patandchickens said:
"personally I hate switched outlets, they always seem to be the 'only logical' place to plug in a digital clock or a fishtank or an incubator or suchlike, and then someone comes along and turns the switch off without your knowing."Pat
O my, I feel so much better. I thought I was the only one who did that kind of thing. This post should begin with "Don't ask me how I know this but..."
I bought a house once that had switches that went no where; at least that is what I thought. I spent several days trying to find what one of those switches powered and never did. Of course I looked on the same wall as the switch. Not finding anything that corresponded, I decided to abandon my search, but only after the "old college try"so, I didn't worry about it for a long time.
But then there was this gorgeous little DD (you know the kind with the big eyes and "Puulllleeeeassse Daddy" smile *(the kind no dad can refuse) who wanted an aquarium. So, I went the whole route and got her the aquarium, and the fish she wanted (couldn't have gold fish, had to be the $10/each kind). Needless to say, we plugged the aeration pump, heater and lid assembly (all one very expensive unit) into the wall and wouldn't ya know it, the next week, the light was out and all the fish were floating upside down at the top of the water. I was NOT happy and my darling little DD was wailing intractably; in tears.
Then without thinking about why I did it, I looked over ACROSS the room and noted that the switch I had explored for two days was now "down". So I pushed it back up and VOILA, the light came back on in the fish tank as did the pump, heater etc....all except the fish. (NOTE: Apparently fish don't power back up when they have been really cold for a whole weekend)
What really got me was that the switch in question was no where near the outlet in that room. It was on the other side of the room and had never been used for anything till I got the fish tank...but it WAS close to the fireplace.
Some phone calls later I finally contacted the guy who built the house and got the answer...HIS DW wanted that switch put in because it was for the outlet that powered her Christmas tree. The switch led to a four gang outlet but only powered ONE of the spots on the outlet...WHAT? It was only used once a year for 12 days. The other 3 in the outlet were hot all the time. Boy, did I feel bewildered by that.
What I got from this was the lesson of: "Wisdom is good judgement learned from experience which was gained by bad judgement". DD did NOT get this same lesson but we bought different fish thereafter. What really hurt was when DW decided not to let me remover that switch so she could light the Christmas tree!
