So a brief history of time for yesterday and today
At approximately 8:30 AM while still in bed I noticed the power go out. I remained in bed for approximately 1 hour and then got up.
I went to the DB Board and turned on the tripped switch and proceeded to boot my pc and start working for the day. An hour or so later there was another power failure. I went to the DB board and restored power went back to my computer and carried on working. About 20 minutes later I smelt smoke and heard crackling noises, I got up and walked through the house to find the source. The lights in my passage were flickering brightly then dimming. I saw flames billowing out of the side of my network equipment cabinet in the passage room. I put out the flames and proceeded to put off the electricity main switch on my distribution board.
I returned to the network equipment cabinet to find that the AC Adapter of my ADSL modem had been the focal point of the blaze. After unplugging all items from the wall I left the power off until 3:00 PM. At this stage a friend, as well as a handyman, had arrived to help me move equipment and try get up and running again.
We removed fried equipment and cables from the cabinet and disconnected the wall socket from the DB board. While going through the house and checking if things were functioning there was a smoky smell coming from the lounge. We unplugged the wall plug for the TV / Entertainment AV Equipment and then waited, assuming only the entertainment cabinet, tv, and networking equipment was dead.
In the next 20 minutes or so, my computer (also in the lounge, made a click, click, click sound, then suddenly a large fireball erupted out of the back of the computer power supply with a very powerful and audible BANG. The power remained on but the lights started the whole poltergeist effect again. After putting off the power at the DB board. We found that the multiplug that the computer, three monitors, cell phone chargers and printer was connected to was burnt on every plug socket
I got hold of an electrician who promised to be at my residence at 7:00 AM the following morning.
We managed to disconnect absolutely everything that uses electricity from a wall plug. And cycled through the DB Board switches one at a time to get light in the house.
At approximately 6:00 PM there was the fourth or fifth power failure throughout Blairgowrie for the day. When the power returned we started plugging in items one by one.
So far the list of casualties are.
1) TV.
2) AV Receiver.
3) Fridge.
4) Second Fridge.
5) Bar Fridge.
6) Sony Playstation 3.
7) Harmony Remote Hub (Ultimate).
8) PC with 3 monitors.
9) Bose 2.1 Media Center.
10) Printer.
11) Speakers.
12) Subwoofer.
13) Stove.
14) Oven.
15) Microwave.
16) 2 * 8 port gigabit switches.
17) ADSL modem / Router.
18) Keyboard / Mouse.
19) NAS.
20) A host of light sockets.
21) SD & HD DSTV Decoders.
---There might be more things. I am currently awaiting the electrician to finish the rewiring so we can start testing the rest of my equipment.
Wiring has been damaged throughout the house. The cottage, where I have tenants, who are on their own feed, lost.
1) Fridge.
2) Washing machine.
3) TV.
4) Monitor.
5) Computer.
6) Microwave.
I have done as much investigation as I can and have found out that yesterday morning there was a theft of items (fuses apparently) from the local distribution box for my suburb.
City power electricians throughout the day, reconnected the outages, by bypassing the missing fuses. (Ref numbers 9839548 && 9869679 – city power).
Between 3:00 && 4:00 AM on 28 June 2014, the fuses were replaced in the suburbs distribution box. (Work order ID 1309267).
I have contacted my neighbours, and each of them have also had almost every plugged in electrical device destroyed by the events of yesterday.
Surprisingly, my Apple Airport survived, as well as my one Aircon. Now for the fun of insurance claims, ombudsman, and civil litigation...
Either my insurance company will have to pay out, or I will have to lodge a claim with City Power, considering they were negligent, hopefully can get somewhere.
Equipment replacement cost at R180k so far.
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