Henry - interesting failure mode

[Bob Eager]

This happened while SWMBO and I were out.

Older son was vacuuming the stairs (unusual, I know, but he needed to earn some cash). He was using the Henry, and took the end pipe off the give him a bare pipe with which to coax something off the carpet.

Henry was safely at the bottom of the stairs. He dropped the hose and pipe, and the pipe landed, end down, on the power cable. Flash, bang, pop! The sharp edge of the pipe severed the cable - both cores and all but about 25% of the outer insulation. MCB popped.

He hadn't a clue what to do, and was also worried by the beeping coming from my workshop (the power circuit on that side of the ground floor was now dead, and the UPS powering one of the servers, the one in the workshop, had leapt into life).

He was quite shocked (although not electrically). SWMBO found him standing in the hall about 10 minutes later, with not a clue what to do about anything. He wouldn't know an MCB if it bit him!

I'll fix the cable tomorrow - the cut is near the plug end so I'll probably just truncate it as long as the cable is workable.

[RCW]

Sounds like he needs some basic D.I.Y skill instructions and a few tips on how to reset breakers. Might be handy if he's stuck in future or you need him to reset stuff when you are away.

I'm sure TMH will offer his services for a cuppa, a tin of WD40 and the use of your angle grinder ;-)

[Bob Eager]

Believe me, I've tried. He just gets his younger brother to do it - if he's around.

[Brian Gaff]

How old is this son, I mean I could reset circuit breakers when I was8 and even rewire fuses etc. After all once the offending item is unplugged there is not danger in resetting it.

I'm a bit worried that people are not being taught this stuff. Brian

[Bob Eager]

He's 17! His brother is 15 and was certainly competent at the age off 11 if not earlier.

Older son is always scared he'll do something wrong.

[Tim Streater]

Is it worth asking him how he expects to cope when he's living on his own?

[Bob Eager]

No. Been there, done that. He's the kind of person TMH loves!

[fred]

In article , Bob Eager writes

Do you think you'll ever find out how it really happened ;-)

[Andrew Gabriel]

Like buggering up the vaccum cleaner? :-0

Not sure there's a lot you can do at 17, but building up his confidence, and his understanding that doing somthing wrong is part of that process, is quite important. I might have laughed at the vaccum cleaner just above, but laughing at his mistakes is definitely the wrong thing to do, as it will reinforce his fear of doing something wrong. Somehow making it clear that things like this are not unexpected would be a better plan, or he'll never touch a vacuum cleaner again.

Is there something in his past that might have lead to this? Maybe he's in awe of his little brother and feels any competition in this area between himself, you and his brother is doomed to failure? Depending on why he shys away from this area, and assuming you'd like to try and get him slightly knowlegeable, it might be worth thinking carefully who might be best placed to teach him a little. Again, depending on the underlaying reasons, that might not be you, or his brother, but someone outside the immediate family? Maybe a school holiday following along with someone like TMH might be a way? If you think he would be up to learning something from you, is there some project you might undertake, which you can say you need his help, at some time when his brother isn't around to do so?

Of course, everyone has different skills and interests - we aren't all good musicians, or good mechanics, or good doctors, or anything else you might think of. It may simply be that this is something he's never going to, although I can certainly understand that distressing any of the readership of this particular group, and it would me. If he's good at maths or physics, could you roll something like that into the task, particularly if it's something at a level he's covered already at school which his brother hasn't?

[Huge]

My thought exactly.

[Bob Eager]

No, there was no laughing. We just sympathised and pointed out what a small chance there was of this happening - which was why I posted the account, for interest.

He has got better - time was when brother always set stuff up for him. His skills are in different areas - he is an accomplished cook!

He isn't interested, but yes...we may try and line him up with someone.

He's not. He dropped them for A level a year ago. He's a languages and drama person, although he is probably going to train to be a chef.

[Bob Eager]

I did wonder. I suspect he didn't drop it, but threw it. The cut is quite close to the plug, and the cable was plugged into the socket situated halfway along the hallway. Even then, it's a strange thing to happen.

[Huge]

Like the time at a PPOE the comp ops snapped the door off a tape drive. Their explanation was some c*ck-and-bull story about tripping and grabbing hold of the open door.

I subsequently found out they were racing tape trollies up and down the machine room.

[Bob Eager]

Oh yes, there's a burn mark on the end of the chrome pipe, consistent with his story. I'm surprised it went so far in, so it may be that he was levering himself up using the pipe, while putting it on top of the cable..

[fred]

Yes, pole vaulting or spear chucking (at cheeky younger brother?) sound like likely fun diversions from nasty chores

[Halmyre]

Are you perhaps thinking of certain vacuum cleaner related activities?

That reminds me of Andy Parsons on 'Mock The Week' - "Imagine doing it with a Henry the Hoover, with that little face smiling up at you..."

-- Halmyre

[Bob Eager]

He was on his own at the time.

I'll try that soon, actually. Just waiting a bit first.

Good idea. I'm just off to repair the cable in a minute.

LOL!

[Brian Gaff]

Well all I can say about the actual incident is that it seems almost impossible for anything to fall with enough orce to damage a good cable in that way. I'm very suspicious that there is more to the this accident. Brian

[Tim Streater]

Ok then. The aspect of most concern is that, as you said, he didn't have a clue what to do next. Now, he may not have had a clue how to fix it, but ISTM that if he knows how to cope with stage zero and how to get someone to handle the rest, that's probably the best you can hope for. So, f'rinstance, water leak - turn off the water at the main and perhaps in other places. Does he know where the taps are and the number to call for a plumber. And so on.

In truth, that's all a lot of people can do. But what you don't want is

- something happens, freeze into inaction, can't cope.

[ARWadsworth]

When my parents had a new kitchen fitted at their holiday apartment the fitter managed to install the units in such a way that the gas could not be turned off.

When they complained he said "how I am I supposed to know, I am not a Corgi fitter?".