Since we moved to the villa, we have intermittent electrical outages. I am convinced now that there is some faulty wiring somewhere in the villa and at times the circuit overloads and trips the main breaker. I will not recount how many times this has happened but at least a dozen times since February, and, there have been just as many diagnoses of the problem.
One electrician said that the people who installed the heat pumps (not him) did a bad job and all that needs to be re-wired, and, big suprise, he can do that work! Another one says our maximum at each residence is 6 KW and we over loaded the circuits turning on too many things at once. Another time, they blamed the snow. Another time they said "Oh, they have bad electric in Mercogliano" (what does this mean when I am the only one in the neighborhood with this problem?) Another time we were told there is some wiring that is not proper but it is difficult to isolate where the problem is. Now that, I believe!
So we have studiously recorded the times, dates, places and what is on at the time of the outage for each instance to do our own self-diagnosis. When I saw the mass of wiring in the walls, I understand why no one has tackled the problem of tracing down the particular wires that are the culprits. Apparently, each person adds their own wiring to the mess and no one goes back to fix or remove the existing wiring. So when you grab a handful, some might be working and some just dead.
So when the latest blackout occurred at 2:30am yesterday morning, I am now able to refute all the excuses we have heard. I was asleep and nothing was on in the house except the refrigerator and internet hook up. So now, let them find another excuse! Electricians are coming again this week.
Post Script:
They came today. These are supposed to be the best guys -- they do repairs for the US Navy Base. Immediately they start blaming the air conditioners, then the stair lift. I stomped my feet and got really mad and said NO! It is not that and I argued with them.
Then they said "Ok, you need a bigger main breaker". I said fine, but that doesn't fix the problem, it doesn't prevent it from happening and it doesn't keep a fire from starting. So I said I want them to test every room in the house for the wires. They argued back and forth for a while in Italian, and Carlo translated that they can't do that; it would take too much time.
I said "Well, you are getting paid, aren't you? So I don't care how long it takes! If you don't want this job, I can find someone in Italy who wants to work"
So then, they argued some more, then said just testing all the outlets and switches will only determine if there is current or not; it will not determine if there are bad wires rubbing together or moisture coming in. Since the problem is intermittent, I can agree with that. That finally made some sense to me.
So then, they said they can't do anything without re-wiring the whole house. The house sat empty for a long time and a mouse could have eaten part of the wires, or who knows what. So I turned to Carlo and said, "Ok, if these guys say there is nothing they can do, then call Dino and tell him I have to move. I am not living in a house that is a fire hazard or when I don't know if I come home to electricity or not."
So when I mentioned Dino, their ears perked up. I think Dino gets them a lot of their work at the base. Finally after much discussion, they started to actually look around. They tested the outdoor lights and the automatic ones that are programmed to come on/off at certain times. They checked under the house, they check the automatic gate, and the lights on the exterior of the house.
As they began to seriously look around, some things became very obvious. The basement of the house has large conduits of wiring running everywhere and after the rain we had last night, that portion of the basement floor is wet.
 |
| Our basement |
 |
| An electrician's nightmare! |
They were very concerned with all the improperly run electrical lines and how dangerous it is. I said "I know!!!! Why do you think I am so concerned??"
Obviously the drain system is clogged and water is seeping in. Also, they determined that the boiler, the exterior automatic gate, and the exterior lights on timers are all coming into the box in the house. They rewired it so those exterior things have their own main breaker and if one of those things are the problem, then it will trip one breaker. Otherwise then if the other breaker trips, we will know it is in the house.
They showed me where the people who installed the automatic gate did a bad job on the electric boxes. They removed the covers and water is getting in there. So they checked them and resealed the boxes. They fixed one of the exterior lights that didn't work.
After all the arm waving and discussion, they actually did some diagnosis and fixed some things. At least now, I feel we are on the road to resolution. I just have to wait unit the next time the electric goes out (and I am sure it will) and then get them out again to troubleshoot again. At least now we are past the excuses about the air conditioners, dryer, and other appliances, and getting down to really fixing the problem.
Personally I don't care if the whole house needs to be re-wired. I can't imagine anyone would want to live in a house with these problems. I am sure it is expensive and in the end, we may be returning to the US before it comes to that. Sigh!
Doing business in Italy is a different deal. Sometimes I think all this is just part of the game. If I didn't' stomp my foot and argue with them (they don't understand the English but certainly they understand my intent) then they would just say, "Oh it's the stairlift. Now pay me 50 Euro" and leave. You have to be very insistent and no accept any excuses. Certainly there is lots of shoddy workmanship that has been done on this house. The landlady has had repair people take advantage of her and do a bad job. It happens in the US also, but at least there are some certifications and some inspections and things that help prevent some of the problems.
Gas outages
I have heard the horror stories of landlords in Italy, from expats as well as Italians. In general it is really difficult to get them to fix anything and you will waste your time trying. One of the Italians in the office had a pipe break in the ceiling and dumped water all over his living room. His landlord never did fix it, so he had to pay for it himself and then go to court about the whole thing. For Boeing expats, we have in our contract that rent will be withheld if problems are not resolved. Still some of my co-workers have gone several days at a time without electricity or hot water, etc.
My landlady is really good and she gets right onto things. I have no complaint about her whatsoever. When I woke up one morning last week and the stove didn't work, and then I ran out of hot water quickly, I realized we have a gas problem and contacted her right away. Turns out the bill had not been paid. Sidi Gas company shows they have sent bills to our house, but I never received any of them. So the landlady thought I was paying them and I thought she was paying them, and it turns out no one was paying them and the Gas company shut off service.
She paid the bill right away and the gas was turned back on Friday morning. I had no hot water over the weekend but that is ok, because I was out of town anyway. Monday morning the technician came to re-start the boiler which provides the hot water for the house, including the radiators for heat in winter. It was so easy, I could have done it. All you do is push the reset button -- duh! Anyway, it is now on again and by tonight, I can take a warm shower. In future, she is having the bills sent to her house so they will get paid. I like a happy ending!
Postale Italiane
Good grief! Who would believe it is so hard to get mail! I did receive cards from friends sent directly to the house, and I get advertisements regularly. Anything small enough to fit in the slot of my box, seems to come ok. Other things seem to go missing and never show up. Hm. I ordered some clothes from JC Penney and got a notice in the box saying they tried to deliver the packages. I actually got two notices from them and because their hours at the main post office in Mercogliano are very limited, it was the end of that week when I was able to get down there to pick up my packages. Well, it turns out that the post office doesn't have them. The postal carrier keeps the packages and per regulation, tries to deliver it three times. At the third failed attempt, he should leave instructions for where to pick up the packages. In this case it came postage due for the Italian customs tax. Since mail is only delivered every other day, and not on Saturday, this is a very long process. If I ever track down my packages, it will be a miracle. And you can bet, I will never mail order anything again unless Johnnie is home to receive them!
Stairlift
Once I got the stairlift installed, it has not been much problem until yesterday when I allowed some laundry to get caught in the track. When the chair does down I always kick away the laundry that I have dropped from the 2nd floor and landed on the stairs. Well, this time, I didn't get the laundry completely out of the way and the chair caught a corner of the pillowcase.
By the time I got the thing unjammed, I did a manual override to move the stair to the bottom. When I tried to use it again, the bottom piece on the chair attach point fell off. I was surprised a relatively small problem caused the bottom mechanism to fall off but there it was.
The repairman came out two days later, and took one look at it and said he has to order a part. Of course, the part is not available in Italy and has to be flown in from who knows where and was supposed to arrive in three days but so far, it has been one week and I have not heard anything from them.
I am surprised that an international company like Thyssen would promise 24 hr. emergency service, when in fact, it may end up being 10 days or more to get my chair fixed. One of the reason I picked this company was the promise of 24/7 service instead of the a local company with "Italian" service. Now they are saying that you have to specifically write into the contract emergency service, and unfortunately they no longer offer that service! What good is a stairlift to a handicapped person if it breaks apart in four months of use and takes over a week to fix?! Wouldn't I be in a real pickle if I couldn't walk at all.
 |
| Stair lift with "guts" hanging out |
Today, 9 days after it broke, the repairman came and fixed it. It took over an hour (they were an hour and a half late getting here) and then I had to wait an hour for the battery to recharge. But it works! Yea! You can bet I will be ultra careful nothing gets into the track.
No comments:
Post a Comment