Daftest or most humourous thing you`ve been asked for/about

ebee:

The 2 way lighting thingy is an "old chestnut".

I had a customer, large house, plenty of rooms and I kept switch drop chases to a minimum, therefore quite a few ganged switches which pleased her because it made life a lot easier too. Over the moon with the job. Great.


But, didn`t like to have lightswitches with some up/some down, wanted `em all same orientation at all times whether lights on or off.


 

What about turning one of the 2 way switches upside down?? Haha... I'm too stressed, at this time, to work this out!!! ?

AdrianWint:

"Electricity is like a kind of water"


Remember when you leave batteries in something too long and they leak? That's the electricity coming out!


I was also told that, in days long gone, one of the reasons that the older generation feared electricity is that they believed it was some kind of invisible water like substance. One popular myth is that if you left the lamp out of a fitting with the switch on, this invisible 'electric water' would drip out of the lampholder during the night & pool on the floor. If you stepped in it the next morning it would kill you.

This reminds me of my perceptions of electricity when I was a very small child. Snippets of information I had received included "Electricity is dangerous," and "Electric heaters use much more electricity than lights."


In our school hall, in the austere early 1950s, it was common for one or two of the long light pendants to have a bulb missing, purloined for use in a more critical place, i.e. a classroom. During morning assembly I was very careful not to stand under one of these bulbless fittings. I did not want electricity to dribble down onto my neck.


I observed that when radiant electric heaters were switched off, it took a little time for the red glow to disappear. I presumed this was because of the large amount of electricity it used; it took time to drain back into the power socket. One day someone switched off a radiant heater and unplugged it immediately, with the element still glowing. I was most alarmed and shouted, "Don't do that," worried that electricity was going to drain into the room and electrocute us.

AJJewsbury:

Chris Pearson:

It's a funny old thing. Sockets unequivocally up = off, down = on. Lights up = off, down = on, both up or both down = off. 


So why is up = on in a CU? ??

It's a peculiarly UK things to have up for off(*) - most of the rest of the world (including the continent) are the other way around - hence when we started using European/international standards for CU components we adopted the more common arrangement. Lightswitches we can still orient whatever way we prefer.


. . .


   - Andy.

Actually this dates back before consumer units. In the houses of my childhood there were no consumers units as such - just large metalclad switches, one for lights, one for power, possibly one for the immersion heater, with separate fuseboards. All these switches were up for on.


An exception is the neon sign switches one sees on the outside walls of buildings with neon lights. These are up for off - so that, if called to a fire, the firefighters can isolate the neon sign by using a pole to knock the switch to the off position.

ebee:

The 2 way lighting thingy is an "old chestnut".

I had a customer, large house, plenty of rooms and I kept switch drop chases to a minimum, therefore quite a few ganged switches which pleased her because it made life a lot easier too. Over the moon with the job. Great.


But, didn`t like to have lightswitches with some up/some down, wanted `em all same orientation at all times whether lights on or off.


 

I have adopted a personal standard I have used when I have installed or serviced two-way switched circuits.


Switches in same positions - light on.

Switches in opposite positions - light off.


I do not think there is any regulation that prescribes this. I just think it makes life easier. It also matches up better to schematic circuit diagrams that explain how two-way switching works.