Sounds like my sister is discovering the joys of building officials, something her two brothers now all too well. Monday a bad storm blew through here, and one of my customers, a small college took a direct lightning hit. This was witnessed by a college professor. The lightning actually struck a power transformer belonging to the college. Normally I don't put a lot of credence in "lightning hit it", people tend to try and blame most any electrical failure on lightning. This time it was a no brainer, the coils inside the transformer exploded, very interesting from my stand point, it seems the equipment wasn't tested to withstand a momentary billion volt in-rush. I ordered two large portable generators to feed four buildings that are shut down until the transformer can be replaced. The transformer is a real oddball, couldn't find one here in Texas, so it was shipped from the factory in Mechincburg PA. to us on a direct truck, which I don't think was as direct as it should have been, we ordered it Tuesday morning, it arrived 8:45 this morning in Houston, you do the math. Anyway, we look at this as a major service call, since it does not involve new construction or remodel, unfortunately "the authority having jurisdiction" i.e.: the chief building official showed up this morning and wanted to know where our permit for the generators was and the new transformer. We had a misc. permit for the college, but someone closed it out, unbenounced to me, now I have to run to Pasadena, Texas, and pull a permit for the transformer, and the two generators, which by the way, there is no line item for on the permit applications, and pay a double permit fee since "we are working without a permit". Just another day in paradise. As a side note, I have a fuel company set up to top off the generators every night, Tuesday night, the first night, the driver shows up and calls his office to tell them he doesn't see where to go, and wants to pull off. Mind you it's hard to hide a 400KW generator (about the size of a 1 ton truck) setting on a 45' flatbed trailer, surrounded with bright orange safety fence, located in a parking lot, out in the open, directly in front of the main campus entrance. Then his fuel equipment malfunctions, the automatic shutoff doesn't work, leaving a 3" pool of diesel fuel floating on top of the base tank of the generator. He stuffed some rage in the overflow ports, stacked a pile of rags on the trailer below what to me now looked like a wick, and left. When I called there office to complain and get someone out for the remediation, they told me "he got someone to sign the ticket". Needless to say I was relieved to know he'd gotten his ticket signed, don't want to let the paperwork fall behind. I had a clean up crew there within the hour, as I told the fuel folks, this looked like a large bomb to me. It's been a fun week.
Still Moving Those Electrons. -----Original Message----- From: Pre-patinated plastic gumby block w/ coin slot [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Pamela S. Follett Sent: Friday, October 08, 2004 11:34 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [BP] tar and asbestos He did stop over to inspect their work, so I was guessing it came under his juris. He just wears a short sleeve button down shirt and dockers. Not sure what "means-and-methods" means, but I can guess. We've heard from others that the dude is pretty inconsistent with his statements, including to us. One day we have to write up a proposal to give to the village board for approval, the next day we don't need to provide anything because it's for something under our roof line, then the next he needs a write up for our file at their office. The guy next door gets told flat-out no for a similar application. One day, a refurb permit is a flat $25, the next it's based on square footage for the same space. We just point and laugh and be on our merry way. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, October 08, 2004 08:28 Subject: Re: [BP] tar and asbestos > Pam, > > Wouldn't count on vinyl asbestos floor tile to slow down a fire very much. The vinyl would probably accelerate more than the asbestos would decelerate the flame spread. > > As for the Zoning Dude, we in Joisey refer to such persons as Zoning Officials. Maybe they dress better in Noo Yawk. His failure to object to the ricekty-looking scaffold may have been a matter of "means-and-methods," or that it really wasn't so rickety, or that it didn't fall under his responsibility as The Zoning Dude. Or he didn't give a rat's ass, or that he hates the window guy. > > Ralph > > -- > To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the > uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: > <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html> > -- To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html> -- To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
