sudo-discuss

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7412 discussions

Regarding furnaces, space heaters and CCL.

by Nenufar Molecules

Regarding furnaces, space heaters and CCL. I don’t recall anyone asking CCL if we needed or wanted a furnace or a space heater. I think the whole process of working on the furnace and space heater is distracting to the lab work we are doing, it is also making extra work for us, and putting an added risk factor in place. I for one don’t want to repair the furnace or space heater in CCL. Some of my reasons are: 1. Oakland, CA has the best weather in the world. As far as cold weather, the thermometer only rarely goes below 45 degrees F at night in winter. This is not Siberia or N. Dakota, it’s Oakland. Back in the 90’s was the last time it got cold enough to turn on a heater for a few nights. 2. It’s true that someone brought in a small electric heater to CCL. I think they were sleeping at the lab or doing some web surfing. The Temescal library is only a few blocks away and they will likely have the heat turned up for people to be comfortable as they read and snooze. I have worked at CCL even late at night for 5 years and have not noticed any extremes of cold there. CCL is a lab and it’s warm enough to do lab work there year round. There’s some garments that used to be known as “Long Johns” Those and a cap or hoody all anyone ever needs to keep warm in CCL in winter. I think there should be a ban on heaters at CCL. The small heater I found left on with no one in the lab multiple times and unplugged it. 3. CCL is about working on making a better tomorrow and we have a lot of challenges to meet with things like global warming. That’s something I think we all need to take responsibility for. Humans will soon be higher on the endangered species list if we don’t. Furnaces and heaters, large or small draw a lot of power, gas and/or electricity, and are not sustainable, and not energy efficient by any means. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to heat a space the size of the Omni commons building. What effect does this use of gas and electricity have on global warming? Does it not make perfect sense to put on warm socks and underwear, a wool cap and be warm as toast without using large amounts of these resources to heat a large space? Hello, this is the 21st century and we do need to mend our ways for the sake of future generations, and life on earth in general. So as far as CCL goes, I say no to heaters. 4. I have been informed by our treasurer, Michael Arent that CCL and also the Omni are facing some financial difficulties. It seems like at this time we need to be careful about spending money. There are a number of projects at the Omni commons that would seem to have priority over heating concerns. A roof that doesn’t leak when it rains, for example. Paying for gas and electricity to heat the building doesn’t seem to be necessary at all. Let’s consider selling the furnace as scrap metal and raise some small funds for repairing the Omni. 5. Lab work takes a great deal of focus and we don’t wish to have the disturbances of any work going on overhead. We have a great deal of materials and time invested in what we are doing. I’m the one who asked for the COI and an incident is fresh in my memory of a friend’s lab in Oakland where some work was being done and a very heavy piece of metal came crashing down from a high roof to land on a workstation, damaging equipment. If anyone had been sitting at that workbench at the time, they probably would have been killed or crippled. Of course I want to know who is going to be responsible for any injuries or damage done and that COI should be approved by CCL before any work takes place at the lab. Then I wouldn't need to bring it up at an inconvenient time. We also strongly feel that the labwork we are doing is so much more important than working on the heating system. A couple projects at CCL are involved with public health (matters of life and death) and we don’t wish to be distracted by activities overhead or have to do additional cleanup work because of them. We really have enough on our plates and would appreciate being left alone to do our work undisturbed. Please desist. No need for heaters at CCL. Let's hear from some of the others who are in the lab year round, are you reasonably comfy or not? What concerns do you have and what improvements would you like to see at CCL in the year to come? Best wishes always, Eddy Spinner CCL Lab Rat

3 years, 11 months

sudo room meeting starting in 5 mins (6 pm)

by Marc Juul

I'm not there in person today and I don't know if anyone else is but we're definitely doing virtual: https://meet.jit.si/SudoRoomMeeting -- marc/juul

3 years, 11 months

We have an all Bay Area Hackerspace Mailing list and Chatroom

by sunjam＠james.network

Hi all, we've re-started the Bay Area Consortium of Hackerspaces (bach) mailing list and chat. Was active from 2013 - 2014 previously. Details at https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Bay_Area_Consortium_of_Hackerspaces Join our friendly Mailing List https://lists.hackerspaces.org/listinfo/bach Chat on IRC #bach:libera.chat or from Matrix #BACH:matrix.org #bayarea:hackspaces.org

3 years, 11 months

Last Month's Income & Expenses

by Omni Commons

3 years, 11 months

Hardware hacknight tonight at 7 pm

by Marc Juul

Hi sudoers. Hardware hacknight will be happening tonight at sudo room starting at 7 pm. Last week: * An old laser was torn down into its useful components * Some folks repaired a broken stereo amplifier * Some of us opened up an old Macintosh SE/30 and got rw access to the ancient 60 MB harddrive from a modern linux PC, then set up System 7.5 in an emulator and attempted to talk to the old Mac over serial Tonight: * We'll be trying to get the old mac browsing the modern web and set up at sudo room's front table. * We'll attempt to turn two broken very high pressure syringe pumps (HPLC) into a single working one. * <insert your project here> Come hang out! Mask required at all times when indoors and vaccination required (proof of vaccination not required). If you want to eat you must do so outside (last week we had a pizza break out on the sidewalk). There's a new doorbell on the front door that should get our attention in case you don't have an access card. -- marc/juul

3 years, 11 months

sudo room meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) at 6 pm

by Marc Juul

Hi sudoers! We're rebooting the sudo room meetings. Last week we tried to do an in-person only meeting but I gave late notice and very few people showed. Let's try this again with a virtual _and_ in-person meeting. I'll set up some microphones, speakers and webcam to connect those of us at sudo room to those joining online. We'll send out a link to the video conference when we're about to begin. If you're joining in person, remember that masks and vaccines are required (though not proof of vaccine). There is a new doorbell on the front door if your access card isn't working (or you don't have one). -- marc/juul

3 years, 11 months

automatic quickbook messages coming from where?

by Jake

I think six months ago or more, we talked about trying to figure out where these emails are coming from and whether they're accurate. If they're accurate, it would be nice to get a clarification of the situation and what we need to do about it, otherwise if this is an automatic message that is sending out confusing and incorrect numbers, we should figure out where it's coming from and turn it off. Does anyone control the email address "Omni Commons <quickbooks(a)notification.intuit.com>" it's coming from o4.e.notification.intuit.com [167.89.82.160] also, we need to remove the email address rcsheets(a)acm.org from these automatic messages, i'm pretty sure they don't want to receive these messages anymore or hear anything about us. -jake On Tue, 28 Sep 2021, Omni Commons wrote: > Dear Sudo Room, > > Just a reminder that we have not received a payment for this invoice yet. Let us know if you have questions. > > Thanks for your business! > Omni Commons > > > > > > > ---------------------------------- Invoice --------------------------------- > > > 4799 Shattuck Ave > Oakland, CA 94609 US > https://omnicommons.org > > Invoice #: 2407 > Date: 09/01/2021 > Due Date: 09/25/2021 > Terms: Net 25 > Amount Due: $20,000.00 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Bill To: > > Sudo Room > 4799 Shattuck Ave > Oakland, CA 94607 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ****************************** Account Summary ***************************** > > 08/01/2021 Balance Forward $20,000.00 > Other payments and credits after 08/01/2021 -2,000.00 > New charges (details below) 2,000.00 > Total Amount Due (activity through 09/01/202 20,000.00 > > **************************************************************************** > > Date Activity Qty Rate Amount > 09/01/2021 Furnishing Fa 1 2,000.00 2,000.00 > ____________________________________________________________________________ > -------------------------------------- > Total Of New Charges: $2,000.00 > > Total Amount Due: $20,000.00 > > > Greetings Sudo Room! > > This is your monthly donation invoice. Thank you for stewarding the > commons! > > Love and solidarity, > Omni Commons Finance Working Group > > > > > > > > >

3 years, 11 months

Reminder: Pledge [Pledge No.] from Omni Commons

by Omni Commons

Dear Sudo Room, Just a reminder that we have not received a payment for this invoice yet. Let us know if you have questions. Thanks for your business! Omni Commons ---------------------------------- Invoice --------------------------------- 4799 Shattuck Ave Oakland, CA 94609 US https://omnicommons.org Invoice #: 2407 Date: 09/01/2021 Due Date: 09/25/2021 Terms: Net 25 Amount Due: $20,000.00 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill To: Sudo Room 4799 Shattuck Ave Oakland, CA 94607 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ****************************** Account Summary ***************************** 08/01/2021 Balance Forward $20,000.00 Other payments and credits after 08/01/2021 -2,000.00 New charges (details below) 2,000.00 Total Amount Due (activity through 09/01/202 20,000.00 **************************************************************************** Date Activity Qty Rate Amount 09/01/2021 Furnishing Fa 1 2,000.00 2,000.00 ____________________________________________________________________________ -------------------------------------- Total Of New Charges: $2,000.00 Total Amount Due: $20,000.00 Greetings Sudo Room! This is your monthly donation invoice. Thank you for stewarding the commons! Love and solidarity, Omni Commons Finance Working Group

3 years, 11 months

Fwd: Omni HVAC status 9/24

by David Keenan

Hi CCL and Sudo, Forwarded below is my update to consensus list on the present status of omni's various furnaces / heaters, including those situated within CCL/Sudo. I encourage all to read through it, and I wanted to extend my gratitude to everyone who allowed the safety of the furnace and space heater to be assessed on 9/23. In addition to that update, based on feedback from folks in the lab at the time, *I also wanted to develop a better protocol for the scheduled maintenance of these fixtures and for infrastructure issues generally with CCL and Sudo, in particular CCL*. To this end I had the following questions for CCL: 1. I was told there was a Lab Manager -- I believe whose name is Dave? May I have this person's contact info? As moving forward, it would be great to ensure this person is directly apprised of any maintenance work which may affect CCL. 2. During the work, a CCL'er demanded that the HVAC person present their Certificate of Insurance (COI). I wanted to respectfully ask that in the future, if such questions be directed at me or whomever is coordinating the maintenance for omni, rather than of the tech performing the maintenance. As I don't believe this is the sort of paperwork that tradesfolk carry around with them on their person while on ladders etc., and it can feel vaguely threatening, whereas I am happy to provide this if this is required. (Parenthetically on this topic - I also was hoping CCL might provide their annual COI to me or to the finance WG, to aid the pursuit of re-applying for cheaper building/fire insurance for the whole building.. I've been meaning to gather all these) 3. Per my update to consensus, I would like (w/ zero pressure) to ask if CCL might consider voluntarily safely undertaking a cleaning of the furnace platform upon which there is a layer of dust (such as wiping down with wet wipes i imagine, or some other manner involving a minimum of air disturbance). This way, the furnace could be occasionally serviced or accessed in an emergency with a minimum chance of dust disturbing CCL areas below. I ask since I was informed there are special cleaning and associated protective procedures in use within CCL, which it was made clear to me, neither myself as a lay-person nor other non-CCL omninoms may be familiar. So, I recognize that CCL is itself probably better equipped to do the best job possible of this. If that sounds reasonable to CCL, it would be great if this task could be undertaken sometime in the next week, ie before an HVAC person is scheduled to return. See the forwarded message below with regards updates about specific HVAV fixtures. Thank you so much CCL & Sudo! and have a great weekend :) Best, David ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: David Keenan <dkeenan44(a)gmail.com> Date: Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 3:12 PM Subject: Omni HVAC status 9/24 To: consensus <consensus(a)lists.omnicommons.org> Cc: building <building(a)lists.omnicommons.org>, < finance(a)lists.omnicommons.org> <finance(a)lists.omnicommons.org> Hi, The HVAC tech came out on Thursday 9/23 and completed an assessment of the two fixtures mounted halfway up CCL's north wall, being (a) gas furnace serving the adjacent disco room and (b) gas space heater serving CCL / Sudo's room. In addition, I discovered (c) a small modification we need to make to the furnace serving the ballroom. *A. Space heater serving CCL/Sudo*: *This unit was found to be safe & 100% functional; it can be turned on by activating the switch in the BSL room that has the brown cover plate* (mounted a bit high up on the wall, but still reachable from a standing position). In the tech's professional opinion the unit is appropriately sized for the room and will adequately heat / take the chill out of the room. Therefore in my own opinion, CCL might consider giving the space heater a try as an alternative to multiple small electric space heaters that I have heard have been used in lieu during colder months, due to the increased life-safety hazard and energy use imposed by multiple small electric units, and because omni's electrical budget (total available amps) is limited whereas gas is barely utilized. If the space heater is found to be effective, I would propose CCL consider stopping the use of multiple electric heaters. That said, by design the unit is not attached to a thermostat -- and so once it is on, it will stay on until it is turned off. This isn't a safety issue per se, but if left on accidentally, it could lead to energy waste. Therefore I am recommending the following modest improvements be made: 1. The on/off switch controlling the unit be converted to a timer switch (e.g, a 30-min-max dial). This way, the unit will not be accidentally left on, and a timer switch is an easier / cheaper improvement than adding a thermostat. 2. Lower the switch box a couple feet to a more accessible height (as a person in a wheelchair cannot reach the present switch location.). 2. The unit's gas valve be lowered to an accessible height, so gas service to the unit can be easily turned off should the pilot light become extinguished. At present, a ladder is needed to reach this gas valve. 3. Off-the-shelf CO/explosive gas sensor & a smoke sensor (w/ 10-year batteries) are mounted to the wall the code-required distance above the both the space heater and furnace. For the safety of folks working in this room, imo this should probably have been done a long time ago. The above suggested improvements would not involve a significant disturbance of dust, are inexpensive, and are projected to take <2h. *B. Furnace serving the disco room*: - It was determined that the blower in this unit needs replacement (keeps blowing fuses); we are waiting on a cost estimate for this. This fix would have to be effected by the HVAC tech. - It was also previously recommended that a separate, small water pump be installed adjacent to the unit to push condensation down the existing flexible drip line running to the floor drain. The flexible drip line was not run at a consistent downward slope, which led to water backing up into the furnace unit, in turn rusting the bottom of the unit and causing water damage to the platform visible from below (which presumably, dripped down onto CCL's workspace). It appears this can be self-installed, and is anticipated as a low cost improvement. - The water damage to the platform holding the furnace needs to be assessed a bit more to see if any structural reinforcement is necessary. Due to the relatively small quantity of water produced during condensation, I don't anticipate that the water damage will be all that bad, but we don't want the platform failing at some point in the future and hurting anyone beneath. The need for any reinforcement here is TBD. - I would like CCL to consider whether they as a group might (?) prefer to take on cleaning this furnace area of accumulated dust (such as wiping it down etc) prior to additional servicing of the furnace. The reasons are: -- The furnace must be able to be accessible for occasional maintenance or in an emergency, preferably without creating any potential dust headaches for CCL work going on underneath. -- I have been informed that there are lab standards for cleaning, with which lay people / non-CCL volunteers may not be familiar. -- Although the furnace does not serve CCL, the furnace is in CCL's space, and it makes sense to me that CCL would participate in the upkeep of building infrastructure within its space in the interest of collectively maintaining the building. *C. Ballroom furnace*: The ballroom furnace works well, but in the process of trying to assess / replace the old filters for all these units, I discovered that the filters are not presently accessible for the ballroom furnace. The reason is: Studs for the west wall separating the furnace area from the kitchen were placed literally right up against the filter door. Therefore, a simple access panel needs to be created in the perpendicular side of the filter housing, to allow for filter replacement. This fix represents some light sheet metal work and is not perceived to be a major expense. We are awaiting an estimate for this. Having decent air filters in place is of increasing importance due to COVID and the worsening air quality in CA. We plan to replace with MERV-13 filters to make the omni less friendly to COVID spread for any time when a furnaces may be in use (MERV 13 isn't HEPA, but does block sneeze-size droplets along with bacteria etc). Best, David

3 years, 12 months

* Heater test in CCL Thurs 9/23 aft *

by David Keenan

Hi, Apologies for the late notice, but HVAC professionals from AAPH will be returning Thursday sometime in the afternoon to further test the large hanging space heater and the disco room furnace, both of which are adjacent to CCL’s north wall. In broad terms this assessment is being undertaken in order to: a) lower Omni’s monthly insurance costs; b) assess if the large gas-powered space heater is a safer and more efficient solution than multiple smaller electric space heaters; c) restore heat to the disco room if reasonably possible, in order to aid rentability. This work will require placing a large ladder beneath these items. *Dust from these high-up areas may be disturbed, and so we ask that anything potentially affected at ground-floor level be secured.* As always, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you, David

3 years, 12 months

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