Sign in / up

back to article Secret weekend office bonk came within inch of killing sysadmin

Welcome once more to On-Call, in which The Register celebrates users' many, many failures by sharing your stories of being asked to clean up behind them. This week, meet "Matt" who sent us a story from 2004 when he "worked for a company who specialised in building high speed printers." Matt was the new kid on the block, so …

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *

Page:

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Keep stuff off the floor

    I worked on the second floor of a building that I labelled prone to flooding. People mocked me at first but every time something flooded I reminded them of that fact and they started agreeing with me. Pipes burst, aircon leaked, you name it.

    The lowest electrical equipment I was responsible for was stood on 2cm wooden blocks. The lowest UPS I was responsible for was stood on a glorified metal coffee table.

    32 1 Reply

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  2. Richard 12 Silver badge

    And sometimes the flood is concrete

    Relay room flood

    Hats off to the people who fixed that one.

    42 0 Reply
    1. Olivier2553
      Reply Icon

      Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

      We had water two meters high in the data center during the great flood of Thailand in 2011. Since then, the data center has been relocated to the upper floor and classrooms are at the lower floor: loosing chairs and tables is not a too big loss.

      39 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

        How did they clean that mess up? (Concrete flood) Should be interesting.

        17 0 Reply
        1. Kirk Northrop
          Reply Icon

          Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

          They sent someone out to a nearby shop to buy sugar, and tipped it in. Sugar stops concrete from setting, apparently.

          30 0 Reply
        2. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

          They did exactly what I guessed they'd do - added something to slow down the concrete hardening, and shovelled it out.

          That thing was : sugar! Apparently more than 1% sugar in a concrete mix can stop it hardening almost indefinitely.

          I definitely wouldn't want to be the person that had to clean all the equipment, though..

          30 0 Reply
          1. EvilDrSmith Silver badge
            Reply Icon
            Headmaster

            Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

            "...a small quantity of sugar (about 0.05 per cent of the weight of cement) will act as an acceptable retarder: the delay in setting of concrete is about 4 hours....A large quantity of sugar, say 0.2 to 1 per cent of the weight of the cement, will virtually prevent the setting of cement."

            Properties of Concrete (A M Neville). 3rd edition (which probably shows my age, somewhat).

            I have a dim and distant memory that the effects of sugar retarding the setting of concrete were first discovered when sacks previously used to transport molasses were then used to transport cement. But that might be me imagining things.

            14 0 Reply
          2. Stevie
            Reply Icon

            Re: They did exactly what I guessed they'd do

            "I definitely wouldn't want to be the person that had to clean all the equipment, though"

            *I* wouldn't want to be the one told to "fold all that sugar into the concrete with a shovel tootsweet!"

            5 0 Reply
            1. Weiss_von_Nichts
              Reply Icon

              Re: They did exactly what I guessed they'd do

              Yes. My first thought was "how the hell are they going to disperse all that sugar within the wet concrete before hydraulization kicks in?". My second thought was about a lot of shovels, water buckets, sugar and the luck of not having to do it.

              1 0 Reply
        3. pffut
          Reply Icon

          Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

          Hopefully not the way Mythbusters 'cleared' their concrete truck...

          4 0 Reply
      2. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

        data center has been relocated to the upper floor and classrooms are at the lower floor: loosing chairs and tables is not a too big loss.

        Or students, presumably

        1 0 Reply
    2. Solviva
      Reply Icon

      Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

      Can someone please decode the article's headline to English?

      "Victoria Tube line part shut hit by wet concrete flood"

      12 2 Reply
      1. Phil W
        Reply Icon

        Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

        It's only really missing a comma to make it acceptable

        "Victoria Tube line part shut, hit by wet concrete flood"

        17 0 Reply

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

          1. Bernard M. Orwell
            Reply Icon
            Coat

            Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

            Commas are important, they can mean the difference between "At the weekend I helped my uncle, Jack, off his horse."

            And....

            Well....

            50 0 Reply
            1. W4YBO
              Reply Icon

              Re: Commas are important...

              "Commas are important, they can mean the difference between "At the weekend I helped my uncle, Jack, off his horse."

              Let's eat Grandma!

              Let's eat, Grandma!

              27 0 Reply
              1. Anonymous Coward
                Reply Icon
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Commas are important...

                the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're shit

                25 0 Reply
                1. David Nash Silver badge
                  Reply Icon
                  Headmaster

                  Re: Commas are important...

                  "the difference between knowing your shit and knowing you're shit"

                  Knowing the difference between commas and apostrophes is also important!

                  48 0 Reply
                  1. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge
                    Reply Icon

                    Re: Commas are important...

                    Obligatory angryflower strip

                    1 0 Reply
                    1. Jeffrey Nonken
                      Reply Icon

                      Re: Commas are important...

                      Though Bob forgot to mention possessive pronouns.

                      0 0 Reply
              2. TheRealRoland
                Reply Icon
                Coat

                Re: Commas are important...

                >Let's eat Grandma!

                >Let's eat, Grandma!

                "Calling Donner party of five?"

                "Over here! Now four!"

                10 0 Reply
            2. Sgt_Oddball
              Reply Icon
              Headmaster

              Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

              It also saves lives - "Lets eat, Grandma".....

              The horror...

              6 0 Reply
              1. Anonymous Coward
                Reply Icon
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

                How big is a Let? How many did it take to finish Grandma off? Could they be encouraged to eat FCC Chairpersons? Oh, wait, apostrophes again. Darn...

                1 0 Reply

            3. This post has been deleted by its author

            4. Someone Else Silver badge
              Reply Icon
              Coffee/keyboard

              @Bernard M. Orwell -- Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

              Says it all --->

              1 0 Reply
    3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

      It's just as well it only leaked into the relay room. Just think how much concrete they'd have poured in if they'd tried to fill the entire Victoria line.

      8 0 Reply
    4. albegadeep
      Reply Icon

      Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

      Thinking of the concrete-encased equipment:

      C3PO: "Oh. They've encased him in Carbonite. He should be quite well protected. If he survived the freezing process, that is."

      17 0 Reply
    5. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: And sometimes the flood is concrete

      "Hats off to the people who fixed that one."

      AC because I was (very loosely) involved in the recovery operation.

      When we saw the photos, the joke was that they wouldn't get it working again for a week. In fact it was up again in time for start of business the next morning. Two reasons:

      1) The sugar trick already mentioned; and

      2) Within an hour there was a van packed full of spares heading up the motorway.

      As it happened, the raised gap designed to protect against (water) flooding limited the damage, and the electronics came back up first time. The bloke in charge of supporting the recovery was later given a well-deserved award from LU.

      28 0 Reply
  3. Chris King
    Holmes

    Aircon Leaks

    One of our LAN rooms suffered an aircon leak, with water pouring out of the unit.

    Some bright spark decided that regularly emptying a bucket was tedious, and put a large plastic recycling bin under the aircon so they didn't have to visit the room so often.

    A bin with no wheels, which was rather heavy and very difficult to move when full of water.

    64 0 Reply
    1. Allan George Dyer
      Reply Icon
      Facepalm

      Re: Aircon Leaks

      Surely you have enough time to buy a garden hose and remind yourself how a siphon works while the bin fills?

      41 1 Reply
      1. m0rt
        Reply Icon

        Re: Aircon Leaks

        Would you want to start the siphon action going on water extracted from an aircon?

        "Hey, kids, fancy some legionnaires' disease?"

        55 4 Reply
        1. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: Aircon Leaks

          Alternatively use, a bucket to extract water from the recycling bin until it's light enough to move.. It's not rocket science.

          28 3 Reply
          1. Tigra 07
            Reply Icon

            Re: Aircon Leaks

            Alternatively replace the bin with one that has wheels...Or...Fix the leak?

            17 1 Reply
        2. OldCrow
          Reply Icon
          FAIL

          Re: Aircon Leaks

          I would. By these easy steps:

          1. Submerge whole hose in water, so that no air remains in hose (bucket must be large enough).

          2. Squeeze or otherwise block one end of the hose.

          3. Pull hose into position (out the nearest window is usually best, as sinks are typically installed too high, relative to bucket).

          4. Release blockage from end of hose.

          5. Enjoy, while the bucket empties itself.

          Who primes any kind of hose by sucking on it, these days? Almost no liquid is anywhere near safe for your lungs or stomach lining. In some places, not even tapwater.

          57 2 Reply
          1. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Aircon Leaks

            Who primes any kind of hose by sucking on it, these days? Almost no liquid is anywhere near safe for your lungs or stomach lining. In some places, not even tapwater.

            I do.

            Admittedly it's with homebrew.

            50 0 Reply
            1. Anonymous Coward
              Reply Icon
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Re: Aircon Leaks

              "Who primes any kind of hose by sucking on it, these days? Almost no liquid is anywhere near safe for your lungs or stomach lining. In some places, not even tapwater.

              I do.

              Admittedly it's with homebrew."

              If my Dad's 'Homebrew' of old is anything to judge by then :

              I refer you to the "... Stomach lining. ..." above. :)

              Self inflicted does not change anything :)

              On Topic, I don't understand why anyone would have a AirCon Unit that drains into a Container when there are quite expensive racks of kit around !!!

              Surely, it is worth the cost to 'plumb in' a proper drainage pipe to avoid the potential for flood.

              9 0 Reply
              1. Mark 85
                Reply Icon

                Re: Aircon Leaks

                On Topic, I don't understand why anyone would have a AirCon Unit that drains into a Container when there are quite expensive racks of kit around !!!

                Surely, it is worth the cost to 'plumb in' a proper drainage pipe to avoid the potential for flood.

                I've seen the "drain" get plugged and building maintenance in all their glory can't find the plunger, a long length of wire, etc. to clean it with. So they call a "professional" who can't be there for week or two...

                1 0 Reply
          2. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Aircon Leaks

            That also works with radiator fluid, oil... and everything else you'd find in a gas station storage room.

            8 0 Reply
          3. caffeine addict
            Reply Icon

            Re: Aircon Leaks

            Who primes any kind of hose by sucking on it, these days? Almost no liquid is anywhere near safe for your lungs or stomach lining. In some places, not even tapwater.

            I do, most weeks.

            If water filtered once by rocks is pure then water filtered thousands of times by Fluval and fish kidneys must be really pure, right? Right?

            18 0 Reply
            1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge
              Reply Icon

              Re: Aircon Leaks

              times by Fluval and fish kidneys must be really pure, right? Right?

              Well - it hasn't killed my ye

              <Carrier lost>

              6 0 Reply
            2. ibmalone
              Reply Icon

              Re: Aircon Leaks

              Kidneys are good at filtering! Unfortunately you're on the wrong side of the filter.

              13 0 Reply
          4. Prosthetic Conscience
            Reply Icon
            Coat

            Re: Aircon Leaks

            Pwah, are we still talking about aircon?

            1 0 Reply
          5. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge
            Reply Icon

            Re: Aircon Leaks

            Who primes any kind of hose by sucking on it, these days?

            [Waves hand].

            I really must replace the hand-pump on the end of the fish tank drain tube..

            (But I don't inhale)

            3 0 Reply
          6. Cuddles
            Reply Icon
            Paris Hilton

            Who primes any kind of hose by sucking on it, these days?

            See icon -->

            0 1 Reply
        3. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Aircon Leaks

          1. Insert the entire hose in the air-con water. It is preferable the usage of a hose where both sides can be sealed by your thumb or working watertight valves.

          2. Fill the entire length of the hose with liquid. Keep both sides submerged in the tank. Avoid bubbles.

          3. Seal both sides.

          4. Displace one side of hose above suitable drain. Open the other (submerged) side. Nothing should happen, yet.

          5. Remove thumb/open valve on the drain side, but keep hose in position aimed at drain while water flows at high speed.

          Bonus: No need to contact your mucous membranes with air-con water.

          15 1 Reply
          1. David Nash Silver badge
            Reply Icon
            Headmaster

            Re: Aircon Leaks

            My hoses have ends. The sides are pretty well sealed already.

            12 0 Reply
          2. Karl Vegar
            Reply Icon

            Re: Aircon Leaks

            1,2 as stated *

            3 seal drain/output side

            4 Displace one side of hose above suitable drain.

            5 as stated.

            * or get fancy:

            - Stick tube down into the bin, one end first, make sure to let air escape through the other end. When there is an inch or two left above water, block the dry end. Dry end is drain end. move on from 3. If done right, all that gets wet is your thumb.

            1 0 Reply

        4. This post has been deleted by its author

        5. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Aircon Leaks

          "Hey, kids, fancy some legionnaires' disease?"

          IIRC that infection is spread by atomised water being inhaled into the lungs. Hence why showers are often the source of the problem.

          14 0 Reply

Page:

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like