Preventing a REALLY expensive mistake.

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Christopher Boden by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com>

Over recent years I have learned that the most terrifying words you can say 
to a sysadmin are "Tesla Coil" (next to "What's THIS button do?"). Now we 
have an interesting situation.

We have a 20,000 sqft building at the Sigma-6 complex that we have to cram 
the High Voltage Lab, the Computer Labs (Hardware, Software, Security, AND 
BeoWulf cluster) and the main offices into.

1. The building is fed with 1-P 240VAC, and will be upgraded to 3-P 480VAC 
(for the elevator of doom), should I keep the 1P service as well? or just 
have the landlord upgrade from one to the other?

2. Will a system of 10 seperate 8-10' ground rods driven vertically around 
the buildings exterior and all laced together for a massive ground system be 
an good enough protection for the computers and other electronics? Is there 
a better way?

3. What are all the steps I CAN take to ensure the safety of our computer 
systems? I have to assume that the computers will be operating at the same 
time as the coils (and other HV gear), since as we all know, all Micro$oft 
NT-5 systems maintain 99.999% uptime and are virtually error free.....at 
least that's what the slicks tell us. 'Course, if you believe that I've got 
a great deal on some property in Florida for you, the everglades, perhaprs 
you've heard of them?

4. I remember reading about garage coilers who have had discharges through 
the roof, can this happen on a solid concrete structure? (There will be 
classrooms under the H.V.L.)

5. I've heard of coils being mounted inverted from the ceiling. How is this 
done? Why? What are the advantages of this setup? Can it be used to make 
near vertical discharges to the floor?

6. Will the operation of large amounts of HV gear cause a signifigant rise 
in the static electricity of the entire building? I'm worried about the 
hardware labs, static and CMOS devices aren't exactly friendly with each 
other.


Thanks guys!

Have fun!

Christopher A. Boden Geek#1
President / C.E.O. / Alpha Geek
The Geek Group
www.thegeekgroup-dot-org
Because the Geek shall inherit the Earth!






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