i checked the bulb, it was good,,,went about checking the usual stuff, this light was 3way switched,,which i had a feeling it was.... ... well, after an hour am still scratching my head....tired, not thinking,,,,i was ready to run her an extention cord for the nite when she said,,,,i noticed this around 4 in the morning when i turned the light on from my bedroom it didnt come on,,,she said she changed the bulb with no luck....in her room was a bank of switches to control ever light in the house and outside......talk about afkda;sf;a ,,,,now i ask,,,,how many switches etc...and no,,,there was no indication in the j box where the light was or the 2 3ways.... looking back, i have seen houses build in the late 50s and 60s with this same set up ,,,to control many lights inside as well as outside the house,,,a master control center! but these houses usually fit the country club areas...this house was more of a plain jane... wireman Never under estimate to power of conduit! I have seen these switch panels you speak of and I always shy away! Pain in the A**! Electricman I got a call first thing in the morning at a emboidery factory, problem was power was going on and off. The service was 3 phase 1600 amp witha 208 high leg after checking the usual stuff, and 2 hours later I found 1 of the switch gears was falling apart(service was installed back in 1965) I felt like such a fool that I didnt check the obvious first but the owner thought I was a genius gettin him back into production. Electricman I just remembered another one this one isnt too bad though, After the rough in at a dwelling we get a call that the service just exploded in the utility workers face,upon our arrival we find that the siders couldnt get their nails through the siding so they get a bigger nail and a bigger hammer and drive 10 penny nails through the siding through the osb and through the panel and into the bus bar. The line worker admitted that he didnt use his safety light to test the service before installing the meter. So we procedeed to change out the whole service(Garage service with drywall done of course) took a new panel and meter socket, parts of the meter where welded to the meter jaws in the socket. Hey any inspectors out there ever heard of 10 penny bonding? cs409 got an update.......little old lady called, wanting her security light checked/repaired......her house is on one street and the garage is on the next st. behind her....called to tell her i was within 10mins of her house as she wanted to unlock the gate going into the garage(aka, entrance on the other st.)...she informed me the gate was open, and i would have no problem finding it, because she had 2 USA flags on each gate!! i drive down the street as her instructions, and come to double gate with flag on each...... see the pole with light,,,get out, take ladder off truck,,,lift, grunt, adjust... start looking around and see the line into the light is coming from a storage shead,,,,its locked..i look at rear of house,,,start to go and check the boxes when the rear door opens, and she said, can i help you...i said, i dont thing so, except for unlocking the shead,,,,she said, why? i said, because etc etc....she said, but my light works! bottom line,,,wrong house LOL....talk about a lady just a bit scared LOL...it was her neighbor that needed the work,,,to many bushes/shrubs to even see her gate when i found/entered the first gate,,,,,new rule,,,knock on door before messin with ladders....not a hard call but funny.........one day i will probably get shot,,,, SteveMc cs, I had a similar experience that I had forgotten about until you shared yours. I had a service call to repair an emergency light at a local BBQ restaurant, I pulled up to the rear door, went in through the kitchen and told them I was there to repair the ladies room EM light. I go to the ladies room and check the light, it's remote powered. I go looking all over the place for the main unit that has the battery, even have to get one of the employees to help me check the light. After about 1/2 hour of hunting, waiting and checking I find that the fixture is working fine. Just as I'm packing up and finishing my paperwork my boss walks in and asks what I'm doing. I tell him the story, and he says "I didn't think Carolina BBQ was one of our regular customers" and I say "This is not Red, Hot, and Blue BBQ?" And about 10 minutes later, after he's finished laughing, he tells me it next door. Thanks to Nextel, everyone knew about in a few minutes. Took me weeks to live that one down. JimmyDee Not the most difficult but by far the worst. Service call for the Department of Social Services to an elderly lady house. Refrigerator not working. This lady was also know as the pigeon lady. Must have been 50-60 pigeons living in her house and the stench was almost more than I could handle. Was having a hard time keeping my lunch down. Found the problem and replaced the fuse. Now how do you check to make sure the power has returned to the refrigerator? Thats right, you open the refrigerator door to see if the light comes on. Inside there was this bowl of something that moved by its-self and of course the smell that came with the opening of the door did what the pigion dropping didn't. I just made it to the back door in time so I didn't have to clean up a mess in the kitchen. That was a bad day and one I'll never forget. cs409 Jimmy did the light come on? LOL.....Steve, where is Rock Hill in relation to Pageland and Jefferson? mom was from Pageland and i have a cousin in Jefferson(and am not sure but think her hubby works for Duke power?) SteveMc cs, We are just south of Charlotte, NC. Not sure how far from Pageland and Jefferson. Like a lot of people in this area, "I'm not from here" as in "Ya'll not frum here ar ya?" I'm originally from the mountains of Kentucky. But before anyone asks, I've NEVER told anyone to squeal like a pig. LOL cs409 your about 50 or so miles to the west of pageland....hwy 9 and hwy 151 i think.......... pageland is the watermelon capital of the world or us or something....or it use to be,,,,a lot of chicken/turkey houses, now,,,,,,am born and raised texan,,,just my mom jumped the fence...