If you've been paying attention at all, you know that my job consists of a lot of different activities. One of those is co-resident electrician along with Alex. On my first trip to Honduras back in January '09, Alex and I assisted the man, the myth, the legend Gary Staigl in wiring our library in Santa Lucía and one of the cottages in Conce. Last October Mike Ranz and friends came down to do some more wiring in Concepción, where Alex and I learned even more. Well this time it was up to us to do it on our own, no outside expertise (except over the phone a bit). Our new clinic in Guachipilincito is getting ready to come online and so in July, with a little help, we juiced the place. With many phone calls, emails and scratched out diagrams worth of preparation, we had the makings of a good plan. Two gringos, Bob and Jim came down to lend their hands and we also had two of our local guys helping, Chepe and Tinito. Alex and I (with some help from superstar 6-week volunteer Sangeeta) spent Saturday and Sunday prepping materials and tools as well as hauling it all out to the site (about a 25 minute drive from Conce). By monday morning at 6am the hammer drills were rumbling and the pliers were nipping. The 6-person crew completely wired not only the clinic but the dorm building in 2 days, including running the service to both buildings from the "street." It was quite an operation and just in time for the gran jefa Emily Harrison to arrive, flip the switch, and illuminate the clinic she and so many others have worked so diligently to build. It was a huge success. We worked long days and were definitely worn out by the end of each one. But having coffee each morning on the clinic steps as the sun came up (again with superstar volunteer Sangeeta) helped make this one of my most memorable weeks in Honduras. These pictures may be a little boring for you non-constuction types, so perhaps just skip to the next entry.
Respooling the wire (actually it's insulated armored cable) to avoid taking the entire huge spool out to the site. Alex would pull from the big spool (right), Sangeeta would guide the wire onto the smaller spool (center) while I ran like a hamster on a wheel spooling it onto the smaller spool. This took us 2-3 hours but saved us tons of time and headaches.
The re-spooled wire in action. we just parked the truck there all week long, pulling off however much wire we needed for that specific circuit. So nice.
Another unbelievable loading job. We took about 5 loads of stuff out like this to prep for the job.
First steps in running the service line from the street through the meter and into the building.
Serious business.
The finished service box. I put a lot of time into this and when I sent Tio Mike the picture, he informed me that I'd put it in backwards. No safety issue unless someone tries to remove one of the fuses, but I will still need to get out there and switch it. Regardless, it is still functional...lucky for me in Honduras there is no building code :)
First steps on the main breaker box in the clinic. Alex has become our resident expert on these after intense training from Mike. See below for the finished product.
"If you don't want to be a nurse, you have a future in being an electrician." Mike to Alex. Well done.
During morning coffee one day we found a half dead bat in the clinic, likely having flown in and smashed into something. He was flopping around so I decided to put him out of his misery. With sledgehammer in one hand but careful not to spill precious coffee out of the cup in my other hand, I sent the bat to bat heaven.
Chepe fixing some of my wiring mistakes. "El jefe todavía no sabe!!" was the quote of the night that night.
The whole work crew minus 1. Left to right: Ben (notice appropriate "AC/DC" t-shirt), Bob from Rhode Island, Alex, Jim from New Mexico and Chepe from Concepción.
Respooling the wire (actually it's insulated armored cable) to avoid taking the entire huge spool out to the site. Alex would pull from the big spool (right), Sangeeta would guide the wire onto the smaller spool (center) while I ran like a hamster on a wheel spooling it onto the smaller spool. This took us 2-3 hours but saved us tons of time and headaches.
The re-spooled wire in action. we just parked the truck there all week long, pulling off however much wire we needed for that specific circuit. So nice.
Another unbelievable loading job. We took about 5 loads of stuff out like this to prep for the job.
First steps in running the service line from the street through the meter and into the building.
Serious business.
The finished service box. I put a lot of time into this and when I sent Tio Mike the picture, he informed me that I'd put it in backwards. No safety issue unless someone tries to remove one of the fuses, but I will still need to get out there and switch it. Regardless, it is still functional...lucky for me in Honduras there is no building code :)
First steps on the main breaker box in the clinic. Alex has become our resident expert on these after intense training from Mike. See below for the finished product.
"If you don't want to be a nurse, you have a future in being an electrician." Mike to Alex. Well done.
During morning coffee one day we found a half dead bat in the clinic, likely having flown in and smashed into something. He was flopping around so I decided to put him out of his misery. With sledgehammer in one hand but careful not to spill precious coffee out of the cup in my other hand, I sent the bat to bat heaven.
Chepe fixing some of my wiring mistakes. "El jefe todavía no sabe!!" was the quote of the night that night.
The whole work crew minus 1. Left to right: Ben (notice appropriate "AC/DC" t-shirt), Bob from Rhode Island, Alex, Jim from New Mexico and Chepe from Concepción.
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