[Hallicrafters] AC/DC Halli's, Grounds and HUM

[Barry Hauser]

Hi Ray:

You wrote:
> From a few response I received, I have the impression people think I 
> am looking for this data to refute the need for an isolation 
> transformer and good grounding. I am not, I was just wondering if there
were 
> any statistics on this issue.

I hope my reply didn't contribute to that misimpression.  I was being a
bit sarcastic/sardonic about the "collateral damage" thing.  I suspect
there are statistics on appliances of more recent manufacture.  When an
accident, fire or fatality occurs, I think there's some requirement that
the device involved be reported to some central authority, such as the
FTC or Consumer Product Safety Commission.  If the number of reports on a
particular product exceed some criterion -- like "10" or "100" or
whatever, there is further investigation possibly leading to a recall. 
You see these in the back pages of newspapers and in a column in
Consumers' Reports, etc.  The stats are probably more meaningful for more
recent years.  I assume you mean some statistics that are specific -- not
electrocution fatalities from home appliances, or something like that.
> 
> A neighbor down the road was killed (electrocuted) while using his
> supposedly double insulated hand saw plugged into an outdoor GFI 
> through a 50 foot outdoor extension cord, while he was standing on his
dry 
> dirt driveway cutting wood on a saw horse. The investigation on how
that
> happened is still going on. 

The funny thing is (but not funny) that I had a similar incident in mind
when I was writing my post.  Dr. Gerald Johnson ("Dr. J") who used to be
active on the R-390 list, either told of a very similar case. This was a
young man using a hedge trimmer or something -- also a GFI involved and
double insulated.  Something failed with the internal insulation.  He was
on wet ground however.  The unit wasn't even turned on -- just walking
with it plugged in, stepped on a damp spot and ...  (Dr. J. is an expert
witness for these cases -- actually he would be the one to ask about the
stats.)

Now, this would seem to be veering further off topic, but not getting
killed is, in fact, highly conducive and relevant to the preservation of,
and continued enjoyment of vintage Hallicrafters gear.

Wanna get really scary?  What's the liabilty if you sell an AC/DC set in
good order to someone, the buyer unpacks the thing, plugs it in (the bad
way) and the worst happens? Poor guy is found sprawled out and lifeless,
radio nearby maybe still smoking, and right in the midst of this gruesome
scene, an opened carton with an address label on it, identifying
"guess-who" shipped this hazardous thing to the poor victim.

Now, with that in mind, how to handle things on the next sale or trade?
Make sure the insulation components are intact?  Don't dare sell a radio
with leaky line filter caps?  Don't dare sell untested without cutting
off the line cord?  How about warnings in the ad or posting, on the box,
sticker on the radio, tag on the line cord -- including legally worded
boilerplate disclaimers?  How about "Do not open.  No user serviceable
parts inside." Now you're starting to think like a manufacturer. 

I'd imagine some kind of stats are available and suspect they sound small
as a percent of units sold or owned, but add up to thousands of serious
injuries and fatalities, not to mention fires.  

In case it isn't clear, I share your concern, and I think there should be
more in the way of organized safety guidance about restoring old gear set
up somewhere on a web site.  But, what if there's something wrong with
the advice, or it doesn't equivocate enough, say to handle specific
chassis/cabinet/panel designs where a particular fix would not be safe. 
Would the webmaster/author be liable?  Will a boilerplate disclaimer be
enough, or should an attorney be retained?  

I'm not writing all this to hear myself type -- would like to see more
opinions on it, not just my own (depressing) thoughts.  I guess I'm
trying to motivate someone out there -- someone qualified. Y'know?

Barry
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