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Having a main breaker fail is usually a sign of other issues, or possibly just a harsh environment (high humidity?). Have your electrician check the resistance in Ohms of each hot buss to ground; they should be equally high. If not, the mystery continues. 😉
The quality of electrical devices (switches, receptacles, etc) I’ve seen in CR is quite “cheesy” compared to UL listed stuff in the US. Is it foolish to consider shipping down the good stuff for a construction project? Is it subject to the same import duties as personal possessions, are can it skate through (if US made) under CAFTA? 😉
Sounds like cheap money compared to getting fried due to a ground fault having nowhere to go except through the body. There’s a reason that grounding is almost universal in the industrialized world.
Another issue is soil type; some are less conductive than others to grounding. A rod might not be enough. Sometimes a mat or grid is required and that can run into some major moola.
[quote=”crhomebuilder”]I found a new source for roofing laminates that are available in custom lengths up to 12 meters. These continuous laminates eliminate the possibility of water infiltration in between the horizontal laminate overlaps. If you install the laminates with two vertical overlaps of the gooves, this will make your roof much more waterproof than the typical installations completed by the local workers in CR. The company is Ferromax and they are in La Uruca diagonal de Romero Fournier and next to the Texaco gas station. [url=http://grupoferromax.com ]http://grupoferromax.com [/url][/quote]
How do they deal with the thermal expansion issue?
[quote=”maravilla”]yes there are lots of organic fruits and vegetables here and you can get those at your local farmer’s markets. a lot of small farms are not certified because of the paperwork and expense, but if you query your vendors and ask them what they use, most will tell you that they either use some homemade concoction or nothing at all, and if your soils are balanced you don’t really need pesticides. i buy pineapples from a guy who has a farm in guanacaste and he swears he uses nothing on them and that’s why they are smaller than the ones that come from Dole. someone else told me that most of the pesticide usage in Costa Rica goes to bananas and pineapples, so do buy organic when you can. and as for the war on cancer. . . pffffft! a lot of good that has done. it’s only made Big Pharma richer and the stats keep going up, not down.[/quote]
Do you ever get the feeling that the whole world is just one big racket, and we’re all just pawns? Rhetorical question, I know…
[quote=”maravilla”]Adobe is illegal in CR. Super Adobe is new technology that is under review of the collegio. We build everything under 40 meters to avoid perturbing the collegio before they make their ruling.[/quote]
One of the ideal materials for earthbag/tube construction is ‘scoria’ or volcanic rock. It is prized for its insulative value, lightness of weight and compacting characteristics.
As of yet, I have been unable to find a commercially available source for processed scoria in CR. As I would like to employ this building method in Nosara, any leads to a source would be greatly appreciated. 💡
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]The law is what the law is. Love it or hate it, until it’s changed, the law is the law.
Now, if you don’t like what the law is, your options are few, but clear. Run for office yourself and change the law. Support the candidacy of someone who will change the law to your liking. Challenge the law on constitutional grounds. Or stop whining.[/quote]
Geez david, thanks for that pearl of wisdom. Now I can get on with my day, squeezing a buck out of society.
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]The absence of an increase in Social Security and veterans’ pensions for the past two years is attributable not to anything President Obama did but to the fact that, as computed under the laws, there has been no increase in the cost of living.
“COLA” = “Cost of Living Allowance”
No increase in the cost of living = no increase in COLA.
Obama had nothing to do with it. This has been the law for decades.
As for freezing federal employees’ salaries. It’s bullshit.[/quote]
“As computed under the laws”; how convenient! Anyone who has gone grocery shopping in the last year knows what the real cost of living is, not some bureaucratically derived factor that has no semblance of reality.
[quote=”waggoner41″]What does this say about the mental capacity of our elected officials?:shock:[/quote]
That their quiver of magic arrows is empty and their Ivy League degrees aren’t worth bumwad? 😛
It’s interesting to note, however, that the Fukushima power plant was undamaged by the 9.0 quake to any substantial degree. The problems stemmed from siting the emergency generators at too low an elevation, so they were flooded and ruined by the surging water level of the tsunami. Ooops.:cry:
[quote=”Versatile”][quote=”postalx”][quote=”waggoner41″][quote=”postalx”]shocked to find out that healthcare isn’t free yet.[/quote]
I agree with that. It’s like expecting to start a business without any money and expecting a profit from day one, isn’t it.
The payoff doesn’t really start to show until 10 years down the line.[/quote]
If, by some miraculous occurrence, there is any resulting cost benefit to employers and consumers, I’ll admit my error. More likely, I’ll still be muttering about what a dumb-ass, corrupt, ill-conceived scam that was perpetrated on the productive segment of society for the benefit of few and at a ridiculous cost.
The cheerleaders may counter, “Your already paying for the uninsured by inflated insurance premiums.” True; but add to that the cost thousands of freshly minted government employees, working for inflated salaries and benefits, 16,500 new IRS agents waiting to fine your ass for choosing not to comply, and ‘POOF!’, where did the savings go? Designed to fail from the get-go.
Mark these words: healthcare costs in the US will continue to rise, cost containment measures by the US Government will fail and there will be a lot of unemployed Democrat Congressmen and Senators in November.[/quote]
Do you now have health insurance? Have you been without health insurance? If not now ; then when will ALL Americans have health insurance?
Can you explain to me why for 8 yrs during the Republican administration why they didn’t ever address why some many in the USA could not get or afford health insurance?Please stick to the facts this time instead of attacking my character or spelling.
I am on the ground here in the USA and i have yet to find one of the 80% of Americans that are so dead set against the Health Care Bill.[/quote]
Although this is likely a futile exercise, let me give you a glimpse of my world. 55 years old, male, married, self employed, employees, overhead, vehicle fleet; parent of two self sufficient young adults. Working class parents and grandparents.
I’ve had health insurance every day of my working life, paid for by my labor, sometimes with the assistance of my past employers, mostly not. In any event, I chose to allot that money for my peace of mind.
Like it or not, (probably not) people prioritize what they spend money on. Many people are bums and pitiful excuses for parents. Others will never get anywhere in life no matter what you do for them (See: LBJ, Great Society) There are dozens of reasons people don’t have health insurance, but only a few are truly valid. The recurring number I’ve heard reported is that 85% of Americans are happy with their healthcare, although the cost is a factor they’d like improved. So where are the cost savings in this new plan? All I see are mandates, taxes, fines; hardly a recipe for lower costs.
Question is: Does this justify a government takeover of private industry? Not for our welfare; it’s about tax, control, spend.
I suggest that if your having a hard time finding anyone that sees this takeover as objectionable, you need to start engaging people that you fundamentally disagree with, and try their shoes on for size. You might have an epiphany.
But then again, probably not.
