Author Archives: Larry McGuire

31 March 2017 Friday

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We were a little early leaving for the site this morning so we drove down to the salt company pier. We noticed that one of the salt pans was different than on our previous visits. There was no water in it and there was a huge bulldozer that had been pushing the salt into high rows—much like snow being shoved off a parking lot, except over a much larger area. Someone told us that when a salt pan is ready to ‘harvest’ there is a layer of about 18” of salt. This salt is then collected and piled into ‘mountains’ of salt using equipment that reminds me of the augers used to make high piles of grain.

This morning, Steven, Paul, Philip, Bruce and Brian finished the wiring in the new lab area.   Jim and Jake completed connecting the copper lines to the second condensing unit.

Because the air handlers came without electrical controls, Daryl VanDyken took Ralph and me to town to see if we could find two starter contactors to allow us to proceed with wiring them into the circuit. Nothing was found, so a message was sent to someone that is coming from Kansas tomorrow to see if he could bring them.

While we were in town we noticed a ship at the dock with five huge masts for sails. We drove by the town pier and found that it was named, Royal Clipper, of Star Clippers. We looked it up and found that it is the largest fully-rigged sailing vessel in the world. On our way home this evening, we were disappointed that it had already sailed. What a sight it would have been to have seen it with all its sails up.

This afternoon, Paul, Philip, Bruce and Brian began wiring lights and outlets inside the phasor room. Their handiwork is a real work of art to behold! Steven checked out the best way to install the covers on the cable tray.

Jim and Jake installed pans in the loft to catch any overflow of condensation from the cooling coils that is not taken care of by the drain line. The air handlers are so big that these pans were made in two pieces then sealed with silicon sealer. With occasional help from others, the air handlers then had to be moved and set down into their respective pans. The next step is to connect the copper lines to the air handlers. Because the condensing units were moved after the original plans, it looks like there may be a shortage of the 1-5/8 inch diameter copper pipe to finish the connection to the second air handler.

Since the 1200 amp circuit breaker shunt trip came without wiring instructions, I researched what circuitry will be required to connect the ’emergency shutdown’ button to this shunt trip. The company that made the breaker supplied a 1,000 watt transformer to provide 110 volt from the 380 volt incoming line. To me, this seemed to be very inefficient, since the shunt trip only requires 100 watt for a fraction of a second to trip the breaker. Why waste approximately 50 watts (the approximate idling current needed for the transformer) continuously, when 100 watt may only be needed for a fraction of a second maybe once per year at most! I wanted to verify that the shunt trip worked. By connecting the coil of the shunt trip to a 110 v plug, the shunt trip successfully trip the breaker when plugged into an outlet.

There were also no instructions for connecting the neutral sensing transformer. So research was done on this also. It looks like this will not need to be used for our application, as there is no neutral line going the delta connected primary of the transmitter’s input transformer.

Before supper, Mark, Philip, Jake and I went swimming at a beach which is about ¼ mi further towards town from the airport beach. This beach has more sand than the previous beaches we have been to. Unfortunately, more sand means the water is cloudier. Even so, it was possible to see some types of fish that had not been seen previously.

Supper this evening was homemade pizza (various types with cheese, pepperoni, bacon, and pineapple), and fruit salad. Before leaving the table each evening, a song, or two, or more, are sung. Boy, can these boys harmonize!! These times are a highlight of our meals.

Tonight there is no internet connection, so will have to save this text for sending later.

30 March 2017 Thursday

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With all the 200, 400, 800, and 1200 amp wiring installed, the pace of the work has thankfully slowed somewhat for me.

Steven, Brian, Bruce and Philip began working on the wiring for lights and outlets (both 110v and 220v) in the new lab, just off the new transmitter hall.  This is the type of wiring they do regularly at home, and requires very little input from me.  It is neat to see how quickly these cousins work together to get the job done.

Paul continued to work in the power room installing a ceiling light and outlets.  By afternoon, we were able to back-feed the 800 amp panel which allowed him to use a vacuum cleaner to clean out all the concrete dust and metal shavings from the bottoms of all the panels and from the floor.  He installed all the panel covers, except the one for the 1,200 amp breaker panel.  We still need to design and wire the circuit for the shunt trip to be used for an emergency shutdown button to be installed inside the transmitter hall.

“Uncle’ Jim and Jake continued assembling the long copper lines by now connecting them to the condensing units.  Jim discovered the reason for the elbows not fitting onto the tubing easily.  The tubing is slightly oval.  By squeezing the larger diameter of the oval, the fittings slide on much easier.

Mid-morning, the air handlers which weigh about 1,800 lbs each finally arrived at the site and were unloaded.  These are to be located in the loft above the transmitter hall.  We quickly learned that the forklift they brought to lift them into the loft could not lift them quite high enough.  Fortunately, Amado Felix, a former TWR employee from the 1960s and now a prominent businessman on Bonaire, was overseeing this delivery.  When he saw the problem, he immediately contacted his brother at the salt company to bring their telehandler (large front-end loader type fork lift).

The air handlers had been ordered as one left-hand unit and one right-hand unit.  Immediately, we noticed that, although the cooling coils were opposite as was needed, the access doors for the filters and blowers had not been reversed.  This was a problem, because one side of the air handler is close to the wall and the doors have to be on the side away from the wall.  Steven and I quickly changed the access doors to the other side while waiting for the telehandler.

The telehandler arrived shortly before lunch.  It definitely had the capability of lifting the air handlers high enough, but the boom was going to hit the ceiling trusses before the bottom of the air handler was high enough to slide into the loft.  Again, Amado Felix was there and with his contacts, and influence, was able to locate a forklift that could do the job after lunch.

Ralph and I went home for lunch, but today we did not siesta.  Instead, we went to Kooyman Hardware be pick up a couple of items for the project.

We had been forewarned that the forklift we needed was very busy on another job and that we could only use it for an hour.  Therefore, we had everything ready when the forklift arrived about 2pm.  I didn’t time how long it took to lift both air handlers into the loft, but am sure that it was done in less than 20 minutes.  We are so grateful that Amado was there to orchestrate this for us.  If TWR people were requesting this forklift, I am sure that it would have taken several days for it to come, rather than a couple of hours!

Since everyone was busily working and I had a few minutes to spare, I decided to walk around the site to where the old shortwave curtain antenna had been.  All the tower base foundations and guy wire anchors are still there.  These massive concrete ‘monuments’ brought back many fond memories from 45+ years ago!
This evening, Steven, Paul, Phil, Bruce, Jake and I went for a cool down swim.  This time it was at the beach located at the end of the airport runway.

For supper this evening we had sliced canned ham, macaroni and cheese, a corn casserole, left-over sloppy joes, ‘glorified rice’, and lettuce with the usual toppings.  I plan to turn in for the night a little earlier this evening.  Good night!!

28 March 2017 Wednesday

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After devotions, work began on pulling in the 100 feet long 4 conductor 4/0 cable that is about 2 inches in diameter, and heavy!  I was amazed as a couple of the VanderWerf grandsons grabbed the end of the cable and shoved it through the hole into the loft.  Two more grandsons received the cable to pull it through the loft and push it through a hole in the wall onto the cable tray going to the power room.  The remaining two grandsons pulled the cable down the tray and threaded it through the entry into the power room.  I didn’t time this operation, but guess it took no more than a couple minutes.  All I know is that there was not enough time to run outside to take photos of the process before it was already done!!

This 4/0 cable ran from the 200 amp panel in the transmitter hall to a breaker in the 800 amp distribution panel.  We were trying to determine the best routing through the power room, as the cable was too short to run down to the trench then back up to the breaker.  We decided to route the cable up and across the ceiling and use 2 hole saddle clamps to attach it to the ceiling.  There were not enough clamps in stock, so Ralph and I made a trip to Kooyman, Bonaire’s hardware store.  Kooyman had exactly what we needed.  We gave these clamps to Paul and when we checked back in less than an hour, the cable was attached neatly to the ceiling and connected to its breaker.  I suspect he enlisted the aid of his brother, or a cousin, to hold it up and secure it.

Now that this 4/0 cable runs to the 200 amp panel, Ralph and I switched off power to the temporary power cable that we had attached to the 200 amp main breaker a couple of days ago.  This temporary cable keeps lights and outlets powered in the new transmitter hall.   We quickly attached this temporary feed to a 25 amp three phase breaker in the panel.  Power was then restored with the circuits now being back-fed through the 25 amp breaker.  By switching the main breaker off (and taping it off), we were now able to connect the 4/0 cables to the 200 amp main breaker.  When the power company finally connects electricity to the power room, the temporary line can be disconnected and the main breaker switched on (after removing the tape) and this panel will be receiving its power from its designed source.

Meanwhile, ten 50 foot long 500mcm (about 1″ diameter) cables were being run from the 1,200 amp breaker in the power room to where the transmitter disconnect switch will be located.  These are also routed on the cable tray.  These cables are so heavy that the small tractor with front-end loader could not lift the spool containing the cable.  The spool had to be lifted with a chain hoist to put it on the stand for unreeling the cable.  These ten cables were cut for length then pulled through one-at-time, then Paul terminated then on the 1,200 amp breaker.   The other end was left hanging to be connected to a disconnect switch that will be coming with the transmitter.

These ten 500mcm cables were bundled in two bundles of three cables and one bundle of four.  Each bundle contains one wire from each phase.  The fourth cable in the larger bundle is a ground cable.  Each bundle is tie-wrapped to the cable tray to keep about 3″ spacing between each bundle.

At noon, Ralph and I went to the duplex for lunch and siesta.  We found out that Lionel treated the rest of our team to some goat meat stew and iquana.  Apparently the iguana was female, so they also had some iquana eggs!

Jim and Jake began connecting the copper lines to the condensing units.  The air handlers and cooling coils are supposed to be delivered tomorrow, just in time to avoid delays in the process of installing the air conditioners.

Bruce completed the modifications required to connect the dual 350mcm cable to the standby generator.

Philip and Brian progressed to the point of being able to switch on the LED light fixtures located above the future transmitter.  Multiple outlet circuits are also being installed.

As we reviewed progress at the end of the day, all the heavy cabling has been completed that can be done.  The connections for incoming power need to be done by the power company and the transmitter needs to be here to connect the other end.

Since we had been invited out for desert at 7pm this evening, our swim at Bachelor Beach was shortened.  We then had ‘tater tot’ casserole, cole slaw,  applesauce and salad with craisins and sunflower seeds.

Dessert was at the guest house where the VanDykens are staying.  All the missionary staff were there and each family brought a dessert to share.  There was a carrot cake, a couple of ‘dump cakes’, and ‘glorified rice’.

27 March 2017

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 8 am devotions were at the site this morning, so we were able to start our work tasks by 8:30.  Yesterday, I mentioned that work seemed to go into ‘hyper-drive’.  Today that trend seemed to continue–maybe even faster as the newer members of our team learn where the various supplies and tools are located.

With all the interconnecting conduits installed between the three panels used for providing power to the 800 amp distribution panel in the power room, the process of installing the 500mcm (about 1″ diameter) cables began.  Two 500mcm cables are required per each of three phases and two for neutral.  This means there are 8 cables to be installed per run.  One run is from the 800 amp breaker to the ATS (automatic transfer switch and another run is from ATS to the 800 amp distribution panel.  There is also a run of 8 cables from the standby generator to the ATS but these are slightly smaller 350mcm (about 0.9″ diameter) cables.  Paul was the ‘work horse’ on this project–bending the cables by hand, or with a special bender at times.  I was kept ‘hopping’, just cutting the various lengths of cable as he needed them.
Meanwhile, Bruce was busy modifying connectors to attach the 350mcm cable to the standby generator.  The modifications were done and half the cables were connected by the end of the day.

Steven completed installation of the 18″ wide cable tray, and its supporting brackets, that run between the power room and the transmitter hall.  He and Lionel (a TWR Bonarian worker) had to design and weld the support structure for the last section of cable tray, which is a 90 degree bend into the power room.

While Ralph and I went to the duplex for lunch and a siesta, the rest of the team ate their sack lunches at the site.  By the time we got back, Paul had finished wiring up the two step-down transformers for the air conditioner condensing units.

Jim and Jake continued to make good progress on the multiple long runs of large copper tubing for the air conditioning.  For some reason, all the coupling and elbows are fitting tighter than normal on the copper tubing.  This is slowing the process of soldering the joints.

Philip and Brian installed conduits and 8 four foot lighting fixtures and in the transmitter hall.  These fixtures will use LEDs instead of fluorescent tubes.

Quitting time, 4:30pm, arrived quickly again, and I am amazed at how much has been accomplished in just two days.  Tomorrow, it should be possible to begin installing the much longer runs of cables.  I am glad that we have the six young men to help with this part of the project.  One of the cables is 100 feet long, about 2.5 inches in diameter, and heavy!  Actually, all the cables are heavy!!

We learned that the air handlers with their cooling coils for the air conditioning units are on the island, but no one is available to transport them to the site until Thursday.  Fortunately, we still have enough other work to keep us busy tomorrow.  Pray that these air handlers will arrive before causing any delay in the work.

I joined Steven, Paul, Phil, Bruce and Jake or a half-hour cool-off swim Bachelor Beach before supper.

Supper this evening was rice and chicken, peas, cole slaw, and pear halves.  Dessert was a Dutch wafer cookie called stroopwafel.  In addition to water, there was again ice tea and lemonade for drinks.  We really appreciate all the effort on the part of Maryjane and Virginia!

27 March 2017

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Instead of going to the site first thing this morning, it was requested that all 11 of us come to the office for devotions to meet all the staff there.  Ralph was asked to give a short devotional.  The Snyders celebrated the birth of their first grandchild by making a treat for everyone.  It was like a crispy cookie with little pink-and-white sugar-coated pellets (BB sized) on top.  Inside, the pellets were licorice flavored.

We got to the site about 9:30am and, with our additional crew of 8 young men, our work seemed to go into ‘hyperdrive’!  Paul and Jake worked with me and within two hours all three remaining panels (one 1,200 amp breaker, one 800 amp breaker and one 400 amp distribution) were all moved in and anchored to the wall.  Paul then began to install the 4″ and 3″ interconnecting conduits between the 800 amp breaker panel, the automatic transfer switch and the 800 amp distribution panel.  By using these conduits, it will be possible to keep the trenches under the panels clearer for the power company’s cables.  Brian helped by installing cable lugs on terminals of the two transformers and the automatic transfer switch.

Meanwhile, Steven began installation of the 40 feet of 18″ wide cable tray, and its supporting brackets, that run between the power room and the transmitter hall.  Jake began helping his uncle Jim with running the large copper tubing required for the air conditioning.  The others began to run conduits from the 200 amp panel in the transmitter hall for lights and outlets inside that part of the building.

While I brought Ralph back to the duplex for lunch and a siesta, the others ate their sack lunches at the site.

The work continued in the afternoon with installing additional conduits for the two transformers for the condensing units into the trench.  Circuit breakers were swapped around in the 800 amp distribution panel to allow for neater wiring.  The large cables from the standby generator were moved around in the 6-foot-deep by 1-foot-wide trench (that circumvents the room on three sides) to make the wiring look neater after all the connections are made.  Wooden supports were made to hold other cables off the bottom of the trench.  This will allow the power company’s cables to easily cross underneath.

Quitting time, 4:30pm, arrived quickly and all of us ‘younger men’ swam at Hilma Hooker Beach (http://www.scubadiving.com/dive-hilma-hooker), just across the road from the transmitter site gate.

Supper this evening was sloppy joes, beans, ‘glorified rice’ (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/22627/glorified-rice/), potato salad and lettuce salad with craisins and sunflower seeds.  Dessert was a snicker doodle cookie.  In addition to water, there was ice tea and lemonade for drinks.