Least Cost Routing LCR the Deadly Game Telephone Carriers Play with your phone calls which could prevent a signal from you Fire or Burglar alarm from being answered.

A burglar is breaking into your home or you are having a medical emergency and you push your emergency alert button .

No worry's the central station is being contacted and help is on the way.  But is help coming?

The answer could well be no because of a deadly game phone company's like Verizon , Comcast  etc play with how your phone call is transmitted from your home to the central station Via toll free numbers .  Which recently happened when a customers sprinkler system activated due to frozen pipes and a signal was not sent by the Silent Knight 5104 B dialer.

I check the dialer all was OK properly programmed phone line working but when it called central station the central station was getting an error message unknown account number#  So what is going on .

Lets say your home or business is in Pittsburgh Pa. and the central station you use is in Erie Pa. 

When the alarm dials the 800 number you would expect it stays with in the borders of Pa. on phone lines which run Between Pittsburgh and Erie  Wrong.

When the number is dialed the phone company central office switch gear looks at where the number is going and then determines the cheapest path to get it there which could be thru Ohio then thru NY and then finally into Pa. and Erie County . In some cases phone numbers being dialed in Pa are being routed as far away as Texas and every time it keeps switching the potential for line noise  and interference which can keep call from completing . All in a way to save phone company's money.  Once I reprogrammed the dialer to a different 800 number so it took a different path  it was operating fine .
But the problem is only getting worse and even if you use a central station with in the county you live with this new least cost routing and new VoIP internet phone switching phone company's are doing there is no guarantee you will not have a problem. Even if you have a traditional land line known as POTS or plain old telephone service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softswitch

While new fire panels are required to test both phone Numbers every 6 hours to the central station older panels only dial every 24 hours and test  and some burglar alarm systems only test every 30 days or not at all
and with many burglar alarms being serviced at central stations many states away   which is typical with big  national alarm company like ADT you can see the potential mess we have on our hands and why it is essential to check and find out why a panel has not sent in a test signal.

On many of my accounts I am now backing them up with cell phone and internet connections  via Honeywell Alarmnet  or thru Uplink   which provides triple redundancy of the signal getting out but even this is no guarantee.
As phone company's keep playing games to lower costs and refuse to properly maintain infrastructure it is only going to get worse.


 

Dangerous Carbon Monoxide Leak caused by careless pipe installer could have been fatal . Just another reason why Mt Lebanon Pa. is requiring Emergency Back Up Genrator Inspections

Last year the Municipality of Mt Lebanon Pa. started using a new inspection reporting software from Brycer called "The Compliance Engine "

http://www.thecomplianceengine.com/

Then  all the usual moaning and complaining started why do I have to have my Generator and fire alarm etc inspected annually and then have to pay to file the report ?

Well in the case of Mt Lebanon  Pa. they saw an apartment building boom in 1940's thru 60's so in many cases you have electrical and mechanical systems in buildings getting well over 50+ years old. If they have not been updated and they need more rigorous inspections,
I received a call from an apartment building owner to check his generator. No problem I arranged to check the generator for hm it was a 60's era Onan Generator which was kept in very good shape and when I started it up to check it I was worried that some of the exhaust piping was going thru the ceiling and could not be inspected for leaks .
So I performed a simple back pressure test on the piping by closing it off which should have caused the generators motor to want to stall . It did not and to mine and the building owners horror  I found that when the piping on the outside of the building was extended to prevent Co From building up in the building and blow it out to the back lot it was improperly installed and leaking deadly Co Gas right back into the building via the air inlet duct work which brings fresh air into the building.

In the picture you can see as the pipe makes the bend there is a plumbers Tee in the line. This tee and flange should not be there . Instead of the person who installed the piping using a piece of all thread
and support clamp they lazily and dangerously used the tee and flange to support the pipe. The problem the flange has a hole thru it aprox. 1 inch in diameter so the exhaust gas goes down the short tee section thru the flange and into the brick and gas leaks out  from behind the flange right into the air intake for the generator.
 You can see the water stains from condensate which builds in the pipes when they sit leaking from the fitting because it is not sealed.
Now Mt Lebanon has been to the building a couple times over the years  when power has been out a long time for a CO build up . But firefighters attributed it to the generator was running so long and yes this would be an obvious conclusion as it does happen especially with these old gen sets which do not burn as clean as new units which sit outside. No one not even myself would have expected such a dangerous and lazy hack was done to this piping but it was and it just goes to illustrate why generators need inspected not only in Mt Lebanon but state wide there are many generators sitting in basements of buildings which have never been properly inspected in decades waiting to kill people.because they have not been properly installed and maintained.

When I needed Bilingual marked Fire Equipment for a group home Firelite Alarms came thru

One of my Institutional clients decided to help the Federal Immigration & Naturalization Service   with taking in some young south American children during this summers illegal immigration surge .
 Till they can be adjudicated and either deported or granted asylum.
Normally I always install Pull stations and fire horns which are printed in English but since these 2 homes would have those who read and speak only Spanish this could be a problem so I started looking around for a manufacturer of bilingual fire equipment and Fire-Lite came thru  a Honeywell fire group company makes Pull stations which are bilingual as you can see in the picture below.

The stations are fully UL /NFPA compliant and can be ordered in several different languages which can come in handy if you have customers with such a need.

How many people would have become Electricans or into the trades had the Math not scared them ? the truth all you need is basic math to do your job.

I have heard it so many times over the years from people I meet How they wanted to become a Electrician , Plumber or Carpenter  etc. but could not handle the math requirements when they took the tests to get placed in a class.

The truth the advanced math taught in trade classes is hardly ever used  if you can do standard high school math  add,subtract ,multiply,divide and percentages  you can do your trade.

Its the same even for electronics work I do.  you do not need to know advanced math unless you are doing advanced design and  engineering work.  Why they even insist you have to take and pass advanced mathematics concepts is total bull shit and nothing more than a means to wash out those who could otherwise contribute to the trades.

If your going into a trade then you should be taught whats known as shop or trade math  if your going to be an engineer and or a designer then fine then take the advanced math classes that require them.

Because they keep insisting on adding math courses into the trades that are not needed and never used unless you are doing engineering calculations the whole industry now suffers as many young men who could have and should have been tradesman never came in and now we are very short handed when it comes to the trades as the work force now has an average age of 50

It is estimated that as many as 70% of the available tradesman now working in the field will be retiring with in the next 10 years causing a major crisis. there will always be those like me who will try to work past retirement part time to pass on what we know to the next generation but who will build this country?

Right now just in the Pittsburgh area Local Trade Unions are advertising for recruits something unheard of 30years ago it was almost impossible to get into the unions now they go begging for members.

Local Power company's are offering a fantastic opportunity where you get paid to learn plus come out with a college degree.   It is getting so hard to get young men to come into the trades .

So why with the need for tradesman would educators insist on putting math requirements in place which are not needed and keep many otherwise qualified individuals  from becoming tradespeople?

30 amp Zinsco breaker on 15 amp circuit makes for hidden dangerous situation in an apartment complex. and all to familar problem with replacement breakers that are no longer made.

Friend and customer of mine purchased some apartment buildings couple years back   in South Hills of Pittsburgh and recently discovered a very dangerous situation when one of the apartments caught fire built in the 1950's each apartment had in it a small Zinsco Breaker panel  with 30 amp breaker for  a small electric range and 2 15 1mp and 1 20 amp breakers to provide power to the apartment.

Back when these apartments where first built that was plenty of power. But as people started adding more items to there apartments like  Hair Dryers, Window Air Conditioners  and Microwave ovens etc. this can lead to strain on the electrical services.
So careful balancing of items is required.

It has not been a problem for my customer as he and his brothers have done a good job on educating there tenants about safely plugging in items in there apartments.

How ever a recent cold snap revealed a rather dangerous situation in one of the apartments which has now caused each and every apartment in the multi building  complex to be checked and if the problem exists be eliminated .

As one of the tenants was enjoying his evening watching TV  and had a fake Fireplace heater plugged in to warm the apartment he noticed his apartment ceiling to have its paint bubbling and walls where hot .
He immediately called 911  the fire dept arrived cut off power then opened up the ceiling where a fire had developed. and would have spread across the attic and possibly destroyed the building and could have easily killed  the tenants had this occurred during the middle of the night.

Fire Investigators determined a romex wire had heated up  and its movement under a staple designed to hold it in place is where the fire started. as you can see in the picture above where romex ire is missing its insulatiion.

But what really caused the fire was the fact at some point in the 50plus year the apartments have existed  and before my customers bought them .Some one either a tenant or a  very sloppy property handy man tired of constantly tripping the 15 amp breaker installed a 30 amp breaker.as can be seen in the picture below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinsco

We know by its age and date code  it was not original and they stopped making Zinsco Breakers over 30 years ago .  So it was done some time in the 70's . Zinsco breakers themselves have a bad reputation for not tripping properly to begin with and to have such an idiot put such a 30 amp  breaker
on a 14 gauge wire  is criminal. This is double what the wire is capable of handling and as you can see the end results. because this has happened each and every breaker panel in the complex is now being check. 

The 30 amp breaker has since been replaced with a proper Zinsco replacement only breaker.
As these panels are no longer allowed to have circuits added to them. Because the Zinsco company is out of business it is very hard to acquire these breakers original condition  you must be careful where you are sourcing them from as some are rebuilds or old stock with questionable quality  issues .  There was one company in Canada still making them for replacement duty only  which now cost $25.00 a breaker compared to $2.00 when they where on the market and as time goes on it will get even harder to get proper breakers and require panel replacement some some what easily done other near impossible  to do  which creates major issues as building s age. 

This Self Ejecting electric Plug system from Meltric solves many safety issues when it comes to plugging in heavy electrical loads

I have seen it too many times especially on 3 phase powered  electrical equipment.
A worker unplugs the unit while it is still operating drawing a potentially deadly arc  which would not happen if they had simply turned off the main disconnect switch  when disconnecting a big portable pump or electric welder or big mixer

It is  an accident waiting to happen and are totally avoidable  simply by just shutting off the disconnect . But people get busy and forget and  flash crack boom.

Well one company  Meltric has developed a self ejecting plug which helps to prevent this from happening .

http://www.meltric.com/

The high impact plastic plugs and receptacles are designed to automatically eject   and clear quickly which prevents an arc flash from forming when a plug is pulled slowly as shown in video below.

http://youtu.be/pCIf4WWRzNs

I have been encouraging my customers to switch over to this plug and receptacle style  to help prevent accidents in their facility and many are doing so. the units are expensive but one cost eliminated is since the plugs can serve as disconnect a separate disconnect does not need to be installed.

"The Thin Red Line " Just another example of the fine people who become Firefighters after one is arrested for causing $30,000.00 in damage to a NY Fire Station

I have been saying it for over a decade  "The Fire Service is its own worse enemy"

It showed it ugly head this month when the week before Christmas a deranged volunteer firefighter  went on a  $30,000.00 vandalism spree with red spray paint  in Clarksville NY.

http://www.statter911.com/2015/01/01/inside-job-volunteer-firefighter-arrested-extensive-vandalism-new-york-firehouse/

 21 year old Damian M. Kessler was arrested earlier this week for causing the extensive damage which put the station out of commission for several days till gear could be replaced and he put a whole community at risk.

Photo from  stater911 article 

 Why did he do it? 

Well I can think of a few dozen reasons.

Starting with he did not fit in ,he was a weirdo ,he did not like being told what to do. he was teased and tormented  and or bullied. or he was doing drugs and went off on a rage or  maybe all of it went on in the Clarksville Station. Something caused him to do it and I hope all the dirty laundry comes out in this case and hopefully some one gets the message this behavior needs to stop. All you have to do is check out Face Book and other social apps to find out what is going on in depts and the constant teasing and tension put on some members I see it right here in Penn Hills it needs to stop period.

So then you ask what about a back round check before he was put on duty?

Good question but a back ground check is only for criminal past not present and should include references from people who can attest to his or her character. 

So how many stations do them properly ? not very many is the answer.

The problem so many stations are hurting for volunteers they will take any warm body they can find questionable or not.

You see the fire service has become a good ole boys red neck organzation where they feel they can get away with anything and not be held accountable since they are the heroes who come and rescue you you either fit there good ole boy mold or your an outsider who needs booted out or made to quit.

Just ask any police officer who works in an area with a volunteer dept. 

They will tell you they run across the truly dedicated Firefighters who are good solid citizens  and then they run across those who are constantly just on the edge of being arrested constantly pushing buttons  and have not been because they have there brother firefighters protecting them.  What cop wants to arrest a firefighter and feel the wrath of the community because they think he is a hero when the firefighter in realty really is a zero.

They talk about the  Thin Blue Line of Police officers protecting Police officers who do wrong it goes on in the fire service as well call it  "The Thin Red line "

and I have seen it time after time. 

I would never follow it if you do wrong you do wrong thats why I was not liked at Penn Hills station 224  there is right and there is wrong and you do not reward bad behavior period.

Thats why my self and 2 other firefighters had to take Penn Hills Station 224 to the Pa. Human Relations Commission after we where harassed and in my case deliberately injured.  

People where always talking behind my back because they where afraid to confront me face to face Im a big guy  so I did the right thing I left and would not put up with it and exposed it.

But this is not the case in the fire service or police depts and bad behavior is condoned and look at the back lash now against all police because of a small hand full who did wrong. 

Its the same thing with unions who protect workers  who are a detriment to the workplace and there fellow worker.

Those who put a fire dept at risk have no business being in the fire service.

But until the fire service is ready to take the matter by the horns get rid of the bad firefighters and welcome the good ones and encourage growth and professionalism what you saw happen in Clarksville will be the normal.

I know how many Fire Marshals and Officials in the volunteer service pull their hair out daily

because they get no cooperation from the volunteer depts under their jurisdiction.

I saw and heard first hand just how Firefighters felt about our former outstanding  fire marshal here in Penn Hills

Jack Mason and the grief and attitude  he was given by depts. Yet when there was a problem some where jack was first one they called to bail them out. 

So what is it going to take to clean up this mess in Volunter Fire Depts?  

Some state or county agency which has the full power and control to go in and clean matters up. 

and community political leaders  with the balls to stand up and say NO. 

No you get NO funding unless you tow the line. NO you will not respond to calls No you will not  provide any service till you clean up your act.

Ohara Twp. Pa. shut down a dept as did Dorseyville  when they had enough its time to start cracking down get rid of the bullys and hanger-ons  and filth which penetrates our volunteer depts.