Copper thieves broke into the Heaton Park sub-station, about 150 yards from where we live and stole the copper neutral bars on Wednesday last week.

Unfortunately even though they must have made a noise kicking one of the grills in no one was around because of the football match.

Electricity Spikes Start Happening

Around 9pm I noticed that the Internet was no longer available but didn’t think anything of it as that sometimes happens, even on fibre optic cable broadband.

For those who don’t know removing the neutral bars means that you get voltage spikes, and those spikes can damage appliances and other electronic gadgetry.

Anyway, on waking late the next day I realised the radio/alarm was dead, even though the lights still worked. I checked the broadband – still no Internet. So I checked the wireless router – dead as a Dodo. So I went off to Maplin with the router and discovered the power supply had gone to the Great Electronics Store in the Sky. So I bought a new one and went home – to discover United Utilities had turned off the electricity because it wasn’t safe!

Workmen Drop Bombshell About When Electric Returns

When I wandered over to the sub station to ask the workers how long it would be I was told the sorry story and also that we wouldn’t be getting it back for two days, plus even when we got it back the house electric wiring needed testing before they could put supply back on for us!

So…

What Were The Consequences?

Freezers! We needed to empty 2 freezers of food that was going to thaw fast. We also needed light to see by when night came. And of course all my PCs, with all my notes on were completely unavailable. Plus all the phones, which of course are wireless, had their transformers destroyed by the voltage spikes.

So off we went to get lights and a wired phone so we could at least talk to people. My mobile phone gradually lost power and went off so it had to go Kay’s mum to be recharged.

I had to postpone a number of coaching sessions, luckily Hannah was at a sleepover and David stayed with one of his friends which made looking after the rest easier somehow.

Things that Went Pop

Here’s a list of stuff that the voltage spike killed:

• Router and power supply
• Broadband modem and power supply
• 3 wireless phone power supplies
• Combination Oven/ microwave oven
• Oven
• Electric shower
• Doorbells
• Radio Alarm

Yet next door was hardly affected because they’d been on holiday during the spikes and had turned off the electricity at  the plugs. So all their appliances were fine.

Back On The Electric 

We finally got the electricty back late Friday night.

When I came to look at the computers on Saturday I discovered that they were working fine. Unfortunately my Virginmedia broadband modem was dead. When I rang Virgin said that I could get a new one and it would be with me in 5 days. Well it’s Friday and the posts not arrived yet but I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime I borrowed my next neighbours modem and bought 20 metres of cable to connect the wireless router to my desktop PC.

The reason? The cabled bit of the router was still working but the wireless bit had been destroyed.

Unfortunately I then spent several hours trying to get the cable connection to wrok. I eventually took it back and we discovered that although it tested OK it didn’t actually send data down the line between computers! I got another 20 metres and found the same problem.

So I had to move all my computer equipment near to the first floor entry point for the broadband – the girls bedroom. That means I can’t do anywork after 8pm as they’re in bed.

The good news is that there is a nice warm library where I can type, which has a great Internet connection and where I’m currently sitting typing this.

When I go back shortly I’ve got to sort out why my desktop PC doesn’t display any icons or the taskbar.

It’s fun here in Manchester!