Me on the Motorhome Matt Podcast

[Wully]

Motorhomes are not natural things nothing is as easy as a house. In the house you turn the tap on water comes out by magic you have a Tom tit flush the wee handle it disappears flick the light switch it comes on. Motorhomes are only for the lunatics and oddballs of society myself included. We make problems that don’t exist sometimes just so we can have conversations with our fellow lunatics.

 

[Robmac]

I've decided to forget about it, buy a pie and get pissed instead.

Don't forget that you must destroy the van keys and send the ashes to Canada if you don't want to get charged with drunk in charge of a vehicle!

 

[barryd]

What kind of pie? Dont attempt to warm it up in the van microwave whilst on the drive and on EHU. Surely you know about the risks from cholesterol too? Just get pissed mate.....hold on.....isn't achohol pretty bad as well?

Yeah yeah. Ive had all the tests and Im doing great! I sussed it out you see. I asked ChatGPT about it and he/she says Pasties are better than Pork Pies and in moderation so I just had half a Cornish Pasty and apparently beer is way worse for cholesterol than Scotch and again, both in moderation so I have it sussed now. Im just having one Scotch and one beer. ChatGPT says great!!! I left out the bit that the Scotch is a 300ml tumbler and the beer is a 500ml Can of 9% Tramp lager but thats just minor details.

 

[korky]

Yeah yeah. Ive had all the tests and Im doing great! I sussed it out you see. I asked ChatGPT about it and he/she says Pasties are better than Pork Pies and in moderation so I just had half a Cornish Pasty and apparently beer is way worse for cholesterol than Scotch and again, both in moderation so I have it sussed now. Im just having one Scotch and one beer. ChatGPT says great!!! I left out the bit that the Scotch is a 300ml tumbler and the beer is a 500ml Can of 9% Tramp lager but thats just minor details.

Surely that should be, "One Scotch, one Bourbon, one Beer."

 

[barryd]

Surely that should be, "One Scotch, one Bourbon, one Beer."

Nah! Stuff that American garbage. Anyway that would be drinking to excess.

 

[wildebus]

What I don't understand is just how lethal 240V is (I know it's down to Current).

But over the years I've had many 240V shocks and although it's not very pleasant I didn't suffer any serious harm, yet my mate had his first and sadly his last shock from a lawn mower (corded on wet grass).

I appreciate that the lawn mower would be high current in use, but he was a big strong man. When I was about 5 my brother dared me to put my hands around the bars of an old fashioned electric heater 'to see how long it would take to get hot'. I grabbed the bars, he switched it on and I was thrown the length of the room. I would have thought that was high current and I was a runt of a child at the time.

Rob,
From what you have said about your friends and now family, I am amazed you are still around to tell the tale!!

As an aside, if you are working on anything that you suspect might be 'hot' (as in live power), and you don't have a proper way to test, never ever grab the thing with your hand but knock the BACK of your hand against it. When you get a shock, the muscles contract and your grip is tightened and you can't let go. I always do this now out of habit, especially after being electrocuted one time and shutting down a complete distribution warehouse due to incorrect installation of a computer.
You were probably saved due to being a runt of a child and not having a good grip.

 

[YeoBlade]

The 3 phase kit I worked on would be isolated and locked off. I would then test it my self and the run my big heavy insulated screwdriver across all phases and to earth as well. Worked for me once as a final check, their spark said it was all isolated and locked off. But went bang when I shorted it out

 

[alcam]

I've decided to forget about it, buy a pie and get pissed instead.

A very sensible and , dare I say , popular solution

 

[edina]

In the dark ages. when 2 pin plugs were the norm, and I was working on tellys, the first thing you did was check chassis polarity.
I went to fit some coils to the tuner of a set I'd installed the previous day. Ended up on my rs, because hubby had decided to extend the mains lead with a 2 pin connector under the carpet. My fault, I should have checked

 

[MERL]

In the dark ages. when 2 pin plugs were the norm, and I was working on tellys, the first thing you did was check chassis polarity.
I went to fit some coils to the tuner of a set I'd installed the previous day. Ended up on my rs, because hubby had decided to extend the mains lead with a 2 pin connector under the carpet. My fault, I should have checked

As a kid I remember when my dad working on TVs with a great big "CAUTION. LIVE CHASSIS ' Label on the rear of the set and also inside after the back was off. 240v available on all exposed metal chassis parts is an excellent way of getting a belt. Like you say, only live if the live and neutral were transposed though. Everything was powered via a mains transformer in later models thank goodness.

 

[Robmac]

Rob,
From what you have said about your friends and now family, I am amazed you are still around to tell the tale!!

As an aside, if you are working on anything that you suspect might be 'hot' (as in live power), and you don't have a proper way to test, never ever grab the thing with your hand but knock the BACK of your hand against it. When you get a shock, the muscles contract and your grip is tightened and you can't let go. I always do this now out of habit, especially after being electrocuted one time and shutting down a complete distribution warehouse due to incorrect installation of a computer.
You were probably saved due to being a runt of a child and not having a good grip.

My father was a bit more sensible David.

He was an electrical engineer for Hawker Siddely and worked on major switchgear. One day he witnessed a colleague take a massive belt from a unit which they were told had been isolated. His colleagues eyes blew out of his head amongst other horrific injuries and his wrist watch melted on his wrist! Obviously he didn't survive.

After that whenever he was assured something was isolated he insisted that whoever told him showed him where it was isolated and then told him to stick their hand inside first.

 

[wildebus]

One thing I never liked doing was discharging the CRTs on monitors. Never had the proper tool to do it, just a long handled screwdriver.

 

[wildebus]

My father was a bit more sensible David.

He was an electrical engineer for Hawker Siddely and worked on major switchgear. One day he witnessed a colleague take a massive belt from a unit which they were told had been isolated. His colleagues eyes blew out of his head amongst other horrific injuries and his wrist watch melted on his wrist! Obviously he didn't survive.

After that whenever he was assured something was isolated he insisted that whoever told him showed him where it was isolated and then told him to stick their hand inside first.

never take anyones word for it!
In my warehouse case, the on/off switch was a single pole, so just disconnected what should have been live, not live AND neutral; and the lead was hardwired into the switch and went under the false floor in the computer room to a plug somewhere else and so impossible to remove; and finally the computer was an American one with american wiring colour standards which the installer either didn't understand or just didn't think about and reversed Hot/Live and Neutral.
Power tripped near-instantly to the whole building and I just got a little burn on my hand. What was I doing to the computer? Changing a light bulb on a tape drive! Can't get much more basic than that!!

 

[Robmac]

What was I doing to the computer? Changing a light bulb on a tape drive! Can't get much more basic than that!!

We would have to have one of our onsite IBM engineers do that David, and if it was overnight call one out.

Changing a bulb on an IBM 3420 tape unit was beyond your average peripheral operator!

 

[wildebus]

We would have to have one of our onsite IBM engineers do that David, and if it was overnight call one out.

Changing a bulb on an IBM 3420 tape unit was beyond your average peripheral operator!

I would never expect the operators to be asked to do that kind of work! Definately not within the scope of their job.

 

[Nabsim]

Rob,
From what you have said about your friends and now family, I am amazed you are still around to tell the tale!!

As an aside, if you are working on anything that you suspect might be 'hot' (as in live power), and you don't have a proper way to test, never ever grab the thing with your hand but knock the BACK of your hand against it. When you get a shock, the muscles contract and your grip is tightened and you can't let go. I always do this now out of habit, especially after being electrocuted one time and shutting down a complete distribution warehouse due to incorrect installation of a computer.
You were probably saved due to being a runt of a child and not having a good grip.

What you trying to say David, bankers are limp waisted?

 

[trevskoda]

Biz partners wifes sister was getting a rewire on the old house, chap doing it knocked the power of at fuse switches, he was up in the loft wiring and forgot his strippers so used his teeth to strip a lighting wire, meentime owner lady came in wanting a shower and noticed no lights, yep she flicked the mains switch and killed the chap in the loft who was in fact her cousin, his eyes to were poped, best to remove mains fuse and keep it in our pocket.