INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION of ELECTRICAL INSPECTORS
SUNCOAST DIVISION – FLORIDA CHAPTER – SOUTHERN SECTION
P. O. Box 1075, Largo FL 33779-1075


ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED MEETING AT


City of Largo – Police Annex Building 130PM Thursday 09 March 2006
210 North Highland Avenue Largo, FL

Just north of East Bay Drive on Highland Avenue & on the WEST side of the road.

COME AND SUPPORT YOUR OFFICERS, the DIVISION, the IAEI, & the ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY.

LEARN TO WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER ! ! ! ! !


AGENDA

1. Regular monthly business will be conducted.

2. The seminar(s) to be scheduled with Messr’s John Minick and Mark Ode are being worked on. Nelson Montgomery has been in contact with the speakers and is coordinating the dates. REMEMBER THAT the proceeds of this seminar event will be for the Julian Burnside Memorial Scholarship Fund. The subject will be the 2005 NECode.

3. It appears as if the statewide adoption of the 2005 NECode is STILL on track for 10/01/06. This per information provided by Chapter President Tarry Baker on 03/08/06. The FBComm Electrical TAC Committee is meeting in Tampa at the Embassy Suites, 800am on 03/21/06. More definitive information will come from this meeting. Tarry Baker will be chairing the meeting.

4. Any history of the Suncoast Division should be forwarded to the Secretary. The Secretary is and will be taking pictures of current and past Division Officers to be compiled with pertinent data in a history volume of the Division.

5. Observations and opinions are solicited about how the current level of construction economics is impacting the proper inspectional procedures. Also what is the impact of this high level of construction activity on the pool of properly trained and staffed contractors ? How can our industry meet the requirements of trained help ?

6. For those interested, discussion groups about construction aspects, are posted by the Building Officials Association of Florida. Look at their website at www.BOAF.net.

7. Discussion groups and general questions are also available on the Florida Chapter website. It is at www.IAEIFL.org.

8. WELCOME to new Division member Michael Kotch. Mike will be assuming some of the duties that Bob Moore currently performs for TECO Energy. Mike is a senior engineer and chief inspector for TECO.

9. This is a Contractor licensing year. Each active license holder must have completed 14 hours of Continuing Education in the two year biannual period. Mandatory courses are 7 hours of technical, 1 hour of business, 1 hour of worker comp, 1 hour of OSHA, AND 1 hour of an advanced module (as per the DCA requirements). Contractors performing fire alarm contracting must also have a 2 hour “false alarm” course.”

The Secretary will be making arrangements for this 4 hours to be offered after the middle of May, upon return from the Florida Chapter Annual Meeting in Naples.
10. DO NOT FORGET about the 76th Annual Florida Chapter Meeting in Naples. 14 hours of continuing education will be offered on the 2005 NECode.

11. Andy Malcolm is scheduled to give a brief presentation and explanation about the “YTB Affinity Travel Program.” He in particular will explain that it is not a multi-level marketing program. Please give an open ear to Andy’s suggestions. This could be an additional source of revenue for the Division.

12. The makeup of the “Florida Association of Electrical Contractors” has finally been solved. This through the courtesy of Wes Colley of the ECF-Florida.


Suncoast Division Committees are standing unless changed by the current President.

EDUCATION - Gene Swisher, Joe Bolesina, Gary Snodgrass.

FISCAL - Michael Jordan. Robert Christlieb, Bill Zanicchi, Steve Doyle.

MEMBERSHIP - Eugene Swisher – Chairman, John Kearney, “a volunteer is needed to fill the 3rd
Official Committee slot.

PUBLIC RELATIONS - Christian Widera, Jason Calvert, Matt Killian.

BY – LAWS - Mel Hill, Nelson Montgomery, Michael Jordan.


GENERAL MEETING and other MEETING DATES FOR 2006

Remember that the Pasco IAEI Committee meets the 4th Wednesday of the month at 730pm in Holiday FL.

March 09 Suncoast Division, City of Largo.

April 13 Suncoast Division, City of Safety Harbor.

April 22 Panhandle Division, Pensacola, 8 hour CE seminar on the 2005 NECode.

April 15 Suncoast Division, POSSIBLE seminar with Mark ODE and John Minick. The decision will be
made at the March 09 monthly meeting.

April 26 Central Florida Division, Orlando, 3 hour CE seminar for contractors (business, safety, workers comp). This is being produced jointly with the Central Florida ECF Chapter.

May 10 Florida Chapter Board of Directors Meeting. Tentative time is 2pm – 5pm and at the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club.

May 11 Suncoast Division, Teco Western Division for those not going to the Florida Chapter Annual Meeting in Naples.

May 11, 12, 13 Florida Chapter 76th Annual NECode Workshop and Annual Business Meeting. Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club. Sponsored by the Florida Gulf Coast Division.
Member registration before 04/07 is $ 210.00. After 04/07 it is $ 240.00.
Hotel rooms are $ 145.00 + + per night.

June 3 Central Division, Orlando, 8 hour CE seminar on the 2005 NECode, John Minick of NEMA being
the scheduled speaker.
June 08 Suncoast Division, City of Largo.

June 10 Suncoast Division, POSSIBLE 8 hour seminar with Mark Ode and John Minick. The decision will
be made at the March 09 meeting.

July 13 Suncoast Division, City of Safety Harbor.

August 10 Suncoast Division, TECO Western Division.

September 14 Suncoast Division,City of Largo.

October 12 Suncoast Division,City of Safety Harbor.

October 08-11 Southern Section meeting, Ft. Worth TX.

November 09 Suncoast Division,Teco Western Division.

December 14 Suncoast Division, City of Largo. Annual business meeting and election of 2007 Officers.


Let us all give continued support to the ECF-Pinellas Chapter in their efforts to regroup and rebuild. Call Russ Heisey at A Randy’s Electric for information ( 727-573-1400).


Keep in mind that the Suncoast Division supports the indentured apprenticeship programs of the IEC- West Coast Chapter at Hillsborough Community College, and the Bay Area Electrical Apprenticeship at PTECH-Clearwater.


YOUR CURRENT DIVISION OFFICERS are:


President Robert Moore, TECO Energy
Email remoore@tecoenergy.com

1st Vice President Nelson Montgomery, City of Tampa
Pro Tempore, Past President
Email nelson.montgomery@tampagov.net

2nd Vice President Paul Cameron, Pasco County
Email pcameron@pascocountyfl.net

3rd Vice President Eugene Swisher, City of Tampa
Membership Committee Chairman
Email

Treasurer Robert Moore TECO Energy phone 813-275-3055
Email remoore@tecoenergy.com

Secretary Dick Widera, Widera Electric Co. & Intertek Testing Service
Phone 727-215-6106
Email dick5652@hotmail.com

Board of Directors Michael Jordan, City of Tampa
Chairman Email michael.Jordan@tampagov.net


Respectfully submitted:

R. W. (dick) Widera, Secretary
C/O 1016 Ibis Court
Dunedin, FL 34698
Phone 727-215-6106
Email dick5652@hotmail.com
Email dick.iannaccone@verizon.net

NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CODE QUESTIONS ! ! ! ! !

Does the NECode require more than one supplemental grounding electrode if there are grounding electrode conductor connections to the building steel, concrete encased electrode, and metallic water pipe ?

Is it possible for a form of electricity to build up in or on a plastic water pipe ? Remember that 60 Herz sine wave generated electricity is not the only form of electricity that can exist in nature.

Can a power factor be more than 1.0 or less than 0.0 if one is using the Calculus of Residues or Imaginary Tensor Analysis ? ? ? ? ?

Why is a # 6 wire the largest required for connection to a ground rod ? Will the size requirement change if the rod is longer than 8 feet ? Why is “short time current rating” critical to this installation ? If the conductor is larger than # 6, what happens to the residual fault current that is not absorbed by the concentric electro magnetic field surrounding the ground rod ? Will this residual fault current upon barrier reflection still be at 60 herz ?

Does the NECode contain vector analysis equations ?

Are fringe effects some thing to be concerned about at nominal 60 herz operation ?

What is so critical in the 2005 NECode about “neat and workmanlike manner?”

What are some of the objectionable currents mentioned in NECode 250.6?

If the utility furnishes a fault current rating at the secondary taps of a transformer, does this mean that the rating is the same at the main service switch? What if the Utility changes to a Xfmr with a different Z value ?

Is it possible to stop the utility meter from registering electricity by installing an impedance grounding electrode system? The customer would still retain the full usage of the electricity ! Would this be permissible by the NECode ?

No. The metal underground water pipe is the only electrode that requires a supplemental electrode and per 250.53(D), the CEE or building steel can serve as the required supplemental eelctrode.

It is possible for the flow of water or other inducing effects to establish a static charge on PVC pipe, however the IEEE green book indicates that a resistance as high as 1,000,000-ohms is all that is required to discharge static charges to a safe value from a human contact and fire prevention standpoint.


The contact resistance to earth is very high with ground rods. This limitation prevents the ground rod from providing any performance characteristics that would exceed the current carrying capacity of #6 AWG copper. I'm not sure what the other questions mean or how they apply. The function of the grounding electrode system plays no part in the clearing of premise wiring fault currents. It's limited purpose is for the limiting of surge voltages from lightning and similiar events. A grounding electrode does not reduce the current of these transient surges.

No


The code does a bad job of defining what an objectionable current is and what the value of current is required before it is objectionable. I consider any current that can be removed by eliminating parallel grounding paths and unnecessary grounding on the line side of the service disconnecting means as objectionable.

It is impossible to determine the available fault current of any electrical system for the purposes of 110.9 / 110.10 or for calculating arc flash hazards per the NFPA 70E. The utility systems are too dynamic and any change in switching or transformer impedance will change the original calculation. There is a great danger in overestimating the AFC from the utility in that this over-estimatation will result in faster OCD clearing times and reduce flash analysis. None-the-less, there is currently no way to get accurate inforamtion form the utility.

No. The grounding electrode system plays no part in normal system operations or how electrical metering works. The present or absents of any grounding system is of no consideration.