December 30, and about 25 hours before a new year. I should change all my smoke alarm batteries.
I was watching This Old House recently and the electrician installed new outlets in a very old house that had a gas chandelier that had been converted to electric lights. He showed how the new work had to meet current electric code by having AFCI breakers or outlets. This is an Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter. If there is a high resistance that is causing an arc (and therefore a lot of heat and possibly a fire), and would not trip a normal circuit breaker, then this AFCI breaker would detect it and trip, shutting off the circuit. Outlets with AFCI are also available but a built-in light socket would still need an AFCI breaker. Also several AFCI outlets on a branch circuit may be more expensive than a breaker.
They said that AFCI can interfere with power line data communications, so it may be necessary to add datacomm wiring. I personally don’t like datacomm over powerline because it can cause interference with radio and TV and may not be private and/or secure.
After this show I started thinking of my house and its antiquated Pushmatic circuit breakers. I’ve been told that they sometimes don’t work and have caused electrical fires. It would be a good idea to replace them with a new breaker panel with AFCI breakers. However, this could cost thousands of dollars U.S. and there could be other costly problems that may need to be addressmonthUpdate – I saw several trucks with the name Solcius on the side parked at two of my neighbor’s houses, and guys working on their roofs. They are apparently getting solar panels installed. But these are the kind where the company owns and maintains them and gives the house owner a discount on his electric bill. I have a friend who bought them and the solar panels are his own, and he gets all the benefits and has to maintain them. I personally think this is better than the lease/discount way. In my case my electric bill is so low they won’t consider me for the plan. Your bill has to be at least $150.00 a month to be considered.
Still on the subject of electricity, I watched a program on PBS about a city in India where the electricity service is stolen from KESCO, the local electric supplier. They used a name, starting with K, for the electric piracy. They interviewed one of the pirates, a young guy who had been injured numerous times, and also been hospitalized. The power line voltage is 240 volts AC there, and that can cause serious injury, and he’s lucky he hasn’t been killed. They had a priest bless the transformer that feeds the section of the town. They showed people trying to put out a fire from hot oil leaking from an overheating transformer, and transformers arcing and sparking and wires burning. The power poles look like a rats nest of wires. They said that as much as 30 percent of the electricity is stolen by pirates. It was an interesting program to watch.
