# Safety matters!!!



## miller_elex (Jan 25, 2008)

Oh man, almost had something like that happen to me too. 

Fan unit, 25hp motor with four belts on the pulleys... It's no joke, I've pulled fuses just in case.

That's why I am glad alot of retrofits are gravitating towards FAN WALLS.


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## drsparky (Nov 13, 2008)

Ouch.inch:


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## kaboler (Dec 1, 2010)

Would have been nice to have a sticker on the unit saying "2 sources of power". That's pretty common around here.


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## sarness (Sep 14, 2010)

A long time ago a worker at a company I worked at lost 2 fingers and almost his thumb from a fan (they were able to re-attach them).

He had pulled the disconnect, but the blades stuck, I even had a recall for some discos for the same problem a few years back.


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## Mike in Canada (Jun 27, 2010)

kaboler said:


> Would have been nice to have a sticker on the unit saying "2 sources of power". That's pretty common around here.


 "Two sources of power", to me, means two sources of *electrical* power. Like having two different voltage feeds into one panel. Different thing. Honestly, it should be pretty obvious that there were two motors on that unit.
This actually brings up a point. This gravitation towards every motor having its own lock-out at the motor itself is not always a good thing, in my opinion. In the 'good ole days' she'd have locked out the machine and she'd have been safe as houses. Now she locked out one motor and got sucked in. She most definitely should have locked out *both* motors.


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## Stardrill (Mar 8, 2008)

Locking out both motors might not be enough. The fan or blower blades might have to be locked in place to prevent air flow from turning the pulleys.


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## Mike in Canada (Jun 27, 2010)

Good point, Stardrill.


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

Did repairs on a large return fan this week. Locked the VFD out and I could see it from were I was working. As I had my hand inside the unit changing a sensor the fan began to rotate. It quickly began to pickup speed. I was lucky a small 2x4 was with in reach and with my free hand I tossed it on the belts for the motor. These 280" belts grabbed it and stopped the fan. 

Turns out the unseen supply fan was on a VFD and the building automation program tried to make up for the loss of return air by speeding up. This caused the return fan to quickly pinwheel. It was a 30 minute lag time before the program tried to compensate. 

You never know what can happen. I was lucky for the 2x4 being there as my only other option was trying to dropping my screwdriver & sensor into the squirrel cage and trying to get my arm out of the tight space I was in without touching the squirrel case as she rotated.


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## tates1882 (Sep 3, 2010)

Wirenuting said:


> Did repairs on a large return fan this week. Locked the VFD out and I could see it from were I was working. As I had my hand inside the unit changing a sensor the fan began to rotate. It quickly began to pickup speed. I was lucky a small 2x4 was with in reach and with my free hand I tossed it on the belts for the motor. These 280" belts grabbed it and stopped the fan.
> 
> Turns out the unseen supply fan was on a VFD and the building automation program tried to make up for the loss of return air by speeding up. This caused the return fan to quickly pinwheel. It was a 30 minute lag time before the program tried to compensate.
> 
> You never know what can happen. I was lucky for the 2x4 being there as my only other option was trying to dropping my screwdriver & sensor into the squirrel cage and trying to get my arm out of the tight space I was in without touching the squirrel case as she rotated.


Dam man, lucky lucky. I'm glad I down have to do service very often,



Mike in Canada said:


> "Two sources of power", to me, means two sources of *electrical* power. Like having two different voltage feeds into one panel. Different thing. Honestly, it should be pretty obvious that there were two motors on that unit.
> This actually brings up a point. This gravitation towards every motor having its own lock-out at the motor itself is not always a good thing, in my opinion. In the 'good ole days' she'd have locked out the machine and she'd have been safe as houses. Now she locked out one motor and got sucked in. She most definitely should have locked out *both* motors.


 The whole machine should have be LOTO.


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## Big John (May 23, 2010)

I guess I'm confused about the cause: 
Did the second motor drive a blower that caused her blower to pinwheel? 

Or was the second motor somehow coupled to the blower she was working on, but not controlled by her disconnect? If that's the case, then that's a serious design/installation error. 

I learned about pinwheeling the hard way. Small 5HP motor but it ran a huge centrifugal blower at low speed. I was in the process of re-attaching a belt when a damper dropped open and the draft caused the blower to rotate. Before I even knew what was happening it had run my finger through the pulley.

Hurt like hell and I lost a fingernail, but it sure taught me.

-John


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## tates1882 (Sep 3, 2010)

Big John said:


> I guess I'm confused about the cause:
> Did the second motor drive a blower that caused her blower to pinwheel?
> 
> Or was the second motor somehow coupled to the blower she was working on, but not controlled by her disconnect? If that's the case, then that's a serious design/installation error.
> ...


 I'm not to sure either. I know that OSHA and the police are both investigating, there should be a detailed report released. Also I think the company was an union outfit so I think IBEW would investigate also.


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## pudge565 (Dec 8, 2007)

Was the casino under construction or already built and just maintenance being performed. If it was the latter then OSHA *1910.147(c) *applies. You can read it here: http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_id=9804&p_table=STANDARDSThe casino should have had a LOTO procedure in place and she should have been trained on it before performing work on the unit.

If it was under construction this does not apply.


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## millelec (Nov 20, 2010)

have done cooling tower work, 3 cells to a tower, (one fan per cell). if other fans would start in that tower would get rotation in the powered down fan due to drafts. no fun.


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