|
| |
Back o' the Page Stories
Our fax machine sputtered out a request from Pima Council on Aging, regarding a mobile home on South Campbell that had a certain string of electrical symptoms that had puzzled two electricians out of the job. The elderly client was out of power to her kitchen and her furnace, and was becoming discouraged with her home. Big Red, the Dodge van, arrived and disembarked our crew. Tim tested (which is what he does best) and Margaret reasoned (which is what she does best) and they finally came up with the somewhat enigmatic conclusion that the main feed was misbehaving underground. I suggested that they pull it out and make an inspection, which Tim, ever-hopeful for a less invasive solution, resisted, and Margaret, having a more rationalistic view of things, agreed to. They pulled out the cable and discovered the following: The line was in a steel conduit which had rusted out and filled with water. A small nick in the cable's insulation had made a low-level rendezvous between the electricity and the water possible. This exchange was mild enough that the main breaker never tripped, but persistent enough that the conductor gave of itself until it could no longer function, and went dead short. Tim and Margaret set to digging and fitting and pulling until they had new conductors in a non-oxidizing conduit from the pedestal to the sub-panel. Switches were flipped and power was restored to the home of yet another satisfied customer...
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
