Sure can make a difference

1st place:
I've got a "Grade1" (unlimited) access card to this whole facility. This is one of several switchrooms, the server rooms and Elec rms follow suit.







3/4 of a mile down the street:
I spent an hour waiting to get in this room while I was being "approved". They "don't let just anybody in" because they have "lots of valuable equipment in there"






Dumb, Huh?



[This message has been edited by electure (edited 07-16-2005).]

I know what happened.

You where upset because you had to wait so you set off a bomb in the room that is now a disaster.

It is amazing that rooms like that are all to common.

Most times a problem in one of these rooms can put all the companies employees on hold. With that kind of risk you would think all the rooms should look like the first one you posted.

Here is a typical IT space for a very large super market chain we work for.

All the registers, phones, scales, payroll, pricing guns, orders etc pass through this mess.

The 1st picture is good.
Just a shame the rest of it is a nasty piece of work!.

What a contrast! That first establishment looks like a dream to work in compared to most.

The framed diagrams on the wall are a nice touch. I bet that second place doesn't even have much in the way of routing diagrams for anything, right?

The first place has all of the possibility of looking like the second... Depending on whom they allow to add or make changes to the plant. And just general housekeeping of the room, note the beginings of a bad habit with the box, and bulbs laying around. It's the begining of the end. The little stuff adds up over time.

The second place obviously doesn't just let anyone in the there, because the slightest breath could disturb that nest of garbage. And they are probhably just a little embarrassed when anyone sees it. As I imagine that most of it was done in house, by the guy who made you wait.

Bad Habits??
The lamps had just been changed by the day porter as part of a scheduled maintenance program. He wouldn't leave them there.

The boxes were thrown out as soon as the 2 routers inside were put in the rack. Honest

What are you guys doing in our phone rooms without even stopping by to say hello??

Interesting about management attitudes...

I'm doing some work at a place that looks just like the first two pics. (In fact, it looks so much like the first two pics that I had to study the drawings on the wall to make sure it isn't the same place. ) It's amazing how the attitude follows through into other things--they have a guy who must come around at least three times a day to empty the trash cans. I've never seen anything like that before.

Where do I jack in? damn, and I thought MY wiring was a mess!

I bet the bulbs are still there....

I'm all for neat installations...But in a location where you need to make changes often, having everything zip-tied down neatly can actually be a hinderance when a change is required.

Our rooms don't look anywhere near as bad as that third picture, but they don't look as neat as the first, either. The upside is that we can make changes and route new cables quickly without having to cut 500 zip-ties, route the cable, then put in 500 new ones.

I have a motto... As long as both ends of teh run are labelled, the run is done safely, and doesn't look like outright spaghetti, it's okay.

-Z (not an electrician, but loves reading this forum anyway)

That's what velcro ties are for.

Definitely thumbs up for the velcro ty-wraps. What is even worse than having to cut and replace regular ty-wraps is the sharp edges that are usually left when someone cuts off the tail of them. I have gotten about 200 too many cuts on the forearms from those edges. The velcro ones are also nic because they won't let you tighten them down past the point of no return and deforming the jacket on oh-so delicate comm cabling, they will break if someone tries to crank down on them.
The room is nice but I agree that as soon as someone adds something and just adds to the ty-wraps it could start looking sloppy.
Also these pictures were definitely taken from 2 different generations of comm closets. That last room probably looked just as neat and orderly as the 1st room but after too many cooks in the kitchen over the years it became the clusterf#@% it is today. Looks like another clean up job to me.

Funny how if something horrible is put in as a subject, everybody believes it. Something nice, on the other hand, is met with skepticism.

The top 2 pictures are taken in a 7 year old room of a very successful software company. It's the same facility where my picture was taken next to another "dummy".
That room has had many changes in that time.
This is how it is kept, and expected to be kept (sans lamps of course ).
Some of the other rooms have the velcro bundling wraps.
They actually handle used lamps as HazMat. A truck comes to pick them up periodically.
Some of their other "unbelieveable" things?

Ample storage Areas
Continuing education for employees...Tuition paid and employee paid while attending.
Catered food for any type of meeting or conference.
Blueprints are red lined at any time modifications are made. AutoCAD updated anually. Complete sets are available for use at any time
Ergonomic everything in offices.
Fresh flowers daily.
Starbucks Coffee in break areas.
They request immediate billing, and pay immediately.
In 4 years, I've never heard a raised voice or a harsh word in the whole place.
The list goes on and on.
Either that or I'm making it all up, and Photoshopped the whole thing just so I could "trick" you, as I have nothing better to do with my time.

Lower room, although somewhat older, has been under the control of 1 guy since it was put in ?? ago. The whole place is run that way. I'll start another thread with some of their electrical work (which has also had only 1 contractor "care" for it)
A nice touch is the 4" roof drain visible in the 3rd pic. To its credit, it made it through last winter's deluge of rain without soaking the place,



[This message has been edited by electure (edited 07-20-2005).]

Re: the used lamps being treated as hazmat, I used to work at a university where they did that. The truck would come every 2 weeks to pick up the tubes/HID lamps from all over the campus. Then compact them right where it was and leave mercury running out the back .

As for the scepticism, I just wish more places were like that so people would tend to believe it more often. Telephone company buildings are often a good place to see good wiring practices, of course they never had the 'oh it works so it must be ok' attitude that prevails in many places