[R-390] RE:zzzzzzzzt, POOF!

[Todd Bigelow - PS]

Bob Tetrault wrote:

> Yeah, I go to a summer house in Greensboro, Vermont that has every kind of
> wiring known to man. Knob and tube and screw-in pennies, er fuses, right up
> to rigid conduit and breakers. Like an industrial museum. Drinking water out
> of the lake. No TV, no insulation, heck, no walls to speak of, just framing
> and siding. See it all. One non-family renter rented it for a week and
> stayed one night, complaining of fire hazard. Musta scared 'em to look at
> them kanobs & toobs and fabric covered whar. Cost 'em $700 for one night.

Sounds a lot like my place when I bought it in '94, Bob! Well, except for the
lake water part. My house did have breakers, yes - humungous things, 4 total.
Too few? Well, when you consider the house had a whopping 7 outlets for 19
rooms, it's okay. And yes - it was almost all k-nob and tube, too. Electrician
buddy (also a radiohead) rewired the place for me but we retained the nice
exposed wiring in a couple places, both of which were wood paneled with matched
lumber walls and ceilings. Summer kitchen area is one place, and the other is
the carriage house (which is just a fancy name for garage and storage area).
Sure looks nice, the original installer did an excellent job of it. I plan to
rewire the basement of the carriage house and add more outlets throughout, but
I'll leave the knob and tube on a separate breaker just because it's cool
looking. House has a 200 amp service now, split into a 100 amp panel for the
house and another for the radio room where the R-390 family lives. The only
screw-in fuses here are in a couple of Collins transmitters I have, and I don't
DARE stick a penny in them!

Electro-wizard friend told me that knob and tube is really quite safe as it
requires a kamikaze mouse to chew through the insulation on one conductor, then
chew through the other, them lay himself across the wires (screaming
'Banzai!'?). Apparently the problems arose when people added onto the wiring and
didn't make good, solid contacts which resulted in loose connections that heated
up. Then they started using that blown-in insulation too, which got damp
and.....zzzzzt! Sure is purty stuff, though. Fires caused by woodstoves are
what's in vogue up here though, so the renter would've been safe.

$700 for one night, huh? Must've been a transplant renting the place out. Most
of us Vermonters aren't that err...clever. (-;  Wonder how much I could get per
night for an R-390-equipped room?? Roy can vouch for the fact that there is
indeed plenty of R-390 and other radio content within.

Stop by next time you come up through, Bob. I'm south of Greensboro a ways.

Boomer,  KA1KAQ