"John H" wrote in message
...

On Fri, 6 Sep 2013 19:28:13 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:


That project was a huge success, both for us and the UofR and it put
my little company on the "map" so to speak. Good memories.



Great story, but I didn't see how union involvement helped in any way.

John (Gun Nut) H.

------------------------------

Oh, a union electrician was involved but he certainly didn't help.

The facility administrators, being good do-bees, hired union
contractors to install all the power wiring required in the lab where
the system we built was installed. Without going into boring details,
our system included a very large isolation transformer to power
radiant heaters located inside the vacuum chamber. Without the
transformer, the heaters would arc at certain vacuum levels and they
are commonly used in the industry for this purpose. The transformers
used are over-rated for the heater power requirements, so at full load
they are operating at 75 percent of their rated capacity. The
problem with them is that they get very hot in normal operation. The
one we used with this particular system had a temperature rise rating
of 150 degrees C (above ambient, room temperature). In our system it
measured 118 degrees at full power. That is well within normal
operation.

The system was being run one day, developing the optical coatings
required for the program. A union electrician was in the lab
installing some unrelated wiring and noticed that the transformer was
hot. He made a big stink about it and reported it to whomever he
reports to. Next thing you know, I received a call requesting that I
visit the lab immediately.

I drove to Rochester and met with the project leader. I explained
that the temperature rise was normal and well within the specs for the
transformer. He knew that but said that because the union
electrician had filed a report, the Director of the lab (the big guy)
wanted to talk to me about it.

The Director was a retired Navy nuclear sub commander and was referred
to as "The Captain". He was a gruff SOB and still liked to bark out
orders. He started the meeting by telling me that they were under a
severe scheduling commitment, needed to use the vacuum system and he
wanted it fixed, "NOW".

I explained to him that there was nothing wrong with it. It was
normal operation and showed him the spec sheets for the transformer.
At first he claimed that the electrician who reported it said it
wasn't normal and we got into a bit of a debate about it. He finally
calmed down after seeing the specs but it became obvious that this was
now more of a political issue with the city inspector and all getting
involved. He asked me to "megger" the transformer (this is a
process of applying high voltage to the transformer windings to test
the insulation) and also for additional copies of the manufacturer's
spec sheets, which I did while he conducted further investigation. He
told me I was to remain "on site" until the matter was resolved.

Well, I was in the Navy for 9 years but I wasn't about to take orders
from this guy as a civilian. I told him (politely) that the
transformer was fine, it met all electrical code specs in terms of
ratings. The application was unique due to the system's process
requirements but similar transformers were in operation in many other
systems and I was leaving in the morning. I also told him that since
he felt obligated to pursue it further with his contractors due to
their alleged safety concern, I felt obligated to disable the control
system so the system could not be used until he was satisfied
everything was ok.

That did it. He left, then came back a half hour later and
apologized for the wild goose chase and told me he was satisfied the
system was safe to operate. By now it was 6pm and he invited the
project engineer, me and some of the lab techs to go have dinner and a
couple of beers. Turns out he was a decent guy and we shared a few
"sea tales".

The problem that exists in this kind of technology is that the
National Electric Code doesn't cover many of the unique configurations
required for the design and operation of custom equipment like this.
Just because it's not covered in the Code Book doesn't mean you can't
do it. The requirements of the system and process supersedes the
Codes if they are in conflict. The union electrician, unfamiliar
with the equipment, jumped to conclusions and made a stink about
nothing. He just reads the book.