 49528867Premium
join:2010-04-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL
kudos:3
1 edit | The most screwed up electrical work I have ever seen. This is a natural gas CNG pumping station, think final storage pressures of 3600 psi, well their original pump took a dump and another one had to be placed.
You gotta love when plumbers re-do explosion proof electrical work.
Wayne
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Madness takes its toll, please have exact change ready… |
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iknowPremium
join:2012-03-25 | Re: The most electrical mis-installation I have ever seen. it looks like they didn't put the new pump in yet!. so that's the way it was originally? |
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49528867Premium
join:2010-04-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL
kudos:3 | No, thats the "new" pump you are looking at.
Wayne |
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 tp0dyabbazooiePremium
join:2001-02-13
Carnegie, PA
kudos:4 | im guessin they had to cut the conduit to remove the pump or motor?
whats the issue with a union in the middle? i guess it could interrupt ground, but there should be a dedicated ground anyways, and the threads on each pull fitting could eventually become corroded, and hamper ground as well..
-j
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if it aint broke, tweak it!!
currently on FiOS (kick aZZ!) |
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| reply to 49528867
Hard to believe that's 'new'... looks like something that's been on it's last legs for the last decade or two haha Scary looking really. |
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rfnutPremium
join:2002-04-27
Fisher, IL | reply to 49528867
I always use teflon tape. Pipe dope is too messy for electrical work. |
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 nunyaWho is John Galt?Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
kudos:8 | reply to 49528867
Wow. Just wow. |
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Hey, gotta give them credit, at least they used Rectorseal on the pipe threads!
Doesn't this sort of thing have to be inspected?
Reminds me of something I wish I had pictures of, not as deadly but pretty ridiculous. I was tracing upstream noise on a node, we had finally got it pinned to one block, but it was intermittent, so pretty hard to track. At this point we were trying to narrow down where the problem was when I noticed a pretty good sized HF antenna on one house, so naturally I checked there first. I was walking back to the pole and at the same time I noticed the house had a no DMARC, but had (white!) cable running from the pole into the roof with a P-TRAP being used as a weatherhead and regular PVC going into the attic! he had even went through the trouble of putting a lead boot on the abortion! Get up to the pole, lo and behold what I suspected was true, theft of service. To top it all off, he even broke one port of the tap completely off trying to get the locking F terminator off! Needless to say, once the tap was replaced and his clusterf&ck disconnected, the noise went away.
Never ceases to amaze me the stuff I see "professionals" and DIY'ers do... |
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nunyaWho is John Galt?Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
kudos:8 Reviews:
 ·Charter
 ·surpasshosting
 ·voip.ms
| reply to tp0d
That's a Class 1 Division 1 location. The LB's and union obviously do not belong in this picture.
They essentially turned the $2,000 explosion-proof control box into a potential "bomb".
I know they are explosion-proof from the outside. Not to sure about the inside.
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If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't. |
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tp0dyabbazooiePremium
join:2001-02-13
Carnegie, PA
kudos:4
1 edit | yea it does look like they added the 90° pull boxes (LB's?)
surprised the gas co let someone like this work on their stuff.. hmm
-j
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if it aint broke, tweak it!!
currently on FiOS (kick aZZ!) |
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sk1939Premium
join:2010-10-23
Washington, DC
kudos:9 Reviews:
 ·T-Mobile US
| said by tp0d:yea it does look like they added the 90° pull boxes (LB's?)
surprised the gas co let someone like this work on their stuff.. hmm
-j
Low bidders generally win contracts. |
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 GooberPremium
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
kudos:5 | reply to 49528867
Re: The most screwed up electrical work I have ever seen. It's gotta be asked and I'm willing to take the lumps.
So, what's exactly wrong with it? |
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 leiboldPremium,MVM
join:2002-07-09
Sunnyvale, CA
kudos:6
 ·SONIC.NET
| said by Goober:So, what's exactly wrong with it? The metallic conduit is supposed to provide a continuous safety ground. Using teflon tape on the conduit joints prevents electrical contact. This in turn allows parts of the conduit to become electrically charged possibly leading to sparks from one part of the conduit to another.
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 The PigI know you want to be mePremium
join:2009-09-11 | reply to 49528867
I'm with Goober What does the pipe have to do with the wires inside it?
Unless water is getting in the pipe I don't see a problem!
Wasn't the pump inspected after it was installed by an inspector?
Are you saying the pipe is a ground? |
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leiboldPremium,MVM
join:2002-07-09
Sunnyvale, CA
kudos:6 Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
| said by The Pig:Are you saying the pipe is a ground? The other way around. All exposed metallic surfaces must be bonded to the equipment grounding conductor.
In other words, every section of the pipe must be grounded but the teflon tape prevents that (isolating each section).
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GooberPremium
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
kudos:5 | Perfect. Thanks. |
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garys_2kPremium
join:2004-05-07
Farmington, MI
1 edit | reply to Goober
Also, this application requires "explosion proof" fittings. Those standard LB's do not have the required ratings. |
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 Jack_in_VAPremium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
kudos:1 | reply to leibold
said by leibold:said by Goober:So, what's exactly wrong with it? The metallic conduit is supposed to provide a continuous safety ground. Using teflon tape on the conduit joints prevents electrical contact. This in turn allows parts of the conduit to become electrically charged possibly leading to sparks from one part of the conduit to another. The pump circuit probably and most likely has a ground wire inside the conduit bonding everything to ground. Therefore the conduit even though it has teflon tape would be grounded on either end. In such case it doesn't matter about the conduit in that case but it sure makes a difference with the explosion hazard. |
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49528867Premium
join:2010-04-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL
kudos:3 | reply to Goober
said by Goober:So, what's exactly wrong with it? Good question and no lumps for you, as Nunya already pointed out this is a "class/division" area which in layman’s terns means an area where something flammable may be present and electrical equipment utilized in that area must be designed to be explosion proof.
Now explosion proof doesn’t mean the equipment utilized must be able to resist an explosion, it means should an explosion occur within the equipment the flame wall from the explosion will be contained within the equipment and not continued out of it.
So lets start with the big one the control cabinet, that cabinet contains pressure switches which monitor the input pressure of the compressor about 4 psi and another cycles the compressor based on output pressure which is about 3600 psi, it also contains a contactor and some low voltage control relays.
Now lets say within this finely tuned and maintained system a pressure control switch develops a pin hole leak and that leak beings to fill the control cabinet with natural gas which in turn mixes wit the air already in the cabinet, then someone connects their CNG vehicle to the device outside and drops the storage pressure as the vehicle is filled, the output pressure sensor sensing the lower pressure closes kicking in the motor contactor either of which can produce a spark igniting the gas air mixture within the cabinet.
Now if this job was done properly that explosion would be contained within the cabinet and the connected conduit.
But this job was redone by some jacklegs and what will happen is the plastic rain-tite run from the cabinet to the motor and a control conduit will blow off and that’s good as hopefully doing so will drop the pressures a bit, because if not those LB’s will explode violently and if that pipe between them nails one of those stainless steel lines on it’s way out of there it will unleash a 3600 psi dragon breath.
Note the LB’s in shot 3 are those two grey boxes one above the cabinet and the other to the right changing the direction of the large pipe from vertical to horizontal.
Wayne
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Madness takes its toll, please have exact change ready… |
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GooberPremium
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
kudos:5 | Very nice explanation! Thanks |
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