my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Who has had a fire somewhere in their projector? -> OT: Voltage around the world (Page 3)

This topic comprises 6 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6

Author Topic: Who has had a fire somewhere in their projector? -> OT: Voltage around the world Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-01-2005 07:20 PM                     Really that cable should not need to come from Strong. It could easily be made up from cable obtained locally. Either you need to cable your agent in regards to getting it locally or he needs to cable the tech back to get the cable locally. At any rate someone needs a good cabling! Mark  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 07-01-2005 07:49 PM                  Mark, you're absolutely right about the poor engineering and the deadly hazard of the piss-poor design of that power supply. I found that out many moons ago as you did while replacing that fuse in a power supply that sat for 2 weeks and then make a gigantic arc when attempting to replace the fuse. Scared the hell out of me... good that I was wearing my Depends! It's another sad commentary on the engineering at Strong. I wish I could say things have improved there, but (In my personal experience) their electrical engineering is just as bad as their mechanical engineering. I wish the F*CK the powers there would oust whoever is in charge of engineering/QC/etc and get some qualified person that would kick some ass and ***FORCE THEM*** to make quality products! (Gosh, when will hell freeze over?) They are not only damaging themselves, but the whole industry.  |  IP: Logged Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 07-01-2005 08:09 PM                     Phil, I laughed my ass off reading your post, I wont comment, but i will go to sleep tonight with a smile on my face! Thanks,Rick  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-01-2005 08:10 PM                        I had the cone on a Christie igniter burn up once.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-01-2005 08:54 PM                     quote: Mike Spaeth I had the cone on a Christie igniter burn up once. Now what the hell does that have to do with the fact that Phil was wearing his Depends during the arc over..... ? At least there is a simple fix so the new fuse doesn't blow but I have to wonder how many hundreds of people have blown NEW 8.00 fuses thinking the rectifier was bad and then sent it in for repair..... Mark  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-01-2005 11:27 PM                     quote: Alexander Smith ...I have had to extinguish a small fire in the base of a Strong Highlight II console where the rectifier sits. While I'm sure that you, Alexander, know how to put out a fire I think that newbies should be reminded how (or how NOT) to put out an electrical fire. Obviously one shouldn't use water but relatively few people know that, although standard dry-chem fire extinguishers are safe to put out electrical fires with, they are NOT good to use in the projection booth. The powder that comes out of them will spread over a seemingly HUGE area and damage any film or equipment that it comes in contact with! Some types of dry-chem powder are corrosive to electronic devices! So, what happens is, there is a small, teensy-weensy, little fire and somebody panicks. They get a dry-chem extinguisher and spray it all over the booth. Sure, they put the fire out but they put their whole operation out of commission until the mess can be cleaned up and equipment/film can be inspected for damage and replaced if necessary! It would be prudent for new people in the booth to check what type of fire extinguishers there are and how to (or how NOT to) use them. If you have a dry-chem extinguisher that you aren't sure is safe for electronics try to use it only as a last resort. If you have a gas-type extinguisher (CO2, Halon or similar) that would be the optimum thing to use. I know it's hard to think clearly when a fire breaks out but a minute's worth of forethought and a second's worth of quick thinking could save you and your company THOUSANDS of dollars! Honestly I tell people NOT to try to fight fires unless they have to. When that Christie in the picture, above, caught on fire they called me when it was still burning. The kid on the other end of the line wanted to get an extinguisher but I told him not to. The first thing you should do when a projector catches fire is to shut off the breakers... ALL OF THEM... including the ones on the wall panel. The next thing you should do is to see how bad the fire is. If it's a little one like mine, maybe all you have to do is let it burn itself out. (It IS inside a metal enclosure, for cripes sakes!) If the fire seems too big or if you think it will get outside the metal projector enclosure the best thing you can do is to HEAD FOR THE FIRE EXIT and pull the alarm on your way out! Let the professionals deal with the fire! I'd rather inconvenience a few customers than have somebody get killed because he thought he could play fireman! Once I get to know a person better and I can judge their ability, only THEN would I teach them how to put out fires.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-02-2005 09:32 AM                     Halon equipment should be installed in all booths and is the only non-damaging extinguisher in existance. Its unfortunately the most expensive. Mark  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 07-02-2005 02:19 PM                     Mark, IIRC Halon as a fire extinguishing agent is illegal in the UK and probably Europe as a whole, it's to do with the damage it does to the atmosphere, and it's nasty habit of extinguishing human life with the fire, too many people died as a result of using it in confined spaces. Unfortunately as you rightly said, it's about the best thing there is for dealing electrical fires. Alex, are we talking about the machine I repaired years ago, or has another one burnt up a cable? Either way it shouldn't be a problem for the workshop guys to make you the appropriate cable/stud etc., if getting the bits out of Strong is proving difficult.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 07-02-2005 03:07 PM                  Pete is absolutely correct as to the restrictions and dangers of using halon for fire suppression. Halon is a non-toxic, colorless and odorless gas. It is now known to be environmentally damaging and it's production is being phased out and being replaced by more practical systems. At a Midwest US 1570 dome installation I did many moons ago, the owners insisted on using ridiculous levels of security to gain access to the booth. Bulletproof glass walls, palm-readers to open the doors, and a halon "sprinkler" system. Since the fire is extinguished by displacing/removing the oxygen in the area, all personal were required to have their own personal life-support air tanks and full face mask within easy reach at all times while in the booth in case of the system was activated. Just an additional thought: There were NO life-support tanks for us installation "guests". I guess we would have to club to death the operator and use his mask.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-02-2005 10:41 PM                     I thought that installed Halon systems had to have a pre-signal alarm before the gas was released so that people would know to leave the area. One of the main computer rooms at the school I went to in Boston had an installed Halon system. There were horns and flashing lights that went off for something like 30 seconds before the gas was released. All the doors had one-way locks with electronic strikers so that, once the system was tripped, you could open the doors to get out of the room but you couldn't get back in. The computer room was walled-off into sections so that Halon could be released in one area but not in the others. That way people only had to run for about 25 feet to get to an exit. Then, once the airtight door closed behind them they could exit the rest of the building in a mostly normal way without having to worry about being asphyxiated by the gas. There were signs with big letters on all the entrances: "Halon gas. -- If this alarm sounds leave the room immediately!" I'm sure it was all re-freakin-diculously expensive!  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-03-2005 03:11 AM                     Shoot, I remember seeing bottles filled with Carbon Tet hang in booths mounted in a lead hammer spring device, so when it got hot in the booth, the lead let go and the hammer slammed in the Tet bottle to extinguish the fire. Course, this was about 30 plus years ago when I last saw this.  |  IP: Logged Alexander Smith Expert Film Handler Posts: 128 From: Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Registered: Jun 2003 posted 07-03-2005 05:58 AM                     Peter; I don't remember which machine you repaired. It was screen 4 which was on fire. I used CO2 because it's the only kind of fire extinguisher in the booth. FWIW the engineer wants to have the complete cable ass'y due to the soldering technique used to attach the cable to the lamp connection stud. The only kind of soldering I'm competent at is with standard tin/copper solder (which has replaced lead alloy) for small electronics. Therefore I'm not in a position to argue the case for replacing the cable ourselves. Alex.  |  IP: Logged Phil Blake Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 558 From: esperance western australia Registered: Nov 2003 posted 07-03-2005 11:29 AM                        My most memorable fire was in the works of a BTH carbon arc lamphouse at the drive in , on one night in 1977 , the opening night of Star wars , and we had the state manager of 20th century fox on the premises that night for the grand opening. By the time he came into the box with his hamburger we had it fixed . (phil handles soldering iron like a light sabre). My number 2 projectionist just recently informed me of his holiday overseas where a kind friend let him stay at his town house in Berlin Germany . He repayed his friend by accidentally burning the house to then ground ! (another chip fryer- ,low wood ceiling ordeal) He remarked , the sirens were very loud as he was crossing over the border check point.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-03-2005 12:39 PM                        Halon was outlawed by an EU directive at the end of 2002. I think the reason was more that it is a greenhouse gas than for personal safety reasons. This was obviously a big issue for archives: as we knew about the directive when we were designing a new vault store, the fire suppressant system was spec-ed for Inergen from the outset. Halon itself wasn't massively expensive, but Inergen (a non-greenhouse alternative which will absorb enough oxygen from the atmosphere to kill most fires, but not enough to kill humans) sure is. Our system has a 30-second 'phase 1', during which the discharge can be cancelled. If it does discharge unnecessarily, the cost of replacing the gas would be in the region of £10k for each of our four vault compartments. I know of many archives in Britain which haven't been able to afford converting their Halon systems to use Inergen, and therefore have had to revert to water. Not good, especially for paper-based collections.  |  IP: Logged Olivia Coleman Film Handler Posts: 53 From: Bend, OR USA Registered: Jun 2005 posted 07-03-2005 10:31 PM                        Thank you Monte and Jason. (By the way, our tech is Mr. Frazuer.) quote: Rick Long Jr You said yourself that you spent an hour troubleshooting it, and I simply don't see how you, or anyone for that matter, could troubleshoot a powersupply without a meter and the knowledge on how to use it. The troubleshooting was actually the night before when the bulb wouldn't strike. (I did specify this in my original post! I did in fact ask if I should use the meter and my tech said not to worry about it, to just change all of the diodes.)  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 6 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.