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Misc. Answers/Questions

 >> Sigh! At least I got paid. But it was a bit of a wierd feeling.  Dave has
assured me that this is the norm in Brazil. <<

 That Dave has a way of "looking" for that sort of stuff.  I think life bores
him somehow <bg>.

 >>  you are supposed to be doing is looking over what I have done in the
 past, and think of something new to write about <<

 I know Morgan, if I can get them away from my brother... We did punch holes in
them and now they have a nice place next to the inductive heater stuff and
Nikola Tesla.

 >> rather glass-sleeve GTO and mount on tube-supports than run thru burnable
plastic conduit. Though I'm certainly open to arguments why the former is
better. <<

 That is one of the main arguments against non-metalics I agree on. Not so much
that a fire would start from the neon but if it were involved in a fire of any
kind it would produce very toxic vapors. One of the neat things about working
in the entertainment field is that not only do I get to work with some
entertainment legends but I also work a lot of projection for conventions,
etc. One of those was one for the guys who test stuff for fire ratings and
WHY. Besides concerns with flashover (when everything in a room suddenly bursts
into flame because it reaches a critical threshold of flamable vapors) you have
most loss of life from smoke inhalation damage. It was explained that a 1ft.
piece of PVC could poison an entire room of people in a matter of seconds via
the toxic byproducts of combustion.

 It is not that I think it is BETTER, but my theory is that I would rather not
"feed the animals". In that I mean that the HV is looking for an alternate
path to ground. WHY provide a handy route via the first thing that the cable
is in contact with. There are a lot of alternative things that could be done.
One is what you mentioned. Glass, ceramic, etc. are not flamable and are
non-conductive as well. Would be my first choice if only it were flexible. I
even looked into non-metalic greenfield made out of teflon. It is made and
looks just like the standard stuff from Diversified but is extremely
expensive. Ruled that one out. Still looking and still keeping an open mind on
the subject. As I have also stated, I think it (GTO in Greenfield) can be done
if there is enough headroom to satisfy that over-voltage condition. I don't
know if the language is still there but the NEC used to specifically state
that a transformer should not be run in an over-voltage condition. I see it
done all the time when installers try to put too many feet on a job to save a
few $$$. Until it is straightened out to my satisfaction, I play the safe
route and do very few installs. Too lucrative repairing those trodes going to
ground. I definitely agree with Paul Davis' assertion that you shouldn't mix
metalic and non-metalics in the same install. That is not only asking for
something to arc to but when it does...something to burn. Maybe when we get
enough debate to take to a manufacturer they will come up with something that
will work and feel comfortable knowing we did all of this field work for them.

 'Nuff for now. Got some good stuff goin' here though. Feel free to disagree
with me. It's healthy and who knows, I might even learn something too <BG>.

  E-mail from: Tom Biebel, 22-Dec-1995