What did you do today?

[squonk 46,504]

22 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

 

I hope you charge a fee for that

Minimum charge is $ 33 per call

[Handy Don 16,543]

3 minutes ago, squonk said:

Minimum charge is $ 33 per call

A bargain. And since it doesn’t come out of the caller’s pocket, developing separation will be a challenge! Is a competent “heir” to the role in the wings?

[squonk 46,504]

35 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

A bargain. And since it doesn’t come out of the caller’s pocket, developing separation will be a challenge! Is a competent “heir” to the role in the wings?

The new lead thinks just about everything can be fixed witha keyboard. Should be interesting in August!

[squonk 46,504]

@953 nut This guy needs constant babysitting. 

 

[Handy Don 16,543]

3 hours ago, squonk said:

@953 nut This guy needs constant babysitting. 

 

Just looking at that and realizing how many components are “critical to operation” and how many different skills come into play to keep it happy would give me pause and instigate a TON of questions. 

My great-grandfather was the head of physical plant at Coney Island Hospital in the 1920’s & 1930’s--complex and demanding in its day. I’m sure some of his genes have shaped my “jack of all trades” appetite. 

[Ed Kennell 46,048]

34 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

different skills come into play to keep it happy

Not  a hospital, but this 150 ton York chiller was used to keep the 150,000 gallon of water in my hydro turbine test stands at a constant 70*.    It was not happy quite often.

 

 

 

 

[squonk 46,504]

35 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

Not  a hospital, but this 150 ton York chiller was used to keep the 150,000 gallon of water in my hydro turbine test stands at a constant 70*.    It was not happy quite often.

 

 

 

 

We have a 350 ton McQuay Magnetic bearing chiller that does the main hospital. There is NO back up! It likes to go down on the 4th of July Holiday. It has a control board that is cooled by refrigerant. That board had a bad connection and it melted the main plug in for it. They stuck one of those wood clamps like Uncle Fester used to keep the plug into the board until parts arrived. board alone was 10 grand! 

 

We just de-commissioned a 350 ton steam absorption chiller in another building as parts are no longer made and it needs a ton of work. There's a 200 ton Rental unit sitting outside that struggles to keep up on the hot days.

Edited yesterday at 09:26 PM by squonk

[squonk 46,504]

I made this video on a hot day when I was leaving in 2017

 

 

[squonk 46,504]

 

[Beap52 2,247]

5 hours ago, squonk said:

@953 nut This guy needs constant babysitting. 

 

That's quite a machine.  From what I gather these are chilling (cooling?) machines?  What is their purpose and is that an engine running the chiller 24 hours a day?  Equipment like that fascinates me even though I don't understand what's going on. 

[953 nut 65,963]

6 hours ago, squonk said:

@953 nut This guy needs constant babysitting. 

 

So,                 it never occurred to anyone that the electronic components in that cabinet would be much more reliable in a climate controlled area away from the vibrating machinery.          

7 hours ago, squonk said:

Minimum charge is $ 33 per call

You are working way too cheap. When I left the greenhouse company in 1986 and went to FPL I held all of the pesticide, herbicide and fungicide licenses and any time they needed to place an order it cost them $ 100.  None of the growers could pass the state exam, this went on for about three years. 

[squonk 46,504]

34 minutes ago, Beap52 said:

That's quite a machine.  From what I gather these are chilling (cooling?) machines?  What is their purpose and is that an engine running the chiller 24 hours a day?  Equipment like that fascinates me even though I don't understand what's going on. 

It's a chiller for comfort cooling. 454 Chevy marine engine on Nat. Gas. It runs when we need it. It's cooled by a cooling tower on the roof. We also take waste heat and send it to heat exchangers for domestic and reheat water. We cool the water to 45° and the AHU's in the bldg. discharge around 60°. Then the air is sent thru individual reheat coils in every room that set the room temp to the thermostat set point

[squonk 46,504]

11 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

So,                 it never occurred to anyone that the electronic components in that cabinet would be much more reliable in a climate controlled area away from the vibrating machinery.          

 

I had to build a shield on top of the cabinet to protect it from the miles of pipe above. A roof drain pipe split once during a storm and we had water everywhere. And that boiler room is hot. The exhaust on that chiller runs around 1500° There was an issue once with emissions control and it got so hot it burned the insulation off of the pipe. It was glowing red! 

Edited 23 hours ago by squonk

[lynnmor 8,813]

The landfill at Yorkana pulled the methane off the enormous mountain of New Jersey trash and burned it in five huge leased Caterpillar generators with the power going into the grid.  Those engines required a catwalk to service the valves and the oil pan was below floor level.  They were finicky to operate with the quality and quantity of fuel constantly changing.  My son and son-in-law operated these things.  Well my son got a better offer from another company and SIL said he was taking the opportunity to go full time in his own business.  That left the high priced keyboard warriors from Caterpillar to hang up their coats and get to work.  In just a couple of weeks I heard the explosion at my house 6.5 air miles away.  The generation plant was dismantled and never rebuilt. 

[Blue Chips 741]

Haven't had time for posting for the last couple of weeks. Lots of things keeping me occupied. For example:

• Wife and I took the train from here in Brunswick to NYC and spent a few days there. I haven't been there for years. Food and museum trip mostly. It was fun, but a bit tiring.
• Did some more work on my 1954 Dodge M37. Took the block to a machine shop for magnafluxing and some measurements. Made some more custom etched-aluminum dashboard plates, Ordered more parts. I'm expecting a reproduction bed floor and stainless steel fuel tank to be delivered tomorrow. I hope they made it through shipping in one piece.
• Arranged to have a set of three double-hung windows replaced with a combination sliding/fixed set that improved the view of our backyard (and the windows have a better e-rating, too.
• I'm currently trying to create some illustrations of a wood-lined 'graving dock' for use in new signage at the site of an historic mid-19th-century shipyard in a new park that the town has created. I'm using a combination of photos, AI, and manual drawing. It will probably take me another week to finish those. If they turn out OK, I'll post them here.
• It took longer than usual to get set up for putting our dock back in the water for the season. It's always a lot of work, which is my own fault for making it more complex than most peoples' docks. However, once installed, it works great, so I guess it's worth it.

Here I'm backing the dock into the water at a neighbor's place a few lots up the street from us:

 

A few neighbors pushing our dock off of my trailer.

 

And motoring it up the river like modern-day Huck Finns. I just clamp on my 6 hp outboard, which is adequate to move it upstream to our place, although you can't water ski behind it.

 

Dock is in. Pictures below were taken at low tide.

 

 

It turned out to be 'dock day' in the neighborhood, as we put in two more docks for neighbors down the street. 17 people showed up for the impromptu event.

 

I mowed the front lawn today for the first time this season. The grass was a foot tall in places and there was a ton of damp grass glop under the mowing deck. After mowing, I used the water hose clean-out on the deck for the first time, as I was curious to see how well it worked. After running the deck at full speed for about three minutes with the hose attached, I reached underneath to probe around for the results. It got rid of almost all of the grass except for a little around the spindles and a little next to the exit chute. I then ran it at full speed for a couple more minutes with the hose disconnected to help dry it, and then parked it in the sun to dry the rest of the way. I'll try it again for the next couple of mowings and then jack up the mower and have a closer look underneath to see how clean it is and how the paint is holding up. If I see any damage from the water cleaning, I'll pressure-wash and recoat the underside and forego the use of the hose clean-out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Blue Chips

[ebinmaine 78,766]

33 minutes ago, Blue Chips said:

Took the block to a machine shop for magnafluxing and some measurements

 

Good to see you're back on. 

Which shop ended up being a good candidate for you? 

 

 

You'll see in another thread that I've decided to get my own 1986 Ford F250 back on the front burner. It's going to a local shop next week.  

 

Some light reading for ya...