My first Mistake what was yours

[Dannypipe]

I once dropped a basin as I slid it from the back of the delivery van. Only dropped about 12" but went tinkle. I just threw it straight in the skip still in the box, didn't want to look. Said to the driver: 'when you get back, can you order me another one please'. Then I proceeded to swear loudly.

£200 gone just like that.

 

[villa_tom]

A firm I used to work for phoned me as I was on my way and asked me to look at a faulty rad at a property by my house. Reluctantly I said yes as it was an elderly tennant and it was quite cold. Anyway, get there and the rad in the bathroom was not working, faulty trv. Looked at the time and it was nearly half five and I suddenly remembered I had the villa, and it was the semi final of the carling cup (which we wone 6-4 against blackburn.YEAH). I looked at the rad and decided to snatch the valve as I was in a rush and the lady had been let down a few days earlier plus it was a wetroom. Anyway gets all my gear off the van, TRV, tools, dust sheets etc and settle down infront of the rad. Isolated and removed. Then as quick as I could removed the old TRV off the pipework and put my thumb over the pipe. But being stupid and rushing had forgotten to turn the heating off and before you knew it scalding hot water there and I had no choice but to remove my thumb. Somehow I managed to put the new valve on and finish the job. But ended up with a blister on my thumb the exact shape of 15mm pipe and soaking. I'll never do it again. You live and learn I suppose

 

[SafeGasInstall]

one of my first big mistake was ..
boiler change job,old boiler of gas test pass,cup the meter,then turn electric off took the 3amp fuse out ,then got my hose to drain down . when to how way rad nothing ,then kitchen nothing ,then living room yep one there! got my dust sheet down on the laminate floor got my jubilee clip on the hose screw driver and my grips .hose on the drain of quick look hmmm it look a bit green,was bit dark in that morning !got hose on jubilee on here it comes my grips ,start undoing and how thing just bl@@dy snapped off ,water p1$$!%G every where .....
panic attack strait got my thumb on it lucky me ,owner turned heating off 1 hour earlier and water was not hot to scold me....

ever since if i see greenish looking drainoff i know what to do !

lucky me did not get much water on the floor just a splash on the sofa which was dark brown leather and bit on the wall under the rad

 

[SafeGasInstall]

ohhhhhhh just remembered the biggest ever !!!!

boiler change job cancel work down in Lewisham,kitchen to be done ! Old boiler comes of and all the gas steal pipe work !First step ga s test and cupped meter! then i took boiler off, then i look around in the kitchen and see a 3/4 stel coming of the floor and and caped off ,went to my van picked up my stilsons and start undoing it but the it will not give as elbow under the concrete floor ! so i even try harder and guess is snapped of just as it comes of the floor and i could smell gas......as there was labours in kitchen taking off tiles off the wall i could not hear GAS coming out 3/4 old mains been left live in the kitchen !
here it comes panic attack again start shouting every one out ,every one evacuated there is me with my hand on trying to block 3/4 gas pipe ! my supervisor arrived he got every one out 100m away next door evacuated to !
Got did i $h1T my self ...............

well we got quick very clever solution ,brooms handle out and we pushed it down the pipe and waiting for the transco to come !they turned of the how estate off for that day !

It was old main to the house,when they change the main street gas the forgot to disconnect it and was left live !so if it did leak no one would now as it had just been caped of,so from then if you guys see 3/4 or 1" still coming from the floor and is just been caped make sure you undo the cap end take it from there!

I WAS EXTREMELY LUCKY, AS BY THAT TIME I DID NOT OWN RECIP SAW,AS I AM SURE THAT I WOULD HAVE START CATTING IT WHIT IT IF I HAD ONE!!!!

 

[mikegas]

brilliant, how many people at some point have taken off a trap and tipped the water away into the sink minus the trap youve just taken off ?......doh lol

ha ha ive done this a few times

 

[GQuigley67]

ha ha ive done this a few times

many times haha

 

[stevetheplumber]

I once dropped a basin as I slid it from the back of the delivery van. Only dropped about 12" but went tinkle. I just threw it straight in the skip still in the box, didn't want to look. Said to the driver: 'when you get back, can you order me another one please'. Then I proceeded to swear loudly.

£200 gone just like that.

id have given the driver 30 quid to take the blame

 

[stevetheplumber]

i once ordered 6 bathroom suites from wickes as they were cheap i think nearly every item was chipped broke or was wrong had a manth of hell running back and forth changing bits never again

 

[cjmcknight]

had been at college about 5 weeks and decided i was qualified enough to change a bath. drained cold water storage tank and removed old bath. The hot and cold feeds did not have any isolation valves so i fitted a couple. installed bath and re-filled tank. this is when i discovered (after calling my dad to rescue me) that 22mm pipe and 3/4" pipe are very different indeed.i had used 22mm olives and not 3/4"!!!

 

[tipintim]

My first mess was unblocking a kitchen trap. I disconected it and carefully poured the contents down the sink!
Think about it.

 

[Twinhawk]

My first mistake was on my **** 6 months helping....grinding unistrut.....set myself on onfire......first plumbing mistake bout 3 years in (forgetting stupid drips) forget the name, terrible for that, long trough like urinals concealed pipes behind wall from cisterns air locked.....water turned on 1 week before grand opening.....

 

[Twinhawk]

My first mess was unblocking a kitchen trap. I disconected it and carefully poured the contents down the sink!
Think about it.

Brilliant

 

[tipintim]

Got to be honest lads
I did that 25 yrs ago, and every time i take a trap off i have a little laugh at me

 

[buffy27]

i never made a mistake !
and i dont tell lies either ...

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

i never made a mistake !
and i dont tell lies either ...

not very honest then,LOL i heard all about that sweated leak you had,ceilings down,the full worksLOL

 

[buffy27]

the jury acquitted me of that flood .the 2 people who died were well in their nineties.how dare u mention this on a public forum !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

lol,glad you got acquitted, heard the carpet was foobarred though LOL

 

[tipintim]

When i was an apprentice, my boss would give the customer a 3 day gaurantee and a rubber dingi thrown in
if i done any work in that prroperty. Ive never been confidant since that.

 

[tipintim]

lol gasman

 

[tamz]

Some early examples of mistakes but looking back more like stupidity (it would take too long to go into detail but i may do later if anyone is interested)

Don't rod upstream on a choked factory sewage line.......circa 1973
Don't swap a 2" valve live in a school boiler house basement (coal fired sauna).......circa 1974 (this was a joint effort)
Don't cut into an un-purged 4" gas line with an oxy acetylene cutter..........circa 1975
Don't punch a bull on the head...........circa 1975
Don't sh@g your journeymans wife........circa 1976
Don't sh@g your bosses wife..........also cica1976,77,78,79

But my first mistake was walking in to the plumbers yard and asking if he had any jobs going and his mistake was saying yes

 

[SafeGasInstall]

like the 76,77,78,79 don't do think tamz !!!!

much respect ,well done !!!!!!!!!!

 

[PlumbBobBob]

my first mistake, i was changing a trv on a rad in a dining room with a cream carpet, all going well bungs in tank in loft pressure released plenty of sheets down no flow at all from pipe turned round to get trv to put on, gurgle from behind me, by the time i looked back the sheets were black and it was soaking through to the carpet. i was more upset than the customer. that was a lesson learned, have everything to hand even if you have to spread yourself out.

 

[Dannypipe]

Well I made one yesterday. Was between jobs, picking up a bacon roll. Phone goes, 'we've got a leaky washing machine valve'.

Nice easy job I think. I'll pop there between jobs. Go down there, and it's the comp fitting that's leaking. The machine is right next to the kitchen sink.

Look under sink, two stop cocks. Client informs me that one does the outside tap. So I turn them both off, turn easy enough. Run the kitchen taps, and it's off. Great I think.

Undo the compression joint and whooooosh! About 3 bar of pressure and I'm getting soaked fast. The client dashes to the front door where theres another stopcock and switches the water off.

Luckilly it's a concrete floor, they'd allready taken the lino up as it was being replaced. I got the wet vac out and cleaned it up. I was soaked. Told them no charge, (how could I charge?!) Felt like a prize TWA*.

Went to next job soaked to the skin, (I didn't have time to go home and change as he had to go out, and by the time I'd cleaned up the water I was running late).

Haven't made a school boy error like that in a long time. Very embarrassing, though in fairness, it was a fairly safe assumption that I'd knocked the water off.

Anyway, they insisted they pay me, and stuffed £40 in my pocket, bless em.

It can happen to anyone...no matter how experienced you get. A wee bit of complacency and you can be a wet plumber. Never good.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i had similar problem back in october. kitchen tap loose, no isolators turned off stopcock under sink water still running so had to get customer to turn bath and basin cold on full to take pressure off while i did a live snatch. got soaked and came down with bad cold next day. turns out stopcock was for outside tap!

 

[Twinhawk]

I saw this happen in Arts college. feed was undersized and pumps ovesized...the tanks about 12 feet high, aNd in the next one all the brackets started coming loose beacuse the walls where really damp when the glue was put in for the 10mm rod, hilti anchors just pushed the brick out. And then to top it all of i got in a fight with the diamond core drill....it won

 

[islandview]

I once went to fit a new shower valve and as i was doing it the shower kept dripping on my head. I decided to face it towards the door to stop it. When the job was done i went back to turn the water on but had left the shower on too so it was going all over the bathroomn floor and coming through the ceiling . I once fitted a new cloakroom basin for someone and decided the best place to put it together was in the kitchen. I put all the packageing on the tiled floor to work on but there was a small gap showing the corner of a tile. I put the basin straight on to that small area and bang went the basin. Luckily it was from b&q and they swapped it for another one free of charge. Ive also put an old toilet back after tiling the floor and cracked the cistern, i had only just started to turn the screw and it went. I think im just unlucky sometimes.

 

[Twinhawk]

I once went to fit a new shower valve and as i was doing it the shower kept dripping on my head. I decided to face it towards the door to stop it. When the job was done i went back to turn the water on but had left the shower on too so it was going all over the bathroomn floor and coming through the ceiling . I once fitted a new cloakroom basin for someone and decided the best place to put it together was in the kitchen. I put all the packageing on the tiled floor to work on but there was a small gap showing the corner of a tile. I put the basin straight on to that small area and bang went the basin. Luckily it was from b&q and they swapped it for another one free of charge. Ive also put an old toilet back after tiling the floor and cracked the cistern, i had only just started to turn the screw and it went. I think im just unlucky sometimes.

if im screwing them in and are stick for rubber washers i just start folding ptfe till its good and thick of wrap it round a penny washer then screw in, or just say to myself, f it SILICONE

 

[princegoose]

I fell into a 15000? litre oil tank in my first week as a plumber.

it was near empty, so it hurt.

 

[Reg Man]

Working in a care home 1979 as an apprentice plumber. Drilled through a wall in the kitchens. Liquid started coming out of the hole. Oh sxxt. Found out I had lost my bearings and drilled through a catering size tin of peaches in the kitchen store cupboard.

 

[Guest123]

As a first year apprentice, I was sent up the scaffold to paint the inside of the new gutters that we had fitted with bitumen paint. There were metres and metres of them and I was getting peed off painting them with a brush as it was taking me ages. Solution? I poured the tins of bitumen paint all along the lengths of guttering. Great I thought, but the paint just lay there half an inch thick all the way along and I knew that once I unblocked the outlets it was all going to run down the newly sand blasted walls as the downpipes weren't connected yet. In panic, I decided to dry the bitumen paint out quickly by setting it on fire! The flames ran for feckin miles and shot up the roof as the slaters hair felt caught fire too. Glasgow fire brigade had a very busy day that day. I got a bollocking but got let off lightly for being a daft boy who should have been under supervision. Oh the joys.....

 

[Bernie2]

Err! Learnt most of my job from the mistakes I made.

A wood beautician mate once said "You have not made a mistake if you can put it right!"

 

[WHPES]

When starting out years ago, drilled a hole in the wall for a WC overflow and drilled right through the soil stack. Fortunately it was for a relative who wasn't bothered provided I patched it up properly.

First mistake for a customer was when installing a set of sprinklers for a paint spray booth at a local auto repair shop. I installed 68 degree sprinklers (with the red bulb), but come Summer had them on the phone saying there was water everywhere. The sprinklers were under a skylight and the heat from the sun had broken the bulbs. Of course I should have fitted green ones (93 degrees C trigger)

The mistakes dont make any difference its knowing and learning how to give the bull to the customer its there fault. lol.

One guy (builder not plumber) who shall remain nameless I was working with on a job a few years back said he was called out to a flood from some pipework he did a few months previously. It was plastic pipe and one fitting hadn't been pushed home fully. He got out his file and filed away at the fitting, showed it to the customer and told them they needed to get some mouse traps down!

 

[GQuigley67]

One guy (builder not plumber) who shall remain nameless I was working with on a job a few years back said he was called out to a flood from some pipework he did a few months previously. It was plastic pipe and one fitting hadn't been pushed home fully. He got out his file and filed away at the fitting, showed it to the customer and told them they needed to get some mouse traps down!

think i'll use that excuse if it ever happens to me ha

 

[dontknowitall]

One of my trainers related a story of not sealing an old radiator. Took it downstairs and when he went back up there was a lovely black snake all the way over a new, white carpet.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

When starting out years ago, drilled a hole in the wall for a WC overflow and drilled right through the soil stack. Fortunately it was for a relative who wasn't bothered provided I patched it up properly.

First mistake for a customer was when installing a set of sprinklers for a paint spray booth at a local auto repair shop. I installed 68 degree sprinklers (with the red bulb), but come Summer had them on the phone saying there was water everywhere. The sprinklers were under a skylight and the heat from the sun had broken the bulbs. Of course I should have fitted green ones (93 degrees C trigger)

One guy (builder not plumber) who shall remain nameless I was working with on a job a few years back said he was called out to a flood from some pipework he did a few months previously. It was plastic pipe and one fitting hadn't been pushed home fully. He got out his file and filed away at the fitting, showed it to the customer and told them they needed to get some mouse traps down!

that is a good one

hungry mouses