Re: House Protection

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: Edward Wingate <ewing7-at-rochester.rr-dot-com> 

Tesla list wrote:
 >
 > Original poster: "Robert Hanford" <pomnept-at-comcast-dot-net>
 >
 > Hi All,
 > I am moving soon to Chicago IL and am anticipating that any coiling work
 > will be done in the basement rather than on the driveway-- my coil has
 > outgrown the garage as I discovered after frying some electronics in my
 > house. My basement has a fairly low ceiling. My question is this-- does
 > anybody have experience in running their coil in close quarters and what
 > should I do to protect my house (chicken wire on the ceiling perhaps?)
 > Any input greatly appreciated.
 > Robert Hanford

Robert,

Before I built my lab in 1991, I was producing 7 footers in my basement
that has 8 foot ceilings with a coil that was 4 feet tall. My expensive
component stereo system in the living room was directly over the coil
setup and never suffered any ill effects even though stray sparks would
occasionally go up through the floor in front of the stereo, lift the
Sunday paper and amuse the cats. I had a grounded copper target fastened
to bottom of the floor joists directly over the toroid and the steel I
beam that ran down the center of the house was grounded and that was it.
The worst thing that ever happened was the night the coil triggered the
high voltage shutdown circuit on the TV in the living room which was
easily fixed by turning the set off and back on again. Sparks regularly
hit the water heater and the fuel oil tank and I've got the videos to
prove it!

In retrospect, what I was doing probably was not a good idea and
undoubtedly my insurance agent would have been appalled and canceled our
policy had he known. That's why the lab was built. A house fire, even
though not caused by my coil, could have been attributed to all the
weird high voltage equipment in the basement with no coverage and little
or no recourse. The lab and house are now well insured and our new agent
is fully aware of my hobby.

If you must do it, and I don't recommend it, chicken wire everything
that might get hit by stray sparks. Heavy line filtering is also
necessary to keep all the house electronics happy. I would also advise
not running the coil if you are going to be leaving your house within 2
or 3 hours just to be sure that everything is safe and secure and
nothing is burning without your knowledge. A couple smoke alarms in the
basement won't hurt either.

With all that said, remember that if something happens, your insurance
might not cover it and that could be a very unpleasant experience
indeed. Good luck!

Ed Wingate RATCB