{"id":13126,"date":"2026-09-22T16:17:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T20:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/?p=13126"},"modified":"2026-09-22T16:30:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T20:30:51","slug":"rust-never-sleeps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/valhalla\/rust-never-sleeps\/","title":{"rendered":"Rust Never Sleeps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Main Power Panel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both of my brothers are formally recognized as Ocean Engineers through their degrees from Florida Atlantic University. One described the field as essentially mechanical engineering combined with rust.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Brother Rick and other divers with Thiokol maneuver the Diver Operated Plug into the thrust end of a solid rocket motor from the Space Shuttle. Heavy Duty Rudy!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

My brother Rick worked at \u2018The Cape\u2019, as locals call it, assisting with the recovery of the Space Shuttle\u2019s solid rocket motors (Wow!). He is a devoted Neil Young fan\u2014almost a fanatic\u2014who released Rust Never Sleeps in the late 1970s with his band Crazy Horse. I recall him showing me a report he composed as a young engineer, titled Rust Never Sleeps<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up on Florida\u2019s east coast, I noticed this early on. Warm air and high humidity let salt and moisture act quickly as electrolytes on metal. Sites such as the NASA Kennedy Space Center Beachside Atmospheric Exposure Site<\/a>, just up the road, record some of the nation\u2019s highest chloride deposition rates.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Cars suffered the worst. It was common for an older vehicle to develop rusted floor pans, letting a passenger glimpse the road rushing past between their legs. My friend Joe owned a new Chevy Vega\u2014a model known for corrosion. He would load his surfboard into the hatchback. Within a year, the metal beneath had rusted through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Power<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I moved into Valhalla a little over ten years ago, I faced a sixty-year-old home exposed to a harsh environment and aging electrical systems that seemed patched with spit and baling wire over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make matters worse, I have assembled a sort of Frankenstein by attaching three subpanels to the current 200-amp service. The primary panel rests outside at the rear, largely exposed to the weather and shielded only by a steel cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many years, power came from a rusted transformer perched on a pole behind my house. Before a hurricane brought it down two years ago, it caused ongoing frustration. Lights flickered, and unexplained electrical issues emerged only to vanish again.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton the power pole that feeds my house came down in the parking lot of the condo behind me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I had FPL come out on one such occasion several years ago. The tech did a test to check for an open ground. I had experienced that when I first moved back to Florida in 2014. The result was negative, but the tech told me the main power panel was shot and needed to be replaced. I added that to a list including a new roof and planned to do that this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After returning from Excellent Adventure 2026, I observed further electrical irregularities and found a major imbalance between the two 120V lines from the transformer. A technician arrived but could not identify the cause; however, he confirmed that the main power panel fuses were severely corroded and yielded no reliable reading. This matched my own measurements inside the house. Curiously, the 240V circuits appeared unaffected by the voltage shifts, because they operate out of phase and do not require a neutral. This situation represents a classic open neutral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodness\u2014it seems I delayed a little too long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I appear to be paying the cost. More than a month later, today marks the earliest appointment that met everyone\u2019s needs. After a month without devices that might cause imbalance\u2014such as a microwave, dishwasher, or toaster oven\u2014and $3K, I finally received a new service. Scheduling conflicts delayed the process, but I begrudgingly accepted the wait because I had postponed addressing this for so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Valhalla Fall 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Main Power Panel Both of my brothers are formally recognized as Ocean Engineers through their degrees from Florida Atlantic University. One described the field as essentially mechanical engineering combined with rust. My brother Rick worked at \u2018The Cape\u2019, as locals call it, assisting with the recovery of the Space Shuttle\u2019s solid rocket motors (Wow!). He … Continue reading “Rust Never Sleeps”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-valhalla"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Rust-Never-Sleeps.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13126"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13599,"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13126\/revisions\/13599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tubridy.net\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}