The Big Squirt Fiasco
For a supposedly smart nation – the good ol’ US of A has some pretty stupid engineers RE: the massive oil blow out 1.5 Kilometers under the sea, in the Gulf of Mexico. Did you all cop an eyeful of the bullsh*t complicated scrap metal yard they have over the well head?. Now I know what I’m talking about because someone very, very close to me, is an oil man. A master engineer, no less. I followed the exploits of oil trouble shooters in the sixties [ Red Adair for one ] and while this deep well presents problems because of pressure, it certainly is not un-solvable if these wankers would stop trying to reinvent the wheel and think outside of the box [ As well as look to the past methodologies ].
The idea now is to plug the well, not valve it because things are now way out of hand. To do this, you have to get rid of all that surrounding crap so that you have just the well head [ which is internally sleeved by the original drill pipe].
There are at least two methods to plug this sucker without pouring thousands of tons concrete into it. To refresh you old oil men [ are there any left?] – we can use explosives safely only because fire don’t burn under water.
Method one: This uses the ‘string of beads’ valve. First you get a pipe that can slip inside the well pipe. The pipe is open at both ends but the top end has a valve on it. Around the valve is a massive donut with sufficient weight to sink the pipe into the well pipe. The valve is left open to allow oil to flow out of it else the pressure would push THIS pipe out of the well head no matter what weight you have on it. The key to this method is this. In various places down your valve pipe, you place circular flat pack explosives [ like a string of beads or in this case – mini donuts]. When the valve pipe is in place, you detonate the explosives so that the valve casing pipe is bulged out to form multi corks. The top valve is still left open because you don’t want to blow the crap out of your new valve on detonation, and you certainly don’t want to fire the valve pipe out of the well head like a bullet. At this latter point we can be hopeful of several things. Firstly, the valve sleeve pipe is now jammed against the well head pipe in multiple places. Next we slowly shut the mother down. Problem solved .
The second method is one many don’t favor because it’s a bit iffy. You get a second drill head BIGGER than the original and grind it down over the original head pipe. This takes longer and there is a risk of causing a bigger blow out than you already have. If successful, you can now use an oversize valve on your new well pipe.
I can’t believe these retards haven’t tried these methods but then again!!!.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
chinese crap
I never pay more than $30 for a pair of casual shoes and I usually buy them for work anyway. I saw a bargain in shoes on the stand ’buy one pair get a second pair free’ WOW! Can’t go wrong. So I bought 2 pair at $29:95, one pair black, one pair brown. I didn’t need to wear them straight away so I put them in the wardrobe till my old pair wore out. 2 Months later, I pulled them out and discovered the ‘color’ was cheap dipped resin type plastic and was peeling off in chunks. I was going to throw them out when, on closer examination, I discovered the shoe was actually made of pure Suede
Apparently, our cheap Chinese shoe manufacturer thought it was cheaper still to plastic dip the shoes for color rather than dye the ‘leather’. After scraping off all the plastic color, I now have a very expensive pair of Grey Suede shoes. What morons. Not bad for 30 bucks – 2 pair of pure Suede shoes even if they are Grey.
Apparently, our cheap Chinese shoe manufacturer thought it was cheaper still to plastic dip the shoes for color rather than dye the ‘leather’. After scraping off all the plastic color, I now have a very expensive pair of Grey Suede shoes. What morons. Not bad for 30 bucks – 2 pair of pure Suede shoes even if they are Grey.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Road Rage Wanker GGH-60 white ute
We’ve all heard the stories [and evidence by statistics] of people driving utes who think they are immune from road rules well I just had a confrontation with one of these wankers in a car park area no less. A white ute rego GGH-60 . [ Watch out for this idiot in your travels]. So I’m cruising for a parking spot in a car park that is literally bumper to bumper. I signal to make a right turn at a ‘T’ junction and just make the turn when; a ute pulls out of a car space on my right to go in the opposite direction and faces me nose to nose. Remember, I am on the correct side of the road with my arse barely clearing the junction. I can’t see squat behind me and if I attempt to reverse INTO the junction stream AND someone hits my arse – I haven’t got a leg to stand on legally. On the other hand, mister wanker only has to reverse a few feet [ no one behind him at all ] then clear my car so that HE is now on the correct side of the road. A no brainer is it not ?. Do you think this sh*t for brains is going to reverse ? No siree Bob; in fact he edges forward in an attempt to FORCE me to commit to a bloody dangerous maneuver and reverse. I follow the best course of action – point to the junction behind me and throw up my hands in exclamation. This wanker just sits there, his nose 2 inches from my nose. I fold my hands, turn off the engine and stare at him for a full 3 minutes until he finally concedes and reverses all of 2 feet in order to clear my car. The final insult – as he is passing my car he exclaims “don’t you worry you c**t, I got your number and I’ll get you on the road”
This is the sort of people in a car park who toss all road rules out the window.
This is the sort of people in a car park who toss all road rules out the window.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Climate change fiasco
Check this out- MP3 AUDIO . Greg Combet [Minister Assisting Penny Wong] makes a total boob of himself by 1. changing the questions, 2. Not knowing answers he's PAID to know 3. Insists it's all about 'Carbon Pollution' and not CO2 causing climate change. 4. Uses every words like 'opinion' - 'consensus' EXCEPT 'empirical data' which he avoids like the plague... but have a listen for yourself. This arse hole is assisting Penny Wong ? I'm not surprised because you would not want a scientist assisting her.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Ooops! someone finally stumbled on solar solution
I really thought I would live long enough to see what I just read in a blog the other day. With all the collusion and lies and threat of world government by who-ever; cheap energy seemed to be the answer. As we all would have guessed, this was never going to happen because of suppression of information to keep the coal fires burning. It was inevitable that SOMEONE would discover a really cheap and easy way of making a DIY solar panel from ordinary household products. Admittedly, not as efficient as commercial ones [ 62% ] but less than [ estimated by price ] $400 / kilowatt from the materials used. I will NOT give out the blog site or his name since I cannot verify his methodology until I actually make one myself but I can tell you all, it involves the use of Aluminum foil and clear plastic [ glad wrap ]and he resides in Europe. He claims to have made a 25KW set of panels and is now 'off the grid forever' The only additional expense [ he sez ] are stationary batteries and inverter for night time consumption. Well I already know this is a mandatory requirement anyway to have electricity 24 hours of the day. I have the ingredient list [ all can be purchased from your local food and hardware store ].
When I have made a small model [ about 1 x 1 meter panel ] I will report on the results. If favorable, I will give detailed instructions HERE so you all can build one. If this is a success, the solar panel industry will collapse as soon as the exponential release gets going. So far [ as far as I am aware from his blog ] hundreds of 'subscribers' are even now building a test panel. Wonder what the thought police will do ?. Too late guys, like PGP, its release will be unstopable.
When I have made a small model [ about 1 x 1 meter panel ] I will report on the results. If favorable, I will give detailed instructions HERE so you all can build one. If this is a success, the solar panel industry will collapse as soon as the exponential release gets going. So far [ as far as I am aware from his blog ] hundreds of 'subscribers' are even now building a test panel. Wonder what the thought police will do ?. Too late guys, like PGP, its release will be unstopable.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
LUCKY I'M NOT WITH A.A.M.I. ???
‘LUCKY-EEEEE I’M NOT WITH A.A.M.I.’
Remember my little talk on ‘extrinsic / intrinsic fraud [ refer to products talk in this blog ]
Seems even the big boys ignore the warning signs. Now you are lucky if your with A.A.M.I. B U T ONLY if your ‘with’ them.
“We have seen the enemy, and the enemy is US’
God help you all if you are NOT with A.A.M.I. AND you have a claim against them through absolutely no fault of your own. Seems that if you have the sheer sh*t arse gall to be in an accident [ booted up the rear by another car while stationary at traffic lights ]; you will get less than a fair go from A.A.M.I
Happened to me in Brisbane. The other driver was insured with above. ‘ No worries’ sayeth A.A.M.I. rep SHENAID ‘Not only will we have your car repaired but you can hire a car and the bill is on us.
YOU LITTLE BEAUTY! WOW! THAT’S SERVICE.
Of course there’s a catch; otherwise, what’s the point of this blog. They said over the phone [ nothing in writing ] they would pay for ‘Fair and reasonable costs’ in hiring a car – nothing [ and I mean, NOTHING ] else was said. They also stated that THEY have a preferred company – what’s more ‘Here is a special priority number to quote from us, so that you get a car immediately’
And again ‘YOU BEAUTY! WOW! THAT’S SERVICE.
So I went to Hertz, quoted the number, got a car on the spot. At the end of the period [10 days to fix my car], I returned the car submitted the bill to A.A.M.I. AND RECEIVED A CHEQUE FOR LESS THAN WHAT IT COST ME TO HIRE THE CAR.
Uh!, what you talk about, Willis ?
Quote from A.A.M.I. rep SHENAID ‘ It’s our policy NOT to pay for full insurance cover when you hire a car, so that component has been removed ‘. WITHOUT full cover, I would have been responsible for ANY damage occurring to the hire car from ANY cause, leaving me $700 out of pocket in excess insurance cover [ standard ].
Oh I see….. So if I am unlucky enough to have a claim on A.A.M.I. and I am not myself a client. I automatically have to pay for full insurance cover on the hire car to avoid jeopardy which I never would have had to avoid because I’m covered in MY car by MY insurance cover [ which I still have to pay for while my car is in the shop ].
Several points here [ which I argued with SHENAID to no avail ]. In my mind this is NOT fair and reasonable as – ‘why should I have bare a risk value simply because I was hit by your client ?’. I had no real choice as to where I could hire the car, nor any choice as to car type [ what if they only had a Rolls Royce available ?]. I was NOT told of exclusions to their statement [ Extrinsic fraud ]. I had a contract with them and they changed the rules after the contract was completed. The whole scenario is based on their verbal statement that they would pay for ‘FAIR AND REASONABLE’ hire [rates]. Not by any stretch of the imagination is putting ME at risk, fair and reasonable.. But the fact that they did not inform me as to conditions, is in itself, a more serious breach of law. At worst, I could have made an informed decision as to whether I would risk a standard hire or pay for the extra out of MY pocket. SHENAID virtually verbal led me into believing that I had no choice in the matter of car hire.
I sent them a letter of demand which prompted the reply by SHENAID STILL refusing to pay up, citing their own policy [ this isn’t worth a pinch of sh*t – in law ]. So now it’s to the small claims court and although I have been told by all and GOD himself that I am in the right on all counts; judging from the corrupt practices of some magistrates; I would be less than totally surprised if the decision was in their favor. You work out why this would be so; but it’s a no brainer. Should it go against me – it’s sign on the back window treatment just like others who think they can do what they bloody well like and even worse; think no one is going to do anything about it. I got news for you A.A.M.I.
Since I write for 3 web sites AND have my house and contents insured with them; I am considering going with another company when the policy is due. I ask myself ‘ Do they think it’s really worth $266:00 when I can effectively loose them thousands in lost business – mine and everyone else I tell this story too – ????’
If you are with A.A.M.I. good be upon you, but I sincerely loath their perpetrated practices on other people who have the sh*t arse gall to NOT be insured with them.
EDITED LATER:
I have decided NOT to pursue legal options. Why the hell should I spend time and money trying to educate the ignorant when they just won't listen to reason ?
Just like this global warming world SCAM, I don't take kindly to be treated like a moron - so my now option is make up some signs [ just like before ] stating that AAMI screwed me good and proper. Lets just see how long it takes THIS TIME to thump the message into their pee brains that BAD advertising will cost them dearly and isn't worth screwing me out of $266 when they can loose potentially, multi thousands of dollars in business. Some companies just won't learn.
EDITED MUCH LATER:
Well it seems AAMI haven't got the hint yet but so far [25/06/2010] I have had 57 people ask me what it's all about. 21 were thinking of switching to AAMI but now have assured me that they are NOT!. 12 people are dumping AAMI as their present insurer and going with someone else. And the rest are thinking about it. Thats 33 people who would have paid about $400 each .. lets see that's $13,200 bucks that AAMI wont see.
Now for the coup-de-grase . GO TO - http://unluckyurwithaami.com/ can I pick 'um or can I pick 'um ????
EDITED 15 SEPT 2010
Well today I removed the signs from my car - no! I did not get my money back but I figured I have cost AAMI car insurance about $38,700 in premiums they will NEVER see because of the list of people I have whom I have related this story to.
Yep!, I kept a list of everyone who will NOT be insuring / re-insuring with AAMI and that's not counting the people who are umming and Ahhing about it. CONGRATULATIONS
SHENAID - SINGLE HANDEDLY YOU HAVE COST YOUR EMPLOYER $38,700 ALL OVER $266 YOU WOULDN'T GIVE BACK. I feel better already.
Remember my little talk on ‘extrinsic / intrinsic fraud [ refer to products talk in this blog ]
Seems even the big boys ignore the warning signs. Now you are lucky if your with A.A.M.I. B U T ONLY if your ‘with’ them.
“We have seen the enemy, and the enemy is US’
God help you all if you are NOT with A.A.M.I. AND you have a claim against them through absolutely no fault of your own. Seems that if you have the sheer sh*t arse gall to be in an accident [ booted up the rear by another car while stationary at traffic lights ]; you will get less than a fair go from A.A.M.I
Happened to me in Brisbane. The other driver was insured with above. ‘ No worries’ sayeth A.A.M.I. rep SHENAID ‘Not only will we have your car repaired but you can hire a car and the bill is on us.
YOU LITTLE BEAUTY! WOW! THAT’S SERVICE.
Of course there’s a catch; otherwise, what’s the point of this blog. They said over the phone [ nothing in writing ] they would pay for ‘Fair and reasonable costs’ in hiring a car – nothing [ and I mean, NOTHING ] else was said. They also stated that THEY have a preferred company – what’s more ‘Here is a special priority number to quote from us, so that you get a car immediately’
And again ‘YOU BEAUTY! WOW! THAT’S SERVICE.
So I went to Hertz, quoted the number, got a car on the spot. At the end of the period [10 days to fix my car], I returned the car submitted the bill to A.A.M.I. AND RECEIVED A CHEQUE FOR LESS THAN WHAT IT COST ME TO HIRE THE CAR.
Uh!, what you talk about, Willis ?
Quote from A.A.M.I. rep SHENAID ‘ It’s our policy NOT to pay for full insurance cover when you hire a car, so that component has been removed ‘. WITHOUT full cover, I would have been responsible for ANY damage occurring to the hire car from ANY cause, leaving me $700 out of pocket in excess insurance cover [ standard ].
Oh I see….. So if I am unlucky enough to have a claim on A.A.M.I. and I am not myself a client. I automatically have to pay for full insurance cover on the hire car to avoid jeopardy which I never would have had to avoid because I’m covered in MY car by MY insurance cover [ which I still have to pay for while my car is in the shop ].
Several points here [ which I argued with SHENAID to no avail ]. In my mind this is NOT fair and reasonable as – ‘why should I have bare a risk value simply because I was hit by your client ?’. I had no real choice as to where I could hire the car, nor any choice as to car type [ what if they only had a Rolls Royce available ?]. I was NOT told of exclusions to their statement [ Extrinsic fraud ]. I had a contract with them and they changed the rules after the contract was completed. The whole scenario is based on their verbal statement that they would pay for ‘FAIR AND REASONABLE’ hire [rates]. Not by any stretch of the imagination is putting ME at risk, fair and reasonable.. But the fact that they did not inform me as to conditions, is in itself, a more serious breach of law. At worst, I could have made an informed decision as to whether I would risk a standard hire or pay for the extra out of MY pocket. SHENAID virtually verbal led me into believing that I had no choice in the matter of car hire.
I sent them a letter of demand which prompted the reply by SHENAID STILL refusing to pay up, citing their own policy [ this isn’t worth a pinch of sh*t – in law ]. So now it’s to the small claims court and although I have been told by all and GOD himself that I am in the right on all counts; judging from the corrupt practices of some magistrates; I would be less than totally surprised if the decision was in their favor. You work out why this would be so; but it’s a no brainer. Should it go against me – it’s sign on the back window treatment just like others who think they can do what they bloody well like and even worse; think no one is going to do anything about it. I got news for you A.A.M.I.
Since I write for 3 web sites AND have my house and contents insured with them; I am considering going with another company when the policy is due. I ask myself ‘ Do they think it’s really worth $266:00 when I can effectively loose them thousands in lost business – mine and everyone else I tell this story too – ????’
If you are with A.A.M.I. good be upon you, but I sincerely loath their perpetrated practices on other people who have the sh*t arse gall to NOT be insured with them.
EDITED LATER:
I have decided NOT to pursue legal options. Why the hell should I spend time and money trying to educate the ignorant when they just won't listen to reason ?
Just like this global warming world SCAM, I don't take kindly to be treated like a moron - so my now option is make up some signs [ just like before ] stating that AAMI screwed me good and proper. Lets just see how long it takes THIS TIME to thump the message into their pee brains that BAD advertising will cost them dearly and isn't worth screwing me out of $266 when they can loose potentially, multi thousands of dollars in business. Some companies just won't learn.
EDITED MUCH LATER:
Well it seems AAMI haven't got the hint yet but so far [25/06/2010] I have had 57 people ask me what it's all about. 21 were thinking of switching to AAMI but now have assured me that they are NOT!. 12 people are dumping AAMI as their present insurer and going with someone else. And the rest are thinking about it. Thats 33 people who would have paid about $400 each .. lets see that's $13,200 bucks that AAMI wont see.
Now for the coup-de-grase . GO TO - http://unluckyurwithaami.com/ can I pick 'um or can I pick 'um ????
EDITED 15 SEPT 2010
Well today I removed the signs from my car - no! I did not get my money back but I figured I have cost AAMI car insurance about $38,700 in premiums they will NEVER see because of the list of people I have whom I have related this story to.
Yep!, I kept a list of everyone who will NOT be insuring / re-insuring with AAMI and that's not counting the people who are umming and Ahhing about it. CONGRATULATIONS
SHENAID - SINGLE HANDEDLY YOU HAVE COST YOUR EMPLOYER $38,700 ALL OVER $266 YOU WOULDN'T GIVE BACK. I feel better already.
Monday, August 24, 2009
FREE ELECTRICAL POWER from the grid and its legal
Sometimes one starts to wonder at alternative agendas of the powers that be when one has enough knowledge to SEE those agenda’s [ or cover ups ]. Now I have been doing
Electrics for neigh on 40 years [ yes, I’m that old ] and I can follow certain reasoning by authorities when new rules and/or equipment is introduced. There are many safety reasons for installing breakers and the like, on live equipment – like your house.
Over current breakers protect your house [ and you ] from shorts or faulty household products. If the active shorts to earth or neutral, the breaker trips like it should to protect you from being electrocuted should active make the metal case of that kettle – live. Ouch!! So too, over voltage breakers protect your new TV or computer from being fried like a big Mac; after all, something like 480vac instead of 240vac don’t do the gear any favors. Now ELD’s [Earth Leakage Detectors] seem like a good idea because they trip the breakers BEFORE a short circuit appears that might start a fire IF the short current is less than the trip current [ up to 20 Ampere – and that can cook something right smartly ]
So too, it trips if more that 3Milliampere is detected from either active or neutral TO the earth line. Gee, it all sounds so reassuring don’t it ?. Can’t be too careful these days what with some shoddy china products and if it saves one life, it’s well worth the ELD.
Now lets examine some of the hidden agenda of ELD’s here [ What !!! there’s a hidden agenda ? come on man, you must be paranoid ] Unless your totally conversant with most aspects of electrical safety, you won’t get it so I’ll try my best to spell it out and; at the same time, tell you how this bullsh*t can let you take raw electrical power from the grid –without illegally fiddling with the meters, and get it for free. The circuit to raw free power is in the inherent fault of the grid itself; what’s more, ELD’s are designed to stop you getting it, should you figure it out by design or accident.
We have 3 wires in an electrical circuit. Active, neutral and the earth. Most lighting circuits don’t need the earth as by design; there is nothing to earth [or ground]. EG, light bulb sockets in the ceiling. Some lighting circuits [fluro’s] have an earth to the metal case because the case IS metal and could short to active, making the case live when switched on. ALL power points have all three wires even though you might plug something into them that is double insulated anyway [power drills].
Now your distribution grid consists of many step down transformers which ALSO have an earth. Because of the way the power grid is designed [or LACK there of] there is never a perfect balance of power between the earth [ earths] and the return neutral line all the way to the power station. In essence, there is always a residual VOLTAGE between the neutral and the earth of every stage of the power grid. This voltage is called the balance factor voltage or rather, the un-balanced factor. Check it out for yourself – put a multimeter across the neutral and earth of a power point in YOUR house and you should see a voltage ranging from a few volts [ normal ] to as much as 30vac or even as high as 170vac in extreme cases. This voltage is limited by the balanced factor in your particular area. It’s dependent of several things. How bad the grid is in your area, load at certain times of day, the state of the nearest transformer etc etc.
What’s REALLY important is that the limitation of what you can draw in power from this ‘Phantom’ circuit is only limited to what breakers are IN the earth circuit from your house all the way to the feed transformer. Now you see why it’s mandatory to have ELD’s in this circuit that ‘trip’ when more than 3 milliampere is drawn from it.. Before we HAD ELD’S, the number of people injured [let alone killed] from leaky appliances was near enough to zero. Only the freakiest of freak conditions [one in a million] would result in a hazard and ONLY because, the object was not earthed [TV antennae for one]. It would have been far simpler and cheaper to make it mandatory that everything made of metal attached to a house was effectively earthed somewhere to true ground.
Are we all getting the picture yet ???
Now the state of QLD grids is a freaking mess because of poor or NO maintenance at sub stations and power factor transformers in the street. In theory, if you have NO ELD because you live in a house prior to it’s introduction AND you are not obliged to fit one by law if the system is in good condition – you can draw power from this ‘phantom’ circuit. The circuit is not metered as both neutral and earth should be under ideal perfect power conditions, the same !!. The piss poor condition of the grid means that unbalanced power is all over the shop like a mad person.
Since the voltage of this power can vary with a myriad of conditions as stated at any time of the day, we need an electronic regulator that can tolerate voltage from – say – 15vac all the way up to line voltage [240 vac]. The amount of raw power that you can draw is also dependent on several conditions; like how good an earth your house wiring has [ that’s that slim copper tube bolted to the outside wall of your house with a heavy green wire soldered to it- look for it, you’ll find it soon enough]
This close ground tube is designed to help eliminate unbalanced factors between your house neutral and true earth in some cases but in most cases, is essentially the ONLY true earth in your house wiring. Let’s pretend you DON’T have an ELD breaker in your house, just the standard safety circuit breakers [or old block fuses]. If you got hold of a muti- input voltage regulator that delivered 12DC output at a regulated current of – say – 20 Ampere maximum, you can draw 480 Watts from the circuit FREE!!! If the ground circuit to the unbalanced transformer feeding the street could support it. [ there is no reason why it wouldn’t because this feeder transformer could be feeding 1000 houses – that’s a sh*t load of power] Just calculate how much power you COULD draw. Each house can draw 40 Ampere – times 1000 YIKES!!!. If the balanced earth to neutral factor was out by just 0.1%, you can still draw 40 Ampere at the low voltage of 24 volts for example; holy cow! That’s nearly 1000 Watts of power at 12volts DC. The mind boggles.
If you have an ELD fitted, as far as I am aware, there is no law that sez you cannot have a bypass switch fitted to it for house wiring maintenance. In any event, legal or not, fitting one is undetectable as you are NOT drawing power from the true power feed circuit, nor are you by passing any metering. How many budding or long time electricians have figured this one out ?. A perfect feeder grid would eliminate this crap but as we all know, Queenslanders have been screwed by the Government for years taking power profits and neglecting the grid till it’s in a shocking state [Pardon the pun].
That’s it – nothing hard for us techo’s. So there really is a hidden alternative agenda for making it compulsory too fit ELD’s to new and some existing houses [ you can only draw less than 3 ma of the unbalanced power on this phantom circuit before the ELD trips and plunges you into darkness ]. Because the power factor is so bad between neutral and earth in some cases, someone could be killed IF [ and only if ] the NEUTRAL ONLY somehow is shorted to the metal case of some equipment [ toaster ], and IF it’s still plugged into the house socket [ even switched off ] and IF the earth wire to the case of this appliance is somehow absent and IF you touch it and are earthed, and IF the voltage is high enough to give you a ‘boot’ – above 90 Volts - and IF the ground circuit is good enough to pass more than 3 ma for a sustained period. That’s a bucket load of ‘if’s’ and just doesn’t become a credible factor in any sane persons book.
Electrics for neigh on 40 years [ yes, I’m that old ] and I can follow certain reasoning by authorities when new rules and/or equipment is introduced. There are many safety reasons for installing breakers and the like, on live equipment – like your house.
Over current breakers protect your house [ and you ] from shorts or faulty household products. If the active shorts to earth or neutral, the breaker trips like it should to protect you from being electrocuted should active make the metal case of that kettle – live. Ouch!! So too, over voltage breakers protect your new TV or computer from being fried like a big Mac; after all, something like 480vac instead of 240vac don’t do the gear any favors. Now ELD’s [Earth Leakage Detectors] seem like a good idea because they trip the breakers BEFORE a short circuit appears that might start a fire IF the short current is less than the trip current [ up to 20 Ampere – and that can cook something right smartly ]
So too, it trips if more that 3Milliampere is detected from either active or neutral TO the earth line. Gee, it all sounds so reassuring don’t it ?. Can’t be too careful these days what with some shoddy china products and if it saves one life, it’s well worth the ELD.
Now lets examine some of the hidden agenda of ELD’s here [ What !!! there’s a hidden agenda ? come on man, you must be paranoid ] Unless your totally conversant with most aspects of electrical safety, you won’t get it so I’ll try my best to spell it out and; at the same time, tell you how this bullsh*t can let you take raw electrical power from the grid –without illegally fiddling with the meters, and get it for free. The circuit to raw free power is in the inherent fault of the grid itself; what’s more, ELD’s are designed to stop you getting it, should you figure it out by design or accident.
We have 3 wires in an electrical circuit. Active, neutral and the earth. Most lighting circuits don’t need the earth as by design; there is nothing to earth [or ground]. EG, light bulb sockets in the ceiling. Some lighting circuits [fluro’s] have an earth to the metal case because the case IS metal and could short to active, making the case live when switched on. ALL power points have all three wires even though you might plug something into them that is double insulated anyway [power drills].
Now your distribution grid consists of many step down transformers which ALSO have an earth. Because of the way the power grid is designed [or LACK there of] there is never a perfect balance of power between the earth [ earths] and the return neutral line all the way to the power station. In essence, there is always a residual VOLTAGE between the neutral and the earth of every stage of the power grid. This voltage is called the balance factor voltage or rather, the un-balanced factor. Check it out for yourself – put a multimeter across the neutral and earth of a power point in YOUR house and you should see a voltage ranging from a few volts [ normal ] to as much as 30vac or even as high as 170vac in extreme cases. This voltage is limited by the balanced factor in your particular area. It’s dependent of several things. How bad the grid is in your area, load at certain times of day, the state of the nearest transformer etc etc.
What’s REALLY important is that the limitation of what you can draw in power from this ‘Phantom’ circuit is only limited to what breakers are IN the earth circuit from your house all the way to the feed transformer. Now you see why it’s mandatory to have ELD’s in this circuit that ‘trip’ when more than 3 milliampere is drawn from it.. Before we HAD ELD’S, the number of people injured [let alone killed] from leaky appliances was near enough to zero. Only the freakiest of freak conditions [one in a million] would result in a hazard and ONLY because, the object was not earthed [TV antennae for one]. It would have been far simpler and cheaper to make it mandatory that everything made of metal attached to a house was effectively earthed somewhere to true ground.
Are we all getting the picture yet ???
Now the state of QLD grids is a freaking mess because of poor or NO maintenance at sub stations and power factor transformers in the street. In theory, if you have NO ELD because you live in a house prior to it’s introduction AND you are not obliged to fit one by law if the system is in good condition – you can draw power from this ‘phantom’ circuit. The circuit is not metered as both neutral and earth should be under ideal perfect power conditions, the same !!. The piss poor condition of the grid means that unbalanced power is all over the shop like a mad person.
Since the voltage of this power can vary with a myriad of conditions as stated at any time of the day, we need an electronic regulator that can tolerate voltage from – say – 15vac all the way up to line voltage [240 vac]. The amount of raw power that you can draw is also dependent on several conditions; like how good an earth your house wiring has [ that’s that slim copper tube bolted to the outside wall of your house with a heavy green wire soldered to it- look for it, you’ll find it soon enough]
This close ground tube is designed to help eliminate unbalanced factors between your house neutral and true earth in some cases but in most cases, is essentially the ONLY true earth in your house wiring. Let’s pretend you DON’T have an ELD breaker in your house, just the standard safety circuit breakers [or old block fuses]. If you got hold of a muti- input voltage regulator that delivered 12DC output at a regulated current of – say – 20 Ampere maximum, you can draw 480 Watts from the circuit FREE!!! If the ground circuit to the unbalanced transformer feeding the street could support it. [ there is no reason why it wouldn’t because this feeder transformer could be feeding 1000 houses – that’s a sh*t load of power] Just calculate how much power you COULD draw. Each house can draw 40 Ampere – times 1000 YIKES!!!. If the balanced earth to neutral factor was out by just 0.1%, you can still draw 40 Ampere at the low voltage of 24 volts for example; holy cow! That’s nearly 1000 Watts of power at 12volts DC. The mind boggles.
If you have an ELD fitted, as far as I am aware, there is no law that sez you cannot have a bypass switch fitted to it for house wiring maintenance. In any event, legal or not, fitting one is undetectable as you are NOT drawing power from the true power feed circuit, nor are you by passing any metering. How many budding or long time electricians have figured this one out ?. A perfect feeder grid would eliminate this crap but as we all know, Queenslanders have been screwed by the Government for years taking power profits and neglecting the grid till it’s in a shocking state [Pardon the pun].
That’s it – nothing hard for us techo’s. So there really is a hidden alternative agenda for making it compulsory too fit ELD’s to new and some existing houses [ you can only draw less than 3 ma of the unbalanced power on this phantom circuit before the ELD trips and plunges you into darkness ]. Because the power factor is so bad between neutral and earth in some cases, someone could be killed IF [ and only if ] the NEUTRAL ONLY somehow is shorted to the metal case of some equipment [ toaster ], and IF it’s still plugged into the house socket [ even switched off ] and IF the earth wire to the case of this appliance is somehow absent and IF you touch it and are earthed, and IF the voltage is high enough to give you a ‘boot’ – above 90 Volts - and IF the ground circuit is good enough to pass more than 3 ma for a sustained period. That’s a bucket load of ‘if’s’ and just doesn’t become a credible factor in any sane persons book.
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