I’m losing it
I’ve been working on a project at the house for a little while. Things have been moving along pretty well overall. I ended up having to wait for a back ordered part for a few weeks. That part finally arrived yesterday. I wanted to keep things moving, so I went out and started working to get the inverter installed in the garage. I talked through the plan with Lissa for a little while trying to determine where to install the inverter. I decided to put it on the left of the window still. I went about cutting away part the shelves where I would need to create a bit of space so it would fit properly. I got the shelves ready and then I had to pick up something to hang the inverter to the block wall in the garage.
Mounting the Inverter
I took the 3 little kids with me to pick up some anchors. I had the incident several years ago where a cabinet that I installed in the kitchen fell off the wall because the screws failed. When I replaced that cabinet I used some some anchors that I liked quite a bit. I got home and got right to work marking where I was going to put it, and then I set out to get the holes drilled. I finished drilling the first hole which was the lower middle hole. I didn’t feel like it went through much more than just the front edge of a cinder block. After that I started drilling the upper middle hole. It felt much better, like I was actually hitting something, but then all of a sudden I got a huge spark.
The accident
I must have drilled right into the main wire running from the meter to the circuit breaker box. It either threw me back, or startled me enough that I went back off the step stool I was standing on. I landed on the skill saw that was on the ground causing me to roll my right ankle. I don’t know for sure what happened after that, but somehow I have a pretty good bruise on my thumb joint on my right hand, and my right shoulder is in quite a bit of pain. I laid there for a minute, and then got up. Glade came over to see if he could help me out at all. I talked with him for a minute, and then went in to lay down again. I tried not to draw attention, but I did ask my daughter to get me a pillow. A few minutes later Lissa figured out that I was hurt, so she came in to check things out. I was feeling it quite a bit in both my shoulder and my ankle. Eventually I figured I might as well get up and try and walk off the pain in the ankle. That actually worked pretty well. The shoulder has come along a little also through the rest of the day, but I’m a bit worried about it. It’s still not working quite right. I’m going to be a little slower getting ready tomorrow. After walking it off for a bit I went back out to start working again. I got the side holes drilled and then I tried to mount the bracket. My mounting bolts didn’t work out. I called Kevin and Scott to see if I could get an opinion, and a little help. Those two were awesome, and they worked with me till we were able to get the inverter mounted, and the wires run right into it. I owe them both. I was able to get up in the attic to help connect the conduit and figure out the wire routing. I’m getting even closer now, and hopefully I can wrap things up this week.
Here is the picture of the drill I was using when it happened. It’s pretty crazy how quickly it burned.
