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Re: [TCML] BIG solid state - Fire Dept Issues

Hi Gary, all,

Well, with nearly 23 years as a professional firefighter as my
"real" job and playing with electrons simply my hobby, perhaps
I can offer some insight. You're correct that the typical firefighter,
as well as just about any typical citizen of society, knows about as
much about Tesla coils as I know about 17th century Hungarian
poetry. ;^) It sounds like you did "everything right" as far as try-
ing to alert your neighbors as to what you were doing and I'm
sorry that your local fire dept. ended up shutting you down due
to the "McNoseypants" complaint. I also agree with you that your
coil was highly unlikely to be causing any noticable interferance on
his TV, especially since most TVs are on cable or satellite these
days.

On a lighter note, I had a similar experience with the local police
back on July 4th of 2009, I believe. It ended better for me though.
I was firing off my big pig driven coil, as this is the absolute best time
to fire off a big coil with minimal worries of complaints from neigh-
bors regarding the noise the coil is making, for obvious reasons (if
you reside in the USA, that is). Anyway, while I was hurling out
some beautiful 12 footers, I saw a police car coming down my cove.
By instinct, I immediately shut the coil down. However, the officer
stopped his car and got out and informed us that someone had com-
plained about the fireworks (yes, shooting fireworks is technically
illegal inside the city limits of most incorporated towns in Tennessee).
Of course, I truthfully told him that I was not shooting fireworks but
that I was in fact firing off my coil. After expressing some persoanl dis-
dain for anyone who would actually call the police about fireworks on
this particular day, he asked for a demo of the coil. I happily oblidged
and he was truly mesmerized. He actually came back about an hour
later with one of his fellow officers wanting me to "run it again". By
now, it was around 10 PM and I asked if they were sure that it would
be ok to run it this late. They stated that they "would take care of any
complaints" and I happily fired her off again. They were both amazed
and neither one of them said a word to me about it being dangerous
or I need to not run it often, ect. ;^) Since I was polite and was not
actually breaking any laws (as long as I shut it down before 10 PM
to not disturb the peace), they didn't tell me that I can't run it.

I guess the best approach to coil firing outside in a suburban environ
is common sense and courteousy. (Don't fire off your pole pig driven
or quad-CM600 IGBT driven coil at 2 AM on a weekday and don't get
an attitude with your neighbor or any civil official that happens to inquire
about it). Gary, it certainly appears that you used a great deal of both in
your incident, and yet you still got shut down for that evening. ;^/ Generally 
speaking, though, I think the courtesy and common sense approach will
go a long way towards "neighborhood friendly" coiling. Unfortunately, a
gripy and/or nosey neighbor(s) can still thwart even the best efforts along
these line. :^(

David Rieben
----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Lau" <glau1024@xxxxxxxxx> 
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2011 9:12 AM
Subject: Re: [TCML] BIG solid state - Fire Dept Issues



I can throw in my $0.02

Fire departments, operate based upon an abundance of caution, and
understandably, often ignorance. The last time I ran my 15/60 powered coil outdoors, several years ago now, was in my driveway. I had informed all of the neighbors on my street what I was going to do, but had neglected to tell 
old-man McNoseypants around the corner.  It was maybe 5PM, I had run the
coil for maybe a total of 2 minutes, when a hook and ladder truck rolled
down my street and stopped. The guys get out and start walking up and down 
the street.  I run over to them and volunteer "Um, are you here about some
sparks? A Tesla coil?" Blank stare. I point to my driveway. "That's my Tesla coil - it makes sparks". "What is it?" I briefly explain I built it 
for entertainment, to make electrical sparks.  " Would you like to see it
run?" "OK". I turn it on, no major reaction from these two fireman, but a 3rd fireman comes running out of the truck, waving his arms, shouting "Shut 
it down - Shut it down!!!"

Turns out old-man McNoseypants was able to see my driveway from his house,
and claims that it interfered with his TV.  (I find that hard to believe -
he's on a seperate distribution xfmr, 200 ft away, and I had only run the
coil for a couple minutes) So he saw the sparks in my driveway, and called 
the fire dept.

The firemen had nothing to say about the sparks but gave me a hard time
about causing TV interference and told me to stop it.  Sigh...

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA
On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 12:55 PM, Phil Tuck <phil@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


There are many I am sure who want to know about the fire Dept. issues,
which
were briefly mentioned as a teaser.

<snip>





Regards
Phil Tuck  (an old spark gapper)

www.hvtesla.com



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