Unintended Consequences

Unintended Consequences was Originally Posted on March 29, 2013 by lavarock

This blog was originally going to be called “A Shocking Development For Firefighters”, but as I kept writing it took a different path.

Here in Hawaii, firefighters are having to take new training because of the sun. With the recent increase in solar panels being installed, firefighters are at greater risk of being electrocuted when dousing fires. That is because even after cutting electrical power off from the street, solar panels will still generate electricity from the roof, thus being a hazard.

One of the easiest ways to cut power is obvious, cover the panels. That may not be as easy if the flames are nearby and flames at night could also be bright enough to simulate sunlight and start the panels producing electricity.

Any covering would probably need to be fireproof or at least fire resistant.

Sometimes a change in how things are done can have hidden consequences. For example, many of you have county water and sewage. You pay a monthly fee and water comes to your house and waste water goes away. Others may live in a rural area where they have a septic tank for sewage and a well for water. For those who don’t realize, a well is not necessarily a big stone structure with a pail, rather most wells are a shaft drilled into the earth and an electrical pump to bring the water to the surface.

With an electric pump and well, there may also be a holding tank to hold some pressure and keep the pump from coming on every time a faucet is turned on. There may also be a water conditioner and some filters to change the water PH and/or remove chemicals from the water system.

In my old house, I had a conditioner that used calcium carbonate (think flavorless Tums or chalk) that reacted with the water to make it less acidic. On a schedule I would back flush the filter (causing a stream of white residue to flow down the driveway). I also had to add more material to the filter to renew it.

If the electricity went off, I still had water in the holding tank, but it would soon be gone unless I could supply 110 volts to the pump for a while. I could do that with a small gas generator, but didn’t have one. Thus, if there was a fire at my house and the electric was cut off, I would have very little water to fight the fire myself.

Periodically, I would also have to “shock” my well to remove anything growing in there. I would remove the cap on the top and pour a gallon of bleach down the well. After letting it sit for a while, I would open an outside faucet and start the pump, allowing all the bleach to be removed from the well. After a while, the water would clear as new groundwater replaced the bleach. Still, the smell of chlorine was evident.

With a well, unless you have filters, you are drinking “filtered” groundwater that may come from underground springs or just be rainwater filtered through rocks. You might need to add filters and adjust the PH on your own. Another thing not obvious to most readers is that this water does not have fluoride added. Thus, you would probably want to use a fluoride toothpaste if you wanted protection.

There may also be some wondering why I would not want to open a faucet inside the house to flush the lines. I could, but then all of that chlorine would go back into my septic tank, killing bacteria that normally decompose items. You have to be careful what you put down the drain with a septic tank. Also, you may want to periodically add some enzymes like Rid-X or yeast to the system to help those bacteria.

For those few people who have put two and two together, no, there are regulations as to how far the well and septic are to be from each other. Often they are on opposite sides of the house and water is tested periodically to ensure no transference. This could be a big problem in an area that normally does not get massive rainfall but recently did, because the water table characteristics change.

When I ordered my propane water heater, I will have to add some new hardware to the water lines to allow cleaning the unit. I will also have to decide (and check county code) as to where the propane tanks can be set. I May leave the old water heater in place for a while, but eventually, it will be removed and the water lines near it capped off. That will also free up a 220 volt electrical line that I need for my irrigation pump. I guess I COULD use a solar panel to power the pump, but that might open up some unintended consequences. I’ll think on that.