Bill,

Is this the news article?

Fire at Scotty’s Family Restaurant in Whittier causes $300,000 in damage

Pop

 

Hey Justin, I'm glad you posted what you do.
As Pop does and knows, I search out trades people that I can get to know and trust.
I'd much rather give the business to someone I have something in common with and I know is a true craftsman.
I have electric work I need to be done quite often and I don't have a clue when it comes to electrons flying around.
Please pm me your info.
But don't be surprised if we talk trucks and cars the whole time.

 

BTW all you guys out there.
I still have a warm glow from our GTG on the 4th.
Hope everyone else does too.
That was great.

 

Amen to that!

Pop

 

sadly it happens! hopefully they will rebuild!

sadly a lot of people just don't get it. i get a lot of "why did it short out like that? i don't understand?!? i was not doing anything different!!!???"

usually on older Zinsco panels in the post WW2 home here in the SFV.

i had one customer was getting all bent out of shape over cost, amount of stucco removal, etc and i was trying to hurry up and get as much as i could done before i lost my shade of the house in july! i got fed up and looked her strait in the eyes and said " lady when this house was built (1950) and wired you were lucky to even have a TOASTER!" i also said " whats all do you have in your house today? refrigerator, toaster, mixer, coffee pot, dishwasher, Air conditioner, computers, more lights, etc? god forbid you have a party EVERYTHING is on!"

she backed down....


that was in ventura, about 2 miles from the shore. in the coastal climates it can stay in VERY good shape!!! it still had the waxy coating and in most places you could still read the AWG numbers and MFG name. i kept some of the tubes ***** and wire around here somewhere.... want to want to nail them onto a nice old display board.

now the same wiring inland, say the san fernando valley etc, its hammered and the insulation is usually rotted away to bare copper wires.

about 95% of the time if we encounter cloth wiring we will not splice or repair it, even though to my understanding there is a section in the code book for splicing into a **** and tube system.... mainly for our own personal reasons... hate to have a fire start because of something we worked on.

 

Thx for posting the pics Justin. I recall you gave me a ceramic cased knife switch (lights) from that ventura house. I gave it to my father-in-law (retired electrician- do they ever retire?) and he was happy as a clam!

 

Yep Pop, that is it.

 

yup that old switch came from same house! i know i posted pictures of the house but not sure if i showed much of the wiring. glad your father-in-law was happy about the old switch.

other cool old switches they used way back when were the push button switches.

 

Interesting that in the article of the restaurant fire, no mention of insurance was made. Also, I wonder why he just does not rebuild the place instead d looking for a new location? Maybe he did not have insurance, or was under insured?

Jim

 

You mean like these? They are still available!

Classic Accents, Inc.: Single Pole Switch (HD1)

Pop

 

I stopped by and chatted with the owners this morning. They do not own the building, but the owner has insurance. They also have insurance on the contents of the restaurant. But they have more insurance questions than answers at this point. Their immediate desire is to get their employees back to work as quickly as possible. I hope they can stay nearby, but in my observation it takes many, many months to reopen a location after a disaster like this. There is enough structural damage that the building department will be involved.


There is a Polly's Pie about a mile away that burned about 2 years ago. Another of our favorite places. It still has not opened. They started work about a year ago, ran into structural code issues, the budget sprang a leak, and no work has been done in the last year. And that is a chain of restaurants with deeper pockets than a mom/pop place like Scotty's.


I hate to think it, but I give them less than 50% chance of recovering, at any location.


While I was there this morning, employees were showing up. It is payday.

 

That is a sad thing. Even if they repair the damage and stay there it would take months. The employees have to have an income in that time frame, so they are forced to look for work, and that is no guarantee they will find one soon with the economy being the way it is.

I remember Polly Pies from when I lived down there. Don't think I ever went there though.

Jim

 

Yup! expensive little buggers!

 

Heck, if you're living in a Green & Green place over in Pasadena, I suspect the cost of those push-buttons is just chump-change to you!

It's just nice that they are still available for those that have them.

It's just not the kind of thing you keep on the truck, however........

Unless your primary business is in Pasadena!

Pop

 

we try to mostly do commercial and industrial.... but gotta do the dirty work in between to keep the bills paid.

i like running conduit, installing transformers and switchgear personally.

dont have any pictures but a perfect example was a sams club remodel i did almost 2 years ago... lots of various tasks, but the one that stressed me the most but fell together and worked out good was the hanging of a 900lb copper would transformer from the ceiling about 20' in the air.

took about 5 weeks of back and forth between the architect and us to get a approved hanging method to hang that beast..... he specs the transformer and when there was no detail for hanging... he gave a verbal " just hang it on 3/8" all thread and 7/8" uni strut".... (yeeah umm No...)

i flat out told the boss/ owner of the company "no.. i will not hang that transformer on a verbal " just hang it on 3/8" all thread and 7/8" uni strut". ( i read the sticker weight and refused to hang it for safety and moral reasons.)

after me and the boss got the memo across to the architect and job superintendent that the thing weighed 900lbs and we need to know if the ceiling could support the thing, we got a approved detail for hanging.

took about a nights worth of work to get all the steel bolted to the ceiling trusses, but only 4 hours the next night for me to forklift the thing onto the scissor lift and hang it by myself with 2 scissor lifts. i was in one lift and then i used out other larger lift which is rated for 1000lbs in the basket to hoist the transformer up. all while the boss watched from the ground... no pressure right?

none the less had it up in 4 hours because i was working cautious and slow, also had to do this over a customer service desk. when all was said and done i got a atta boy from the boss, which is rare and was a nice complement to hear.

one of my more memorable tasks i have done.