Air Plenum ceilings using the entire ceiling as an air return is suppose to save money ,when building ? A look at the myth and dangers this construction causes

Your building a new office  addition when the contractor tells you he can save you all kinds of money by eliminating the return air ducts on the H/VAC system and use the entire ceiling  as an air plenum return  system . Really?
This is the last thing you want to do because you are setting your self up for many more expenses and even your personnel health  with this type of construction.
With 35+ years of working in ceilings I have seen the deadly results these ceilings can lead to.
First off when you use a ceiling as an air return it doubles and triples the cost of installing low voltage electrical wiring in this ceiling because  air is moving past the wiring it must now be either installed in steel conduit or  fire resistant Plenum wire must be used so smoke from wire if a fire would break out in building is not spread. This also means you can not use  plastic romex type wire either for 120/240 volt wiring  if the building code  would otherwise allow it . This wiring also has to be in steel piping.

So wheres the savings the answer is there is no savings it actually cost more in the long run.

Then there is the issue with dirt and filth which these ceiling attract as you can see in picture below

This is the typical plastic Egg Crate  intake which is laid into an air plenum ceiling   and as you can see look how filthy it gets and that means all the ceiling tiles above your head look just as bad and any time you have to remove those tiles for any kind of maintenance work that dust and filth gets all over the office.
Every time I work in Air Plenum Ceilings I have to put on filter masks and still end up getting sick  as well as workers around me do to the build up in these ceilings which leads to sick building syndrome which sends hundreds of thousands of workers home sick every year .
Then if your roof leaks and it gets into these dirty ceiling tiles it can lad to deadly black mold forming . Walk into any office building with these air plenum ceilings vs regular ceiling with duct work and see for your self the air quality. If your in there all day working then you know why so many office workers get sick in the winter time.
If there going to do these type of ceiling they need to design these egg crates with filters in them that can be easily changed to keep all the dust and filth in the filter instead of up in the ceiling .
But until they decide to do this sick employees will be the norm .
No one wants to address this issue  and even admit these ceilings are such a problem but those of us who have to work in them know better.

The Fire Service keeps losing volunteers and wonders why? Maybe when they start acting like firefighters they will have more members by getting rid of bully's and low life's

Yes I have said it for many years "The Fire Service is its own worse enemy " unfortunately they prove it in this country every day .
Take the latest brew ha ha in Cleveland where up to 12 firefighters are facing suspension and loss of there jobs  after they where caught urinating on a former fire chiefs picture.

http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2013/11/prank-could-cost-12-cleveland-firefighters-their-jobs.html

Yes it seems boys will be boys but there is no place for it in the fire service professional or volunteer.
I know myself and others  filed a discrimination lawsuit  against Penn Hills  Pa.  Point Breeze station 224# because it got so bad trying to serve your community and having to deal with jackasses , bully's ,low life's .lost souls etc.
One firefighter actually put small nails in one of my fire boots which injured my ankle which I have circulation issues with causing a pressure wound that took months to heal .

Of course this is not the first time this dept has gotten it self in serious trouble  there was the infamous inner tube  tube ride in the park which injured a fire fighter

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qddRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bW4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6473,294911&dq=penn+hills+fire+dept+4&hl=en

Yes at one time being in the fire service meant a brotherhood and comradely between firefighters who worked together for the betterment of the community . But in far too many stations and halls this is no longer the case. Instead of working together as a unit its doing everything you can to keep good members from belonging and staying .

With so many people having to work 2 jobs and other obligations the ranks have thinned it started mainly after many of the steel mills went down and the loss of men who worked shifts to be able to have adequate staffing 24 / 7 Here in Penn Hills like in  many community's it takes several fire company's to be notified to be able to get enough fire fighters to show up and answer even  a simple  day light call.  

Add in all the fund raising one has to do all the training requirements and it leaves precious little time for family and work.  

The result is you have stations full of people mostly young who are unemployed  or under employed hanging around stations with other low life types who have gotten into the fire service because help is needed and stations where not properly checking out people and  with too much time on there hands they get into trouble and pick on other members who are vulnerable .This  also leads to Arson fires when they get bored as well .Which also happened in Penn Hills stations when members where arrested for a series of Barn fires in neighboring Plum Boro. It was so bad at 224 one former chief actually allowed a young man who had set a fire come down to station and show video in the fire station of it.
Then there was the fireworks incident where Penn Hills 226# with company vehicle in  there uniforms went to Ohio to buy illegal fireworks and the bragged in a newspaper article there Friends with police and did not see it being a problem. I could go on and on the story's I have seen in newspaper  and heard about depts. all over this area. 
The other problem since no body wants the officers jobs some one would get stuck with it and does not do the job properly there just filling the position and all too often those filling the officer positions in these problem fire company's  are lucky to have graduated high school  and this lack of proper education hurts them and there fellow firefighters  to the detriment of the community and it often leads to theft of funds .Because they lack the required education to put in place proper practice to prevent it and to make matters worse these same company's after being ripped off by a member allow them to rejoin the fire company instead of banning them from the fire service period. 
In one case a Fire dept officer who was in fact a convicted arsonist was sent to jail over skimming money from a bingo game .
Yes Pa. finally passed a law forbidding convicted felons from serving in fire service after that and several other embarrassing issues. 
But the thefts and arson's continue  you here of one at least every week some where in the state  a volunteer fire fighter arrested for theft or arson and if it is happening in Pa. its happening in other states with volunteer forces. 

You can see why too many stations have deteriorated to point no one wants to belong . I have seen way too many excellent men driven out of the fire service by low life's . 

I would hear it all the time about not being a real firefighter  because I am disabled I did not go in and fight fires I worked as a driver /pump operator / Engineer maintaining the trucks so the able bodied could go in and do there job and after all that's what everyone wants to do is go in and fight the dragon not be stuck outside . But no they always had to run there mouths.

So now when the fire whistle goes off I no longer respond to it and many times I  hear how they had to punch out another company out for a call since  they had no driver. Too bad you caused it your self.

Now there are some very excellent run stations , but there the exception not the rule these days. 

There are many very dedicated men and women in the fire service who give it there all but they can not do it all themselves and when you get into a company of misfits and malcontents  they soon get disenchanted and leave.

Yes the fire service wants to talk all about how there losing members and funds but they never mention  why one of the big problems is the very way they behave.
Dr. Harry Carter recently wrote in Pa. Fireman's magazine about Honesty is best Policy  in the fire service.
and he is so right . But there will be no honesty till the fire service is ready to sit down and address the bullying and lowlifes situation in departments  that is slowly eroding it. I would rather see a station shut down and replaced by professionals than see a station torn apart and cost some one there life.
Its times community's start cracking down on bad fire dept's like they did in Dorseyville when they shut the dept down

http://www.firefighterclosecalls.com/news/fullstory/newsid/30355

Just like in Fox Chapel where they forced a station closed because they forbid them from answering calls when they refused to operate under the new rules set up in the community .

Have a Verizon Cell Phone ? Did you know you need to update its software occasionally ? Works better when you do.

I travel around the Tri-State a lot and people always wonder why my Verizon cell phone is working when theirs is not  so I have to end up telling them about how  I keep my Verizon Smart phones roaming capabilities up to date by simply  dialing *228 every few months to keep it up to date and current .
If you do not do this it keeps your phone from being able to stay properly connected to the Verizon phone network. yes its that simple . almost all Verizon cell phones need to do this update and you will find it in the instructions which came with your phone so update and ready to roll

Here is the text from Verizon web site which discusses this issue.

Why do I need to perform this update on my wireless phone?
By performing this update your phone will stay on the Verizon Wireless network and/or digital service whenever possible. Also, for most price plans after 2/1/2002 the phone roam indicator will turn off/on in accordance to the price plan you have chosen.

What are the steps I need to take to complete this update?
The following are the steps you need to take to complete the update:

1. Power on your Verizon Wireless phone
2. Dial *228 from your home digital coverage area, followed by the SEND key
3. When prompted, press option #2, to update your phones roaming capabilities (This process may take up to 2 minutes)
4. Once completed, a confirmation message will be played, and a message will display on the phone screen.

What if the update fails to complete successfully?
If for some reason the update does not complete successfully, please try again at a later time. If the problem persists, your phone may not be capable of this update process.

What benefits will this update provide?
Benefits of this update may include:

Longer battery life
Fewer dropped or blocked calls
Clear, crisp connections in even more areas across the United States
Roaming indicator will reflect the price plan you have chosen (available on most price plans after 2/1/2002).

How often do I need to perform this update?
This update should be performed every three months, and/or after changing price plans.

How much will this *228 call cost me?
This call is offered FREE of airtime charges from Verizon Wireless.

When can I perform this update?
You may perform this update at your convenience. This FREE software update is available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

A controversial Fire Official Who while doing Good caused a lot of Bad Problems that linger to this day.

Monroeville Pa was the community where the late  Dan Aston held court as Fire Official  for many years you either loved him or hated him. He was a fire official not a Fire Marshal like every other community.
I hated him because of all the problems he caused my self and other Fire Alarm Installers and property owners there.
Instead of solving problems he caused them.Yes he was very educated and came up with formulas still used in fire service when dealing with calculating fire loads for sprinklers etc but he has also caused a deadly legacy as well because he refused to even except he could be wrong on something .Especially with electrical he was like a fish out of water and was making bad rulings which I had to have him overridden on several times .

The first dealings with Dan
where with the Blue Moon Motel a seedy place along Monroeville blvd now bulldozed and a shopping center .The old AC only Faraday  panel had to be tied to the dispatch center via leased line . I figured out how to do it and it took forever to get a call back from Dan my uncle a fire capt in Crafton finally interceded and got hold of him for me and any time you talked to Dan it was like an interrogation it was one way and one way only even if he was totally wrong about the code  he was God .  Dan was a big pusher of NFPA and then what would become the ICC codes  known as BOCA in an attempt to make Monoreville safe from fires as the community was greatly expanding its commercial and retail area. Although he succeeded he has left a legacy of very bad issues behind him , still haunting to this day.  Of course there are still those who idolize him not realizing the problems he has caused.

Take the Demarco Durzo Building  on Mosside Blvd. I Installed the fire alarm and took care of  it for many years  till a very rude management company came in and got rid of  all existing service providers including me they where using there own people.
One of the first issues  with Dan was since the IRS had a service division  in the building they required the sprinkler system   shut off valves and fire alarm send a trouble signal to the receiving authority  and this was done by way of a leased line reverse polarity circuit to the dispatchers in monroeville municipal building.
Dan said NO  .
The NFPA code only required him to take alarm not trouble signals. A very big and very wrong dissension  on his part . Because he would not except those signals any arsonist or any one else with criminal intent could disable a fire system and destroy a building.
Well I had to go and tell the IRS agents he would not except trouble signals. After they and GAO office got hold of him he begrudgingly said yes . Now this was before UL listed and recognized digital Phone dialers with a daily test on dial up phone lines where all signals had to go to Monroeville.

Today the NFPA still does not require you to transmit sprinkler shut off valves  signals you can just lock them with chain and pad lock but the ICC codes require it realizing all the arson fires and alarm systems in general which are not being properly maintained.
Every Fire system I have ever installed and still maintain send trouble signals and it has saved lives.
This would not be the only D&D building issue with Dan. when they added on the new addition the new ADA code was now in place in all new construction  and as I figured out the plans and submitted them I did them to ADA standard
Like I told the building owner Dr. Durzo we need to follow this code  and I am sure Dan will be enforcing it since all the other fire Marshals where looking for it. Well it was a sunny afternoon where standing outside the building addition being put in and up rides Dan to look at the plans and check work and he starts mother fucking me out in the parking lot about he does not enforce ADA and will have nothing to do it and why did I tell doc he did. When I told him I thought he would , as every one else was following it  and we needed to do it here because  we had federal offices inside.  He said he was not everyone else and to hell with ADA that's up to feds to check not  him. Fine I said and when it comes back and bites you in the ass remember who told you so.
 He stormed off the lot and left in a huff. What he did not realize was an GOA inspector was on property and heard the whole argument. He came down wanted to know who this individual was I told him and later that week a GAO inspector in a wheel chair was sent around Monroeville and a bunch of new buildings where found not to be in compliance and owners where forced to make expensive retrofits all because Dan did not agree with the ADA laws. Yes he was right he did not have to enforce it but he had an obligation to tell them they needed to follow these rules and check them out  after that incident all plans where stamped approved only for fire and to check that ADA rules may be enforced by others.  It was shortly after this he left his position for a while as all the ghosts where now coming and haunting him .He even had some one plant an explosive under his Fire officials car and blow it up. That's when he was having a feud with the late Al Monzo  over his unapproved helipad at his hotel and everyone said Al was behind it but no one was ever charged I do not think Al had any thing to do with it he was too classy a guy to do something like that. .  He had so many building owners mad at him at that point it could have been any one of them. . There was also the issue with him wanting a sprinkler head over an electric furnace in the  building which an electrical inspector overruled him and they made him move it.The electrical inspectors where always arguing with Dan as well. I remember the day him and late Harry Kwalick got into it at a Dr.s office I was doing which was built like a Igloo. Dan wanted a sprinkler head over the electrical equipment and harry said no and overruled him.

But as I finished  D&D building that winter
I would soon butt heads again with Dan and this time it would prove to his detriment .
I was Hired to Install the fire alarms and do  Electrical repairs at Strafford village which was to become
Birnam Woods.
Well things went smooth and Dan actually liked the idea I came up with to use the McCullough loop instead of the Main Annunciation panel which would slow Fire fighter response first having to go there to find out where the fire was but yes Dan was back at it again. We had to drill holes in cinder block fire walls for some hook ups and when you drilled the holes we put electrical putty around them to seal them to stop fire spread we did this every where but no this was not what Dan wanted he made us run the wires thru a piece of pipe  which was run thru the hole in the wall and no back filling with fire proof  putty. We did this in all the buildings and as study's have proved this putting wires thru a pipe first was the wrong thing to do.  Yes there are pipe seals for fire walls available today but they have special fittings which expand and choke off flames what Dan did in effect was to create a Flame Thrower by making us run wire thru these pipe sections and not back filling them with either putty or fire proof cement.

Then there was a problem with the  8 upper apartment units which where all electric  no gas heat.
This was a big issue several times during the project we had problems where electric furnace heaters overheated and started fires. Dan's answer put 3/4 drywall around the units to protect the apartments if they malfunctioned. This was not a solution it created an even bigger danger the problem was these units where improperly installed they should have had a fan sail switch which would only allow heaters on if fan was running and there should have been fuse links in heater line to open as well if unit over heated  I went to refrigeration and air conditioning school and pointed this out to Dan he would hear none of it  put in the dry wall  even thou it violated manufacturers rules it was too close and a very fateful decision as an apartment building up there would have a major fire  that would require rebuilding the buildings and he was faulted with not doing a proper job of preventing the fire.I read the report and it was very critical of Dan's Decisions with the property they also cited the pipes with wire thru them as allowing fire to spread.
Ken who helped me during the renovations stayed on as a maintenance man and would give me updates on the property after we finished and all the problems caused by Dan that kept showing up and he showed me the report he got a copy of it  from management.

Then one day a customer  of mine who owned apartments in Monroeville was told he needed fire alarms . I found a 4 zone panel made by NAPCO which would work perfect submitted plans  etc to Dan's office and I get a phone call no this panel is no good is not commercial fire UL listed etc. I am like what the hell are you talking about .I had to call NAPCO and there chief engineer had to call and berate him for saying the panel did not pass got a follow up call everything was OK. Dan was gone from office by time we got complex finished and the officials who came out  where very happy with the work .

I thought that was it with Dan till I ran across him at a Fireman's Parade in Kittaning  where he starts yelling at me about getting him sued over allowing ADT to use phone lines in the Birnam woods project
I am like Dan what the fuck are you talking about  I have not serviced Birnam since they sold the property.
Bad place for him to start his shit with me a bunch of my friends from Kittaning Area came over and where ready to pound him but he apologized got in his car and left in a huff.

Thought that was it he was no longer in Monroeville  but was now working in nearby a town I never did work in. but an electrician friend called and said he needed help with an alarm yes in that town I told him yes I would help but keep my name out of it I drew up plans etc got them stamped but Dan made him put system smoke detectors in each of these section 8 apartments something I tried to tell them was bad news there would be constant false alarms and besides the buildings sprinklered but acting on Dan's insistence this was way to go we did it and this site has been nothing but headaches with false alarms from pull stations being maliciously pulled which we wanted to eliminate code does not require them to  smokes going off from cooking and illegal pot smoke  . Yes what a mess. But that's what Dan wanted and Wilkinsburg wanted and now regrets. But they still want them that way. I have proposed eliminating the system smokes in apartments change them to system heats and putting in 10 year battery units  to help stop some of the alarms  but no dice. Now that major changes have  has taken place in the  dept and is constantly running there hopefully they will change there minds.
and allow me to reduce calls  for them. Funny how Pa. Fireman's ran an exact article about how bad an idea it is to have system smokes in apartments by Retired Chief Angone

Dan ended up back in Monoreville where he retired  from and he has since passed away.

While Dan had many good ideas and did a good deal to protect Monroeville as It grew  he has also left a legacy of problems behind him. some people claim he was on the take when he allowed so many things to be passed at Birnam Woods and signed off on the problem ridden project but I never saw proof of it.
You still hear plenty of story's about Dan even to this day  from older installers and building owners.
When Dan held Court.

Hard to believe almost 40 years of work experience in so many places and locations the Good the Bad and the Ugly places I worked

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Counterfeit GFCI Outlets Danger await those who buy these cheap units

Had an electrician friend  call me today about one of his machines in the  plant  he installing new electrical feeds for  I was at couple weeks ago with a grounding problem  with a new problem on a different machine  . One of the machines kept tripping out the GFCI Outlet when it was turned on yet when plugged into a certain GFCI outlet it did not trip.

Well after some investigation work including using a meggar meter  on the suspect machine we had our answer. Yes there was a slight ground in the machine which was enough to trip a GFCI and the GFCI units he installed where working properly but when we went to examine the GFCI installed by Electrical Contractor when building was built earlier this year there was a big problem when tested the GFCI did not trip until well over 7 Milliamps of leakage far in excess of allowable 5 milliamps. It was then at first thinking a bad GFCI that I started looking it over and noticed UL mark was not the new reflective mark and other issues with stamping s etc. Ends up this GFCI is Counterfeit that UL and US Customs  has been warning about from China and this electrician never should have installed it. which is one of many things I questioned about his work including why did he install residential load centers instead of commercial bolt down breaker panels knowing what this building was being used for. The electrical inspector should have never passed it either knowing manufacturing would be going on in here. When 400 amps service  was put on building instead of 100 or 200 amps for warehouse use. 

 This company who made this GFCI General Protecht  Ltd  of China has been embroiled in several trademark infringement lawsuits and has had UL and CPSC looking at them yet there dangerous and illegal products have made it to our shores and there are enough Whore Electricians who will take the risk and knowingly install low cost generic GFCI knowing full well the danger they pose. 

So for now the GFCI is changed and my friend is tracking down the slight short in yet another machine more than likely caused when it was moved and handled roughly.

UL Label is invalid  and not reflective 

In this case two was not better than one. When it came to controlling a machine

I am currently in the process of repairing a  Sheet Metal Shops  Shear machine which has a electrically controlled Back Gauge which moves forward and backwards to allow for exact proper cut each time when you feed in sheets of steel for a project. Its a pretty simple set up except who ever did the initial repairs on this machine when the gauge broke down  did the wrong repair and instead of installing a  specifically single forward and reverse controller which has mechanical safety interlock to prevent both coils from energizing at same time and moving  they took 2 single motor contactor controls and tied them together .Thou it works it is illegal to do this and presents a major electrical and OSHA codes violation. as both coils could energize at same time overloading motor circuit and causing injury and fire. Needless to say I have ordered in correct parts and will be repairing it properly. So your probably asking your self how could a machine go for years like this then be sold to a second shop and never be caught and corrected. Its because there was not a problem up till this time  and machine was never properly inspected when it was re-installed or it would have been caught by the electrician wiring it. That is if the electrician was properly trained in industrial electric which in this case I know he was not properly trained in industrial work. needless to say his services are no longer being used by this facility. as this is not the first time he hooked something up and did it wrong. and shame on the electrical inspector as well who looked the shops electrical system over for not catching all the problems they have had so far as well.

If you have this PAMA Co Detector you need to check it for problems

I installed this PAMA Carbon Monoxide Detector manufactured in Israel  a few years back in a customers home the nice thing about it was it had a permanent Co sensor which did not need changed every 5-7 years like current units on the market  unfortunately thou the units where not supervised either for proper operation like new units. Either way the units been preforming flawlessly that is till couple days ago when customer complained it was going off constantly .
I opened up and examined the units and found it extremely hot and inside of case all smoked up .I took unit out of service and I am in process of getting hold of manufacturers rep and CPS C as this could result in a very serious problem this unit could have gotten hot enough to cause a fire despite fact its only a 12 volt DC unit wired with Calls 2 wiring. Which i have talked about in previous articles just because its designed for class II does not mean its 100% safe from possible fire or shock.