Friday, July 13, 2018

And there was light! Chandelier successfully raised back up and lit.

Praise the Lord! The chandelier is back up, after some wrangling with the power cords to get them fed back through the hole, and all 122 bulbs are working! As I plugged each of the 12 power lines in, Cheryl Rila used the walkie talkie to confirm that another section of lights was lighting up. Knowing that we were having some issues with one set of 8 lights (there was no juice to it when lowered), it was a bit tense up in the roof waiting to hear if they would all work...Much thanks to Gary and Dick, along with John Drayer of Drayer Electrical who helped with replacing some of the sockets that were bad...Who says being a pastor isn't a Dirty Job?... The "snowflake" pattern from directly below the light is awesome with these new Edison bulbs, as far as we know this light fixture, originally installed in 1904, is a one of a kind.

Help from John Drayer getting non-working sockets replaced.

New bulbs installed, ready for hoisting.

One the way back up, almost there.

The amazing artistic snowflake pattern of this 1904 chandelier.

The snowflake from further away as the lights meld together in the picture.

A significantly brighter sanctuary.

Pastor Powell trying out for Dirty Jobs after spending a couple hours in the roof working the hoist crank and pulling the power cords back through the hole.  Notice the knees and the right arm black to the elbow.

Not the way Pastor's hands typically look at work; not the first time, it won't be the last.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Let there be Light! Chandelier successfully lowered, repairs underway

After several hours of deliberations and experimentation, Pastor Powell, assisted by our custodian/maintenance duo of Gary Forsyth and Dick Swartz, were able to lower the chandelier while still leaving it capable of being "plugged-in" thanks to a series of 6  household extension cords, and two fifty-foot extension cords which were lowered with the chandelier as it was dropped.  Once it was down, the tense moment of plugging the cords in arrived, thankfully all 12 sections still lit up enabling us to determine which sockets were in need of repair.  In the end, of the 122 sockets (11 dozen being the number of bulbs we need to order, 122 is the actual number of sockets), only ten were not working, and of the 122 bulbs put up there about 15 years ago, only 25 were out; not bad.  Repairs on the 10 bad sockets will be happening this week, and installation of the new Edison style LED bulbs as well before the process of raising the chandelier commences, hopefully with nearly every bulb lit, on Friday. 

How many of our people will notice the increased light (and new old-school style bulbs) this Sunday?

An extension cord-based solution being put together

Almost there...
Cheryl Rila looking for the right angle to take a picture.
The lowered chandelier "plugged-in", checking sockets.
Gary on the left, Pastor Randy behind, and Dick on the right