60V DC dangerous?

On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 15:36:30 -0400, Spehro Pefhany Gave us:

kilocoulombs per millisecond... :-]

Flashing copper is a spectacle one only gets to see a limited number of times (the guys from the power company come and shoot your ass) ;-]

On Sat, 8 Jul 2006 22:44:41 +0000 (UTC), snipped-for-privacy@green.rahul.net (Ken Smith) Gave us:

Yesh...

I've heard that called the "wild leg".

How common is that across the US? I'm more used to balanced 120/208 and 277/480V systems (and 575 or 600V 3-phase).

I'm under the impression that they only bring one of the three balanced 7kV or 14kV or whatever phases down smaller residential streets in North America, so the pole pigs are simple single-phase transformers.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
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Heck, we have them all. I don't know the common-ness of the various configs, except that 480 is only used on bigger buildings.

It's common to have 3 HV phases and neutral (and sometimes a lightning-protection ground topmost... but not here) on poles, and tap one line against neutral to power a local single-phase 120/n/120 to run maybe a block of houses. The next block might tap a different HV phase. In more rural areas, they only run a single phase+neutral out to the distribution transformers, sometimes just one house per pig.

John

I've replaced the service cable from the street drop to the meter live, and replaced a 100 amp residential main breaker box without pulling the meter. It was either do it live, or go at least three full business days to have the meter reinstalled.

--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

I sprayed all the mould with neat bleach but it seems like the whole property has remained damp ever since!

In the UK pole pigs are very rare except in darkest wurzel country, instead we have towns divided up into housing estates each with one or more large ground mounted transformers, these are fed by underground cables (11kV I think). The notion of dividing a town into estates came about in the 60s &

70s when my area was developed with new housing estates to take the London overspill - which more than doubled the area population in a decade! At the time the household wiring systems were a mixture of the primitive remnants of the days when each area had its own privately owned generating company - each with its own voltage and frequency (some were DC) and wall sockets consisted of drilling 2 holes in the skirting board and inserting 2 brass receptacles, the retaining nuts on the back also held the wires! As the new estates sprung up the wiring in the existing properties was brought up to the same standard as the new houses, and the notion of estates also spread to groups of existing properties for planning electricity distribution around the growing demand.

I tested a 2200 or 4700 uF cap charged to 9 or 10V with my tongue once, and I'll never do that again! A lot stronger then a 9V battery. I can't see the voltage drawn from a 9V battery dropping much in such a test, so I doubt that the large current capability of the cap had much to do with it. I suspect it had much more to do with the sharp pointy leads.

The US is far less organized. Now construction is mostly based on underground distribution of power and communications, but older cities are still mazes of overhead wiring on wooden poles. San Francisco is gradually converting everything to underground (and concurrently replacing century-old, rusting gas, water, and sewage lines) but that's fabulously expensive and will take another 40 years to finish.

Our current house is newish and has underground connections and all-legal wiring (well, mostly legal), but most of my neighbors still have overhead power and telephone feeders.

Our old Victorian house, ca 1892, originally had gas lighting and was upgraded to ungrounded knob-and-tube wiring in the walls and attic, with flakey twisted and taped junctions. The plaster rosette ceiling lights still had live, rusty, capped-off gas lines into the fixtures. It's a miracle it didn't burn to the ground.

John

Yes, that is a problem. First, the chlorine hurts your lungs and can cause damage. Then it disappears and leaves - hmm. Let me think a minute...

2NaOCl --> 2NaCl + O2

OK, it just leaves plain water with some salt in it. Anyway, the mold loves this and it grows like crazy.

The real problem is the mold grows threads into whatever it is eating. The basement of the place I lived in Ottawa was raw concrete. The mold grew right into the concrete, looking for things like sulphur. Over time, bits of the concrete fell away, leaving sections as big as both hands that looked like they had been eaten away.

So when you spray the bleach, it kills the exposed portion of the plant, but it doesn't penetrate into the concrete. So the mold just grows right back again.

Many homes in New Orleans probably had this happen to them after the flood. The experts say there is nothing to do but tear them down.

Regards,

Mike Monett

The flood damage caused by the mental case in the flat above was really severe and went on for a couple of years, when I reported it to the council they responded by accusing me of "harassing the vulnerable individual" and made the threat that if I complained again I'd be taken to court for possession of tenancy! About 2 years went by during which time I put up plastic sheeting and water traps that managed to channel most of the running water into the top of the lavatory cistern, however it was inevitable that sooner or later some of the water I couldn't catch would seep through the floor, when this happened I got more threats from the council accusing me of causing the flood and threatening to sue me for damage to their building and the damage to the ground floor tenants property and furniture (in case anyone's interested in the identity of these Neanderthals - it's N-Hertfordshire district council England) They sent me a letter informing me that a council officer would call - and had authority to force entry!

When the council officer called I invited him in and showed him the water running through my ceiling and that I obviously had no control over it! There was no apology for wrongly accusing me or making the threats, no offer of compensation for my damaged property and furniture and no intention of giving any assistance whatsoever in dealing with the health hazard I was left with, I asked to be rehoused but was bluntly refused! Any hope of legal action ended when ownership of the property passed from the council to a housing association - even though the lazy incompetent staff followed their jobs to the new company!

It is apparent that the downstairs flat was also affected, the bloke who used to live there told me that one evening as he sat watching TV the plaster just crumpled off one whole side of his living room wall - just like the towering sheets of ice falling off the polar cap glaciers! The damage was so serious that they rehoused him because it was too much of a repair to carry out on an occupied property, the bloke who lived there since then seems to have suffered deteriorating health, I no longer see his service company van parked outside or his own car, and neither have I seen his girlfriend for quite some time - but every time I saw her she was always pissed as a fart, so he probably threw her out anyway!

On Sun, 09 Jul 2006 21:31:00 GMT, "ian field" Gave us:

I would sue them for placing your health in SERIOUS jeopardy.

They or the previous owners are still liable. I agree with Roy. You have been very badly treated and your health has been damaged. There has to be a lawyer that would take the case, or some other organization that strikes the fear of death in this group. How about news reporters? They might know of other examples and know how to get results.

What about public health organizations? You can't be the first one. Someone has to have gone through this before. Find them and let them help.

The situation is intolerable. The mold will probably kill you if nothing is done. You need to get out as soon as possible, and make sure the problem is corrected before you or anyone else is allowed to live there.

Keep updating us with your progress. Maybe someone will chime in and have some good info.

Regards,

Mike Monett

I agree, and I have nothing but sympathy for you ian, you have been treated poorly, especially that the council have seen the problem and have done nothing, moreso that they have the audacity(sp) to send someone around and have a go at you! about the problem. take it to a local paper and im sure they'd love to write your story, and definately seek legal advice as it sounds to me that this is a clear case of the council and housing association being neglegant. There are strict rules on how landlords/councils/housing associations have to keep the accomodation up to a livable standard, and from what you have told us it sounds like both of them have failed miserably in thier legal duties.

best of luck, mark

reward"

instead

the

-

new

Maybe not such a miracle considering the building survived the 1906 'quake.

--
JosephKK
Gegen dummheit kampfen die Gotter Selbst, vergebens.  
--Schiller

With a brick foundation yet. One brick chimney broke up in the '89 quake, leaving a nice hole in the kitchen ceiling for a skylight.

John

There's another issue too. An accidential shortcircuit could cause bright enough arc to damage eyes. I would say anywhere there's lot of energy flowing there's potential for harm.

Brains memory strategy is quite clever. Maybe something to learn for those raid systems ;)

So how come I can never remember phone numbers or passwords?

John