RICK FITZPATRICK
New member
Well I know this isn't recording related, although I bet you can relate. But actually it does have something related to your power supply panel, which supplys power to your computers and studio.
Two weeks ago, the lights in a portion of the house started dimming, and the power would actually flash on and off, or completely go out. And actually, for the last three months, the power in our area would go completely dead two or three times a week, which was really beginning to bug me. I finally received a letter from the power company, appologizing for the frequent power outages in the last few months stating it was because of various culprits such as squirrels(
bet it fried em!), road construction, which they have been working on US 101 down the street from my house for a FRIGGIN YEAR!, and various blown transformers. At least they appologized.
Well, at first I thought it was the power from the pole that was going on and off, but soon realized I had power to other areas of the house. So I went out to the supply panel and noticed a single breaker tripped, and proceeded to try and reset it. No good. It wouldn't reset. OK, no big deal, take out the breaker and buy another. Ha! 4 hardware and electric retail stores later, and still no luck. Do you know how many kind of breakers there are? 
MILLIONS!!~#$%$(&(^&^%@#! 
Fuck. Finally I was told to go to a local commercial electrical supply house, and see if they have it. I was told I could talk to them, but because it was a wholesale house, they only sold to contractors, but I could purchase it from the retail electrical store if the wholesale place has it.
I'll tell you something. I moved up here to Coos Bay Oregon a year ago and have learned something here. People up here are NICE. After showing the clerk my old breaker, he looked for a half hour through MILLIONS of breakers in the warehouse, and finally came back with what looked like the same thing, although it was a different brand. Looked identical to me. Another clerk comes over and says..."you know if you put another brand of breaker in a GE panel, if you have a fire, it will void your insurance? Fuck, do I or don't I. A vision of my house burning down and no insurance pass through my head. Then a vision of this project taking a month also pass through. Ok, done deal. I told him I'd go back to the retail store and pay for it, how much? 
$19.50. Cool, I had $29. He said no need to go back, I could pay for it here, cause if I bought it from the retail place, they would mark the price up THREE TIMES the amount. Damn. Cool, so I paid for it, thanked him PROFUSELY, and was on my way. This would have NEVER happened in California. Cool. Or at least I thought so.
Everyone was happy that I found the breaker, especially me, cause power dimming SUCKS for computers among other things, EVEN if you have a surge protector. They do nothing for voltage drops, only surges. At least thats what I've been told. Anyway, on to replacing the breaker. It has already taken most of the day. I had already removed the old one, and proceeded to place the new breaker in at an angle so it grabbed a little pivot bar, which allows the breaker to snap on to the buss bar. FUCK, it won't snap.
Push, push, realign, push, look, try again. Fuck, the damn thing won't go in.
@#$%#$%^$%^&)($%^#$%&^$%^$ I look close, and see that the slot for the buss bar is ONE THIRTYSECOND of an inch TOO SMALL. DAMN. Something tells me this is good, even though it SUCKS!
Too late for another trip, getting dark, and it so happens, the breaker is actually a DOUBLE breaker with one side bad. Not a 240 breaker, but two 120 20 amp. Hmmmm, need lights to cook, and I'm getting hungry. The good side of the breaker is for the kitchen. Done deal, put the old breaker back in. Snap.
Hook it up and VOILA!! Fuck, both breakers are working. WHA the....?
I'm baffled. All of a sudden, the back porch light flickers......ZAP!!!!!!! Sparks ark inside the box!! I JUMP 10 feet!! WHAT THE FUCK?!!!
Man, let me tell you something. It is one thing to work around electricty when it is light outside, but in the dark, it is flat out scary. Especially on a panel like this. This is ONE MONSTEROUS PANEL. Must be a 400 amp. Never seen one like this and this motha is OLD. Kinda wierd too. From the pole, there are 2 #6wires hanging from a twisted bare cable, to the meterbox. From there, it gets wierd. Two # 1 wires feed the panel. Never seen a BIGGER wire than the supply wires to the meter, but there they were. Probably would carry 1000 amps. Damn. What is even wierder, is they connect DIRECTLY to a massive set of buss bars, with 6 240volt twin breakers.of various amperages. These are SUB MASTERS, as there is NO MASTER BREAKER.
I get a flashlight cause there ain't no friggin way I'm foolin around in there now. It is totally dark now. I look around, HOLY JEHOSAPHAT!! The 60 amp sub master that feeds the house, is ARCING INSIDE one of the twin breakers and the motha isn't TRIPPING!!! The porch light is dimming. Now its off. Now its on. Jesus. I push on the breaker. ZAP!!! I jump again. A blue arc lights up the area. I freak out. This thing is DANGEROUS. Could cause a fire any minute. I call the power company. They tell me to call an electrician. I tell them there is NO master breaker to disconnect the panel. The guy moans. He is alone and can't leave, cause everyone else is out on calls. Must be something wierd about this. Ok, the light is on and things seem stable. I tell him its ok for the moment. Hope it holds for the night.
Next day, I go out and figure out, this side of the double breaker is feeding the circuit breaker I THOUGHT was bad. Now I know it is a Sub Master, but how do I disconnect it LIVE. Not a chance. Well, I call the power company again. They tell me, they will temporarily disconnect the power, but ONLY if they receive a call from the Building Inspection Department, telling them I have a permit, or they will allow me to remove and replace the breaker without one. Damn. Well, knowing how hard it was to find a REGULAR breaker, I decide I better take the one I bought back and find a Sub Master breaker. Sigh. Another trip to the supply house. I explain the problem. They look for one. No such animal in the warehouse. A quick call to Portland and they find one. Cool, it will be here tomorrow morning. Doggone. I don't believe it. This NEVER happens. These people are TOOOOOOO good. Not only that, they will simply trade it for the one I already paid for. Holy moly, I would have sworn this thing would be $100. Cool. I pick it up the next day. But now, I have to change it. Can't do it today, I have a customer SCREAMING at me for his cabinet I haven't finished. I was supposed to install it yesterday. Sigh.
So I spend the next 3 days finishing and installing the cabinet. Tricky cabinet. 6 feet of mirrored doors on a custom medicine cabinet, with 1/8" gaps between mirrors. Took 3 months to get the mirrors ordered and delivered correctly. I turned out PERFECT. I was glad to get this one done cause it was a nerve wracker. But thats another story.
So I sit down to relax, and post something here, and ZAP!! the lights start dimming, the computers lights go off and on and off, and.........the fan comes to a stop......CRAP! Fire it up again......nothing. #$^%$%^*&*)(^Y#^$%$ GEEZUS I've fried my computer......holy shit! What the hell am I going to do? I have 3 projects designed in Autocad and haven't printed them yet. Man, talk about your heart sinking. Ok, time for some creative thinking.
VOILA!! I completely forgot. My wifes old computer is sitting beside the console, ready to go, completely blank, ready for my fumbling fingers to install the hardrive from my computer to see if it will fire up. 3 hours later,.......cool, it fires up. HOWEVER, my wifes computer doesn't LIKE MY HARDDRIVE! In fact, it HATES it and tells me so. NEW HARDWARE DISCOVERED! HOW DARE YOU INSTALL WINDOWS DISC OR I WILL KILL YOU AND YOUR FRIGGIN HARDRIVE! I hate computers. They hate me. When I open one, it growls. It looks like hell made of wires, electronics and demons inside. a flame filled death hole. I grimmace. Digging out the hardrive is like sticking your hands in a snake den. I can do lots of stuff, but digging into a computer is DEFINITELY not my cup of tea. I call my computer guru, my sister in law. She built it. Both of them. She says....it's a power supply dummy! Just switch them. Cool. Tonight, I take both computers down to my work bench where I have LOTS OF light. Old eyes suck. Ok. remove each set of power supply wires, and lable each set as I go. Ha! Easier said than done. Gotta take out the video card on each computer to get my hands in.....CAREFULL YOU IDIOT!! You might short out the processor, or fry something from static electricty. I tie a bare wire to my wrist and ground it. I stand on a rubber pad. I pray. Grimmmmace. Here we go. Out with the video card. Switch memory strips. Pull and pry the connectors. PITA. OOPS! Slipped....where did it go....damn, which one was that.....crap, they all look alike
Now I've done it! I'll probably fry the computer and cause all the power in the damn county to brown out!!
Ha! Well, lets see, unscrew both power supplys and switch. Damn computers are filthy inside. Cat hair, sawdust, dust, termites....demons....better clean them. Another hour gone.
Ok, time to put these damn things togeather and face the music. It'll never work. I'm not that lucky. The chances are .....well next to nill. Whew. Glad that job is done. Ok, video wire, mouse plug, keyboard plug, power, CAT 5 connector........hmmmm. thats it. The moment of truth. I call my wife for encouragement. I hit the button.....lights come on....good sign. Fan whirs. Another good sign. Monitor pops on with bootup promps.....good sign.....WINDOWS!!!......good good, life is good. I've got my same ole computer back. Had I lost all my stuff on this HD I might as well packed and moved to China. !! Life as I have known it would have died a slow death. Reconfiguring and load software would have taken a LIFETIME.....ha!! but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! LIFE IS GOOD.. my computer works. HOWDY EVERYONE!!! I'm back.
Ohhhhhh crap, I just remembered.......the breaker. Fuck.
fitZ
Two weeks ago, the lights in a portion of the house started dimming, and the power would actually flash on and off, or completely go out. And actually, for the last three months, the power in our area would go completely dead two or three times a week, which was really beginning to bug me. I finally received a letter from the power company, appologizing for the frequent power outages in the last few months stating it was because of various culprits such as squirrels(
bet it fried em!), road construction, which they have been working on US 101 down the street from my house for a FRIGGIN YEAR!, and various blown transformers. At least they appologized. Well, at first I thought it was the power from the pole that was going on and off, but soon realized I had power to other areas of the house. So I went out to the supply panel and noticed a single breaker tripped, and proceeded to try and reset it. No good. It wouldn't reset. OK, no big deal, take out the breaker and buy another. Ha! 4 hardware and electric retail stores later, and still no luck. Do you know how many kind of breakers there are?
MILLIONS!!~#$%$(&(^&^%@#! Fuck. Finally I was told to go to a local commercial electrical supply house, and see if they have it. I was told I could talk to them, but because it was a wholesale house, they only sold to contractors, but I could purchase it from the retail electrical store if the wholesale place has it. I'll tell you something. I moved up here to Coos Bay Oregon a year ago and have learned something here. People up here are NICE. After showing the clerk my old breaker, he looked for a half hour through MILLIONS of breakers in the warehouse, and finally came back with what looked like the same thing, although it was a different brand. Looked identical to me. Another clerk comes over and says..."you know if you put another brand of breaker in a GE panel, if you have a fire, it will void your insurance?
Fuck, do I or don't I. A vision of my house burning down and no insurance pass through my head. Then a vision of this project taking a month also pass through. Ok, done deal. I told him I'd go back to the retail store and pay for it, how much? $19.50. Cool, I had $29. He said no need to go back, I could pay for it here, cause if I bought it from the retail place, they would mark the price up THREE TIMES the amount. Damn. Cool, so I paid for it, thanked him PROFUSELY, and was on my way. This would have NEVER happened in California. Cool. Or at least I thought so. Everyone was happy that I found the breaker, especially me, cause power dimming SUCKS for computers among other things, EVEN if you have a surge protector. They do nothing for voltage drops, only surges. At least thats what I've been told. Anyway, on to replacing the breaker. It has already taken most of the day. I had already removed the old one, and proceeded to place the new breaker in at an angle so it grabbed a little pivot bar, which allows the breaker to snap on to the buss bar. FUCK, it won't snap.
Push, push, realign, push, look, try again. Fuck, the damn thing won't go in.
@#$%#$%^$%^&)($%^#$%&^$%^$
I look close, and see that the slot for the buss bar is ONE THIRTYSECOND of an inch TOO SMALL. DAMN. Something tells me this is good, even though it SUCKS!Too late for another trip, getting dark, and it so happens, the breaker is actually a DOUBLE breaker with one side bad. Not a 240 breaker, but two 120 20 amp. Hmmmm, need lights to cook, and I'm getting hungry. The good side of the breaker is for the kitchen. Done deal, put the old breaker back in. Snap.
Hook it up and VOILA!! Fuck, both breakers are working.
WHA the....?I'm baffled. All of a sudden, the back porch light flickers......ZAP!!!!!!! Sparks ark inside the box!! I JUMP 10 feet!! WHAT THE FUCK?!!!
Man, let me tell you something. It is one thing to work around electricty when it is light outside, but in the dark, it is flat out scary. Especially on a panel like this. This is ONE MONSTEROUS PANEL. Must be a 400 amp. Never seen one like this and this motha is OLD. Kinda wierd too. From the pole, there are 2 #6wires hanging from a twisted bare cable, to the meterbox. From there, it gets wierd. Two # 1 wires feed the panel. Never seen a BIGGER wire than the supply wires to the meter, but there they were. Probably would carry 1000 amps. Damn. What is even wierder, is they connect DIRECTLY to a massive set of buss bars, with 6 240volt twin breakers.of various amperages. These are SUB MASTERS, as there is NO MASTER BREAKER. I get a flashlight cause there ain't no friggin way I'm foolin around in there now. It is totally dark now. I look around, HOLY JEHOSAPHAT!! The 60 amp sub master that feeds the house, is ARCING INSIDE one of the twin breakers and the motha isn't TRIPPING!!! The porch light is dimming. Now its off. Now its on. Jesus. I push on the breaker. ZAP!!! I jump again. A blue arc lights up the area. I freak out. This thing is DANGEROUS. Could cause a fire any minute. I call the power company. They tell me to call an electrician. I tell them there is NO master breaker to disconnect the panel. The guy moans. He is alone and can't leave, cause everyone else is out on calls. Must be something wierd about this. Ok, the light is on and things seem stable. I tell him its ok for the moment. Hope it holds for the night.
Next day, I go out and figure out, this side of the double breaker is feeding the circuit breaker I THOUGHT was bad. Now I know it is a Sub Master, but how do I disconnect it LIVE. Not a chance. Well, I call the power company again. They tell me, they will temporarily disconnect the power, but ONLY if they receive a call from the Building Inspection Department, telling them I have a permit, or they will allow me to remove and replace the breaker without one. Damn. Well, knowing how hard it was to find a REGULAR breaker, I decide I better take the one I bought back and find a Sub Master breaker. Sigh. Another trip to the supply house. I explain the problem. They look for one. No such animal in the warehouse. A quick call to Portland and they find one. Cool, it will be here tomorrow morning. Doggone. I don't believe it. This NEVER happens. These people are TOOOOOOO good. Not only that, they will simply trade it for the one I already paid for. Holy moly, I would have sworn this thing would be $100. Cool. I pick it up the next day. But now, I have to change it. Can't do it today, I have a customer SCREAMING at me for his cabinet I haven't finished. I was supposed to install it yesterday. Sigh.
So I spend the next 3 days finishing and installing the cabinet. Tricky cabinet. 6 feet of mirrored doors on a custom medicine cabinet, with 1/8" gaps between mirrors. Took 3 months to get the mirrors ordered and delivered correctly. I turned out PERFECT. I was glad to get this one done cause it was a nerve wracker. But thats another story.
So I sit down to relax, and post something here, and ZAP!! the lights start dimming, the computers lights go off and on and off, and.........the fan comes to a stop......CRAP! Fire it up again......nothing. #$^%$%^*&*)(^Y#^$%$ GEEZUS I've fried my computer......holy shit! What the hell am I going to do? I have 3 projects designed in Autocad and haven't printed them yet. Man, talk about your heart sinking. Ok, time for some creative thinking.VOILA!! I completely forgot. My wifes old computer is sitting beside the console, ready to go, completely blank, ready for my fumbling fingers to install the hardrive from my computer to see if it will fire up. 3 hours later,.......cool, it fires up. HOWEVER, my wifes computer doesn't LIKE MY HARDDRIVE! In fact, it HATES it and tells me so. NEW HARDWARE DISCOVERED! HOW DARE YOU
INSTALL WINDOWS DISC OR I WILL KILL YOU AND YOUR FRIGGIN HARDRIVE! I hate computers. They hate me. When I open one, it growls. It looks like hell made of wires, electronics and demons inside. a flame filled death hole. I grimmace. Digging out the hardrive is like sticking your hands in a snake den. I can do lots of stuff, but digging into a computer is DEFINITELY not my cup of tea. I call my computer guru, my sister in law. She built it. Both of them. She says....it's a power supply dummy! Just switch them. Cool. Tonight, I take both computers down to my work bench where I have LOTS OF light. Old eyes suck. Ok. remove each set of power supply wires, and lable each set as I go. Ha! Easier said than done. Gotta take out the video card on each computer to get my hands in.....CAREFULL YOU IDIOT!! You might short out the processor, or fry something from static electricty. I tie a bare wire to my wrist and ground it. I stand on a rubber pad. I pray. Grimmmmace. Here we go. Out with the video card. Switch memory strips. Pull and pry the connectors. PITA. OOPS! Slipped....where did it go....damn, which one was that.....crap, they all look alikeNow I've done it! I'll probably fry the computer and cause all the power in the damn county to brown out!!
Ha! Well, lets see, unscrew both power supplys and switch. Damn computers are filthy inside. Cat hair, sawdust, dust, termites....demons....better clean them. Another hour gone.
Ok, time to put these damn things togeather and face the music. It'll never work. I'm not that lucky. The chances are .....well next to nill. Whew. Glad that job is done. Ok, video wire, mouse plug, keyboard plug, power, CAT 5 connector........hmmmm. thats it. The moment of truth. I call my wife for encouragement. I hit the button.....lights come on....good sign. Fan whirs. Another good sign. Monitor pops on with bootup promps.....good sign.....WINDOWS!!!......good good, life is good. I've got my same ole computer back. Had I lost all my stuff on this HD I might as well packed and moved to China. !! Life as I have known it would have died a slow death. Reconfiguring and load software would have taken a LIFETIME.....ha!! but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! LIFE IS GOOD.. my computer works. HOWDY EVERYONE!!! I'm back.
Ohhhhhh crap, I just remembered.......the breaker. Fuck.
fitZ
Steel and copper. Skip molten. Go directly to vapor. Resulting in a rapid reorder of immediate priorities. 
Thats funnier than hell. True too. I have to change it tomorrow. Got a new breaker, having the power company shut down the line, and don't need a permit. Only an inspection after I install it. Cool. Only thing is though
