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Admin
Depends on the political dynamic - if Maintenance is busy that day, or just doesn't like the tone of your voice (or plain didn't think to check the breaker), you could get a "of course it's hot - look at all this equipment!". That gets seated as "the answer", and no-one gets around to double-checking the breakers.
Admin
I lold
thnx
Admin
I used to work in a place that was ALWAYS hot, server room or otherwise. Nobody could figure out what was going on... We had glass windows all around and the effect was like a greenhouse.
It turns out the building was a re-model. Originally it had been a cinderblock store-front. In order to update it and make it more friendly they took out most of the exterior cinderblock walls and replaced them with nice big glass windows...
Problem is the AC system was setup for a building that was mostly cinderblock instead of a greenhouse.
Admin
Yep, but they have a maintenance guy to check the non-basic stuff.
Admin
I was wondering the same thing. I've worked in many data centers and I've yet to see one where the Facilities contacts weren't posted on every available phone list. Too cold, call facilities. Too hot, call facilities. Puddle of water, facilities. Elevator plummets 3 floors, facilities... (yes the latter actually happened at my current site)
Admin
Admin
The Real WTF(tm) is that no one thought of checking for an AC unit at all.
"Hey, there are intake and output vents in this room, but for some reason, there's no activity. Could there be an AC unit somewhere for this room? Hmmm..."
Nah, couldn't be. Why the hell would they put vents in a room?
Admin
That's Hot, Bitches!
<laoreet captcha="true" />Admin
This is the one time calling Central Command worked. Usually (especially if your name is Buttle) you need to have someone like Robert DeNiro help out.
Admin
Isn't this the storyline to Goldilocks and the 3 Bears just updated for today's times?
"This office is TOO cold" "This office is TOO hot" "This office is justttttttttt right!"
Admin
This one?
Admin
That's the Real WTF(tm): nobody uses a battery when designing a stove igniter. Since it only needs to be replaced once a decade or so, you can't count on the user remembering that it exists. Every gas stove I've seen either uses a pilot light or compresses a piezoelectric crystal to get a spark.
Admin
A car rental company that I worked at (which was since phased out of existance by the parent company) in the 90's was growing, and had a small server room on the 4th floor of the building that was poorly equipped to be a server room and getting too full. The company had put together great plans for a new server room on the first floor, including a better cooling solution, better power backup including a generator, and a raised floor to put all the wiring underneath.
However, it was decided that we absolutely "needed" the space on the 4th floor for more cubicles before the new server room was finished, so in the mean time there were servers living in conference rooms, servers living under people's desks, servers living in hallways, servers living in pretty much every nook and cranny that could be found with an outlet. A Digital person told us the Alpha server we had would be lucky to last 2 weeks under the conditions it was in, fortunately all the computers lasted about 2 months in their temporary spaces with a fleet of industrial strength fans and opening a hatchway in the ceiling up to the roof (fortunately it was only a 4 story building). Amusing times were those.
Admin
You know on that note, I have absolutely zero clue if my stove needs power or not for the spark. That is something I definitely have to go check out now.
Admin
We had a similar story, My house was remodeled some years before we moved in. The back patio was made into a room but it still looks very patio-y. All the wiring in the patio room goes through ONE of those bathroom type plugs. One night all the power in that room goes out. No surprise, there were four computers, a CRT TV, a wii, a treadmill, a fridge, various lights and other dodads, and on this night, a toaster oven as well, all on the same circuit. So I pull out the couch to reset the bathroom plug switch, and lo, it was never tripped. The breaker box outside the house, a-ok. "Must be one of the wires in wall burned out" I says. For the next 4 weeks, my dad and I spend our free time drilling holes in the walls and sticking in this AC detector my dad has. At the end of week four, we are in my sisters room that used to be the garage. My dad is drilling, I'm standing around trying to look like I'm helping, my eye falls on a 6"x12"x18" box shaped bulge in the corner by the ceiling. My sister always assured us that it contained the old garage door opener machinery, but it now occurs to me the I have never actually seen this "door opener" with my own two eyes. 5 minutes later my dad is staring in shock at the OTHER breaker box, and I'm giving my sister a lesson about how 'assume' makes an ASS of U and ME.
regarding the Goldilocks office: all you had to do was tape a bit of cardboard to block most of your air vent.
Admin
Sometimes, everyone seems to forget the first two rules of hardware repair:
Admin
Wow. Awesome.
Admin
Admin
My company had servers and phone equipment in a very warm, unventilated closet room. Our low cost solution was to move everything to the employee break room on the other side of the wall. What about security, you ask? They put "Do Not Touch!" signs on everything.
Admin
Admin
They moved my office to the cramped, hot server closet while the building is being renovated. All I have is a little fan on my desk.
Admin
I didn't notice, because I have adblocking on, but I disabled it to see what you're talking about...
ROTFL! That's the funniest banner ad I've ever seen.
Admin
Admin
That is why they are down for an hour a day. The gnomes have to change out the ice they use for cooling. Saves on electricity for the A/C
Admin
Now hang on a second. Are you telling us that after you've complained to building maintenance they sent a guy the same day? And furthermore you want us to believe that technician was helpful and resolved the problem within a few minutes?
The nerve that you're trying to pass this off as a true event is The Real WTF!
Admin
Similar senario, was on call for weekend that they're doing power checks in the wing in which server room located. Supervisor say not to come in, as they are not checking server power supplies at all and he does not want to have to justify O/T. Guess what they kill the power to the 5, yes five overhead a/C units, on turning juice back on only one comes back on. Router over heats and we loose comms, hence called in. Arrive to find temp massive over heat. We're lucky we loose copy HDs
Moral: never trust electricians unless you know they can't touch your power or A/C
Admin
If they start talking about 'Storage Room B' and hand you some roach spray, I'd start to worry.
CAPTCHA: 'vulputate' Don't know what it means, but it sounds dirty.
Admin
If they start talking about 'Storage Room B' and hand you some roach spray, I'd start to worry.
CAPTCHA: 'vulputate' Don't know what it means, but it sounds dirty.
Admin
The quote shows they didn't look very hard for even a partial solution. You can at least blow air through from the next room for the cost of a single fan and a second vent. If that can reach a hallway or open plan area, even after hours when the A/C is off it's an improvement over zero circulation.
Admin
My BBQ uses a AAA battery; it's accessed by unscrewing the ignitor button. My regular stove is powered by mains; I can use a lighter to get the burners going, but the oven doesn't work without power, since it automatically adjusts the temperature by turning the flame on and off. Found out that even a tiny UPS will power it just fine in an outage.
Admin
Actually, I think it's because the refrig has a compressor motor which draws close to the max current a circuit can supply, so it needs its own branch circuit. The food not spoiling thing is just a side benefit.
Admin
Plus the "Code" is different in different countries. My whole 4-bedroom house has 6 fuses (soon to be breakers when I get around to buying them): one each for oven, hot water, lights, the aircon and two power outlet circuits.
Admin
Your Supervisor is the WTF in this case; never trust any contractor to do anything around, about, near, or with your business critical systems. There is no substitute for personal supervison and oversight of contractors.
Electricians usually have a more than healthy appreciation for the power they work with, both literal and figurative. In my careers (Journeyman and IT Admin), they'll take the most care in doing the job at hand, but it's up to the customer to make sure anyone who might be affected is notified and prepared.
Admin
Nah, you misread it. It would only be a business catastrophe if it failed from overheating. If it failed for any other reason the backups would kick in and save the day.
Admin
Admin
Designer: "Well see, the great thing about this design is that the battery will last just long enough for the customer to completely forget that they will need a new battery. It may only cost 50¢ to fix under waranty, but by the time it's necessary it'll be out of waranty, they'll have forgotten, and so will have to buy a new stove!" Manager: "Brillant!"
Planned obsolescence.
Admin
I thought the plain should be that he then buys a copy of the "on/off" key from the super for $250. He then spends the next two weeks in "deep research". Finally, he announces that he's found a vendor, Sdrawkcab Eman Ym, that can provide a passive cooling solution that works with the existing infrastructure-- for only $35k (or the semi-passive for $45k, which is obviously better because it costs more). Once he-- I mean, they-- get the money, he duct tapes some old kit to the wall, turns the key-- and is then the hero who saved the company $150k and cooled the equipment.
Admin
Admin
That reminds me that I haven't checked out BOFH yet this week.
Admin
Our office was a nice 70 degrees until it became colder and colder over time. At the end of a week, it was so cold we could see our breath! After calling maintenance they found that the whitebox we temporarily set up on top of the filing cabinet was shooting the hot air from its power supply right onto the thermostat...
Admin
What, nobody mentioned yet the song "Pleasing Interlude No. 2" by Electric Six?
She doesn't like it too hot. She doesn't like it too cold. Room temperature! Room temperature!
Admin
My favorite experience dealing with contrator incompetance (which I feel I'm free to comment on, since I'm a contractor myself) was when I was helping a client set up a new location.
We deployed a relatively sophisticated wireless bridge between their main location and their new location (a mere 800 ft apart, across the shopping center) with Linux routers and high power wireless radios with directional attenae.
After getting the whole thing working so that they could transparently access the server at their main location while using their own dedicated internet connection, it was up to my to coordinate with the contractor installing their VoIP solution so that the stores could transfer calls back and forth and retrieve voicemail from a centrail server. After getting all of their stuff connected to our routers on both sides, they found that transferring calls over the wireless bridge didn't work. Despite many assurances that no firewall rules preventing traffic from their boxes from going across the bridge (and multiple tests proving other traffic crossed the bridge without issue) they contended that there was an issue with the network.
After about 3 hours of in-depth testing with their contractor, I told them that it would without a doubt an issue with their equipment. Of course, the phone system vendor swore that it was a problem on my end. My client wasn't happy that they couldn't transfer calls and told me that I needed to be available as needed by the other contractor.
A week after I sat down with the other contractor to try to diagnose the issue, I stopped by my client's place of business and inquired about the call-forwarding ... "Oh, they got it working." was what I was told.
I asked the phone system vendor what it turned out to be ... "Oh, apparently on of our contractors forgot to install the VoIP voice compression module in the PBX on at the new site, so transferring calls was impossible."
Idiots!
Admin
I am an Indian. I
Admin
TRWTF is all of these curious electrical systems you seem to have that allow one faulty appliance to affect others!
Seriously, stick some fuses in your plugs and never touch the breaker box ever again. Oh, and get to 240V 50Hz while you're at it!
Admin
[quote user="lbp"][quote user="Kermos"][quote user="DOA"]I'm ashamed to say I [...]
It didn't dawn on me right away that the vacuum cleaner had a battery and wasn't running on A/C power. Eventually I just went to the breaker box and yep, that one outlet in the whole kitchen had it's own breaker which was off!
Funny how well the fridge started working after I turned the breaker on... [/quote]
Standard wiring config - idea being that this way if something trips in the kitchen (like a knife in the toaster), your food won't spoil. [/quote]
How in hell would they know where you were going to plug the fridge in?
Admin
I once worked in a dot-com startup where the landlord would turn the AC down in the summer to save money on electricity... Needless to say, our server room did not appreciate it.
BTW, we didn't have racks back then - all our servers were minitowers standing on sheets of styrofoam on metal shelving. Why the styrofoam, you ask? Because someone found out the hard way that without it, vibrations from the machines would propagate through the metal shelves, and before you could say "constructive interference", half your disks would be toast.
Admin
That's strange, because these sparky-clicky things don't need batteries. They're piezoelectric.
Admin
The office I work in has machine rooms on two floors. We came in one morning to find that the 1st floor machine room was very warm. We eventually realised that the AC was off, and the AC control panel was dead. We got facilities management involved, and they called out an AC engineer to solve it, while we opened windows and used desk fans to move the heat out. The AC engineer came (very promptly, we were impressed), and started to investigate. In about 5 mins he'd found the problem. There was another group of AC engineers working on the AC for the 2nd floor machine room, and when they turned off the 2nd floor AC, they'd also flicked the switch for the 1st floor AC.
Admin
Fixed that for you
[/sarcasm]
Admin
The standard clicker on a modern gas hob in UK is wired to the mains to provide the spark. This means that if there is a power cut you can use the gas burners but you have to light them with a match or other flame. It also means you need a power outlet near where the hob is to be installed(usually underneath). I would be surprised if this was unique to UK.