The 5 Most Ridiculous Things We’ve Found Inside People’s DB Boards
(You Won’t Believe #3)

We’ve been opening DB boards across Cape Town for 13 years. Most are boring. Some are scary. And then there are the ones that make the whole crew stop, stare, and question every life choice that led us to this moment.

Here are our all-time hall-of-fame disasters:

1. The “Creative Neutral”

Someone decided the earth bar was optional real estate, so they bridged neutral and earth with a piece of galvanised fencing wire. Bonus: it was nicely twisted with pliers – clearly a pro job. The scary part? The house never tripped, so the owner thought everything was perfect… until we tested it and the entire metal window frame was sitting at 180 V.

2. The Geyser That Thought It Was a Light Circuit

A 3 kW geyser running off a 5-amp lighting breaker. The original breaker kept tripping, so the fix was elegant: replace it with a rusty nail. We still have the nail in a jar on the shelf labelled “Darwin Award Runner-Up 2021”. That geyser was pulling 13 amps through a breaker designed for four LED bulbs. One day it would’ve pulled a lot more than that – through the roof in flames.

3. The Coca-Cola Conductor

Picture this: ceiling junction box overflowing with wires. Instead of a proper connector block, someone used an empty Coke can, folded the wires into it, and taped the whole thing shut with insulation tape. Eight years later the tape had melted, the can corroded, and the wires were arcing like a mini welding set. We took a photo, sent it to the group chat, and nobody believed it was real until we brought the can back to the workshop.

4. The “I Saw It On YouTube” Special

Live and neutral stripped, twisted together, then wrapped in rainbow-coloured Prestik like a birthday present. The comment from the homeowner? “My brother-in-law is very technical.” The video he watched probably cut off right before the explosion warning. Prestik is great for posters, not 230 volts.

5. The Haunted DB

Outside lights doing the cha-cha every time the fridge compressor kicked in. Turned out the “electrician” (inverted commas intentional) used one 1.5 mm² wire to feed the entire pool pump, outside lights and garage. Voltage drop so bad the globe filaments were having a disco. The fix took 45 minutes. The trauma lasts forever.

The real takeaway (besides never trusting your mate who “knows a guy”)

Your DB board isn’t just a metal box with pretty coloured wires. It’s the brain and heart of your house’s electrical system. Treat it like the dodgy uncle who still thinks 1995 wiring rules apply and you’re asking for trouble. A quick inspection once every five years costs nothing compared to explaining to your insurance why your roof is now a skylight.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever found in a roof or DB?
Drop it in the comments – we need new material for therapy. 😅