Code: Underground cables in yard

Hello Rich,

Correct. Guess the missus would not approve.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Install one of those uber-cheap solar-powered white LED lamps that provides about 1 nano-candlepower of light when you leave? :-)

would you believe I havent quite got around to pointing my antenna in the right direction, even though I'm pretty close to a transmitter? It does take 2 people, but I just havent got around to it. Besides, TV is pretty much entirely crap, so I just dont care. I occassionally watch it, then get pissed off with all the ads and watch a DVD, or read a book on nonlinear control systems, or stab myself in the leg with a pencil.

there are even some others from little-ole NZ.

Cheers Terry

Aussie abbreviation of rhyming slang: "seppo" = "septic tank" = "yank"

it doesnt get used much in NZ, but we can speak Aussie as well as Kiwi.

Cheers Terry

I was helping a neighbor run about 110 ft of underground conduit in the back yard (Connecticut) and ran into one boulder about 5 ft in the path.

His solution was slow but effective. He chilled about 3 gallons of water to just above freezing and built little charcoal fires along the path he wanted to make thru the boulder. He also used a low pressure, high volume air pump (the kind used to blow up pool toys, etc.) to get the boulder really hot and then dumped the water onto the fire. The boulder coughed up sections

6-8 inches long each time. After an afternoon of this the conduit (PVC Sch 80) went right on thru.

Wouldn't have believed it without seeing it.

Hope this helps.

Kevin

*************************************************************** Kevin C. Castner kccnospam at glenevin dot com

"Good ideas are not ad> Ignoramus17238 wrote:

My company just moved me to Australia from the U.S. for a few years and I'm pretty amazed at some of the apparent differences in the codes.

The thing that amazed me the most was that the powerpoints in Australia have no boxes behind them. The wires simply go into the wall.

Of course having each outlet individually switched on/off is VERY nice.

I also get the impression that only licensed electricians can do ANY electrical work here. There are signs to that effect wherever you can purchase powerpoints/outlets.

Kevin

*************************************************************** Kevin Castner kccnospam at glenevin dot com

"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience." -- Adm. Hyman Rickover, USN

****************************************************************

Terry Given wrote:

light

I kind of figured those signs at, e.g., Mitre 10 were sort of a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" kind of sign -- Mitre 10 knows that the vast majority of the purchasers aren't licensed electricians, but so long as no one burns down their home it's not an issue.

As you're probably aware, most of the electrical fixturing in NZ comes from Australia. I like the "old work" outlet boxes (the white ones with spring-loaded "fingers" on top and bottom) better than the equivalent we have back in the U.S. (the blue boxes with the "ears" on the ends of the screws, requiring you to cut a non-rectangular hole to use them). On the other hand, some of the power connectors in NZ seem pretty primitive -- the simplest plastic housing possible around some screw terminals; compare to the fancy power connectors in the U.S. that completely capture the line cord's wires, have captive screws, etc. -- really nice stuff. The Ozzie/Kiwi usage of much smaller switches, thereby allowing up to 6 switches on a wall plate, however, is more flexible than the U.S. standard of "usually one, once in a while 2, and if if REALLY look hard, maybe 3." Although speaking of switches, I do remember wiring up a DPDT switch in NZ to perform the "crossover" function that you need when you have multiple switches controlling the same light -- true crossover switches (with just 4 exposed terminals) weren't offered!

This from the man who had a mini-nuke sub built more or less for his own exclusive use, huh? Interesting. :-)

---Joel

Hello Colin,

A guy did that around here. Kept digging deeper since he saw some gold flakes. At 60ft deep the authorities showed up...

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

AIUI thats the case in Oz. NZ is very different

here in NZ *any* homeowner can add an extra light switch, power point etc. No fiddling in the switchboard though. Getting paid to do the work is another thing though.

Anyone can even wire their own home *but* no switchboard connections, and it must all be inspected by an electrical inspector.

best not to think about PDL, who make most of the plugs, sockets and switches we use in NZ. Hell, for a long time it wasnt legal to import others. They even had a law passed making it compulsory to have lightshades in a house being sold, as PDL made the lightshades (they still have the original machine that robertson stewart built to make "coolie-hat" lightshades). R.S. later got a knighthood for "services to the national party" = $$$

Most sparkies I have spoken to prefer HPM (Aussie), as do I. PDL actually made several ranges of power points (aka outlets) that *didnt fit into the old PDL flushboxes* - how stupid is that?!

HPM stuff did, however, fit the old and new PDL flushboxes. Smart cookies.

I like the "old work" outlet boxes (the white ones with

its all thats really required. Hell, they used to be bakelite. I havent seen any sans cable clamp though, ISTR its mandated in the standards

compare to the fancy

I havent seen a 4-terminal switch for that purpose (double switching), we're clever enough to use 3-terminal switches with a spare screw-connector :)

I also thought most of the electrical stuff I saw in USA was big, klunky and seriously ugly. I really missed "tap-on" plugs (plugs with a 3-pin socket in the back)

Cheers Terry

Stow the jackhammer and get some of this:

I assume that's the NR-1 you're talking about? I've heard that described as many things but not a personal mini-sub :-)

Kevin

That's how things work in the states as well. I've even done some work for my sister and had to sign affidavites declaring I had not been paid. (We didn't consider the lamb dinner as payment :-) )

I know the ones you mean. I occasionally see those in computer catalogs. The other end normally has an appliance plug (IEC 20 I think).

Kevin

I saw some "home improvement" show where they had these big rocks, which had been quarried, so they were all rectangular, but about the size of a washing machine. They drilled a row of about 5 or 6 holes, about 3/8" dia, about 4" deep, and put in "shims and wedges", which they tapped, gently, one after the other, applying a cleaving force to the rock, and eventually it went "tink" and was in two pieces. It would take all of the rest of the summer to break up your rocks this way, but you could videotape it and sell the video. ;-)

Good Luck! Rich

For a few days, a few days ago, that was a big TeeVee Nooz story (LA, CA area) - it turns out they're going to force the guy to pay to have some city engineer or something come in to tell them how to safely backfill the hole!

Thanks, Rich

LOL!

Thanks! Rich

On Thu, 22 Jun 2006 18:06:34 -0700, kccnospam top-posted:

Joerg, do this, and take videos! That would be Hella Kewl!

Thanks! Rich

Yep!

From what I've read, it's not *that* much of an exagerration compared to the usual scale of nu-cu-lar submarines.

Hello Wes,

That is a really old recipe. IITC the Native Americans already did that. They mixed some kind of runny goo from wild grains and poured it into crack, then went on to do other stuff until they heard the rock crack.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

60ft wow thats a long way to dig down in yer back garden, lucky he didnt get a cave in and kill himself, I heard some guy decided to dig out a basement and his house collapsed.

The water company use a device called a 'mole' to put in water pipes, its just a pointy tube with a pnuematic cylinder and a weight on the end, as the weight is forced forward and hits the end it pushes it slowly through the soil,

in old days (the stone age ?) they would drill holes in the rock, (no idea how) and put wedges of wood in and soak them with water, as they expand they split the rock.

Colin =^.^=