# Experts!



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Recently had three new leisure batteries fitted. As we were at a specialist company having other work done I thought I might as well just let them do it.

I watched them as they started, first thing they did was to remove all the fuses, four in total, from the wiring to the leisure batteries. Well OK I thought but they just dropped them in a heap having taken no notice of which value of fuse went where. I picked them up and laid them out in the correct order from left to right and pointed out to them that I had done so because I wanted them put back with the right fuses in the right places.

That was a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I tried emptying the black tank using the macerator (pump). It ran for about five seconds and then stopped leaving me with 10ft. of 3 inch pipe full of sh1t to deal with. Not a nice job.

This morning I decided to see what the problem with the pump was and discovered that my "experts" had not replaced the fuses in the correct order. They had put a five amp fuse in the macerator power line. No wonder it stopped working. The fuse lasted just a few seconds as you would expect. Fixed now and working well. The other fuses are back in the right places too.

God preserve me from experts. I do almost all my own work because I don't trust the buggers. This confirms that I was right.

It would have been quite inconvenient had that happened to someone who didn't know what to check for, especially as we are now in the middle of France and don't speak the language.

Beware of experts, watch everything and take nothing on trust, Alan.


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## RabnSue (Apr 3, 2013)

*Fuse holder*

Hi Alan....on the the subject of fuses..

We're in Germany at the moment in our motorhome but on the way via France, Luxembourg and Belgium one of the two wires that go into the fuse holder under the bonnet (which strangely just hangs there in mid-air with no particular housing for it) came out and consequently burnt out the 25amp fuse....the wire will not go back in properly so I have used the trusted gaffa tape temporarily to hold everything together until we get back to England to get the part and have it sorted...this is on top of developing a leak during heavy rain above the bed which is over the cab, it looks like the 'join' on the roof is letting the rain in and it never stops raining here so we're having fun! lol

Do I trust the 'experts' to get these jobs done?....makes you nervous doesn't it?


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

*Re: Fuse holder*



RabnSue said:


> Hi Alan....on the the subject of fuses..
> 
> We're in Germany at the moment in our motorhome but on the way via France, Luxembourg and Belgium one of the two wires that go into the fuse holder under the bonnet (which strangely just hangs there in mid-air with no particular housing for it) came out and consequently burnt out the 25amp fuse....the wire will not go back in properly so I have used the trusted gaffa tape temporarily to hold everything together until we get back to England to get the part and have it sorted...this is on top of developing a leak during heavy rain above the bed which is over the cab, it looks like the 'join' on the roof is letting the rain in and it never stops raining here so we're having fun! lol
> 
> Do I trust the 'experts' to get these jobs done?....makes you nervous doesn't it?


If you are reasonably confident that you can do it yourself then I think you should, at least you will know what was done and how it was done, Alan.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

I know exactly what you mean and am reminded of;

*
"Noah's Ark was designed and built by amateurs.............

the Titanic was designed and built by professionals........." * 8O

make of it what you will, and then do your own things under guidance....

Dave


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## camallison (Jul 15, 2009)

Expert ........ derived from Ex, meaning "has been" and Spurt, meaning "drip under pressure".  

Colin


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## emmbeedee (Oct 31, 2008)

erneboy said:


> Beware of experts, watch everything and take nothing on trust, Alan.


You're right, Alan, I can still vividly remember (30 odd years ago now) when I almost "bought it" due to the actions of so-called experts. I was self-employed at the time & had a modification job to do on a mortising machine. My work was purely mechanical, but I had to remove the large main electrical panel from the rear of the machine in order to carry out my job. Remembering the warnings from my apprenticeship, I switched off at the low-level busbar & removed all three fuses (440 volt three phase supply).
Imagine my horror when I discovered the machine was still live & working. I stared in disbelief at the switch, in the off position, the three removed fuses, & the machine running. I was working on my own, after hours in the empty factory & I had to sit down for a few minutes to recover.
Investigating, I found that the incoming cable, (in flexible conduit from above) went around the back of the fuse holders, bypassing the fuses and the switch. Then, again in flexible conduit, out of the bottom of the switch/fusebox to the machine. Looking up to the factory ceiling, I spied a second busbar at high level, with another row of switch/fuse boxes. The incoming cable emerged from one of these, so to isolate the machine required a ladder. 
I called the factory owner & gave him a few choice words of advice, assuming either him or his employees were responsible. He came down to the factory immediately & informed me that a local electrical contractor had carried out the installation. We then discovered that the whole row of machines had been wired in the same way, so his insistence to his employees to switch every machine off at night had been meaningless. They had no knowledge of the high level busbar & switch/fuse boxes.
When he remonstrated with the electrical "experts" the next morning, their excuse was "Well you wanted a quick job done". Priceless.


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

I had my van attended to by 'experts' earlier this year.

The auto electrician gave me 2 days work rectifying his butchery.

The electrician that fitted the reversing sensors charged me top dollar and fitted a cheap and nasty kit and fitted black sensors in a grey bumper. A few months later they don't work properly.

I had a bit of damp ingress seen to ...... the jury is still out on that one. :roll:


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I feel I should complain but I daren't because I will need parts from these people in the future, Alan.


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## VanFlair (Nov 21, 2009)

camallison said:


> Expert ........ derived from Ex, meaning "has been" and Spurt, meaning "drip under pressure".
> 
> Colin


I was going to quote that and then looked at the spelling of spurt/pert so did'nt bother.

Thanks for saving me the bother.

Martin


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

erneboy said:


> EDITED Recently had three new leisure batteries fitted. As we were at a specialist company having other work done I thought I might as well just let them do it.
> 
> God preserve me from experts. I do almost all my own work because I don't trust the buggers. This confirms that I was right.
> 
> Beware of experts, watch everything and take nothing on trust, Alan.


Have a look at this Alan, they may not have fitted the batteries the correct way either


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Their are some cowboys out there, but their's also some damm good blokes. I have worked with both sorts, often but not always came down to whether they had done an apprenticeship or not. 

Ian


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