coulda been a disaster

[Bacardibatman]

sorry woulda posted monday evening but had some other dramas since.

so im cooking dinner monday lunchtime ,cooker goes off and the lights flicker & go off a second or so later i look in the cupboard to check the fuse box to see if its tripped

i can see smoke & smell burning and see the box sparking quite badly


so i grab a piece of wood and hit the main switch off

i give a cpl of sparkies a call see if i can get hold to come fix and i also call southern electric emergency # (SE) as the box was only installed when we moved in 5-6 yrs ago

i tell them whats gone on and its the 2 mains supply wires coming into the box , they reply "nothing to do with us , call a domestic electrician"

eventually 1 of the sparkies comes out, apparently (according to the electrician) the electric company man hadnt tightened the mains wires up when it was installed and it was arcing which caused them to heat up and burn

i look after my grandmother (85)i asked her if" i hadnt been there what would she have done"

she replied either just left it, or tried turning it off with her hand both of which could have been potentially lethal.

now our fusebox is in a cupboard in the kitchen with paper towels ,tea towels and other linen in there not to mention other household cleaners aerosol cans etc that could easily have caught alight & led to the house gonig up as well as the neighbours

i found it completely off of SE to completely say it nothing to do with them when according to the electrician it was a faulty installation in the first place that caused it

i dont know if its worth contacting them again andletting them know

what do you think?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

How old is the house. Isn't there a 10 year gurantee on all new houses of some description and that the company that built it would be liable for faulty installation although proving that may be the biggest issue

 

[robbest3offthetee]

B, I would get onto them and not take no for a answer,say you had a potential fatal situation,and tell them you will contact someone like watchdog if they try and fob you off,thats the trouble these days,nobody is willing to take responsibility.....

 

[Bacardibatman]

Homer, no house is late 70's construction

but when My Gran bought it 5-6 years ago she got Southern electric to put a new fusebox in and check it all over


cheers Rob will give them email, send them all the photos i took & tell them what the sparky said about it

 

[Gillespie16]

You should get the sparky that cameand checked it for you to write a report or something as evidance to say what he said,and then contact you electrical company, and say it could of been a potential fatal situation,if they still say its not their problem then make it a legal matter.

 

[Bacardibatman]

cheers Gillespie ,will give him a shout, know him fairly well
both done work for each other before
and he's only from next village along