RE: Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 11/XX/18> No such luck as hoped for…
I pretty much knew that you wouldn't be surprised because you know how this stuff goes together and how trying to square everything just isn't possible all the time. That MJ coupling had been there for over 15 years without any problem or leaks so when I saw it had no joint restraints I expressed concern that we might screw it up and we did as it proved out upon start up.
I didn't go the "I told you so" route, my tongue does have teeth marks in it though as it was hard not too. I may have to work with guy some more in the future, I'll just let him figure out what I know and don't know as time allows.
I wish I had taken a photo of the station after it was a plumbed in up top to share, but when he suggested leaving, I wasn't going to give him a chance to rethink that idea he had. Going anywhere near him may have prompted a thought and a change of plans.
I do have a safety concern with the design of that pump station and the electrical but I will bring that up with company that designed and built the station. The 5hp submersible pressure maintenance pump electric power wire is not in conduit and exposed from the base of the pump station all the way down the pipe to the pump and someone could easily damage it and end up getting zapped if the pump was running when it happened, not really likely, but surely possible and surely not to code.
We have codes for a reason. I like to see things absolutely correct prior to start up because enough can go wrong when things are right....
I know two farmers that got zipped by a 440v charge in a panel box. Both of them knew better, but opened the box and didn't go in with a Fluke first. Didn't kill either one but did take them out of action for a time.
One of them knew way better. He was an electrical engineer that had never used his degree directly. He's the guy that took me to my first Cougar football game on his 10th year reunion (1958). He just got in a hurry.... And for the record, I still hear from him about this time every year. He was a year older than my Dad and finished his degree right after WWII. That would make him 92 this year.
These people are so used to having these pump stations sitting right on ground level and that wire virtually not accessible unless you are inside the wet well; it probably never even registered with them that better than 20 feet of power wire would be exposed and just tie strapped to the pipe using zip ties.
It will be inside two locked areas but I don't believe that should make any difference when it comes to safety. I also didn't agree with them not installing the safety screens that would keep people out of the area where the motor shafts connect to the pump shafts. "Nobody is going to be in there that doesn't know better" is what I was told.
Well that may be true but if you have them and they are paid for just use them and be done with it. Let somebody get a piece of loose clothing or a hoodie string caught up in the rotating shaft and then tell me it isn't needed, those 75hp motors put out some torque for sure.
Always best to double check power for sure, and being in a hurry can sure hurt a person.
I don't know for a fact but I have been told the 120V is the possibly the most dangerous voltage because it grabs and won't let go. Where the higher voltages will literally knock you on your rear in some cases, you might have some burns or lose a finger or two in the process but you could live to tell about it. That isn't really the case with 120V as it won't let go even after you are dead. More than one person has been electrocuted by trying to help someone who is in contact with the voltage supply by grabbing them.