avalon condition

["Metlicka Marc" <mystuffs-at-orwell-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

hello chris,
after reading mark broker's post on the complex's condition, i have to
say that this is somewhat what i expected. of coarse living relatively
close to the, now coming back, mahoning valley steel district, i've seen
some sad building restorations.
in fact we spent over a year reconstituting an old "blooming" mill
facility that mark's description fit to a tee. holes in the floor that
would swallow my van and drop it 30' to the basement floor, roofing that
looked like a screen door.
we approached it in basically the same manor suggested by terry and mark
except, you don't want to be removed from grid power except as a last
resort, once disconnected you will be held to all the safety and code
guide lines that a new installation requires.
remain connected, the cost to physically disconnect from the grid is not
worth it.
find the sub mcc's and break power there. find the rectifier room and
disconnect the crane's hot rails, drop out the cans for the overhead
aerials.
get some one that is not afraid of heights, safety harness him up, get
him to walk the crane decks and rolling rail's (i hated when the crane
broke down in the middle of the bay, by the time i finally got to the
crane i was usually crawling) these overhead cranes are the work horses
and you'll need them for clean up and high bay lighting repair. a good
compressor in the rectifier room, clean everything. if you have a good
480 feed use it, i know the cable on the ground scare's you but power is
everything. check the cable tray's, a good four conductor running in
your general direction can be a blessing.
find the "plant one line drawing's" after my post i called an et at a
steel mill and he told me that they have to submit any updates to the
one line's to the local power co., check with them they might still have
them in archive? gas is a definite shut down for now,(the heat is in the
tools). but do it at the plant's mains, don't let the gas co. do it,
you'll be right back to the new guide line mess, stay as much on the
"existing operation" platform as you can.  look in the mcr's for any
delta/wye transformers that look disconnected, these can be relocated to
any area and fed for work power, the cleanup crew will need power and
lights to expedite the process.
i guess what i'm trying to say is if you disconnect from the grid, you
may never get back on. these guy's would love for you to say "unhook us
for now" that is major dollar sign's in there eye's, the one's that seem
to be friendly now will be the one's that say "you'll need an inspection
and this wont pass and that wont pass" believe me.
if those alis chalmers transformers are hot, use them. if not don't get
rid of them, keep all the transformers, vacuum breakers, all. find an
area that is dry and store them. from the smallest control trans. to the
ugliest disconnect, temporary service is the key here.
get the cranes going and keep quiet, remember "a fool can pass for a
wise man, if he only holds his tongue"
marc