Welcome to the forum. Although you can post in any forum, the USA forum is here in case of local regs or laws

Install the app
How to install the app on iOS

Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.

Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.

New boiler swap, so new condesate had to be run round low level outside, so set up core drill have a look round, lecy meter box outside, measure up check dricetion of incoming mains all good miles away from anything, get out the core drill away we go, thought the first corse, clean out core and go again big bang cloud of smoke drill still spining!!! WTF!!! pull drill out look though core drilled all the way though mains lecy cable to next door!! Oh dear this is going to cost!! then next door comes round " have done something all my lecys gone off" better make the call!!

fortunatly the power guys said it should not have been installed like that, so your in the clear mate!! thank @@@@@ for that!!!
You should bought a few Lottos, with your luck (not becoming toast) you wouldn't be on here now.:icon12:
 
Doing a full central heating system a few monts ago, turned the stop tap of 25mm alk, tap was realy stiff, all day worrying about the stiff stop tap, turned it back on later that day, and just a trickle coming through the taps,, spent 2hours trying to locate another stop tap and calling tge water supplyer (useless), the next morning i arrive with a freeze kit and a new stop tap, left the freeze kit on fir the required time, cracket the nut on the stop tape , slowly undid the nut removed the tap, BANG ice plug blew out, mains water every were, so lucky the customer was away for a week
 
Not my mistake as such. But a long time ago, when I was an apprentice, (that was a long time ago) I was with a fitter, and we were to fit a new cooker at a top floor flat of a four storey building. We carried the new cooker up the stairs (no lift).
The new cooker was light as a feather compared to the old Cannon cooker we were to take out. The Cannon was one of the old mostly cast iron and steel frame type, bloody heavy.
The guy in charge said "we're not carrying this down the stairs, we'll chuck it off the fire escape at the back" which we did.
It landed in the back garden and pretty much disassembled itself in the grass.
As we were leaving, the old dear says "can you put the old cooker in the cellar because my friend wants it for her kitchen"
I can't remember what the outcome was, but I do remember we left pretty sharpish.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
Working in a monastery at my first "big" job fitting a shower room and basins, pipe runs were going through the loft. walking around in the loft with no torch and steel cap boots on tripped over and managed to kick the speed fit cap end the incoming mains feed, flooded a few rooms but luckily not the room a few feet away that was used to contain all the old statues and antic books. oh dear.
 
i,ve got hundreds of much ups but a good one was fitting one direction trv,s on the wrong pipe southampton job centre vibrated as the pumps belted against the closed valves
 
Ive had a few in the past like most, but the most costly one I ever did was to fit a 6 bar PRV on a combi, (both 3 and 6 bar PRV's I use have got red caps so didnt notice), cust left the filling loop on a few months later, which split the expansion vessel and most o ring seal joints and pi$$ed water through the ceiling.

Had to take the boiler off the wall to do repairs and repainted the ceiling for them FOC!!!
 
another one i remember was stripping out and first fixing for a loft conversion usual stuff rad and on suite with towel rail. got it all done without any issues there was no floor down just crawling boards on ceiling and steels in place everything mark out to some degree anyway just finished and as paking up and walking away triped up over the sparks wires he didnt clip up i went flying tools in hand feet through ceiling luky for me the customer had just got up from exactly underneth where i fell just moments before i put it all right foc for them
 
using my rothenburger torch thought it had turned off, put it behind me, then smell of burning, looked round to see 6 pot towels hung on the back door well alight and setting fire to blind on the door, unfortunately no water because that was what I was working on, emptied flask full of warm tea, still we learn.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Try setting fire to the building paper on a timber kit house for a heart stopper :lol:
now thats a pants filler when i was in tech years ago we set fire to one of the other trainees coat,he was wearing it at the time,now he did soil himself,nobody would say it was me funny at the time bloody stupid in hindsight
 
when i did welding at college one guy let the gun touch his clipper lighter which was on the bench took of his eye bvrows lashes and most of his beard looked like a god with his fiery halo
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
snapped in my hands 1 inch still pipe , uncontrolled old GAS MAIN in the kitchen not controlled by ECV ! national Grid loved it they turn the Gas OFF to the area
 
best lesson i learned never drink hard the night before if you have work.was a bit hung over and 2 months into working for myself. cutting up some floorboards on a big bathroom conversion and chopped through a hot and cold that i knw were there water everywhere. managed to mop up water and thought i had got away after a big red face apologies with cust. but lateon evening call to say had come down and wrecked a £1250.00 cooker. i now never drink if i'm working the day after. i replaced the cooker re boarded the ceiling and plastered the ceiling and the biggest bunch of flowers for the lady of the house. i finished the bathroom without a hitch after and have done loads of work for them since then which was 4 years ago.

the funniest one . was knocking some some bricks out with a lump hammer left the hammer on top step of step ladder. forgetting they were there folded step ladder to move it and half through moving the lump hammer fell off and hit me( fell about 2 feet) on my head before landing on the shower tray luckily i had folded a dust sheet about 4 times over so not a mark. but the sheet had gone from a cream colour to red from all the blood pouring out of my head. i sat down to take it easy for a minute and the cust came up to see what had happened and fell flat on his back when he saw all the blood. not funny at the time but now i still chuckle to myself when i think about it. were theres no sense theres no pain.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Only been plumbing a year...still on my apprenticeship but it seems as though loads has happened to me already. The lad who I work with left a 15mm pipeslice in the loft; I stood on it and went straight through the ceiling. Snapped a radiator bleed pin. My gaffa refuses to buy proper tile drill bits because "he's never cracked a tile before" new designer porcelain tiles...using an sds I made a lovely crack. Working on a bathroom in a massive house turned the water off and opened all the taps. When we went to fill up I had forgotten to close the taps in one of the cloakroom suites downstairs; tiny room, small sink. A good 10 minutes worth of mains water. Luckily customer was out for a couple of hours and I used 4 old dust sheets and a mop to soak up the water before anybody was any wiser. Lad I work with was adament that an old pipe under the boards was a dead gas pipe. Told me to cut it out whilst he went to merchants, low and behold it was cold and there was nobody there to turn water off. Gave it as long as I could with my finger over the end and gave up and ran to find the stoptap..just my luck I couldnt find it, doubt I need to explain the rest. When these things happen I feel like knocking it on the head and giving up, no doubt I'll make more mistakes in my time but I think I've learnt from the ones I've already made....hopefully!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person

Official Sponsors of Plumbers Talk

Similar plumbing topics

We recommend City Plumbing Supplies, BES, and Plumbing Superstore for all plumbing supplies.