A Level III Class Gets Schooled…by the Banquet Staff

Ronald D. Lucier, ASNT NDT Level III

Last month I was conducting a Level III class at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. If you aren’t familiar with the facility it is a wonderful place to conduct meetings. The staff is great, food is overwhelming and the rooms are inexpensive and clean. Plus the hotel has many restaurants, a movie theater, a bowling alley and of course a casino. It has been an ITC favorite for over 10 years.

Lately, though, we have been having issues with the meeting room, specifically the temperature.  The past couple times I’ve taught there it has been very cold and students have complained.  Now, I like my hotel room cold enough to hang meat, but 63˚F (17.2˚C) is a bit extreme for conducting a meeting unless you are in Antarctica, which we were not. 

Once again, we were having the same issues…

Emissivity of a Bees’ Nest?

Level III student Gabe Peer of Travis Electric Company in Nashville, TN recently sent his instructor, Ron Lucier, a set of images he took of a disconnect on a roof unit.  It turns out disconnects on 10 of the 11 units present on this particular roof contained some kind of nest!

Which begs the question…any guesses on what emissivity to use if your fuses are covered with a wasps’ nest? Does it even matter?  All joking aside, I know that a number of thermographers out there have had similar, less-than-pleasant, encounters with wildlife while in the field.  As if dealing with PPE isn’t enough to worry about, from insects, to rodents to reptiles there’s always the potential for a nice surprise to jump out at us from under an electrical cover.

So, for our readers, curious what you have encountered? Anything that you would like to share? Please feel free to comment below or send in your best story with images and/or video and we’ll post it too.