Knights' Electric, Inc. LIC. #432135

Standard Structures Production Area

 

Knights' Electric, Inc.'s commercial department has recently completed a project with Standard Structures Inc., installing a primary metering switchgear at the company's facility in Windsor. The primary metering switchgear will handle the medium voltage load of 12,000 volts coming into the facility from PG&E.

Knights' Electric commercial department connected to the PG&E substructure, installing medium voltage wiring and conduits and moving the previous overhead wiring underground to the switchgear and then up a utility pole into the facility. The project is a requirement of PG&E and the town of Windsor because Standard Structures is building a new road and all medium voltage power lines have to be underground for all new road construction.
 

Standard Structures, well known for their gluelam (glue laminated) beams, I-joist and open web trusses for roof and floor systems, manufactured the gluelam utility pole. The utility pole is 65 feet in overall length and it was installed 14 feet into the ground for stability. The pole is two feet thick at the base and tapers to a width of one foot at the top. Because of the stability of the pole construction, no support wires were required and it has a clean look, "We wanted it to be a show piece," says Dick Caletti, President and CEO of Standard Structures.
 

For Standard Structures, the construction of the utility pole, while impressive, was a rather simple exercise compared to their more elaborate projects that include unique structural roofing systems at Disneyland, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the giant wood framed Coca-Cola bottle located in the left field promenade at SBC Park in San Francisco.
 

Standard Structures was incorporated in 1947 and is the oldest gluelam manufacturer in the United States operating under its founding name and ownership entity. Standard Structures has been very successful with the manufacturing of gluelam I-joists and has also developed other highly successful products including high strength beams and tubular web trusses.

Knights' Electric's TEGG Services performed spectroanalysis
on these three transformers at Standard Structures.

 

Knights' Electric's TEGG Services has also completed a project at Standard Structures Inc. The Knights' Electric TEGG Services work was performed simultaneously during the "cut over" wiring connection of the switchgear project that Knights' Electric's commercial department completed at the facility. The work was performed after hours because an electrical shutdown was necessary.
 

Knights' Electric's TEGG Services cleaned three transformers and performed a spectroanalysis of the oil in the transformers to insure that the oil is maintaining its cooling properties to cool the transformers.
 

The oil analysis can detect contaminants in the oil such as ash content or gases that can form when the oil is breaking down. Such contaminants can cause the oil to lose its cooling properties and cause overheating and eventual transformer failure. When the oil analysis was completed on the transformers, Knights' Electric's TEGG Services certified that they had passed the test and the three transformers went back into service.

Ray Forno, Standard Structures Manufacturing Manager, had this to say about Knights' Electric's TEGG Services, "I was happy with their work, I thought they were very professional." Forno has worked with Knights' Electric for many years, "Knights' Electric has been really good on services calls, they were out here at midnight recently to replace some blown fuses. Rob Knight always returns my calls right away and that's a big thing for me when it comes to service, they have a good response time."

Chandelier from the Candlelite Series
(Photo courtesy of Hans Duus Blacksmith, Inc.)
 

Hans Duus has been a blacksmith for 38 years. In 1968 he entered the lighting industry. In 1982 he formed his own company. He designed, forged and fabricated entry gates, stair and balcony rails, grills, grates, and many other objects de arte in iron. His work was primarily in the private estate market, where he worked with architects, contractors, interior and landscape designers, as well as the homeowners themselves. Requests were made for design and production of various types of lighting fixtures, from chandeliers to bracket mount lanterns, wall sconces, post lights, etc. Thus began the lighting division of Hans Duus Blacksmith.
 

Knights' Electric, Inc. residential department is currently working with Molofsky Builders, Inc. on an exclusive custom home in Sonoma County that features interior and exterior Hans Duus lighting fixtures. Hans Duus had this to say about the customers that purchase his products, "It's really a question of value, it's more than dollars spent ? it's something original and well made to last a very long time and the unprecedented level of service my company offers."
 

Hans Duus is creating handmade lighting fixtures that appeal to the high-end custom homes that Knights' Electric residential department considers its primary market. "Sixty percent of our work is custom," says Hans Duus, "You can get exactly what you need or want. Unlike tract homes in the half million dollar range our clients are sometimes spending several million dollars ? why get something off the shelf?"
 

In Knights' Electric's exclusive custom home market, lighting and lighting fixtures are a focal point of high importance to homeowners, architects, designers, builders and craftsman like Hans Duus, "From the design standpoint ? to me ? lighting sets it off ? it's a very positive thing. We like to call it the jewelry for your house."