Blown in Foam Insulation - Should we be derating electrical wires running in it?

You see it in almost every new home and in some Commercial construction  a new style of blown in foam insulation  which totally seals off air leaks in homes and is an excellent energy saver. The problem thou is there is now no air movement around the romex wiring in homes walls which I worry could eventually result in fires when wiring overheats .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spray_foams_%28insulation%29

We saw a rash of these problems in the 1970's during the Carter Administrations  Energy Crisis when many home owners with homes which had no insulation got cellulose insulation blown into there homes walls and the result the Knob and Tube wiring which is designed to have air flow around it so a 14# gauge wire can be fused at 25 amps unlike Romex type wires which would have to be protected at 15 amps.

Overheated and caught homes on fire. So it finally became practice to d-rate wiring in these old homes and lower the fuse to 15 or 20 amps to prevent problems and add circuits and upgrade the services.

All electrical equipment is designed to have some air movement around it same way when we put wiring in pipe we must allow an airspace  as well to allow wires to expand  and this is what I worry about as you can see in the picture the entire electrical equipment is saturated with the foam theirs no expansion and no air flow.

I am not the only one worried I have talked with numerous fire officials , electricians and engineers etc. and all have concerns yet I have seen no action by any group or organization to look into this possibility. Guess where going to have to find out the hard way like we did with aluminum wire and plastic water pipes and flexible gas pipes   and then what about the hundreds of thousands of homes which already have this foam in place? Yes once again no one wants to look at this discuss or examine it till its too late what a dam shame there should have been plenty of research done on this before it was ever used. When I have concerns like this it usually proves true and as usual  I will be there saying I told you so.

If you own a Business you need Flood Insurance even if you think you do not

I found out in 2004 even living 1200 foot above sea level you can have flooding in your basement .
After Hurricane Ivan left 3 inches in my basement luckily nothing valuable got damaged  and it took a while to clean up but I learned my lesson  when drains could not handle the water and now store everything up from the floor.
How ever one of my customers a High End Furniture Store was not so lucky and had a Million dollar inventory of exclusive furniture brands either destroyed or water damaged when severe storms hit the south hills of Pittsburgh This week.. They where able to save some things to resell at a loss but the big problem now is with there insurance company who does not want to cover anything saying even thou floor drains backed up it was an act of god because it happened during a horrific storm so its flooding because the underground creek tunnel near there store would not allow the storm waters to go down because it was full.  Sorry thats not the way there policy reads so they are going to have to sue them like they did last to get to get coverage. In mean time they are left with cleaning up a soggy mess and covering all costs till they prevail. there insurer is even fighting them on the business interruption insurance they had as well .  Having to deal with the total scum so called Restoration contractors who prey on flood victims is another problem as well while trying to clean up there just as bad if not worse than dealing with insurance company some do there job right most just rip you off just adding to the misery. For the most part in my opinion insurance company are the scum of the earth except for a couple of stand outs who take care of there policy holders. Then again there smaller company's who do not spend millions on advertising.

This is why it is imperative you purchase flood insurance if you are any where near a water source that can flood into your business or home for that matter  because otherwise your insurance carrier is going to try and wiggle its way out of covering you claiming act of god or its flooding not backed up sewage etc.

Even for business the insurance is affordable but there are some areas who can not get it . even if they do want it and have the choice always live with chance of flooding and deal with it or move.


Below are general pictures of flooding  that happened on 7.10.2013 in bridgeville are along Chartiers Creek  and Mayview & Boyce Roads I passed  while traveling to assist my customer.

a normal babbling creek now a raging torrent still 2 days after storms

wood and debris brought down when creek flooded road

Yes thats an actual gazebo which flowed down the creek

Dangerous Electric Range Wiring leads up to to Buyer Be Aware on pricing at Lowes Home Improvement Store

A good friend and long time customer Jim called me Friday and asked if I could come over and fix his electric range wiring  as it was direct wired instead of with a plug and cord he found this out in preparation for new range being delivered on Monday morning from Lowes . Sure no problem I told him some one being cheap doing it that way I would be over Saturday .So I picked up a 50 amp range plug and cord set and get there in the after noon what should have been a 20 minute job ended up a nightmare . Ends up not only had they wired the range with out a proper plug and cord the wiring was undersized. it was 10/3 good for 30 amps  and wired improperly with ground and neutral wire together there was no connector allowing wire to rub and get abraded  and it had been spliced under the floor some where. It appears this was the 30 amp electric dryer line the kitchen SLOB contractor  reused instead of putting in proper wire .Thank God he is dead and not causing more dangerous situations .

 This range should have had a minimum of a 8/3 wire for 40 amps and with the new range being even bigger it was imperative the wiring be changed. Well its Saturday all the supply houses are closed we go to Lowes knowing we would pay a little more for the wire  but he needed it done. We go back the electrical aisle and see the big sign above the rotating  rack with wire samples  and locate 8/3 romex with little yellow tag next to it marked $1.18 per ft. OK about 50 cents higher than I pay a foot at supply house cut by foot so he buys 100ft of cable since I had to make a circuitous route around the solid tiled ceiling to get to range .
But when we get to the check out its $2.39 per ft. What the Fuck. I go back and with store clerk here on the actual rack where wire was stored there is a separate sticker of  $2.39 you only get the $1.18 price when you buy the 500 ft roll.
needless to say because they did not clearly have this displayed and clerk who pulled wire for us did not advise us this big discrepancy it is clearly a violation of fair trade practices of Pa. consumer protection laws prices have to be clearly posted. I have contacted them and plan to follow thru what ever is needed to see this practice stops and wire is clearly marked. My customer agreed to buy the wire  despite getting screwed on the price I told him to wait till Monday morning and I would do it  but he needed the wiring ready for new range Monday because he was not going to be there just his wife and was worried they would not wait for me to Finnish it up  so they could hook it up on Monday. Some supply house charge a cut fee for loose wire but known of them charges double per foot of wire to cut it this is a clear rip off . Needless to say Lowes will never again see a penny from me in sales. and I am no fan of home depot either having been ripped off several times by them but they did make it right.

When dealing with Obsolete Electrical Gear its wise to use a Chicken Switch

all thats left of insulators on single phase transformer

Recently at one of my  Industrial customers who recycle oil they suffered a lightning strike which damaged  some of the electrical gear . At the front of the building a lightning strike took out and destroyed a pole mounted Transformer killing the 230/120 volt lighting circuit to the plant. Luckily a generator kept things working and there was little damage because I had installed whole panel surge protectors on most of the panels the one I had not gotten to in the lunch room they lost a microwave oven and the old fuse panel was damaged. It will soon be replaced with a breaker panel insert and surge protector put into it .

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Damaged lunch room fuse panel

After the power company came and restored power at 9:30 Pm  I walked thru plant checking everything and other than tripped surge protectors  everything was working  I reset the surge protectors and thats when I noticed the Three Phase 480 volt Delta system was not restored at that late hour I was not going to call Duquesne Light  Power Company workers   back in plant and manager said he would call them back in morning out of safety concerns.
Morning came and I meet up with Duquesne Light Workers at back of the plant they had tested the 5000 KVA  32,000 to 480 Delta to delta Transformer which provides 1200 amps of 480 3 phase power to the plant  and all 3 fuses where out . They replaced the fuses in this very old transformer from when this plant originally made Steel drums and barrels   and where worried about turning it back on the switch to control it was located with in the sheet metal enclosure they asked for a hole saw so they could cut a hole and run a rope to outside so they could pull the switch from a safe distance away . What they made is whats commonly known as a chicken switch it allows potentially dangerous items to be turned on from a safe distance. If you watch the TV program " Sons of Guns " on the Discovery Channel  when they test big guns and cannons first time its the same ideal.

Well they setup the rope worried over how old this transformer was possibly bad since all 3 fuses blew and good thing they did after pulling the rope there was a tremendous loud explosion and big blue flash and smoke  followed by a second one 20 seconds later. 40 foot away I was nearly knocked off my feet . The blast was so strong it damaged nearby freon lines for an HVAC unit even if the utility workers had on a blast suit made for working around high voltage they would have been seriously injured had they stayed with in the enclosure surprisingly the heavy steel casing of the transformer did not blow apart but  the rear 480 volt secondary insulators on back where blown apart.
In this case it was absolutely the right call to use a chicken switch or some one could have died very easily. After the blast the power company workers went to work quickly to replace the transformer but did not have an immediate back up replacement so they brought in a back up replacement trailer which serves as a temporary transformer

Portable Transformer

and with in 12 hours power was restored . During turning the 3 phase back on and inspecting things I found a 200 amp distribution switch off the buss severally damaged I was temporarily able to get it working again and will be replacing it shortly when a new unit is located and a compressor was damaged. needless to say seeing how el the surge protectors worked in the rest of the plant they  want me to install surge suppression all over the 480- 3 phase system to protect it from future issues.

Damaged compressor control

In 80's 2 vehicle anti theft products came on the market but the cheaper unit made the distance and still exists

Back in 1980's along Universal Road  in Penn Hills was a small machine shop which manufactured a physical vehicle anti theft system called PED-A-LOK a unit designed to lock in place the gas and brake pedal so vehicle could not be stolen.
Back then built in vehicle alarms where not available  for most models and there where all kind of cheap electronic alarms that made noise and one even disabled the ignition system made by Clifford  but only a couple physical security devices to keep vehicles from being stolen where available the one a simple 2 hook device which looked like a walking cane went around break and steering wheel but could be easily broken. but along came PED-A-LOK  it was made of machined aircraft grade aluminum and fastened around the brake pedal with a extension piece which went around the gas pedal which kept it from moving it sold for around $70.00 dollars but was worth every penny. The problem it was not user friendly to put on and off but it was absolutely secure the only way you where stealing the car was to tow it. They had found cars stolen by tow trucks at chop shops which still had the PED-A-LOK attached as thieves could not cut thru them.

I became familiar with the units when I use to sell stuff at a one time local Flea market held at City Limits a dance club along Saltsburg Road in Penn Hills  by evening a underage dance club  and flea market on Sunday. it was built out of a one time Acme grocery store in Roy shopping Plaza. Ironically the place is one of my customers after going thru several transitions its now a  dollar General and  dance lesson studio  and now  called Alcoma Plaza.

While there selling I meet up with and traded with an older gentleman on disability named Bill who sold all kind of cheap security devices among them  was this PED-A-LOK Display . Intrigued I passed around the pamphlets and got some positive feedback and me and bill meet with the owner of PED-A-LOK who agreed to give us brochures and couple sample units which I sold to high end car owners. At close to $70.00 it was not for the mass market but it was a very superior product for what was available.

But then along comes James Winner another Pa. inventor with a product called "The Club"  around $40.00  which locked on steering wheel and was easy to use and came with a car insurance deductible
payment guarantee if car was stolen with " The Club " in place well needless to say it put PED-A-LOK out of business overnight even thou it was a far inferior product but TV and Radio  advertising sells ,something PED-A-LOK could not afford to do.
The rest is history as they say  and nothing of the company still exists that I can find  I have never seen or heard of the product ever again not even on Ebay or at flea markets not even one of the brochures  the couple I had unfortunately got water damaged when my basement flooded.

Detour Signs Reflective Decals on Road signs and Invading UN troops a total horse shit conspiracy

As you ride along some state and interstate roads you will see below them  colored  detour route signs  Red, Green, Black, Blue and Yellow the purpose for this is for emergency routing of traffic during severe snow storms etc when the state or interstate roads are impassable so out of area drivers can safely navigate  around the roads closure.
 You might also notice some road signs on the back have a reflective decal on them with numbers some times a bar code  this is for maintenance purposes for road crews to know when signs where installed  and need replaced etc.  nothing else.
But there are those Black helicopter conspiracy types who go around on the internet perpetuating the conspiracy rumor the color detours and reflective decals are there so UN or other invading troops can  navigate  there way to and thru towns after an EMP   Electro magnetic Pulse attack  ?? seriously this is what these fools believe  and there is absolutely no truth to it what so ever invading troops already have maps and anything else they will need they do not need ground navigation needs but you can not convince these idiots there wrong.  a system put in place for the safety of the public  blown completely insane.
but its a free country and people are free to think what they want and theirs no arguing with idiots and wasting your time.

What the hell was the Electrical Code Writers thinking when they made the Color Black to mean two different purposes in DC and AC voltage wiring

I see this all the time where wiring is improperly installed in 120/230 and up electrical systems where some one has put the black wire on where the white wire  should be .

The problem is that in AC or Alternating current wiring like in your home there are 3 wires a black wire known as the hot wire which in the code is called energized conductor and a white wire called a neutral  known in the code as a un-enrgised conductor   and a green ground wire.

But here is the problem in DC wiring known as  Direct Current wiring  you fined a red wire which is positive wire and a black wire which is negative.

So you take some one who is not qualified to do electrical work like a coal mine electrician  or auto mechanic  or others who work with DC and think they can wire there homes and you can quickly see the problem of how wiring gets reversed on devises.  and this can leed to dangerous  situations where some one gets zapped or even electrocuted wen a receptacle or plug is wired backward and there is a wiring fault.

It is back to the same old argument only professionals should be doing work  and just because your an electrician in the  steel mill or coal mine this does not qualify you to do house or structure wiring.
but the wiring colors set up in the code do not help matters.  Why would they do such a thing knowing the potential for individuals not qualified and have a dangerous amount of knowledge about electricity to do something . but as usual no one has any good answers and its always the excuse only professionals should be doing this kind of work.  Fine and dandy but even professionals get mixed up to I see it all the time working with professional electricians they wire fire alarms backwards all the time because black to them means the energized line when it the exact opposite with fire systems.
so even if the pros screw up why would the code bodys allow it to go on?

Would you build a Mausleum / Cemetary next to section 8 apartment complex a scam on those who lost a loved one

When we first moved into Penn Hills  in early 80's in the local  paper there was a full page add for a New Cemetery /Mausoleum  to be built along Hulton Road  next to Plum Creek and a Section 8 apartment complex and Trailer court. Moment I saw the add I thought this has got to be a scam . We  even got phone calls about a 2 for 1 graves  sale. I thought scam all along but many people got taken in as the organizations applied for construction permits and zoning hearings. They even built a mini mausoleum on the site which was never finished and eventually torn down and removed which was suppose to hold those to be interred till main one could be built but . But when they kept dragging there feet getting things done and meeting time lines one of those who needed to have there loved ones buried finally contacted the Pa. Attorney generals office ho closed the whole thing down after it was in fact found to be an elaborate scam.  Today even the one time cross which was erected has been removed and its all grown back in  and driving by you would never know the heart aches this site and the people involved caused.