[BC] Re: Saving Your Own Life

[SHAFFER, RANDY L]

Kevin wrote-
(snip)
>I *trusted* the previous engineer who showed me around the TX plant.  I
>wonder if HE knew about the 3rd breaker.

>As Cowboy said "Trust, but verify."

Some years ago we had a 1950 RCA transmitter with an aux. exciter. The exciter had numerous parts removed over the years and it was decided that we would take it apart and save what parts were left and gain some valuable storage space in the transmitter room.
We determined there were three breakers that served the main transmitter and exciter. We turned them all off while working on the unit. 
At that time, our operators had one extra shift a week which was called a utility day. It was on those days that the grass was cut, generator building cleaned, and other maint. issues were addressed. I was taking the exciter apart during the evening shift. The CE decided one day that he would have an operator help by cutting out some of the wiring so that components would be easier for me to remove. This operator was not fond of working around electricity. The CE showed him that all the breakers were off and it was a perfectly dead unit. You probably figured where this is going, the first wire he cut, he contacted the back of the chasis with the tip of the side cutters and the sparks were said to have been quite amazing. We ended up having a nice pair of wire strippers and the operator refused to cut any wires for the rest of his years with the station. We tracked down the problem to a 20amp breaker from an entirely different panel that was used to power the crystal oven. 

Randy Shaffer
WLYH-TV
Harrisburg, PA