Why a little knowledge can be dangerous.

[Grizzly]

Last summer over the phone.
I passed on a "Trick" to help a site facilities engineer get his office block chiller going.
He phoned asking for advise as his Basement sited chiller would not run and being summer the building was getting rather hot.
After asking a few questions it became apparent that the "plant room" was so warm the chiller ambient probe was stopping the chiller from running.
Just wet or dampen the probe to drop the sensed ambient temp says I and the chiller will run.

3 or 4 months later I attend site to carry out the scheduled maintenance visit.
( the previously mentioned Engineer was on Holiday)
When I walked around the back of the chiller I noticed said ambient probe sat in the neck of a Glass cordial bottle, with the water level within just below the probe.
This had obviously evaporated over the time span it had been there.
At the same time as noticing this "set up" I became concerned about the amount of oil around the Suction pipework and 1/4" Transducer/ gauge line the neck of this bottle was leaning across.
When I lifted the bottle away there was a hissing sound.
The glass bottle which as it vibrated whilst the chiller was running had worn away the copper pipe, creating a perfect concave shape within the pipe.
Which in turn matched perfectly the shape of the neck of the bottle. The bottle itself had almost no marks upon it, just refrigerant oil around it.

At the time I did take photos but my camera malfunctioned and I could not recover any of them to post.

So an innocent "Just" in the wrong ear can create a real problem. In fairness to the guy I have never seen that happen before.
But then again preventing two surfaces rubbing together is basic engineering!
Grizzly

[frank]

But then again preventing two surfaces rubbing together is basic engineering!
Grizzly

That's caused me a few headaches in the past...and the offending leak always seems to be in the 'hard to reach with your brazing torch' area

[Quality]

I had a similar two surfaces rubbing together scenario, one being a copper tube the other a aluminum cased capacitor !
The copper won as the capacitor wore through first and shorted to earth tripping the rcd which would not reset unit the two were separated

[thebigcheese]

i knew a guy that always left the cappilerys from hp lp rubbing so he would get an other call later on in the year

last time i heard he'd changed his company name for the 4th time in as many years

[Brian_UK]

I had a similar two surfaces rubbing together scenario, one being a copper tube the other a aluminum cased capacitor !
The copper won as the capacitor wore through first and shorted to earth tripping the rcd which would not reset unit the two were separated

My luck with that sort of thing was that the electrical arc blew a hole in the copper.

Mind you the escaping gas blew out the spark.

[stufus]

Think that's bad ???
I came across a guy when I was serving my time(not literally).
Who if he couldn't find a small a leak would leave a dumpy connected to the system with the valve barely cracked.
And say "sure I'll get back to it"
Cheers
Stu

[monkey spanners]

Had a customer complain that when he washed out the condenser, water went everywhere.... After a bit more questioning it turns out he didn't switch the unit off first

[Bigfreeze]

Think that's bad ???
I came across a guy when I was serving my time(not literally).
Who if he couldn't find a small a leak would leave a dumpy connected to the system with the valve barely cracked.
And say "sure I'll get back to it"
Cheers
Stu

Well it worked didn't it.

FFS some people are just so fussy

My own favourite oops, was a guy I used to work with.
Went around the yard for 2 days boasting about his new Hilti core drill and the extensions he had for it.
Went out to a pub where he had to install a split with the outdoor the opposite side of the wall in an alley.
Himself and the apprentice commence drilling and half an hour later they're still not through and still adding extensions.
Go out side and see where that f**kin drillbit is he says to the apprentice. Out heads the apprentice. he finds the drill, gone out through the wall, across the alley and in through the next door wall. Out goes the apprentice next door, which happens to be fast food restaurant Eddie Rockets, into the jacks where he finds the end of the bit cutting into the jacks and the clown the other side still drilling.
Apprentice races back and drags out yer man. Two of them staring into the jacks and the manager arrives over. Whats going on here says the manager. Wheres Eddie Rocket says the clown on the drill. I'll only speak to Mr Rocket!!

[stufus]

For those other members not fluent in irishish
The jacks= The lavatory =The bog=The thunder box= The crapper=The privey=The ****ter =The loo.
Or my personal favourite =Home
Hey Big freeze ! Your,e not around the Waterford area are you??
Cheers
Stu

[Bigfreeze]

For those other members not fluent in irishish
The jacks= The lavatory =The bog=The thunder box= The crapper=The privey=The ****ter =The loo.
Or my personal favourite =Home
Hey Big freeze ! Your,e not around the Waterford area are you??
Cheers
Stu

Nope, Stu. You have to head west to find me

[stufus]

Nope, Stu. You have to head west to find me

Wasn't you so
Cheers
Stu

[pago]

i had a similar problem ,a walk in beer cooler not playing the game.no visual problems,initialy .after start up and run,guages reading same psi.after a quick smoke traced fault to hi/lo service pipes going to switch crossed and rubbing together making a reasonably good seal.[better than some plumbers i know] !!
pago.

[pago]

what about ye me man,its pago here up in ballymena co antrim i think i know the boy ye mean.he used to say / if i cant fix it i;ll leave it that nobody else will/ his favourite tools were a pair of /bacho/ shifting spanners [quality] vice grips a small sharp cold chisel /think surgical instruments / a claw hammer [multi functional] and a light bulb with trailing leads again [multi functional] a paint brush and some fairy liquid .half an ounce and rizlas not forgetin the ol zippo.he drove around in a skoda and ran it oh a mix of petrol and cellulose thinners.he got by.fair play te him.

[innyscotty1]

After reading some of these stories and wiping away the tears from laughter, the old grey matter kicked in and various incidents came flooding back. With saying that and keeping to the title of, why a little knowledge can be dangerous in mind, I had to pick the following one that sums it up.
It was my second week as an apprentice and was told to work the weekend at an M+S (some where in the UK. LOL) I was teamed up with this 2nd year apprentice who shall we say, new everything to know about the trade. You now the type, we all know one. LOL. So to cut a long story short, picture a long hard installation of 3-4 months and there being only a simple 12 meters of liquid line to be connected up in the header station. You picture it? Then think of a 3rd year know it all spotty apprentice gobbing of when he was told to haul the Oxy/Acet seven floors to the roof and install this final pipe work. Still with me? Know finally picture this know-all noticing that there was a pipe run tucked in the corner with a dirty label saying, DO NOT TOUCH. Then he noticed that this pipe run with the dirty label saying, DO NOT TOUCH was near to where his run was to be. Deciding that this pipe must be redundant and with cutters in hand, he cut into this pipe that had the dirty label that read, DO NOT USE and connected it to the main liquid line. After a quick check of the joints we returned down to the plant room to watch the lads firing up the plant. After only 30 mins, I started to notice a few puzzled looks on their faces. When I asked what was going on I was told that they had no back pressure, and then at that moment, all hell was let loose. Watching men bounding up ten steps at a time, and hearing the sounds of grown men crying echoing from the roof, I guessed all was not good. Making my way to the roof, I quickly noticed every one huddled around the header station and someone with a DIRTY label in his shaking hand that read, WATER SUPPLY FOR REFRIGERATION PLANT, DO NOT TOUCH. You just can imagine the rest I am sure with only 48hrs to hand over. You had to be there. .
Cheers