[5250] in North American Network Operators' Group

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Re: generators, etc....

daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael Dillon)
Sat Oct 12 15:09:55 1996

Date: Sat, 12 Oct 1996 12:01:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Dillon <michael@memra.com>
To: nanog@merit.edu
In-Reply-To: <QQbldg19335.199610121813@rodan.UU.NET>

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

> 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.

Take samples from the fuel tank and test them every time tanks are filled.

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

Don't site buildings where there have been floods in the past 500 years
and don't site buildings downstream from dams. If a waterproof building is
built in a flood area, make sure that snorkles rise above the 500 year
flood level.

> Generators takes a direct
> lightning strike and fries house DC power (even inside shielded
> enclosures).  A fiber transmission system goes crazy when the control system
> is zapped by the lightning strike on the generator.

Is there any way to protect against lightning? 

> 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.)

When siting a diesel exhaust system make sure that there are no trees,
towers or similar things nearby that could fall on it. If in a hurricane
area, reinforce diesel snorkels and arrange for multiple paths to get air
in.

> We all try very, very hard to make things reliable, but the world isn't
> perfect, nor are any of us. 

Yup. Now everybody else has learned from BBN's mistakes and from your
anecdotes. Thus we make the network more reliable one step at a time.

Michael Dillon                   -               ISP & Internet Consulting
Memra Software Inc.              -                  Fax: +1-604-546-3049
http://www.memra.com             -               E-mail: michael@memra.com


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