Nice idea take an old refrigerator turn it into a food pantry box. Bad idea your potentially violating state law and putting young lives at danger.

 The North Braddock Community came up with this really nice idea take an old Refrigerator and turn it into a community Food Pantry and the kids did a great job on it.

Which will be located on 6th ave. according to Face book Post

Only there is a  Problem

 

Being left outside and unsupervised a young child could become trapped in it if playing with friends and things get out of hand . and it potentially violates state laws regarding unused and abandoned refrigerators . Which was put in place after children lost their lives playing around and unintentionally or intentionally being trapped in an old refrigerator that was left out on a porch etc. 

§ 6502.  Refrigerators and iceboxes.

(a)  Offense defined.--A person is guilty of a summary offense if he discards or abandons in any place accessible to children any refrigerator or icebox having a capacity of 1.5 cubic feet or more with an attached lid or door, or being the owner, lessee or manager of any place accessible to children knowingly permits an abandoned or discarded refrigerator, icebox or chest to remain there with an attached lid or door.

(b)  Effect of violation.--A violation of this section shall not in itself render a person guilty of manslaughter, assault or other crime against a person who may suffer death or injury from entrapment in an icebox or refrigerator.

Now if they stripped it all out and put a couple holes to insure if a child gets trapped  they wont suffocate that may fly but I still would not put anything out a child could get trapped in. That's why most outside pantry's are smaller and up on poles or posts. 

Myself and others expressed our concerns on Facebook and i saw it outside on porch of the Braddocks Battle field museum today. Hopefully they will rethink this and se if it can be put inside museum where it can be supervised.  

In mean time great job those who painted it.

Low Voltage explosion Proof wiring Installation which is total disaster waiting t happen. No wonder so many problems at plants with explosive products.

 I often work in plants that have explosive  and dangerous atmospheres where specialized explosion proof wiring is required.

All too often these installs are totally wrong and will not prevent an explosion and can actually cause them.

Take this latest facility I was working in an old pain manufacturing plant on Neville Island .

A well known national alarm company with 3 initials  failed when it came to installing the fire alarm system in a 

Class 1 Division 1  area of the plant.

First off although they use the correct explosion proof Tamper Switch on the valve the Sprinkler System the flexible plastic is incorrect it has to be metal seal-tight that is gas impermeable .

https://www.larsonelectronics.com/blog/2018/11/13/explosion-proof/when-to-use-seal-offs-and-barriers-for-explosion-proof-equipment/

Second the seal off as seen below which prevent explosive gasses from back flowing thru the rigid steel pipe is not filled with the cement type  compound  all around wires that seals off the pipe .

This company had no business installing in a hazardous atmosphere unless they know what they are doing and its very clear they do not .

I see ppeople posting all the time in alarm groups on social media asking about hazardous and explosive 

setups and when i tell them to employee an electrician who is trained and knows how to do this work they get offended.

You have no business install in these atmospheres unless you fully understand the NEC Codes .

and I just don't see this with low voltage I see it all the time with higher voltages which is really scary.

Another Slob HVAC contractor install this time at a Basketball Training Facilty.

 My customer has had a bad run of luck with contractors with his new basketball training facilty .

This time its the way the HVAC system was installed

First off they used the wrong wire type since everything is pen and exposed in this facility it has to be physically protected . so NMC- Romex is not permitted 

So that's first error they made. 2nd they never installed an outside disconnect on condenser unit so it can be safely serviced.

Plus to make it more dangerous they brought the plastic jacketed romex out to condenser thru the metal building with no sleeve to protect it and the wire is not rated for outside use.

Then although your allowed to use PVC to vent the high efficiency furnace. Your not allowed in this facility it has to be metal  exhaust pipe and metal  drains . due to fire spread from PVC  as its a high occupancy place.

The contractor is a total slob residential guy obviously never did commercial work because he would know better .

Needless to say the owner is very upset and contacted the company to get it corrected.

If not next call will be building inspector.

Step Ladder sold by Home Depot with neat feature is also very Dangerous to users of the ladder un aware it is not properly secured.

 I was working at a customers oil distribution facility  recently and needed a short step ladder to install an WiFi Access point when customer said go ahead and use one in warehouse .

Walked out into warehouse and there sat an impressive well built aluminum  step ladder approx 4 ft tall just perfect for what I needed .

Customer said he bought it from Home Depot   and made by the people who make the Gorrilla Ladders

It even had this neat Flip Tray feature which was great so I could put my self drill screws in tray  

So I put my screw in tray get up on ladder and that's when I realize the Flip Tray is not locked in place as I bump against it and the tray opens and screws go everywhere and I loose my balance. 

Luckily I was not hurt but I could have easily been so.

This feature although handy needs to be latched down so  it can not be accidentally opened and products in tray thrown all over the place.

The intent was correct but not the design.

I will be notifying CPSC and home Depot  about this design flaw so ladders can be recalled and corrected a feature like this needs a latch .

 

 

Another example of why you can not trust a Digital volt meter and should have a Solenoid tester if you trouble shoot electrical circuits

 I never trust Digital Meters when it comes to working on live 120 and up AC  Alternating Current  Electrical Circuits .

I especially despise  Auto Ranging Digital Meters like Fluke 113

I like Digital Meters with Fixed scales like my Triplett  780B. so let me tell you why.

I recently had to call power company to a customer site after the B phase of their 120-/208 3 phase service was out .

I verified it with a digital meter and then double verified it with a Knopp Solenoid Tester meter.  This meter has a small coil which energizes and pulls up a marker flag or indicator this way you know you actually have Real electrical Power and not getting a Phantom Reading. can do both AC and DC  at 120  to 600 volts

Various Solenoid testers are available new and used from  Klein who made the famous Wiggy  , Ideal and others 

I have an older Knopp tester my dad gave me when he retired from the mill and bought a new Cat III  protected tester couple years ago .

at Stanton Electric Supply in Wilkinsburg Pa. 

Now I knew that phase was dead so power company trouble shooter shows up with his Fluke 113 meter goes up in bucket says No must be your problem  . so I had to put on PPE and open up the 1200 amp outside load center .

He starts testing and its then after checking a couple more times he was reading his meter wrong when he was getting strange readings on his 113 meter .

 

what he was reading on his meter was not 120 or 114 he was reading Point .120 point 114 which means the phase was dead.

when i put my knopp on and verified it he was pretty embarrased. 

So no harm no foul. 

He went back up and found where copper and alunimum wire on phase near transformer had gone bad and in 15 minute we had B phase working.

When he saw me pull out the solenoid tester he said your and old school electrician yes I am and my dad taught me the value of these solenoid tester too many times digital meters can throw you off.  

This is why you see old school electricians like myself carry the solenoid testers in industrial settings with 230 and 480 industrial services. So you do not get a false reading the cost around a Hundred dollars but solve troubleshooting issues because you know the power is there or not.

 

 

Why are colors being changed to white on UF Underground Feeder Non Metallic cables ?

 Ever since I started doing Electrical Work in 70s  UF Non Metallic Direct Burial and Sunlight Resistant  Cable  used for  swimming pools outside outlets and lighting where Protective Conduit is not required has always been gray .

It was always a way to tell UF from Common" Romex "  a trade mark  NMC  Non Metallic Cable 

as Romex was always white or black if aluminum which ended up banned  but in 90s a company called 

South Wire came out with a color coded romex wire jacket the industry started following and it instantly made it easy for inspectors and contractors alike to tell what type wire was in use .Especially when hard to get to it to read the jacket ID label

Gray UF 14 thru 10 Gauge

White 14# Gauge

Yellow 12# Gauge

Orange 10# Gauge  

So why now is UF coming out white 

It is just going to cause more confusion on job sites especially in residential now inspectors are going to have to make sure they read every label on every wire put in outdoor or in-ground install and unscrupulous contractors are going to cheat and run 14/2 romex instead of UF on jobs and there will be no way to tell unless you physically inspect it. Unlike Gray UF you know its UF when you see it .

Making Freon Refrigerant containers all a Generic White is a very bad Idea

 I have been doing HVAC type work since 70s and Freon and Refrigerant chemical always came in color coded pressurized containers . 

It was always easy to tell from a distance R12, which was white R 22 which was Green R 502 which was Purple Etc. Etc. even as new refrigerants cam on market they had there own colors or banding and could be easily known what it was . Especially  after they have been sitting for long periods tucked away in warehouses and been in service trucks the labels can wear off but the paint never did. 

 

But that's all gone away .

Tanks are now coming out in Generic White and that can lead to serious issues when a technician grabs the wrong tank because they misread or mistook  the label for what a product is and belive me those of us with Dislexia have a hard enough time as it is with labels.

Putting the wrong refrigerant in a system will damage and kill the unit. When labels wear off tanks will not be able to identified with out  sophisticated testing leading to tanks with virgin product being sent back for recycling  and refrigerant wasted.

hazmat teams will also now have to take even further safety precautions because they now will not know whats in a tank if label is missing they will not have a clue what they are dealing with 

Generic White Tanks are a very bad idea.

Drowning from Electrical Shock it happens in Ponds and pools more than you think . Luckily new technology can alert to this hazard

 A young family on vacation the 2 young girls get on their bathing suits and cant wait to get swimming in the pond  at there rental cottage. they slip into the water off of the dock  and their father who is close by notices one daughter appears to be in distress  . He runs to the dock as he yells to wife to call 911  to find both girls not moving he dives in to save them but his life is alsmost taken as well. 

Hi joints are locking up he can barley move and becomes unconscious luckily the local rescue squad removes him and he is saved but its too late for the girls.

It is later revealed bad wiring at the dock for a light put an electrical charge in water around the dock.

Unfortunately this scenario is playing out all over the country as witnessed in articles below.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/parents-warn-about-electric-shock-drowning-after-15-year-old-girls-tragic-death/

https://nypost.com/2019/07/17/9-year-old-california-girl-dies-from-electrocution-in-pool/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLqftHp8eCo

Badly installed wiring , faulty and deteriorating wiring  its all over the place I have been warning about this for years. and a Ground fault Interrupter GFCI  will not protect you.

But now there is a product available to prevent this Called Shock Alert which gives  an alarm when it detects electrical current in a water source  

 

https://www.shockalert.com/

 

It both beeps and gives a visual alert  when it activates  and is simple to deploy and use.

around $200.00 or less  retail  it is now a required item in new electrical installations 

where water is involved .

There is an even more sophisticated unit on market called Dock lifeguard  which warns as well as cuts off the docks power by tripping the GFCI

https://docklifeguard.com/

This silent killer as it is known is only going to get worse as pools and docks and their infrastrutue gets older . 

If your going swimming at a lake or pond  follow following tips

• Use a plastic ladder, rather than a metal one, so it won’t help transfer electricity into the water.
•  
•  
  
• If you start to feel a tingle in the water, swim away from the dock, which is where most electrical issues occur.

• Check all of the wiring around your dock, including your ground fault circuit breaker. 

Have fun this summer but do so safely