Blackened ground wires, Why??

[hausdok]

Hi,

I used to build A.O. Smith Harvestors all over New York and New England; I remember quite a few farms in upstate New York where they had that kind of water. The locals called it "mineral water" and my old man called it "sulfur water." It was supposed to be harmless to drink but jeez it stunk to high heaven. Any "mineral" water that I ever saw before that came off the shelf at the super market and it didn't smell like rotten eggs. The crew hated it when we landed on a farm with that stuff and my old man would have to drive for miles to find a place that didn't have it, in order to fill up a big plastic picnic jug with non-stinky water, so that we wouldn't get dehydrated during the day. My Uncle Al, the comic of the family, used to call it "fartwater." It was thanks to Uncle Al and his cute name for the water that I ended up insulting the prettiest girl I'd ever seen in my then 14 years and got drenched with that stuff in the bargain.

We were putting up a structure on her daddy's farm in Alburg, NY less than half an hour from the Canadian border. She was about my age and so pretty that my knees just about buckled every time I looked at her and she easily put Angelina Jolie to shame. Well, the second day of the build, it was a really hot summer day and we were all laboring in the heat and dripping wet with sweat. That's when she walked out to the site with a big pitcher of ice water, came straight over to me first, poured out a tall glass of water, smiled and handed it to me. I could feel the eyes of the entire crew on me and all conversation between the guys stopped. I tried to smile and muster a thank you, but it was like my face muscles wouldn't work, my tongue had folded up in my throat, and I'd had an attack of Alzheimer's all at the same time, 'cuz my brain definitely wasn't firing on all cylinders. I knew I was turning beet red, so I did the only thing that my body seemed willing to do; I reached out, took the glass, raised it quickly to my lips and took a huge swig. That's when the smell hit me. Well, you can guess what happened next; I spit it out, spraying her pretty good in the process, and, before I could reengage my brain, I exclaimed, "Damn, it's that groddy fartwater crap!"

Well, the entire crew erupted into hysterics and needless to say, she wasn't too happy at being hosed down with saliva by some rude boy who was insulating her family's water. Humiliated, I guess she did the only thing that she felt she could do to regain her honor, she doused me with that entire pitcher of fartwater, turned on her heel and stalked off looking pretty pissed. At that point, the entire job came to a half for about 15 minutes; 'cuz the crew were laughing so hard that they were incapacitated. Me, I just wanted to slink off somewhere, crawl under a rock and die because the most beautiful girl on the planet had just covered me with rotten egg smell and now considered me to be the rudest boy within 10 light years.

A little while later, her daddy came out to the site looking a little concerned. He came up to me and asked me if I knew why his daughter had run up to the house crying after she'd brought a pitcher of water out to the guys. I just stammered something incomprehensible, pointed to Uncle Al and busied myself out of site behind the Loadstar while the farmer went over to talk to Al. I was pretty sure that in a minute he was going to come back and walk up on side of me and then down the other. Well, I needn't have worried, 'cuz about a minute later I heard him break out into laughter. I peeked around the truck and he and half the crew were standing there going into hysterics. I went back behind the Loadstar.

A few minutes later, the farmer walked right by me laughing on the way back to the barn. He stopped only long enough to say, "Sonny, you've got a lot to learn about how to impress a girl," and off he went in stitches.

We were there for another day and a half. I was hoping that she'd come back out to the site again. I'd managed to work up the courage and resolve to apologize to her in front of the crew if she did, but she never did come back. Those guys ribbed me about that all summer; especially when there'd be some pretty girl my age hanging around on one of the farms. I never did learn her name and I used to often wonder what became of her. [:-ashamed

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by hausdok

. . . I never did learn her name and I used to often wonder what became of her. [:-ashamed

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Well, maybe the time has come for you to look her up and apologize. . .

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[hausdok]

Hi Jim,

Well, if I were single I might; however, the Korean konnection would gut me like a halibut if she ever got wind I was trying to track down some girl I'd never had a conversation with 44 years ago.

Best left alone.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Jeff Remas]

That was a cute story. Well written.

[robert1966]

I agree, I found a junction box inside a cabinet a few years ago and the cover was off. The copper wires were black in color and there was a chemical bottle in the cabinet also. The label was off the bottle, but you could tell it contained some corrosive chemicals. There was chemical build-up from leaks around the bottle neck.

It appears that the chemicals reacted with the bare copper and caused them to oxidize to a black color.

Robert,

http://www.atexinspects.com

My first thought is Yuk!

Erby, when I have found blackened copper it has always been in a room or garage that has had chemicals stored in close proximity to the panel.

You said the water had a "sulphur" smell. Does the area have sulphur water? If ground water is seeping up into the crawl space and it is sulphur water, I would bet that could be the culprit that is turning the copper black in the panel.