I have an 18 month old outstanding invoice for a repair that was made on our fire system which happened to be installed bran new 3 months prior. About once every 3 months they send me an email with a reminder to pay and i politely reply, asking the owner to call me to discuss it knowing full well i'll never hear from him.
We're talking 2" sprinkler line failure, SOB completely separated. Looked like Niagara falls, never saw more water in my life fall from the ceiling. These scumbags are trying to ding me $400 to cap the branch line that failed. Literally 20 minute job, and $10 in parts. I'd pay for parts, that's not a huge issue, but the labor for the repair, nah. They never even fixed the branch line that broke, it's still capped. $350k job i gave them for the complete install and they're trying to ride me out of $400.

I had taken issue with the fact that these guys were using a 1/2" impact guns to drive down 5/16" coupling bolts. I knew there would be some with hairline fractures, and sure enough.

To be honest, most of my contractors treat me extremely well. Hell, we just had a job replacing some worn down parts in an old air handler. The company i pay to do quarterly PMs on some equipment(filters & inspection type stuff) i don't have time for did it on PM time and just charged us a counter sale for the parts. But don't get me started on the air compressor guys, they're starting to get as scummy as the sprinkler people. I feel your pain Joe and no it's not too far. They'll take advantage of you in a heartbeat unless you check them.

I don't have a picture of that failure in question, but i do have this recent incident to share.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b8fd7ff0d6.jpg

I blame it all on lack of skilled trade in the workforce. It's bad and getting worse.


Edit** I just realized your guy and my guy are both named Eric... Hmm :rofl:

I feel you.

Their contract is up in six months. We have a different company which handles our systems at Sears as well as the main studio. Those guys have been honest and straight.

The only reason that [Company name] is still in charge of the system at Hancock is that they installed it, and I've been too lazy to deal with the paperwork to transfer that system over to Company B. It's just too easy for me to send an email each year to Contracts saying "Renew as per terms attached."

But this just cost them the renewal. It's not even about the money, it's about being douchebags and assuming that most people won't notice.

I think [Company name] will probably be butt-hurt because they got called out - you know, they’re a big company with terribly many demanding customers and can’t be expected to always(or maybe ever) exhibit professional standards.

I managed several service contracts on critical equipment, although none as serious as fire protection, for years. In every case, I received a case of regular service parts well before the technicians arrived. Sometimes, there was stuff that wasn’t needed, but it was easier and cheaper for them to throw some stuff away than to shut me down again.
Of course, it takes balls of a whole different order to double charge for something that should have been done during a routine service call. The salesperson should suffer accordingly. Have him come in, and 10 minutes before he arrives go to the lobby and enter his biggest competitor’s name in the visitors log as having just left. Kinda stupid, but I know that salesmen can’t help looking at who else has been around.

Of course, that behavior begs for competitive proposal anyway.

Competitive bid is already done. Company B (the one which services my other sites) will have the contract come June.

Now that I think about it, I'm really tempted to use the "tell me that my hair is nice and soft..." line when terminating the contract with Company A in six months.

I straight up tell salesmen that i'm looking at bids from their competitors. No sense in hiding it and most salesmen understand.
I've taken contracts, whited out the important stuff and let other salesmen / companies see it. This way they know they are going to be bidding apples to apples. I believe it to be good faith, i'm honest with them, they'll be honest with me. Not that i let my guard down.

I also don't sign no early termination contracts. Scumbag companies can get fucked. I've canceled two contracts in the last 10 years half way through their term.

With mobile equipment, usage time varies so I don't have any relevant experience. I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they don't (but should) track installation of finite life components. A smart person at a fire protection company would employ a system that generates a letter to the customer advising the finite life component will be due for replacement and asking the customer for an appointment for maintenance.

If they did that, they wouldn't be able to bill me for a second trip to replace the part which the inspection has found is overdue for replacement.

I'm guessing that a lot of their customers are just too busy to care.

I was watching the downhill ski races and they immediately cut away to a snooker tournament as soon as the last racer crossed the finish line.
Now my TV screen is all fogged up.

A man goes to a funeral. He asks the widow if he could say a word. He goes to the front and says “Plethora” and sits back down. The widow leans over and whispers, “Thanks, that means a lot.”

It was 73F and sunny all week, the weather turned on a dime in the space of 6 hours on Saturday, now we have just over 6" of snow everywhere.
The weirdest snowstorm accompanied by thunder and lightning.
Kitchen is stocked, we are not leaving the house.

At least you are not in Texas, they are royally fucked currently. I have friends with a tent setup in their living room trying to stay warm.

The view out the back window this morning:


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fda28c003f.png

That Jeep belongs to my next door neighbor. It and my car share the garage which is just offscreen to the left of this image.

It's moved about a foot in the past ten minutes. All four wheels are spinning.

This truck is unstoppable.
was plowing through 20+" snow drifts

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3f0aadbef7.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8e4365168f.jpg
Thankfully we only got about 10". Just some big drifts.

Most of our friends and family in Austin do not have power and have not for at least a day now. It is currently 14 degrees out. Eight inches of snow and it is the middle ages here. 911 is telling people that are stranded there is nothing they can do. What a shit show.

Here in the OKC area, they have implemented rolling blackouts due to power/gas demand.

It's really sad to read the comments on news stories and see people who refuse to turn the thermostat down a few degrees like it being 65 in the house is going to kill them. We got hit with one of the rolling blackouts yesterday. -6 outside, the house dropped 5 degrees in one hour.

That these people don't realize a sweatshirt and a blanket is better than no power...............so many stupid idiots in this state.

High gas users like big industry / my workplace get put on notice. We get a call to stop using gas and electricity, we stop. This way they can continue to provide for residential.

We use an assload of gas here:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...698ad0dc72.jpg

Also. Buy a generator. If even to run the blower, inducer, and electronics on your furnace. Usually gas supply dips but doesn't completely go down like electricity.

A few years ago when it was -23 we had trouble keeping some equipment running but the supply was still there. They eventually shut us down.

Yep I keep hearing lots of bad stories. It really sucks, and it is not going to start getting better until sometime at least tomorrow. My little sister is down in San Antonio and still has power and most likely won't loose it. She luckily stocked up on Saturday. I talked to Corky Bell Monday morning and he did not have power and was out getting fire wood. I really feel bad for the old. My other friends made it through the night in their tent. The gas stove still working for them has made it not to bad. Thy can see their breath inside the house, but hot bacon is really good.

Stay safe Luke. Hope you and your family make it through this.


I am on the other hand over here in SC, it is 62 out and I don't have a jacket on while working. For breakfast I got a milkshake. 2021 is looking to be another fun year. I really want to go back ti 1999.

Lessons learned, don't depend upon the government or other impersonal organizations for your life and wellbeing if at all possible. Have a backup plan in place before you need it.

Food, water, electricity, heat should be backed up. This is standard boy scout stuff reinforced by living in a hurricane prone state.

Just got off the phone with my cousins that live just outside of Dallas.
They went to the ranch to tend to the animals for the last few days(still have power at the ranch). I guess they lost 1 horse, not sure why, Michigan horses do fine in sub zero weather... But their city house lost power. Everything froze. Water damaged everything. This is the same story with basically everyone down there.

Man that sucks.

It's on the list as soon as this round of storms pass.

How much backup are we talking about here? Are we getting a biodiesel transfragahguregjfhnn plant or something? Because I grew up in the south, and gas and diesel don't flow freely in emergencies and also don't store all that well. Everyone bought a generator, then ~25% of gas stations ran dry the next go around. Local to me, that was all of them.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/we...nwa-story.html

I guess a decade later half the stations are empty. It ain't getting any better anytime soon, not with Prez. Biden at the helm axing all our energy independence plans.

I think I should make an emergency keg still. My car actually started easily in -20F weather on ~70%...

Any further and you're getting into full on prepper territory. I know little about such things.

I keep enough "rolling stock" of gasoline at my house to bug out half way across the country if needed.
It's also enough gas to power my furnace(with generator) for at least a week.

Honestly, the biggest tragedy would be running out of beer. I don't think i could survive without such essentials.

One of my friends picked up one of these last fall
https://generatorbible.com/generator...campaign=email

It is fine to run his well, furnace, fridge and hot water plus other smaller stuff.

I have a big wood stove and a cord of wood as backup, but this year going to finally break down and get a generator. Current plan is for something of similar capacity, but going with propane instead of gasoline - more expensive upfront, but capable of multi-day running on a single fill. My wife is not at all comfortable with small engines and would really struggle to deal with adding gas and restarting.

A surprising(to me) number of folks around me heat with wood, use propane for cooking, hot water and back-up generator.

Thanks Brother! I grew up in a hurricane state, so we are always prepared for weird stuff. Oddly enough, we haven't lost power at all through this whole thing. We must have some critical govt thing in our power grid, but I'm not sure what.

Went to the grocery store today. No power there and line was around the building within 10 minutes of opening. And of course only 20 people are allowed in the grocery store at a time because covid. Are you F^CKING kidding me?!?!?!

It's nothing conspiratorial, it's just that Austin is a civilized area. I'm speaking from first-hand experience here.

The age old trick to overcome fuel shortage is buying an electric generator in the first place.

I was thinking one of those big Predator units from HF. Our water and heat are gas, so I just need to power the blower, refrigerator and deep freeze at a minimum. But it'd be nice to have enough to run some lights, the internet stuff and the TV as well.

Looks like you can get a 7500 watt unit for $750. I'm sure it's loud as hell because it's cheap, but a Honda that size is 3-4x more.

They have cancelled rolling blackouts for the moment. The big problem is one of the pumping stations went out and multiple water line breaks, so we are on 15+ hours with no water.

[/size]

I expect the 3kw inverter predator would run the things you mentioned, and I got mine for $600 on sale. (mine is intended for running the AC on the trailer at the track, but it'll do as an emergency measure too).

--Ian

I had a HF 9500W model, but sold it because it was obscenely loud and the power was so dirty it took out some electronics in the house. I replaced it with a Honda inverter. It was stupid expensive, but with the wife working from home on her computer, the noise and 'cleanliness' of the power were essential. The Honda is so quiet, I can hold a conversation at a normal level while standing right next to it when it's running. Another added benefit is that it's fuel injected, so no carb to worry about gumming up by the shit gas nowadays. When you pull a generator out of storage for emergency use, you need to know it will start!

The natural gas / propane converted Hondas make some sense as well. Never have to fill the tank. Power is less, however. I think the 2200W is only good for 1800W as motor cannot put out as much power.

Intriguing.


As good as these Xi3 tires are, yesterday was the day I looked out the window and said "Nope, I know my car's limits."

That's the first time in five years.

That's good to know. Maybe I'll have to up my budget then.

Were the electronics plugged into surge protectors? I've got all my stuff plugged into big battery backups with built-in surge protectors. I'm hesitant to drop a bunch of coin on a generator since in 3.5 years we've only had one instance of the power being off longer than 1 hour. And that was during an ice storm in October that was the first bad one since 2007.

No, I will confess that my electronics were not on surge protectors, but I'm not so sure they would have been protected even if they were. I bought that HF model the first year the utilities company (PG&E) started shutting down power during fire season here in CA. I figured it would be fine for a one shot to just get me through that season. Fast forward 3 years and it has become a regular occurrence to have power shut off for days at a time throughout fire season. I was able to sell the HF unit for about 80% of what I paid for it, so it did serve its purpose. If I didn't need such a large size, I would probably have gotten one of the medium size inverter models that Costco is selling (they carry tri-fuel capable models: gasoline, natural gas, propane gas). I really do like having fuel injection though. Maintenance is almost nill.

... and guess what just happened at Sears?




I hate water.

The "surge protectors" in power strips don't do a whole lot. I mean, there's no reason NOT to use one, but don't expect miracles from a device costing less than a dollar.

--Ian

Also, voltage spikes aren't as much a problem from cheap generators as just ugly, noisy waveforms. I don't know the precise reason why cheap generators make ugly power, but they do tend to look like this:

https://heritagegenerator.com/wp-con...5-1024x768.jpg

I would think a UPS would clean that up with no problems. Thoughts?

A UPS?

Lots of UPSes will just outright refuse the incoming power if they see that. Some UPSes are able to be configured such that they will tolerate it, but they won't improve the quality of it, just pass it through.

For that, you need a full-conversion UPS, which is commercial-grade stuff. In that, the inverter runs all the time, and the incoming AC just charges the battery.

That was the analysis I was requesting. Thanks.

You can build your own full-conversion UPS, if you need / want to.

Start with a big car battery charger. One which will run on shitty power. Hook that up to a car battery. Now, connect a high-quality inverter to the battery, and use it to power the delicate electronics.

I'm not being sarcastic, actually. People have done this, and it's a decent way to clean up bad power for not a huge amount of money. RV supply places sell large inverters for not huge amounts of money. (Some of them are good, some of them are crap.)

Unless you already have an inverter lying around, though, it's probably cheaper (and definitely more efficient) to just buy a "does not suck" generator in the first place.

A lot of newer generators, those advertised as "Inverter Generators" actually function exactly as I described above (without the intermediate 12 volt step.) They produce DC, then use an inverter to make it into AC. Not all inverters naturally produce clean power, either. But it's easier-ish to get close that way.

While we're on the subject . . . I had always thought your typical household variety motors weren't particularly sensitive to (dirty) generator power. Thus, I think it bears mentioning that modern refrigerators and home HVAC units that use the more efficient type of ECM motors are actually susceptible to damage from continued operation on dirty power. I had the misfortune of having to replace the motor on my furnace several years ago (for an unrelated reason) and was stunned at the cost of the new motor w/control unit (approx $800 wholesale).

Ye olde' induction motors will happily run on shitty power. And, that's another way to make dirty power clean, connect a motor to a generator.


Seems idiotic, but motor-generators exist. There's a whole family of this kind of device, under the general category of spinny-power-changey-things. Some of them are literally a motor connected to a generator, others are fancier and combine both functions into a single group of winding (these are more commonly called rotary converters.)

They're declining in usage as big IGBTs become more common, but at one time they were the most common way of changing single-phase into three-phase, for instance. They also used to be used to turn AC into DC at very large scales, such as to power subway systems.

Yeah, they had one of those at UCSD. Originally installed for running the Burroughs mainframe that took up 2/3 of the machine room (with the Suns and VAXen crammed into the rest of the space), they left it in after the Burroughs was removed. My impression is that it wasn't all that useful later, more of an annoyance since any time the power blinked you had to send someone down to the basement to reset it before the machine room would come back up.

And yes, most common UPSes are "standby power supplies". They let line voltage go through whenever it's there, charging a battery on the side. When line voltage goes dead they detect it and CLICK they switch over to an inverter powered by the battery. There's a short delay before the inverter comes up but the switching power supplies in a PC have plenty of capacitors in them to coast over that.

I'm a software guy, not an EE, but my understanding is that those same PC switching power supplies are pretty tolerant of "dirty" AC power because the first thing they do with it is to rectify it into DC. They really don't care about the waveform, which is why those cheap computer UPSes used "approximate sine wave" output that was really more of a stepped square wave with 5 levels (zero, the peak on both sides, and one intermediate level in between on each).

--Ian

They are still pretty common for home machinists to run old mills, shapers, etc. Almost always find them on CL under tools.

From my experience it's all about the quality of the product.
For example. Your PC power supply is probably high quality and can tolerate the dirty power. Same thing with a VFD. I've confirmed this, the shitty VFDs that come with those https://www.bigassfans.com/ can't handle a little dirty power. But once they're replaced with a high quality Yaskawa or AB unit, the faults go away. I've also experienced faults on robots that were on the same circuit as a bunch of wall mounted fans which are just low voltage induction motors. So i don't know.

We have a burglar problem.
We have been hit every night for the past week. There are a total of six "residences" in two buildings in one property - pretty unique layout.
The thieving bastards managed to get into three of them so far. I am up all night without a gun, because illegal here.
Cops politely said we are on our own.

I am looking into buying an aircraft carrier because that is pretty much the only deadly thing you can buy without a license.
On a serious note, we are seriously in some serious shit.

Baseball bats. Ambush them in the parking lot.

If nothing else, I am constantly amazed by the collective knowledge (about most anything) that exists here on MT.net . You just can't make this much shit up.

Invariably, I end up googling and learning something most every time.
Latest: https://www.hvacrschool.com/ecm-vfd-...ts-difference/

Used to be common in big transmitters as well.

At the old WLW transmitter (the 30s vintage one that made a half-megawatt output), the tube filaments were driven by motor-generators. The facility had its own power substation, so the three MGs took 2,300 volts in at ~ 30 amps (85HP) and put out 33 volts DC at 1,500 amps. And there were three of them.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...62cb97ffa6.png

I got to visit that transmitter about 15 years ago. It's still there, though no longer operational.



The cooling system for that transmitter was interesting. Raw, unfiltered water ran through the tubes, and then outside the building was a large concrete-lined pond. The water was pumped up into the air (looking much like the fountains you'd see in front of a fancy hotel), and then rained down into the pond. The transmitter then pulled cooled water (and leaves, bird skeletons, etc) in from the bottom of the pond.

You're a man with endless ingenuity. I'm positive you're more than capable of setting up a booby(s) trap that makes the incapacitation of said perpetrator look like an accident.

Then you sleep like a baby.

Another suggestion...
Can of Carburetor Cleaner (B12) with the little red straw installed and a lighter makes for a VERY impressive flame thrower (about 6 feet).
Be careful of FIRE.
Big bright thief charring fire.

And best of all...
It's not a weapon!

Have you thought about weaponizing some light? My friend has 2 LED light bars on his off-road truck that are so blindingly bright, I’m surprised that they don’t shine through brick walls. Tough to steal stuff when you can’t see for an hour or 2 after having your retinas fried. Tough to get away, too.
I’ve been thinking that if I ever need to keep an intruder from getting upstairs - temporarily blinding them might be a good passive/active plan without the crap that comes with shooting them. Also would make shooting them easier, if necessary.

Thanks for all the education on generators.

I got your electrical discussion right here:


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2b987a43ad.jpg

When I started shipping again back in 1986, my first ship started life as a Victory ship built in 1944. After the war it was laid up for about ten years, then modified for survey work. Ship was built with DC generators so in order to get the AC needed for various systems, we had a shitload of MG sets. I learned a lot then about how those work. Even had to spend some time sanding down brushes to work in machines they weren't meant for to keep things going (we only had so many spares, and with equipment that old it was difficult getting spares especially considering we were working within the governmental supply system).

Hakan, we have access to motion sensor lights, motion sensor alarms, and even motion sensors for garden hose sprayers used for scaring off animals. Certainly there is something creative you can do simply to scare them off with unwanted noise and attention. It need not be deadly or even painful to achieve the desired result.

Ever wanted to spend two minutes remotely operating a military robot armed with a paintball gun inside an art gallery?

Of course you have.

The event starts at 1pm Eastern time on Wednesday: https://spotsrampage.com/

Your chances of actually getting a chance to drive the robot are practically nil. But there's still a chance.

Come to think of it... Hakan, I'm pretty sure I'd abandon any plans to forcibly enter and burgle a dwelling as soon as that thing started walking towards me.

If you post it on forum.hifiguides.com, I'd imagine someone will definitely take it off your hands.

Thank you for all your creative solutions, gents.

Turns out a never seen before increase in crime is one of the unforeseeable side effects of Corona Virus. Cops told us they are overwhelmed by the sheer number of burglary cases lately.

I came pretty close to buying several bear traps and setting them in strategic locations around the property every evening. My plan was turning the bastard thief in to the cops, and handing them a separate duffel bag containing the said perp's leg.
A quick search revealed setting up such a trap carries a mandatory life sentence without parole. Also, weaponizing anything is just not allowed.

I talked to a good friend - he is the guy who builds and sells the Maxi Gauge system, and a member here - and he suggested I should talk to someone he knows very well.
This gentleman I spoke with owns a very large security firm, specializing in theft prevention and deterrence. They work with large corporations, international clients, etc.
Long story short, we spent a whole afternoon assessing the property, picking out angles and locations to cover every inch of this place with cameras and floodlights.

It is a very high tech system, incorporating machine learning and customizable and upgradable features.

Individual cameras instantly report any form of tampering or altered focus, due to natural or unnatural causes.
You can pick specific spots or areas on the screen and assign alarms for specific actions - like someone jumping over or crawling through a fence, or a part of it.
Cameras learn to identify residents, and report suspicious activity.
Each camera has a flood light, a siren and a loudspeaker, and these can be accessed, controlled and operated automatically and manually. You can talk to a cargo delivery guy remotely if you like. Or, you can activate a pre-recorded message and play that.
In the case of privacy concerns - such as a camera covering someone's window - that portion of the screen can be blacked out, even if the camera moves.
The system earmarks suspicious moments, as well as any movement in the covered area, so you do not have to waste time checking the screen if you have to rewind the video looking for a specific event.
Up to 32 users can simultaneously access and use the controls using any device with a screen and internet connection.
All wiring is protected in very strong flexible steel sheathing, and cameras cover each other (overlapping coverage).

Crews will be installing this system in the next few days. I will certainly sleep better then.

I also bought a large case of pepper spray in pocket size cans and handed them out to everyone living here. We keep about 10 of them all over our place, I even have one in the car.

Such a system will allow us to deliver actual evidence to law enforcement. Since the cops know all criminals by name, a high resolution video provides everything they need to go and pick them up. That is how the system works around here.

That's also how the system works around here.

Except when the criminals are peacefully protesting by setting fire to mixed residential / commercial buildings downtown. Then, nobody knows anybody.

Doctor: You have five minutes to live

Patient: Puts on headphones, turns on
Doctor: But the song goes for 10 minutes...

God: LET HIM FINISH!