ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Transformer Room

Rabbit, Is this some kind of disconnect in the same room at the Xfmrs???

I found an unlocked door to a poco vault at a local middle school once and looked inside to find a similar situation as the original photo in this thread. Scary. I called the trouble line for the poco asap, and the people on the other end were cross and rude about it over the phone. They kept acting like I unlocked the door and its condition was my fault. I stayed on site until the trouble truck showed up. I don't know about you guys but I remember middle school as the supreme jackass exposure period of my life. Kids in my middle school would have tried to throw other kids in the room and hold the door closed.

Randy, I think you're right...

Ian A.

That's true of every junior high/ middle school. Vaults at such schools should have 2 locks on the door for extra security against idiot pranster kids I would think. Kids that age usually are not capable of planning pranks that are not dangerous.

Back in college, a classmate had somehow a set of master keys to transformer vaults and elevator control rooms and such. Both of us were electrical engineers, and wise enough to just look at (and not touch!) the transformers and high voltage switch gear in those places. Though I don't think either of us were aware of arc blast hazards, we still kept our distance (several feet) to avoid high voltage. College dorm buildings had transformer vaults. Both of us kept quiet about the keys he had.

School pranks? Some go well, and others don't. See the link below. The sad thing is the students involved in this were part of the "top of their class" and were supposed to be "shining examples" for other students to follow. Follow where? The detention center or the emergency room?
http://www.naperville.il.us/dynamic_content.aspx?id=2017

...or the embalming room at the local funeral home?

Pity, these kids could be so bright at one moment and so incredibly stupid the next.

Mike (mamills)

Silly Bump

(sarcasm)
What's wrong with a little bit of 'lectric? A little bit of 'lectric never hurt anyone. It's good fer ya, like lead or radium!
(/sarcasm)

(cliche)
I'm a man! I work with 480V LIVE!!!!!
(/cliche)

My junior high school (in Denver) was so bad that the kids would quite literally TIE other kids to the sides of those transformers - there were two such rooms at my school (no waiting ). The very thought of trying to escape from a situation like that with those open bushings only about a foot or so from your head was terrifying .

Mike (mamills)

The high school I went to was pretty interesting. They were in a room that was never locked. Kids used to go down there and make out and stuff, and the student activities department stored all kinds of junk in the room. It was the only part of the basement that had a really, really reliable sump pump, so people always put stuff there to ensure that it stayed dry. I can count on one hand the number of people who actually knew what these were, as well as the dangers associated with them.

I was invited to hang out in the janitor's lounge a bit in high schoo. In a little hallway to the room I am sure the transformer room was adjacent to it. I nkow my elementary school had a big green humming box out back, well sealed though.