Re: generators, etc....

["Patrick J. Chicas" <pjc () off-road com>]

On Sat, 12 Oct 1996, Mike O'Dell wrote:

Greetings..

> Even when you have generators, there are still a myriad of things which
> can and do go wrong no matter how hard you try, even with trebly
> redundant backups, etc. etc.
>
> A fuel supplier accidently puts half a load of jet fuel instead of #2
> diesel in your storage tank, which you won't find until it reloads the
> run tank from the day tank. 

Run the generator under load periodically. Have your gen maintenance
contractor do fuel tests quarterly. Water is just as bad in the Diesel
tank.

> Floods happen and the water rises taller
> than the 3 story snorkle on the diesels.

30' flood waters.. That's a bad, bad place for a network hub.

> Generators takes a direct
> lightning strike and fries house DC power (even inside shielded
> enclosures).

Not so.. A properly grounded building with external ground halo should be
able to take a direct hit. Take a look inside a cellular telephone site
located in the lightening belt for a first hand understanding.

> A fiber transmission system goes crazy when the control system
> is zapped by the lightning strike on the generator.

See above..

> A 200mph hurricane
> gust rips a microwave system off the roof (tower and all) and throws it
> down on the generators, crushing the exhaust system and the diesels
> strangle. (No, I'm' not imagining these.)

Better to put the gensets inside the building.

> We all try very, very hard to make things reliable, but the world isn't
> perfect, nor are any of us.  BBN will probably find some things to improve
> and change the odds next time. Then it will be someone else's turn to
> catch the javelins.

By indications apparent, BBN didn't have much in the way of disaster
planning in mind.

> I suggest that neither gleefull hand-rubbing nor "obvious" pronouncements
> based on partial knowledge about the real situation will seem quite so
> appropriate when it's *your* turn to be downfield from the launcher.

I presently manage a very large cellular network located in the a
hurricane belt on an isolated power grid. One of our sidelines is
equipment co-location for ISP's. Before this job, I managed the cellular
switches for one of the Los Angeles carriers (Riots and Earthquakes). 

There are many, many steps to accept and follow that will allow you to
maintain service in the worst situations. The're sometimes costly yet
common with the carriers that are in service when the others are not.

I see system outage reports weekly from other markets in my company.
Unfortunately, it is all to common to see that they ignored battery and
generator maintenance and rarely, if ever exercised their backup systems
under load.

Regards

 Patrick J. Chicas
 Email: pjc () unix off-road com
 URL: http://www.Off-Road.com 
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