Haha

[reprise]

I know this isn't really funny and that someone could have been hurt. But my next door neighbours have just asked me to go over there (small, female, not an electrician) and restore their power supply after they lost one phase of power when the washing machine spewed water all over the electrical lead running through their laundry.

It's not really difficult. Their house, like my own, has three phase power. Their house, like my own, is protected by both circuit-breakers and earth leakage protection devices.

So who is the Einstein to decided to overamp the fuse on the utility phase? 40 amps? You have GOT to be kidding. copper wire instead of fuse wire? Are you asking to be burned to death in your sleep?

Bottom line is that the next doors are still alive and healthy but very pissed off that they are missing one phase of power. I think they are candidates for the Darwin awards.

[Searching For Truth]

I always feel sorry for OPs that never get any replies. I bet they get lonely, don't you?

[Duck Duck Goose]

Er, consider the possibility that whoever owned the house before them was the Einstein who overamped the fuse? Our house had a Bizarro World fuse box when we moved in, relict of The Old Guy Who Used To Live In Your House Who Liked To Feed Pigeons And Who Paid Seven Thousand Dollars To Have Some Guys Come And Dig Up The Whole Side Yard To Fix The Leaky Basement. So we had a Bizarro World fuse box, a leaky basement, and dozens of pigeons in residence on the roof.