This is what keeps my job interesting. - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

220/221 · 02-21-2008, 08:17 PM

One week we will be installing parking lot light, 15 poles/existing building/about 1500 feet of trench/conduit..........

The next week we will be installing 40 metal halide lights hanging over big saltwater tanks used to grow coral. Day 1 and 2 we hung unistrut down the center of the tanks from all thread and will hang the 1000 watt and 400 watt HID fixtures from it. Adding a sub panel/transfer switch/ portable generator to keep the water circulating and warm in case of an outage.

goose134 · 02-21-2008, 08:34 PM

Looks great! Nice strut rack. What are they growing coral for? Is it an aquarium supplier? Or phase 3 in an intricate plot to take over the ocean?

Speedy Petey · 02-21-2008, 09:38 PM

That's one heck of a crane for that little bitty pole light.

InPhase277 · 02-21-2008, 09:49 PM

Hey 220, do you work for Econolight?

InPhase277

Magnettica · 02-22-2008, 04:04 AM

Wow, look at that! Nice, clean job with no crap on the floor and garbage everywhere. Boy would I love to work on a job like that.

220/221 · 02-22-2008, 06:14 PM

Quote:

What are they growing coral for?

They are growing coral to sell to .....aquarium suppliers I guess. There will be 5, 1000 watt metal halide fixtures over each tank, 3 feet off the surface.

Quote:

That's one heck of a crane for that little bitty pole light

They are very short poles. Another brilliant engineering feat. I don't think they have any smaller cranes. I have set short poles off my pipe rack on my pick up truck before but it was well worth the $100 bucks to have him come by for an hour.

Quote:

Hey 220, do you work for Econolight?

220/221 · 02-22-2008, 06:58 PM

Another interesting day.

A friend called and asked me if I could send my bucket truck out to a used car lot on the west (bad) side of town. Everyone was busy but I had nothing important to do so I jumped in the spare boom truck and took a drive over.

The location sounded familar and I knew that I had at least been in the area a LONG time ago. I pull up and sure as hell, I was here with my business partner 15 years ago when we first started the business. I wlaked around in a daze for a while TRYING to jog my memory regarding what we had done here.

This place was a TOTAL mess. Back in 1960 it was a good sized car lot. Since then it has gone downhill. It is now about six diferrent businesses with crap all interconnected.

After about a half hour I finally found a free standing panel on one end of the property being fed from a 100 amp contactor about 600 feet away on the other end on a totall different building.

I turn it on and get some of the old ploe lights to fire up. I am checking power at a single pole on an island and I'm reading 240 something volts on one leg and 60 on a couple others. I am thinking back feed via a ballast or something but it's not adding up.

I go to the free standing panel and read 240 at the 2 pole breaker(s) supplying the lights. A phase is 120 to ground and B phase is 240 something???? WTF?

I go back to the service and take some covers off. I didn't bring my camera but I took a quick pic with my cell phone.

3 phase delta service.

3 phase 100 amp switch feeding the single phase pole light sub panel.

"A" phase fuse clip had been destroyed at some point so some clown moved the feeder to "B" phase.

Yesterday the landlord sent his electrician out to install new "fuses".

It then started raining so I snapped a pic, wrote down the cat number of the switch, turned it off and left.

I'll bring my camera out when I go back. There are lots of warm fuzzies out there.

Magnettica · 02-22-2008, 08:02 PM

It actually rains in Arizona?

Nice "fuses"!!

Good luck on that one tomorrow.

mdshunk · 02-22-2008, 08:07 PM

I set light poles with the bucket truck using the ground controls. Ever thought of doing that?

JohnJ0906 · 02-22-2008, 08:14 PM

I forget... what is the amp rating on EMT fuses?

mdshunk · 02-22-2008, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnJ0906

I forget... what is the amp rating on EMT fuses?

Probably more than the clips that hold them in. Those clips will evaporate before that EMT disappears.

JohnJ0906 · 02-22-2008, 08:33 PM

I prefer copper pipe...

220/221 · 02-22-2008, 10:48 PM

Quote:

I set light poles with the bucket truck using the ground controls. Ever thought of doing that?

In a pinch or for one or two poles. Other than that it pays to have a crane come out for $100 per hour. He was in and out in one hour exactly for 15 poles.

And...our ground controls are inside the box so you need two people to operate it that way which is closer to $200 an hour.

Now days we can't pull any wire even a day before we set poles so it ends up being a long day if there are many more poles than this.

We got to the site (3 guys) at about 8:30, unloaded and assembled the poles/fixtures, pulled wire (pre fished/lubed with string) and the crane arrived at noon. Templates were removed and nuts leveled the previous day.

mdshunk · 02-22-2008, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 220/221

Templates were removed and nuts leveled the previous day.

When I do set the real tall one's with a crane, I just put them all on real quick "eyeball level" while the crane is there, then go around later and jack the nuts around to level up the poles nice. Reason being, some poles have a bit of a bend in them anyhow from storage and shipping, so even if your nuts are dead level, the pole could still look funny sometimes. Just a different method, I guess.

nap · 02-22-2008, 11:01 PM

Curious as to why your feed conduit is so tall though. I would suspect the hand hole is much closer to the bottom of the poles than that.

those lghts over the coral. Are they some special spec'd units for color/wavelengths?

Quote:

Now days we can't pull any wire even a day before we set poles so it ends up being a long day if there are many more poles than this.

theft problems?

Too bad we couldn;t put it in and energize the stuff. That would slow 'em down a bit.

mdshunk · 02-22-2008, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nap

Curious as to why your feed conduit is so tall though. I would suspect the hand hole is much closer to the bottom of the poles than that.

Depends on the brand, but most are around 12" to the bottom of the handhole nowadays. Some are as high as 18" to the bottom of the handhole. Here's one I use a lot:

http://www.sternerlighting.com/produ...s.SSS.Spec.pdf

220/221 · 02-23-2008, 12:08 AM

I use Ruud fixtures and the bottom of the hand hole is at 18" so I stub up to 16".

I didn't look at the coral lamps to see the specs. I'll be going back next week some time.

When troubleshooting I HATE when the clowns cut the conduits short and I can see which wires go where (without my see snake which eneded up un the bucket truck BTW)

Worse than that is when the splice/junction the wires at the bottom of the pole and only bring up one set.

Also...these concrete bases turned of as the best ones I have ever done. They almost looked professional. Someone, somewhere suggested running a sawsall, without the blade, around the Sonotube. I had very few pockmarks this time. I have had them so bad in the past that I had to put a stucco coat to dress them up.

InPhase277 · 02-23-2008, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 220/221

I use Ruud fixtures and the bottom of the hand hole is at 18" so I stub up to 16".

I didn't look at the coral lamps to see the specs. I'll be going back next week some time.

When troubleshooting I HATE when the clowns cut the conduits short and I can see which wires go where (without my see snake which eneded up un the bucket truck BTW)

Worse than that is when the splice/junction the wires at the bottom of the pole and only bring up one set.

Also...these concrete bases turned of as the best ones I have ever done. They almost looked professional. Someone, somewhere suggested running a sawsall, without the blade, around the Sonotube. I had very few pockmarks this time. I have had them so bad in the past that I had to put a stucco coat to dress them up.

Yes, I have used a palm sander for that very purpose. Works fantastic. I have a 1500 W inverter hardwired on my truck, so I have power for it no matter where I am.

InPhase277

220/221 · 02-26-2008, 05:04 PM

I was talking earlier about going to a job and recognizing your handwriting on a panel.............

Service call, intermittant power/flickering lights etc.

I know I had been to the aprartment complex before....many times over the years but I didn't remember being in unit 113.

I open the panel to see burned feeders and a note in my handwriting that said: "Backfed from living room/kitchen light circuit" referring to a capped off conductor that originally went to the "spare" breaker. The date on the paper note was 1999

I am guessing that while troubleshooting 9 years ago I found a backfed circuit and didn't bother to trace it out, opting to tag it and deal with it later.

It's later.

I don't think (at this point) that the original issue can possibly be related to the burned feeders and melting insulator between the bus by the main lugs but I am going back tommorrow (?) to take EVERTHING apart and

1) find where the circuits are tied together, and

2.) pull the meter and test/replace the feeders which look to be #4 AL. and

3) replace the panel as the lugs look pretty bad.

I will be replacing ALL of the outlets as everyone of them I looked at would barely hold a plug and they are all stabbed.