Thread: Oh, please...

Originally Posted by 4bee

Who said History doesn't repeat itself?

I think it is probably us humans are not that smart at times.

That is why history keeps repeating itself.

Originally Posted by Tins

And, in one notable example, a footy club wound up with more full storage hot water systems in the shower block than they had actual players. High fives and promotions all round, chaps. Err, can I still say 'chaps'?

They put those Heat pump HW systems in at one of the places of Paradise out Wacol way.

Twelve were put in one plant room,replacing gas systems,so they recirculated their own air,and it was that cold in the plant room,the walls were covered in condensation.So the first few cold days,hot showers became a thing of the past.
So then contractors were engaged to put two huge noisy fans in the ceiling to pump the cold air out through the roof.That didnt work either.Someone had forgotten that to get air out,it has to get in.
So then two huge holes were cut in the side outside wall of the plant room,and covered with heavy duty mesh.
Now there was hot water for the showers,but the fans had to be fitted with time clocks,that cycled them off at night, so the non paying tenants could get some sleep.

I could write a book about all the stuff ups i have seen over the years.Some have been huge.
In another life,when i did comissioning,very often it was up to us to explain to the consultant engineer why this (whatever it was) had no chance of ever working.
In those days,some of the engineers were very good,but these days finding one that has any idea is like looking for rocking horse poo.

Originally Posted by scarry

They put those Heat pump HW systems in at one of the places of Paradise out Wacol way.

Twelve were put in one plant room,replacing gas systems,so they recirculated their own air,and it was that cold in the plant room,the walls were covered in condensation.So the first few cold days,hot showers became a thing of the past.
So then contractors were engaged to put two huge noisy fans in the ceiling to pump the cold air out through the roof.That didnt work either.Someone had forgotten that to get air out,it has to get in.
So then two huge holes were cut in the side outside wall of the plant room,and covered with heavy duty mesh.
Now there was hot water for the showers,but the fans had to be fitted with time clocks,that cycled them off at night, so the non paying tenants could get some sleep.

I could write a book about all the stuff ups i have seen over the years.Some have been huge.
In another life,when i did comissioning,very often it was up to us to explain to the consultant engineer why this (whatever it was) had no chance of ever working.
In those days,some of the engineers were very good,but these days finding one that has any idea is like looking for rocking horse poo.

To those of us in the know, Air Out equals Air In. One doesn't really even need a brain to figure that out.

Years ago in SAPOL HQ Data/Radio Equipment Room I was tasked to install a High Wall split as a standby for the ducted outlet already installed in the ceiling but the PBD had not explained to SAPOL that it wasn't a "Both on Together" gig but a one or the other as explained by the obvious red printed Label attached to said equipment stating "Emergency Backup System" DO NOT USE WITH INSTALLED DUCTED SYSTEM" I billed PBD for that call & expected an argument but they paid without a murmur after it was explained to them that is what their Spec Called for.

TWITS!


DUHH.


Just a late thoughtie. TiC. Paul, I suspect those "engineers" were so inept at the design stage that the only Plant Room they had ever been in was always stinking hot & they had never experienced the latest trends in HEAT pumps so believed it was always the way. Blowing Cold air was someone else's problem & it would soon get fixed. Design Specs? Who reads those?

Originally Posted by scarry

.................
In those days,some of the engineers were very good,but these days finding one that has any idea is like looking for rocking horse poo.

The generic engineering drawings for a shed I built about.5 years ago had all the footing holes combined with the slab at about 4 times the volume of what was the norm (inspected) around here 10 years ago.

Seems like all they learn at uni is how to cover their arses by doubling or quadrupling the size of everything.

IME a person can learn a lot in the real world that never gets taught in 5 years at uni.

cheers, DL

Originally Posted by 350RRC

Seems like all they learn at uni is how to cover their arses by doubling or quadrupling the size of everything.

IME a person can learn a lot in the real world that never gets taught in 5 years at uni.

cheers, DL

My experience is an Engineer that has been a Tradie for a good few years previously,is more than likely a very good engineer.
They have usually been there, done that,and have a much better understanding of the industry than one that has just been to school,then Uni.
Its all about experience in that particular industry.

Talking about stumping,we recently had a place re stumped,it is on north Coast of NSW.
I asked the stumper what size footings are you going to put in.
Once we got back home,i checked the size of the footings on an extension that was put on the property 18 yrs ago,and the restumper was spot on.

The recent cool spell in North East USA, may or may not have been extreme, but warnings were taken seriously.

We in Buffalo received a weather warning today advising anyone travelling to be sure to carry Shovel, blankets, sleeping bag, extra clothing including scarf, dry socks and a 24 hour supply of food and drink, a de-icer, 5 kgs: of rock salt a torch and spare battery a first aid kit and jump leads - I felt a right prat on the bus this morning,

Australia simply does not have weather like this North American experience. this is because we are insulated from the worst effects of polar air by thousands of kilometres of the southern ocean. This might not be very warm, but is never below freezing.

Go to North America, and you can (and sometimes do) have a surface covered with ice or snow all the way from the north pole to the Mexican border (and beyond). And if you get a prolonged NW wind, the surface temperature just keeps dropping and it keeps getting colder.

Good thing we had that extreme heat the other day or nobody would believe it's summer... well, except for Melburnians.

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