Emergency Call, Wife says, your lathe is running, I can’t stop it!!

[Janderso]

The scene,
I’m in my trailer at Richard King’s scraping class, last day.
I just woke up and made some coffee. The cell phone buzzes. Message, Emergency, call my right away. It’s from my wife.
I think, my kids? My Mother? My wife?
Jeff, your lathe is running! Say again? Your lathe is running and I can’t stop it!
Ok, I say to myself.
Hit the red button, which one? There are two. The one on the right.... nope.
Ok, on the wall next to it, there is a disconnect lever, push it down. It is down?
Ah, ok, go over to the sub- panel. What’s a sub-panel.
Over by the man door, side door, make sure the breakers are all off. They are off!
Pause......
I say Glenda, that’s impossible.
She says, oh wait it’s the garage door.
The garage door is running??
You mean the garage door motor is running?
Yes. Ok, try the button
She screams, NO, NO!
She says the sprinkler exploded on the garage door and all your tools are getting wet.
I say, go over to the sprinkler panel, you know, where I showed how to turn to auto? Turn to OFF
It’s not working, give it a few seconds.
Ok it stopped.
Whew, the sprinklers came on at their normal time. We had some workers over yesterday. They must have broken a sprinkler in the lawn.
Glenda, I say, all will be ok. Go over the tools with a towel and don’t worry about the floor.
I’ll be home this afternoon.
That’s how my day started.

 

[jwmay]

Well my wife and I both loved that story. I hope all is well on your return!

 

[kb58]

The scene,
I’m in my trailer at Richard King’s scraping class, last day.
I just woke up and made some coffee. The cell phone buzzes. Message, Emergency, call my right away. It’s from my wife.
I think, my kids? My Mother? My wife?
Jeff, your lathe is running! Say again? Your lathe is running and I can’t stop it!
Ok, I say to myself.
Hit the red button, which one? There are two. The one on the right.... nope.
Ok, on the wall next to it, there is a disconnect lever, push it down. It is down?
Ah, ok, go over to the sub- panel. What’s a sub-panel.
Over by the man door, side door, make sure the breakers are all off. They are off!
Pause......
I say Glenda, that’s impossible.
She says, oh wait it’s the garage door.
The garage door is running??
You mean the garage door motor is running?
Yes. Ok, try the button
She screams, NO, NO!
She says the sprinkler exploded on the garage door and all your tools are getting wet.
I say, go over to the sprinkler panel, you know, where I showed how to turn to auto? Turn to OFF
It’s not working, give it a few seconds.
Ok it stopped.
Whew, the sprinklers came on at their normal time. We had some workers over yesterday. They must have broken a sprinkler in the lawn.
Glenda, I say, all will be ok. Go over the tools with a towel and don’t worry about the floor.
I’ll be home this afternoon.
That’s how my day started.

I've received similar calls regarding our fish pond. "There's water shooting out of a pipe ."
"Which one and where?"
"A white one"
"Where?"
"Near the pond"
"No, where exactly?"
"I don't know"

Ugh...

 

[markba633csi]

So the sound of water sounded like a motor running? How did the tools get wet? Was it getting around the edge of the door?
I imagine you guys are still a little on edge since the fire
Mark

 

[benmychree]

Jeff, I did not laugh out loud, but ------

 

[Tom1948]

Guy calls home. Is the power back on? Daughter answers,( now she is a college graduate) I dont know dad but the AC is running.

 

[Reddinr]

Funny! Glad it turned out OK. I think we've all had those calls! It rung a bell for me anyway. Luckily I have one of the smart ones. Once we get past the initial panic, the rest of the remote troubleshooting goes well. One thing that helps us is to label everything. "MAIN PANEL", "GENERATOR DISCONNECT" and so on. The "where's waldo" part of the process goes much faster with labels.

 

[Karl_T]

years ago, my son called in a panic and said, "I was working on my car in the garage and it caught on fire. The fire extinguisher did not put it out. What should I do??"

"call 911"

Karl

 

[Tom1948]

I was out in town with a friend. His son called and said dad, I want to change oil in my motorcycle. How much does it take? Friend replies " It takes 4 quarts theirs some on the shelf." Son says all I see are gallons. This kid is 20 years old. True story. I bet he knows how to measure out 2 grams of pot.

 

[stupoty]

I was out in town with a friend. His son called and said dad, I want to change oil in my motorcycle. How much does it take? Friend replies " It takes 4 quarts theirs some on the shelf." Son says all I see are gallons. This kid is 20 years old. True story. I bet he knows how to measure out 2 grams of pot.

I got messed up by the units CWT once , took me ages to figure out "hundred weight" (which according to google is 112lbs), I had heard is used but never seen it written.

(It's a pulley block with a rating of 0.4 CWT by the way.)

Stu