The light socket next to my bed stopped working and the electrician says it's because both wires are positive. I asked him how it could have happened and he said he didn't know, it was very strange. Electricians of MetaFilter, what's happening here? When the outlet stopped working I called the property manager, who double-checked the fusebox. He then put in a work order for an electrician. The electrician came out, said a piece from something was broken, and replaced the whole thing. Normally I bug repair people with questions so I can learn, but this time I was so busy I didn't even stop to check if it was really working. It wasn't.
He came back out today, and the first thing he said was that he fixed it, he tested it. I told him no, it never worked. No problem, this time we'll test it to be sure. After some more work he tells me the reason it's not working is "because both the black and white wires are bringing power in, when one should be sending the power out." He had a tool that lit up, it's a circuit, it makes sense. But when I asked him how it could have happened, he said he didn't know, that it was very strange. And with that new information, he's coming back tomorrow with different tools to fix it.
Obviously it wasn't always like that since it's always worked. On his first visit he fixes a different problem and says it works, so the wires would have had to be fine. That would mean it switched some time between the time he left and a few hours later when I plugged things back in. He can't explain it. Assuming that's all correct, what happened here?
And in the chance that it's not something that could happen spontaneously, then what could it be? He's the only one who touched it, and he claims it was working when he left last time. Is there a different version of events that could have taken place? Did he just miss something? I'm not looking to blame the guy or get him in trouble. He works directly for the management company, he's one of the senior guys, and has been out here many times. But otherwise, something doesn't make sense.
He came back out today, and the first thing he said was that he fixed it, he tested it. I told him no, it never worked. No problem, this time we'll test it to be sure. After some more work he tells me the reason it's not working is "because both the black and white wires are bringing power in, when one should be sending the power out." He had a tool that lit up, it's a circuit, it makes sense. But when I asked him how it could have happened, he said he didn't know, that it was very strange. And with that new information, he's coming back tomorrow with different tools to fix it.
Obviously it wasn't always like that since it's always worked. On his first visit he fixes a different problem and says it works, so the wires would have had to be fine. That would mean it switched some time between the time he left and a few hours later when I plugged things back in. He can't explain it. Assuming that's all correct, what happened here?
And in the chance that it's not something that could happen spontaneously, then what could it be? He's the only one who touched it, and he claims it was working when he left last time. Is there a different version of events that could have taken place? Did he just miss something? I'm not looking to blame the guy or get him in trouble. He works directly for the management company, he's one of the senior guys, and has been out here many times. But otherwise, something doesn't make sense.