Apparently, this morning one of the sprinklers in the front yard
catastrophically exploded, sending a torrent of water at just the
right angle to flood my shop. When I walked in this afternoon, the
floor was damp (at least the standing water went down the drain) but
it doesn't look like anything else was hit.

Luckily, the project I'm about to finish, a nice custom bookcase for
my oldest daughter, survived because I put it up on sawhorses to work
on it last night. Had I waited until today like I was thinking of
doing, it would have been toast.

I guess fate smiles on you every now and then.

"Brian Henderson" wrote in message
...
Apparently, this morning one of the sprinklers in the front yard
catastrophically exploded, sending a torrent of water at just the
right angle to flood my shop. When I walked in this afternoon, the
floor was damp (at least the standing water went down the drain) but
it doesn't look like anything else was hit.

Luckily, the project I'm about to finish, a nice custom bookcase for
my oldest daughter, survived because I put it up on sawhorses to work
on it last night. Had I waited until today like I was thinking of
doing, it would have been toast.

I guess fate smiles on you every now and then.

About 20 years ago I looked out the back window and something was different,
but I couldn't put my finger on just what it was. I went out to find that a
4' diameter willow had broken in the night and fallen in my yard. You can
imagine what a huge crown a tree like that would have. It crushed one
inexpensive chair, but didn't hit anything else. I would have said that
would be impossible to find a way to put a tree that size in my yard without
doing much damage, but it happened by chance. Go figure.

"Brian Henderson" wrote:

Apparently, this morning one of the sprinklers in the front yard
catastrophically exploded, sending a torrent of water at just the
right angle to flood my shop. When I walked in this afternoon, the
floor was damp (at least the standing water went down the drain) but
it doesn't look like anything else was hit.

Luckily, the project I'm about to finish, a nice custom bookcase for
my oldest daughter, survived because I put it up on sawhorses to
work
on it last night. Had I waited until today like I was thinking of
doing, it would have been toast.

I guess fate smiles on you every now and then.

Better lucky than good any day.

Speaking of lawn sprinklers, it was reported that the lawn sprinklers
came on this morning at a home that had burned to the ground last
night here in SoCal.

lew

On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:26:58 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:


Speaking of lawn sprinklers, it was reported that the lawn sprinklers
came on this morning at a home that had burned to the ground last
night here in SoCal.

If the house is gone, where is the sprinkler controller?

---------------------------------------------
** http://www.bburke.com/woodworking.html **
---------------------------------------------

"Brian Henderson" wrote in message
...
Apparently, this morning one of the sprinklers in the front yard
catastrophically exploded, sending a torrent of water at just the
right angle to flood my shop. When I walked in this afternoon, the
floor was damp (at least the standing water went down the drain) but
it doesn't look like anything else was hit.

Luckily, the project I'm about to finish, a nice custom bookcase for
my oldest daughter, survived because I put it up on sawhorses to work
on it last night. Had I waited until today like I was thinking of
doing, it would have been toast.

I guess fate smiles on you every now and then.

What was "fate" doing when the sprinkler exploded? G

Max

B A R R Y wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:26:58 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:


Speaking of lawn sprinklers, it was reported that the lawn sprinklers
came on this morning at a home that had burned to the ground last
night here in SoCal.

If the house is gone, where is the sprinkler controller?


Somewhere else, obviously...

--

I guess fate smiles on you every now and then.

No kidding.

I bought a small house on Copeland Rd in Sarnia, Ontario back in the
mid-80's.
It had a fabulous 3 car garage and therin was the attraction.
A cheap enough piece of property that I bought it with a personal
cheque.
I built some challenging projects there.

One day, a house adjoining my back-yard, (on Rayburne Street) back-to-
back, exploded.
The explosion was caused by a gas leak finding a pilot light. A new
building was being constructed next door and the excavator ripped the
gas line out from the side of the house.
The occupants of the exploded house NEVER left that house, except THAT
weekend, because their daughter could not make the trip to see her
parents because she was expecting a baby. Her mom and dad decided to
go and surprise her instead. It was the FIRST time in THREE years they
left that house.
That total 'flukishness' reaffirmed my faith in my God in a BIG way.
This God that *I* know has a BIG finger and stirs it in so many lives.
I am NOT a religious freak, but I bow my head often.

r

dpb wrote:
B A R R Y wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:26:58 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:


Speaking of lawn sprinklers, it was reported that the lawn sprinklers
came on this morning at a home that had burned to the ground last
night here in SoCal.

If the house is gone, where is the sprinkler controller?


Somewhere else, obviously...

--

Wow, you really are a top notch engineer! MIT educated? G

We don't usually have sprinkers in my area, as we don't need them and
the pipes freeze if not totally empty in the winter. My only experience
is with my mom and dad's homes in FL. Their sprinklers are controlled
by electric devices in the garage.

Where else could a controller be if not in the burnt to the ground house?

I was actually asking what I thought was a valid question from
non-sprinkler land.

B A R R Y wrote:
dpb wrote:
B A R R Y wrote:
On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:26:58 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:


Speaking of lawn sprinklers, it was reported that the lawn
sprinklers came on this morning at a home that had burned to the
ground last night here in SoCal.

If the house is gone, where is the sprinkler controller?


Somewhere else, obviously...

--

Wow, you really are a top notch engineer! MIT educated? G

We don't usually have sprinkers in my area, as we don't need them
and
the pipes freeze if not totally empty in the winter. My only
experience is with my mom and dad's homes in FL. Their sprinklers
are controlled by electric devices in the garage.

Where else could a controller be if not in the burnt to the ground
house?

I was actually asking what I thought was a valid question from
non-sprinkler land.

Maybe outside the house attached to a water pipe?

And "burnt to the ground" is generally figurative language. If all
the wood in my house burned to vapor there would still be concrete
remains extending several feet above the ground, and water pipes
filled with water take a great deal more burning than does wood, so
unless falling timber broke one they would likely still be standing,
furthermore the parts of the service entrance for power that are above
ground are metal sheathed so that wiring mught also survive. If I had
indoor sprinkler controllers they would likely be right next to the
breaker panel in the cellar.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

J. Clarke wrote:
If I had
indoor sprinkler controllers they would likely be right next to the
breaker panel in the cellar.

But would it have A/C power? If the home was destroyed would the
breakers trip? G

Homes in sprinker-land are often built on slabs, unlike our New England
homes. I'm just curious how these things work.

B A R R Y wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:
If I had indoor sprinkler controllers they would likely be right next
to the breaker panel in the cellar.

But would it have A/C power? If the home was destroyed would the
breakers trip? G

Homes in sprinker-land are often built on slabs, unlike our New England
homes. I'm just curious how these things work.

In those million-dollar babies I've seen several pictures on the TV news
of houses that burned but some of the outbuildings weren't touched and
vice versa.

Many systems have battery backup on the timers so they don't lose the
timer settings during an outage.

Don't suspect there's anything very exotic going on...

--

B A R R Y wrote:
J. Clarke wrote:
If I had
indoor sprinkler controllers they would likely be right next to the
breaker panel in the cellar.

But would it have A/C power? If the home was destroyed would the
breakers trip? G

Only if something shorted the wiring. Then it would be the branch
circuits, not the main breaker. If the sprinkler controller was right
next to the breaker panel it might very well be on a circuit that ran
only in the cellar.

Homes in sprinker-land are often built on slabs, unlike our New
England homes. I'm just curious how these things work.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

"B A R R Y" wrote::

We don't usually have sprinkers in my area, as we don't need them
and
the pipes freeze if not totally empty in the winter.

Don't they play golf in your area?

Can't imagine a decent golf course without watered fairways and
greens.

Lew

Lew Hodgett wrote:

Don't they play golf in your area?

Can't imagine a decent golf course without watered fairways and
greens.


They blow 'em out with compressed air.

On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:26:16 GMT, "Toller" wrote:

About 20 years ago I looked out the back window and something was different,
but I couldn't put my finger on just what it was. I went out to find that a
4' diameter willow had broken in the night and fallen in my yard. You can
imagine what a huge crown a tree like that would have. It crushed one
inexpensive chair, but didn't hit anything else. I would have said that
would be impossible to find a way to put a tree that size in my yard without
doing much damage, but it happened by chance. Go figure.

I've got a massive tree in my back yard and maybe 5-6 years ago during
a wind storm, a 30 foot branch came down. It didn't hit anything but
it ended up about a foot from the wall that my wife and I were
sleeping behind at the time. Another couple feet and we would have
had a tree on our bed.

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:23:52 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:


"B A R R Y" wrote::

We don't usually have sprinkers in my area, as we don't need them
and
the pipes freeze if not totally empty in the winter.

Don't they play golf in your area?

Can't imagine a decent golf course without watered fairways and
greens.

Lew

We have one here in Baja (unfortunately) and it's some kind of drought loving
moss or something like that.. gets it's water from the humidity and a bit of
spraying in the winter..


mac

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