I am so happy to have control of my own #offgrid utilities and #FOSS software.
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I am so happy to have control of my own #offgrid utilities and #FOSS software. Privacy, security, reliability, control, peace of mind. Life is good at home.
Yesterday when I arrived at work and started doing inspections, I would see the most horrifying things. What made it worse was that many LICENSED people on other shifts throughout the weekend did not notice or care. A pump was installed backwards on the steam system by a contractor. What is the very first thing we check when we install a motor or pump? Rotation. And super obvious, was the entire freaking pump installed in the correct direction? Oh, no, this seems to be a regular occurrence. Valves installed backwards. What happens? Bad events, very bad events. High pressure steam in operator spaces you do not want like I saw yesterday. People can be in a hospital for months or dead, unrecognizable bodies...
In my 30 year career in motive power, I have never seen this problem. Is this from several years of covid? I have worked in red states where everyone is highly educated and do not let these things pass.
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I am so happy to have control of my own #offgrid utilities and #FOSS software. Privacy, security, reliability, control, peace of mind. Life is good at home.
Yesterday when I arrived at work and started doing inspections, I would see the most horrifying things. What made it worse was that many LICENSED people on other shifts throughout the weekend did not notice or care. A pump was installed backwards on the steam system by a contractor. What is the very first thing we check when we install a motor or pump? Rotation. And super obvious, was the entire freaking pump installed in the correct direction? Oh, no, this seems to be a regular occurrence. Valves installed backwards. What happens? Bad events, very bad events. High pressure steam in operator spaces you do not want like I saw yesterday. People can be in a hospital for months or dead, unrecognizable bodies...
In my 30 year career in motive power, I have never seen this problem. Is this from several years of covid? I have worked in red states where everyone is highly educated and do not let these things pass.
@dianea
In all honesty, I am a little bit envious of you. -
I am so happy to have control of my own #offgrid utilities and #FOSS software. Privacy, security, reliability, control, peace of mind. Life is good at home.
Yesterday when I arrived at work and started doing inspections, I would see the most horrifying things. What made it worse was that many LICENSED people on other shifts throughout the weekend did not notice or care. A pump was installed backwards on the steam system by a contractor. What is the very first thing we check when we install a motor or pump? Rotation. And super obvious, was the entire freaking pump installed in the correct direction? Oh, no, this seems to be a regular occurrence. Valves installed backwards. What happens? Bad events, very bad events. High pressure steam in operator spaces you do not want like I saw yesterday. People can be in a hospital for months or dead, unrecognizable bodies...
In my 30 year career in motive power, I have never seen this problem. Is this from several years of covid? I have worked in red states where everyone is highly educated and do not let these things pass.
@dianea
At least you caught it before something terrible happened.Will the contractor fix all this now, or do you have to do it?
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I am so happy to have control of my own #offgrid utilities and #FOSS software. Privacy, security, reliability, control, peace of mind. Life is good at home.
Yesterday when I arrived at work and started doing inspections, I would see the most horrifying things. What made it worse was that many LICENSED people on other shifts throughout the weekend did not notice or care. A pump was installed backwards on the steam system by a contractor. What is the very first thing we check when we install a motor or pump? Rotation. And super obvious, was the entire freaking pump installed in the correct direction? Oh, no, this seems to be a regular occurrence. Valves installed backwards. What happens? Bad events, very bad events. High pressure steam in operator spaces you do not want like I saw yesterday. People can be in a hospital for months or dead, unrecognizable bodies...
In my 30 year career in motive power, I have never seen this problem. Is this from several years of covid? I have worked in red states where everyone is highly educated and do not let these things pass.
I'm honestly sorry you had to be within a mile of that.
I've been around GW-sized power systems. You get a sense of just how wrong things can go even by what happens when things are going right (e.g. steam system emergency venting tests, or breaker trips in the switchyard)
The "is this sort of mistake new?" question is one I'll put to my engineering friends over the next while.
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@dianea
At least you caught it before something terrible happened.Will the contractor fix all this now, or do you have to do it?
the contractor will be forced to come back in and correct. But I believe they should be banned.
What would happen if that was a pump for the concentrated hydrochloric acid. Wrong motor rotation would just damage the impeller, locking up the pump and the technician is not going to get far. But when a pump is installed backwards, what could happen...oh we just pumped the process liquid into the massive hydrochloric acid silo. Not everyone has seen what hydrochloric acid can do when it gets into the wrong places. I have. You'll never forget that it creates lots of hydrogen gas and that lovely smell of sulphur. What happens to heated hydrogen gas? Yep. Boom. Lots of big booms. All because someone did not label a bucket of liquid, a very serious violation. The evening local news media would go national, perhaps worldwide.
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