we are all quick to say how good we are and to let others know what they need to know..but who among us have made the best blunder ,mistake,botch up etc........i'll start,i took a stat out of a vokera thinking it will be the same as the baxi i had done the day before,but to my horror it was not in a pocket it was in the live pipework,and you can quess what happened,needless to say i did not make the same mistake again and it took a while for my boss to see the funny side of it...WHAT YOURS.
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View the thread, titled "Misstakes...?" which is posted in UK Plumbers Forums on UK Plumbers Forums.
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SimonJohns
Gas Engineer
Me and the apprentice instigated a flood of a 3 story office block. On top floor :s
cylindrical heat exchanger rolled off the side when my back was turned, made a tiny chip half the size of a 5p coin, customer wanted 750 for a new wooden floor.
fitting a bathroom years ago, there was some really well stuck on tile adhesive which i just couldnt get off the bath, one of the joiners gave me a bottle with no label on it and said this will get it off, after rubbing the unknown solvent onto the bath i somehow left a little puddle of it in the bath, came back the next day to find the smooth white finish on the bath had bubbled and warped where this "amazing" solvent had been. to say i almost cried would be an understatement. its funny now but at the time it was the end of my life as i knew it. moral of the story...... never listen to a joiners advice. haha
B
Billy Bob Bob
changing a EV on a worcs 24 cdi with the older gas valve solenoids round the back had taken the rivots out of the LH side,HEAVY FULL OF WATER EV slipped sideways killing the gas valves fragile,plastic solenoids,that was along time ago i had only been corgi reg for a year,the old man was right p@@@@@@
T
tamz
Experience is a hard teacher. You get the test before the lesson and never forget it.
Done plenty stupid (and costly) things in my time.
Done plenty stupid (and costly) things in my time.
Only the other day, I was getting some funny results on a heating system I fitted....won't bore you with it all. Electric boiler, and I was pumping water the wrong way through it.
I'd put the pump in the wrong way round. Didn't take me long to realise what I'd done, but was still a silly mistake to make. Luckilly no harm done to boiler or pump. That was only this week. I've made a fair few others. Its called human error for a reason. We all make em. Its if you make them every week that you need to start questioning whether you're in the right job.
I'd put the pump in the wrong way round. Didn't take me long to realise what I'd done, but was still a silly mistake to make. Luckilly no harm done to boiler or pump. That was only this week. I've made a fair few others. Its called human error for a reason. We all make em. Its if you make them every week that you need to start questioning whether you're in the right job.
T
tamz
Fitted a worcester ri a few weeks ago. I had it all piped up and the boy was away to the chippy so i tested the gas while waiting on him to come back to fill it. Open end¿¿¿
I'd connected the flow onto the gas connection and gas to the flow. Good job i never filled it up then tested it!
I had it swapped over before he got back so he couldn't get the chance to get his own back and call me a halfwit just for a change.
I'd connected the flow onto the gas connection and gas to the flow. Good job i never filled it up then tested it!
I had it swapped over before he got back so he couldn't get the chance to get his own back and call me a halfwit just for a change.
G
Gray0689
Wired up a plug in a solar install all ok so I thought
Then was told by very unhappy spark that I had wired plus wrong they spent 3 days trying to find out why the power kept tripping out when pump tried to power up the power tripped wups lol
But over years been plenty of silly mistakes
And as tamz has said some costly
Then was told by very unhappy spark that I had wired plus wrong they spent 3 days trying to find out why the power kept tripping out when pump tried to power up the power tripped wups lol
But over years been plenty of silly mistakes
And as tamz has said some costly
Done the usuals like crossing hot and cols, emptying traps down sinks/basins with - suprise, suprise - no trap attatched
Cracked a bath, cracked a basin, chipped a pan. All had to be replaced at my cost. Not chipped a shower tray but had couple of close calls dropping tools on them.
Fitted and filled a towel rad without the centre spacers on the brackets. Drain time...
Fitted a towel rad upside down...drain time..
Changed bath taps - put bath panel back - put vanity unit back (was in way, had to be removed first) - basin back - plumb everythng back in - screw everything back in - silicone basin line back to tiles - turn on water....ah. never checked bath tap connections with water on...EVERYTHING OUT
I've set off about 4 of 5 mini floods (i.e. turn mains on in street with something left undone, trot in, hear a woosh, belt it outside again.) Either usually get lucky or have a bucket full come through the ceiling
And that all in about two and half years.
Unplumbing related.. reversed twice into the same car - 2 mins apart - with someone in it - when I first got my (first ever) van. They were so very, very happy.
Cracked a bath, cracked a basin, chipped a pan. All had to be replaced at my cost. Not chipped a shower tray but had couple of close calls dropping tools on them.
Fitted and filled a towel rad without the centre spacers on the brackets. Drain time...
Fitted a towel rad upside down...drain time..
Changed bath taps - put bath panel back - put vanity unit back (was in way, had to be removed first) - basin back - plumb everythng back in - screw everything back in - silicone basin line back to tiles - turn on water....ah. never checked bath tap connections with water on...EVERYTHING OUT
I've set off about 4 of 5 mini floods (i.e. turn mains on in street with something left undone, trot in, hear a woosh, belt it outside again.) Either usually get lucky or have a bucket full come through the ceiling
And that all in about two and half years.
Unplumbing related.. reversed twice into the same car - 2 mins apart - with someone in it - when I first got my (first ever) van. They were so very, very happy.
M
Mike Jackson
The best ones are always when you're working with someone else. Did a boiler swap and rad upgrade a few years ago with a colleague. He shot off to grab a few bits while I refilled the system. The customer remarked to me that she could tell that the system was filling because of the rushing water sound. This didn't sound right and I wandered out into the conservatory to find a couple of inches of water on the floor. Water was pouring out of the drain off. Whenever I drain down I always tighten the drain off as soon as I remove the hose. My colleague doesn't, he tightens them all before filling. If I'm working with someone else I'll always check drain offs and air vents now as that would have been disatreous if it had been in a carpetted area instead of a tiled conservatory.
P
Pipes Plumbing
last year, working in an ac with a particularly 'interested' customer over my shoulder asking a million questions and generally being a pain in the bits...
identified the pipe i needed to cut and that I'd spent a while draining down.
got distracted by the customer bumbling on about why this, how come that etc etc, lost concentration for a second and whizzed my pipeslice straight through the live rising main instead...
You should have seen the customers face as mains pressure cold went everywhere! Thank god for a speedfit stopend always in the pocket!!
Certainly raised the heartrate a bit that one!
identified the pipe i needed to cut and that I'd spent a while draining down.
got distracted by the customer bumbling on about why this, how come that etc etc, lost concentration for a second and whizzed my pipeslice straight through the live rising main instead...
You should have seen the customers face as mains pressure cold went everywhere! Thank god for a speedfit stopend always in the pocket!!
Certainly raised the heartrate a bit that one!
just do basil fawlty type cover-up: "oh, would you prefer cold?"
G
Guest123
Got cold feed and cold mains mixed up with hot supply to a TMV. Didn't have to worry about the water being too hot as now there was only a choice of cold or cold!
As a daft boy I set fire to 30 metres of guttering as I thought that if I dried the bitumen paint coating inside the gutters with a blow torch it would dry faster!
Again as a daft boy, I marked all the rainwater boxes that I cleared with a chalk cross, then the scaffold came down....
As a daft boy I set fire to 30 metres of guttering as I thought that if I dried the bitumen paint coating inside the gutters with a blow torch it would dry faster!
Again as a daft boy, I marked all the rainwater boxes that I cleared with a chalk cross, then the scaffold came down....
Not my mistake but............Lent customer my stand key for turning off the mains at the bottom of the drive. His misses was away picking up a new car. Well you can guess what happened next. He left the key in situe whilst checking the water was off. His wife came back and drove into the key. Pierced radiator, bent and broken numberplate/bumper assembly. £2100 of damage to the Merc. Less than 6 miles on the clock. Priceless!
Its funny but I didnt think women could swear so bad.
Its funny but I didnt think women could swear so bad.
Mine doesn't seem as good now after those but while fitting a bathroom a few years ago, I came downstairs to turn the water back on (after doing pipework), and instead of going straight back upstairs to check for leaks I got chatting to customer in living room (blond in her 20's:drool5🙂. I was aware of a rushing sound but just thought it was toilet filling. Then the ceiling opened up like a cullinder and water was running through every plasterboard join in the ceiling, all over their dinner on the table, all over the TV/Xbox, all over her college work, sofa and carpet.
I raced back to the stoptap and turned it off and went upstairs, I almost didn't dare look in the bathroom as I could see the landing carpet was soaked, one of the iso valves was open on the new basin pipework, the water had shot up to the ceiling and then back down and through all the holes in the floor, the bathroom was totally swimming (all this at 7:00pm when I was just finished) I went back downstairs to face music, I could have literally hacked off my own head to get away from what I was faced with. I spent the next 2 hours punching holes in the ceiling and draining into buckets, just when you thought it was all out another area would start to sag.
All this in a newly decorated room. :ack2:
I raced back to the stoptap and turned it off and went upstairs, I almost didn't dare look in the bathroom as I could see the landing carpet was soaked, one of the iso valves was open on the new basin pipework, the water had shot up to the ceiling and then back down and through all the holes in the floor, the bathroom was totally swimming (all this at 7:00pm when I was just finished) I went back downstairs to face music, I could have literally hacked off my own head to get away from what I was faced with. I spent the next 2 hours punching holes in the ceiling and draining into buckets, just when you thought it was all out another area would start to sag.
All this in a newly decorated room. :ack2:
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Back in the days when just about the only combi around was the Vaillant Sine 18. I encountered my first expansion vessel.
This was situated in the airing cupboard upstairs and the wall mounted boiler was in the kitchen downstairs.
I removed the PRV above the boiler to clean it. Then I decided to go upstairs and pump up the expansion vessel, leaving the householder sitting opposite the boiler reading a paperback book. I pumped the vessel up, and then I heard the scream from downstairs at more or less the same time as a loud gurgling from the pipework. As I dashed downstairs, the guy passed me on the stairs. He looked like a Zebra. He had black stripes on his glasses, his shirt and trousers. Downstairs in the kitchen, things were no better. The brown Hessian wallpaper behind where he had been sitting, had the black outline of a man sitting reading a paperback book. It's funny to think back on it now (the guy himself actually saw the funny side) but heart stopping moment back then.
This was situated in the airing cupboard upstairs and the wall mounted boiler was in the kitchen downstairs.
I removed the PRV above the boiler to clean it. Then I decided to go upstairs and pump up the expansion vessel, leaving the householder sitting opposite the boiler reading a paperback book. I pumped the vessel up, and then I heard the scream from downstairs at more or less the same time as a loud gurgling from the pipework. As I dashed downstairs, the guy passed me on the stairs. He looked like a Zebra. He had black stripes on his glasses, his shirt and trousers. Downstairs in the kitchen, things were no better. The brown Hessian wallpaper behind where he had been sitting, had the black outline of a man sitting reading a paperback book. It's funny to think back on it now (the guy himself actually saw the funny side) but heart stopping moment back then.
M
midge
Many years ago before I had gained much experience, i had the job of changing a wet well thermostat on a Diplomat 100 boiler. The guys at the depot had said with a straight face that if I did it quick I could swap over the wells without draining down the system.
Boy did they laugh after I had flooded the house.
Boy did they laugh after I had flooded the house.
P
PlumbBobBob
my first and worst mistake involved cream carpet and old sludged ch system. customer took it quite well under the circumstances.
think ive done most of those listed above plus
2 inch water main firing the lenghth of selfridges food hall after a vale wasnt tightened on
using oxy cutter to remove lift shaft ironwork in liberties and caught light to a mop that the cleaner had hidden amazing how much smoke one mop can produce enough to bring 4 fire engines and evacuate the store
2 inch water main firing the lenghth of selfridges food hall after a vale wasnt tightened on
using oxy cutter to remove lift shaft ironwork in liberties and caught light to a mop that the cleaner had hidden amazing how much smoke one mop can produce enough to bring 4 fire engines and evacuate the store
G
Ged Simpson
My real name is Captain Schettino and I can only think of one mistake I made.
G
Guest123
A lot of honest people here admitting that we're all human and make mistakes! Keep the stories coming, this is a very entertaining thread!
i ran a gas supply to an orphanage using speedfit
Must have been some heat to set fire to a damp mop? :49:
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