Studio Old/New

The furnace guys actually showed up on December 4th...was nice to actually have something happening.


They did get some work done, but left that afternoon and we haven't seen them since! I'm developing an ulcer, I know I am!

Still no electrician...uh, I take that back.

Last weekend we had 2 inches of sleet and ice on top of that...Sunday the wind kicked up and loosened a neutral on the power line out front. A loose neutral is bad news...you're much better off just losing power...much better off.

I was working on some jobs on the computers (I do more computer work than I like to but it helps pay the bills) when everything went off - then on - then off...the main computer made a "snap" and then the familiar smell of ozone rose from it's back...I was frantically feeling for the plug back there to pull it!!!

Georgie heard a smoke alarm going off. we started turning things off and went upstairs to the present studio. The Studio was full of electrical smoke. The computer there was on since it was acting as my printer server for card printing there, and it was rebooting (trying)...but the thing that was smoking was the control panel to my Bencher copy stand. I use the Bencher to photograph larger painting and drawings for publication and such. We unplugged the Bencher and opened the studio room windows to try and air the place out.

The weird thing about the copy stand...it wasn't turned on, just plugged in...but when we got to the room one of it's 300watt lamps was lit and the panel was smoking. I can't even "purposely" turn on just one of the lights in the 4 light bank!

Not to drag on about this day, I'll try and summarize...we called the power company...had to talk with them several times...they had other problems and just wanted me to take care of it I guess...said it was my house and to call an electrician.

It was a Sunday morning...we stayed home as the weather was bad...I hoped the electrician had too! He hadn't, but I left a message.

The electrician did call back later and said he was coming out.

We had, by then, thrown our power off for the entire house...the furnace was attempting to power up, would fail, then would try again...the frig was sucking the power from the lights...the house was wacky!

The electrician came (!) and determined our power was way out of balance (loose neutral) and that it was on the power company's side of the line.

The power company finally came at 3pm (after I called them again twice). By 4 we had normal power again.

The "known" spike victims were the TV's sound system, the Bencher copy stand, and the large studio printer. I still get whiffs of ozone occasionally when using the computers, and while walking up to the old studio...and we're simply stuck with the smelly electrical smoke smell in the studio for the time being. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing else bites the dust!