[FoxNews]A small town's sudden power surge fried tech gear i

[The Peeler]

On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 22:18:12 -0000, Birdbrain Macaw (now "James Wilkinson"),
the pathological attention whore of all the uk ngs, blathered again:

It matters where the big arc happens, though. You don't clear a high
energy 1600-4800V circuit with a domestic 240V breaker, that's for sure.
The result is an _arc flash_, which you do _not_ want in your
vicinity, trust me. (Youtube has a lot of examples if you doubt this.)

Having a major league arc flash on a cinderblock foundation outside the
house is a very different proposition from having one in a breaker box
mounted to a wooden stud wall inside, for one thing, but I'm outside my
experience here, so I'll happily defer to any actual power engineering
types who want to chime in.

I can't believe it's that likely for 4800V to get onto a 240V line.
Possible, but so rare it's not worth bothering to install protection. I
protect against little spikes, or voltages about 30V under/over what they
should be. My UPS frequently adjusts the voltage, and sometimes gives up
and runs the house on batteries for 5 seconds.

Yet another naive American who has to learn with what kind of an idiot he is
"conversing", eh, Birdbrain? <BG>

--
Birdbrain Macaw (now "James Wilkinson") about himself:
"I can sleep outside in a temperature of -20C wearing only shorts".
"I once took a dump behind some bushes and slid down a hill to wipe my
arse".
(Courtesy of Mr Pounder)

 

[Colonel Edmund J. Burke]

I'll take two tacos and a side of frys.

 

On Wed, 8 Feb 2017 17:22:27 -0500, Phil Hobbs
<pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

On 02/08/2017 05:18 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 22:13:00 -0000, Phil Hobbs
pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

On 02/08/2017 05:00 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 21:55:06 -0000, Phil Hobbs
pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

On 02/08/2017 02:46 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 01 Feb 2017 17:31:50 -0000, Mr. Man-wai Chang
toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:

A small town's sudden power surge fried tech gear in hundreds of
homes

Full story:
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/01/31/small-town-sudden-power-surge-fried-tech-gear-in-hundreds-homes.html





Residents in the small Pennsylvania town of Brookville must've
wondered
what on earth was going on earlier this month when a sudden power
surge
caused electrical appliances and gizmos in up to 1,000 homes to fry,
explode, or simply conk out.

What may have momentarily seemed like some kind of weird supernatural
happening was actually an electrical surge caused by a failed power
line
component, according to an AP report. Local media said that "damage
ranged from residents losing a refrigerator to losing all
appliances in
the kitchen or losing everything in the house."

Up to a quarter of the town's 4,000 residents were thought to have
been
affected by the incident, with many reporting fried computers, burned
electrical meters, and damaged power strips. Some even spoke of
fluorescent lights suddenly exploding.

When the surge occurred, the high volume of calls flooding into the
emergency services forced the local fire department to call for extra
help from three nearby facilities.

As for the local cops, the incident tripped its main office radio,
causing them to miss the first emergency calls. The first they knew
something was up was when they heard the fire trucks roaring through
the
town.

"We were fortunate that nobody was hurt," Tracy Zents, the
director of
Jefferson County's Department of Emergency Services, told AP.

You should have anything expensive in a UPS.


Big help if the house burns down.

I've heard of folks getting MOVs put in right at the meter, outside the
house. In that sort of super nasty surge, they explode and isolate the
house from the line. Never had the urge to do it myself, but it might
be good insurance.

Wouldn't a really big surge destroy the first thing it hits, i.e. the
main fuse, meter, etc?


It matters where the big arc happens, though. You don't clear a high
energy 1600-4800V circuit with a domestic 240V breaker, that's for sure.
The result is an _arc flash_, which you do _not_ want in your
vicinity, trust me. (Youtube has a lot of examples if you doubt this.)

Having a major league arc flash on a cinderblock foundation outside the
house is a very different proposition from having one in a breaker box
mounted to a wooden stud wall inside, for one thing, but I'm outside my
experience here, so I'll happily defer to any actual power engineering
types who want to chime in.

I can't believe it's that likely for 4800V to get onto a 240V line.
Possible, but so rare it's not worth bothering to install protection. I
protect against little spikes, or voltages about 30V under/over what
they should be. My UPS frequently adjusts the voltage, and sometimes
gives up and runs the house on batteries for 5 seconds.


Well, I bought my house in 1990, and still haven't done that, so I guess
you can say I agree.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

A truck hit a padmounted transformer about 100 ft from my dad's
house, shorting the primary to the secondaty momentarily before
tripping the fuse. It blew the fuse in his then- new TV and blew one
or two bulbe - but destroyed half the appliances in the house next
door. I fixed the TV - Dad replaced the bulbs, and Waterloo North
Hydro's and the truck driver's insurance replaced the neighbours
appliances. The transformer made a BIG BANG when the circuit protector
blew.

 

[James Wilkinson Sword]

On Thu, 09 Feb 2017 00:17:25 -0000, <clare@snyder.on.ca> wrote:

On Wed, 8 Feb 2017 17:22:27 -0500, Phil Hobbs
pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

On 02/08/2017 05:18 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 22:13:00 -0000, Phil Hobbs
pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

On 02/08/2017 05:00 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 21:55:06 -0000, Phil Hobbs
pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

On 02/08/2017 02:46 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 01 Feb 2017 17:31:50 -0000, Mr. Man-wai Chang
toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:

A small town's sudden power surge fried tech gear in hundreds of
homes

Full story:
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/01/31/small-town-sudden-power-surge-fried-tech-gear-in-hundreds-homes.html





Residents in the small Pennsylvania town of Brookville must've
wondered
what on earth was going on earlier this month when a sudden power
surge
caused electrical appliances and gizmos in up to 1,000 homes to fry,
explode, or simply conk out.

What may have momentarily seemed like some kind of weird supernatural
happening was actually an electrical surge caused by a failed power
line
component, according to an AP report. Local media said that "damage
ranged from residents losing a refrigerator to losing all
appliances in
the kitchen or losing everything in the house."

Up to a quarter of the town's 4,000 residents were thought to have
been
affected by the incident, with many reporting fried computers, burned
electrical meters, and damaged power strips. Some even spoke of
fluorescent lights suddenly exploding.

When the surge occurred, the high volume of calls flooding into the
emergency services forced the local fire department to call for extra
help from three nearby facilities.

As for the local cops, the incident tripped its main office radio,
causing them to miss the first emergency calls. The first they knew
something was up was when they heard the fire trucks roaring through
the
town.

"We were fortunate that nobody was hurt," Tracy Zents, the
director of
Jefferson County's Department of Emergency Services, told AP.

You should have anything expensive in a UPS.


Big help if the house burns down.

I've heard of folks getting MOVs put in right at the meter, outside the
house. In that sort of super nasty surge, they explode and isolate the
house from the line. Never had the urge to do it myself, but it might
be good insurance.

Wouldn't a really big surge destroy the first thing it hits, i.e. the
main fuse, meter, etc?


It matters where the big arc happens, though. You don't clear a high
energy 1600-4800V circuit with a domestic 240V breaker, that's for sure.
The result is an _arc flash_, which you do _not_ want in your
vicinity, trust me. (Youtube has a lot of examples if you doubt this.)

Having a major league arc flash on a cinderblock foundation outside the
house is a very different proposition from having one in a breaker box
mounted to a wooden stud wall inside, for one thing, but I'm outside my
experience here, so I'll happily defer to any actual power engineering
types who want to chime in.

I can't believe it's that likely for 4800V to get onto a 240V line.
Possible, but so rare it's not worth bothering to install protection. I
protect against little spikes, or voltages about 30V under/over what
they should be. My UPS frequently adjusts the voltage, and sometimes
gives up and runs the house on batteries for 5 seconds.


Well, I bought my house in 1990, and still haven't done that, so I guess
you can say I agree.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs
A truck hit a padmounted transformer about 100 ft from my dad's
house, shorting the primary to the secondaty momentarily before
tripping the fuse. It blew the fuse in his then- new TV and blew one
or two bulbe - but destroyed half the appliances in the house next
door. I fixed the TV - Dad replaced the bulbs, and Waterloo North
Hydro's and the truck driver's insurance replaced the neighbours
appliances. The transformer made a BIG BANG when the circuit protector
blew.

Pity it didn't electrocute the truck driver.

--
During the weekly Lamaze class, the instructor emphasized the importance of exercise, hinting strongly that husbands need to get out and start walking with their wives.
From the back of the room one expectant father inquired, "Would it be okay if she carries a bag of golf clubs while she walks?"

 

[The Peeler]

On Thu, 09 Feb 2017 00:21:25 -0000, Birdbrain Macaw (now "James Wilkinson"),
the pathological attention whore of all the uk ngs, blathered again:

A truck hit a padmounted transformer about 100 ft from my dad's
house, shorting the primary to the secondaty momentarily before
tripping the fuse. It blew the fuse in his then- new TV and blew one
or two bulbe - but destroyed half the appliances in the house next
door. I fixed the TV - Dad replaced the bulbs, and Waterloo North
Hydro's and the truck driver's insurance replaced the neighbours
appliances. The transformer made a BIG BANG when the circuit protector
blew.

Pity it didn't electrocute the truck driver.

Pity they won't use electroshock on you because of your birdbrain,
Birdbrain!

--
Birdbrain Macaw's (now "James Wilkinson" LOL) sociopathic "mind" at work:
"I treat cyclists wearing the same clothes as pedestrians as pedestrians."
MID: <op.yum2se0mjs98qf@red.lan>

 

[Mark F]

On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 19:17:25 -0500, clare@snyder.on.ca wrote in part:

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/01/31/small-town-sudden-power-surge-fried-tech-gear-in-hundreds-homes.html
Residents in the small Pennsylvania town of Brookville must've
wondered
what on earth was going on earlier this month when a sudden power
surge
caused electrical appliances and gizmos in up to 1,000 homes to fry,
explode, or simply conk out.

At least 5 different times in 15 years my house has had 1 or 2 devices
die immediately when there was lighting around or someone ran into a
power pole. At least 4 times 1 or more devices failed within a couple
of weeks.

I'd say all appliances should be replaced by the power company if any
in the house failed, or at least anything that fails in the next 5
years should be replaced when it fails.

Also: A UPS is more likely to get fried itself in the cases like
in the above report. House MOV seems like the only hope to
protect from these events.

 

[James Wilkinson Sword]

On Thu, 09 Feb 2017 14:23:17 -0000, Mark F <mark53916@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 19:17:25 -0500, clare@snyder.on.ca wrote in part:
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/01/31/small-town-sudden-power-surge-fried-tech-gear-in-hundreds-homes.html
Residents in the small Pennsylvania town of Brookville must've
wondered
what on earth was going on earlier this month when a sudden power
surge
caused electrical appliances and gizmos in up to 1,000 homes to fry,
explode, or simply conk out.
At least 5 different times in 15 years my house has had 1 or 2 devices
die immediately when there was lighting around or someone ran into a
power pole. At least 4 times 1 or more devices failed within a couple
of weeks.

I'd say all appliances should be replaced by the power company if any
in the house failed, or at least anything that fails in the next 5
years should be replaced when it fails.

Also: A UPS is more likely to get fried itself in the cases like
in the above report. House MOV seems like the only hope to
protect from these events.

I just don't have the severe things like above. I'm just catering for loss of power for a few seconds, and for the voltage being out a bit.

--
Went to the pub with my girlfriend last night.
Locals were shouting "paedophile!" and other names at me, just because my girlfriend is 21 and I'm 50.
It completely spoilt our 10th anniversary.

 

[The Peeler]

On Thu, 09 Feb 2017 15:20:18 -0000, Birdbrain Macaw (now "James Wilkinson"),
the pathological attention whore of all the uk ngs, blathered again:

Also: A UPS is more likely to get fried itself in the cases like
in the above report. House MOV seems like the only hope to
protect from these events.

I just don't have the severe things like above.

But you do have SEVERE mental problems, Birdbrain!

--
Birdbrain Macaw (now "James Wilkinson" LOL) about women:
"I don't want one. Easy enough to get one if I wanted one."
MID: <op.yqiy79liutghnb@red.lan>

 

[Michael Moroney]

"James Wilkinson Sword" <imvalid@somewear.com> writes:

On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 22:13:00 -0000, Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

On 02/08/2017 05:00 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 21:55:06 -0000, Phil Hobbs
pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

On 02/08/2017 02:46 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 01 Feb 2017 17:31:50 -0000, Mr. Man-wai Chang
toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:

A small town's sudden power surge fried tech gear in hundreds of homes


You should have anything expensive in a UPS.


Big help if the house burns down.

I've heard of folks getting MOVs put in right at the meter, outside the
house. In that sort of super nasty surge, they explode and isolate the
house from the line. Never had the urge to do it myself, but it might
be good insurance.

Wouldn't a really big surge destroy the first thing it hits, i.e. the
main fuse, meter, etc?


It matters where the big arc happens, though. You don't clear a high
energy 1600-4800V circuit with a domestic 240V breaker, that's for sure.
The result is an _arc flash_, which you do _not_ want in your
vicinity, trust me. (Youtube has a lot of examples if you doubt this.)

Having a major league arc flash on a cinderblock foundation outside the
house is a very different proposition from having one in a breaker box
mounted to a wooden stud wall inside, for one thing, but I'm outside my
experience here, so I'll happily defer to any actual power engineering
types who want to chime in.

I can't believe it's that likely for 4800V to get onto a 240V line. Possible, but so rare it's not worth bothering to install protection. I protect against little spikes, or voltages about 30V under/over what they should be. My UPS frequently adjusts the voltage, and sometimes gives up and runs the house on batteries for 5 seconds.

Well, it did happen to us. The pole with the transformer broke between the
transformer and the crossarm at the top, partly because it was an old pole
with ants living in the part that broke and partly because of the winter
storm. I saw the aftermath and even still have the two 4800V cutouts
that fed the transformer. This was a bunch of summer cottages on a lake.
Two of them burned to the ground. Our place was on the same transformer
but because my father always threw the main breaker when closing up the
place it was unaffected.

 

On Thu, 09 Feb 2017 09:23:17 -0500, Mark F <mark53916@gmail.com>
wrote:

On Wed, 08 Feb 2017 19:17:25 -0500, clare@snyder.on.ca wrote in part:
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/01/31/small-town-sudden-power-surge-fried-tech-gear-in-hundreds-homes.html
Residents in the small Pennsylvania town of Brookville must've
wondered
what on earth was going on earlier this month when a sudden power
surge
caused electrical appliances and gizmos in up to 1,000 homes to fry,
explode, or simply conk out.
At least 5 different times in 15 years my house has had 1 or 2 devices
die immediately when there was lighting around or someone ran into a
power pole. At least 4 times 1 or more devices failed within a couple
of weeks.

I'd say all appliances should be replaced by the power company if any
in the house failed, or at least anything that fails in the next 5
years should be replaced when it fails.

Also: A UPS is more likely to get fried itself in the cases like
in the above report. House MOV seems like the only hope to
protect from these events.

I installed a whole house surge protector in my new panel last year.
I figured it was cheap insurance.

 

[Diesel]

moroney@world.std.spaamtrap.com (Michael Moroney)
news7fjft$sj3$1@pcls7.std.com Wed, 08 Feb 2017 17:11:25 GMT in
alt.home.repair, wrote:

Up the street from me, they upgraded a MV distribution circuit
from a lower voltage to a higher one (13,800V I believe).

Have they been adding on to the circuits in your area? New buildings,
etc? What was the previous voltage?

I've also seen the results of that type of surge. The top of a
pole broke in a storm and the 4800V MV distribution wires made
contact with the 120V/240V feed to houses. Two of them burned to
the ground.

Ouch! I've seen this happen before too. Doesn't typically end well for
the building and/or the electrical system/attached devices inside.



--
Sarcasm, because beating the living shit out of deserving people is
illegal.

 

[Diesel]

"James Wilkinson Sword" <imvalid@somewear.com>
newsp.yvcw7ca6js98qf@red.lan Wed, 08 Feb 2017 19:46:14 GMT in
alt.home.repair, wrote:

On Wed, 01 Feb 2017 17:31:50 -0000, Mr. Man-wai Chang
toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:

A small town's sudden power surge fried tech gear in hundreds of
homes

Full story:
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/01/31/small-town-sudden-power-sur
ge-fried-tech-gear-in-hundreds-homes.html


Residents in the small Pennsylvania town of Brookville must've
wondered what on earth was going on earlier this month when a
sudden power surge caused electrical appliances and gizmos in up
to 1,000 homes to fry, explode, or simply conk out.

What may have momentarily seemed like some kind of weird
supernatural happening was actually an electrical surge caused by
a failed power line component, according to an AP report. Local
media said that "damage ranged from residents losing a
refrigerator to losing all appliances in the kitchen or losing
everything in the house."

Up to a quarter of the town's 4,000 residents were thought to
have been affected by the incident, with many reporting fried
computers, burned electrical meters, and damaged power strips.
Some even spoke of fluorescent lights suddenly exploding.

When the surge occurred, the high volume of calls flooding into
the emergency services forced the local fire department to call
for extra help from three nearby facilities.

As for the local cops, the incident tripped its main office
radio, causing them to miss the first emergency calls. The first
they knew something was up was when they heard the fire trucks
roaring through the town.

"We were fortunate that nobody was hurt," Tracy Zents, the
director of Jefferson County's Department of Emergency Services,
told AP.

You should have anything expensive in a UPS.

The UPS would have fried as well under those conditions. And,
depending on internal UPS design characteristics, may/may not have
done any good for the device plugged into it. It depends on several
things. Which lines got energized way above the normal voltage and
for how long. Is the UPS truely seperating the inverter/battery
backup from the main AC line, or, is it a cheaper unit where the
plugins aren't actually isolated from the main incoming power? IE: is
it really running the out plugs on battery via inverter or, is it
also supplying filtered power while the AC is good via the ac lines
feeding the UPS?

If it's isolating the battery and charging circuitry then, your risk
of being toasted if something roasts the ups is smaller, but, not by
much.





--
Sarcasm, because beating the living shit out of deserving people is
illegal.

 

[Diesel]

Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net>
news:g-ydnT1t59wzDgbFnZ2dnUU7-TGdnZ2d@supernews.com Wed, 08 Feb 2017
21:55:06 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

On 02/08/2017 02:46 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Wed, 01 Feb 2017 17:31:50 -0000, Mr. Man-wai Chang
toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:

A small town's sudden power surge fried tech gear in hundreds of
homes

Full story:
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/01/31/small-town-sudden-power-su
rge-fried-tech-gear-in-hundreds-homes.html



Residents in the small Pennsylvania town of Brookville must've
wondered what on earth was going on earlier this month when a
sudden power surge caused electrical appliances and gizmos in up
to 1,000 homes to fry, explode, or simply conk out.

What may have momentarily seemed like some kind of weird
supernatural happening was actually an electrical surge caused
by a failed power line component, according to an AP report.
Local media said that "damage ranged from residents losing a
refrigerator to losing all appliances in the kitchen or losing
everything in the house."

Up to a quarter of the town's 4,000 residents were thought to
have been affected by the incident, with many reporting fried
computers, burned electrical meters, and damaged power strips.
Some even spoke of fluorescent lights suddenly exploding.

When the surge occurred, the high volume of calls flooding into
the emergency services forced the local fire department to call
for extra help from three nearby facilities.

As for the local cops, the incident tripped its main office
radio, causing them to miss the first emergency calls. The first
they knew something was up was when they heard the fire trucks
roaring through the town.

"We were fortunate that nobody was hurt," Tracy Zents, the
director of Jefferson County's Department of Emergency Services,
told AP.

You should have anything expensive in a UPS.


Big help if the house burns down.

I've heard of folks getting MOVs put in right at the meter,
outside the house. In that sort of super nasty surge, they
explode and isolate the house from the line. Never had the urge
to do it myself, but it might be good insurance.

I've been onsite a few times when the MOVs have kicked in and done
their job. It greatly reduces harm to the electrical system and
devices attached inside the home. However, if the surge is strong
enough, it'll momentarily arc across the now opened lines and temp
energize the home. It's still better than maintaining a direct (but
burning) link, though.



--
Sarcasm, because beating the living shit out of deserving people is
illegal.

 

[Diesel]

Mark F <mark53916@gmail.com>
news:sfuo9cdb3cjd6lo39rahake3a24b5o6o40@4ax.com Thu, 09 Feb 2017
14:23:17 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

I'd say all appliances should be replaced by the power company if
any in the house failed, or at least anything that fails in the
next 5 years should be replaced when it fails.

I've had very little success getting power companies to replace
anything in a home due to an electrical malfunction that was their
fault. As far as they seem to be concerned, your appliances and
protection for them is your responsibility. Even if their transformer
sends way too much juice to your house, that's somehow, not their
fault.

I can understand their position on it, but, I also see it from the
owner of now dead electronics/electrical devices in their home.

Also: A UPS is more likely to get fried itself in the cases like
in the above report. House MOV seems like the only hope to
protect from these events.

They do a reasonably decent job too. However, they cannot do a damn
thing if the incoming voltage has enough amps to jump across the now
open lines inside the meter box. If the current is high enough, a
couple of inches of space isn't going to make a difference, it'll
jump (it's not a stable connection, but it's a connection) across and
complete the previously opened circuits. It won't be able to maintain
it for very long, assuming other safety circuits are kicking in
around this time and shutting it down, OR, it finally burns enough
off during the arc jump that it can't hold anymore. Until one or both
happens though, your house is being energized, and likely way more
than anything plugged in inside the house is going to be happy with.





--
Sarcasm, because beating the living shit out of deserving people is
illegal.

 

[Diesel]

Phil Hobbs <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net>
news:W_-dnWu08oZ9CgbFnZ2dnUU7-X_NnZ2d@supernews.com Wed, 08 Feb 2017
22:13:00 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

It matters where the big arc happens, though. You don't clear a
high energy 1600-4800V circuit with a domestic 240V breaker,
that's for sure.
The result is an _arc flash_, which you do _not_ want in your
vicinity, trust me. (Youtube has a lot of examples if you doubt
this.)

The arc flash isn't even the big killer. It's the shockwave ahead of
the arc flash that does the most damage if the voltage/amperage is
high enough. It can turn your organs into mush before the fireball
gets close enough to light you up.

Having a major league arc flash on a cinderblock foundation
outside the house is a very different proposition from having one
in a breaker box mounted to a wooden stud wall inside, for one
thing, but I'm outside my experience here, so I'll happily defer
to any actual power engineering types who want to chime in.

When I'm tasked with the job of bringing circuits online, I tend to
do it with a long plastic stick at an angle; I'm stepping off to the
side. This way, if something is wrong, I don't get the shockwave and
arc flash right in my face. Nothing like finishing out a premod home
only to findout one or more wires wasn't labeled correctly and one is
actually about to feed 120 into the live side of a 120volt breaker
that's living on the other leg. So, when you turn this breaker on,
you're actually running both legs into each other on that breaker. It
shoots fire out the sides and hums something awful before it trips
right back out.

Atleast with the cinderblock foundation, it's essentially an open
environment so the arc flash and shockwave can dissipate faster. When
it's enclosed (as in, inside a panel), it can be much more
devastating. Not only for the panel and it's guts, but, yours too.


--
Sarcasm, because beating the living shit out of deserving people is
illegal.

 

[Michael Moroney]

Diesel <me@privacy.net> writes:

moroney@world.std.spaamtrap.com (Michael Moroney)
news7fjft$sj3$1@pcls7.std.com Wed, 08 Feb 2017 17:11:25 GMT in
alt.home.repair, wrote:

Up the street from me, they upgraded a MV distribution circuit
from a lower voltage to a higher one (13,800V I believe).

Have they been adding on to the circuits in your area? New buildings,
etc? What was the previous voltage?

No new construction/new loads in that area. It may have been done to
allow that circuit to provide an additional 13.8K feed to a medical center
a ways upstream. I am uncertain of the old voltage but the nameplate for a
regulator transformer on a nearby old circuit reads 2400V which seems kind
of low. The utility seems to have been upgrading other older/lower voltage
circuits in the area as well.

I've also seen the results of that type of surge. The top of a
pole broke in a storm and the 4800V MV distribution wires made
contact with the 120V/240V feed to houses. Two of them burned to
the ground.

Ouch! I've seen this happen before too. Doesn't typically end well for
the building and/or the electrical system/attached devices inside.

 

[Tzortzakakis Dimitrios]

On 10/2/2017 7:52 πμ, Michael Moroney wrote:

Diesel <me@privacy.net> writes:

moroney@world.std.spaamtrap.com (Michael Moroney)
news7fjft$sj3$1@pcls7.std.com Wed, 08 Feb 2017 17:11:25 GMT in
alt.home.repair, wrote:

Up the street from me, they upgraded a MV distribution circuit
from a lower voltage to a higher one (13,800V I believe).

Have they been adding on to the circuits in your area? New buildings,
etc? What was the previous voltage?

No new construction/new loads in that area. It may have been done to
allow that circuit to provide an additional 13.8K feed to a medical center
a ways upstream. I am uncertain of the old voltage but the nameplate for a
regulator transformer on a nearby old circuit reads 2400V which seems kind
of low. The utility seems to have been upgrading other older/lower voltage
circuits in the area as well.

I've also seen the results of that type of surge. The top of a
pole broke in a storm and the 4800V MV distribution wires made
contact with the 120V/240V feed to houses. Two of them burned to
the ground.

Ouch! I've seen this happen before too. Doesn't typically end well for
the building and/or the electrical system/attached devices inside.

Here in Iraklion,Crete MV used to be 15kV, now it's 20 kV I think.
Usually we don't have accidents of the primary messing with the
secondary. MV distribution is all around the city with buried cables,
some of them are very old, with paper insulation. However, there was a
bad accident where a lineman was connecting a new supermaket to a 20kV
circuit, there were two buried cables, and they have a special device
that checks if the cable is live. So he checked and it wasn't. But back
at the substation they energized it and the arc flash instantly killed
him, and temporary blinding everyone at the vicinity.And in the
Thessaloniki substation, a potential transformer exploded (400 kV) and
the debris destroyed an auto transformer (400/150 kV) and there were
serious problems with power for the whole area. I have a surge power
strip on my computer and when I turn my PC off I throw both the PSU
switch and the power strip one. On my stereo I have a voltage regulator
and when off I throw the VR's switch, the power strip's and the amp's.
That should be enough. If there's an 20kV surge the PC and the stereo
would be the least of my worries.

 

[Phil Hobbs]

On 02/10/2017 12:52 AM, Michael Moroney wrote:

Diesel <me@privacy.net> writes:

moroney@world.std.spaamtrap.com (Michael Moroney)
news7fjft$sj3$1@pcls7.std.com Wed, 08 Feb 2017 17:11:25 GMT in
alt.home.repair, wrote:

Up the street from me, they upgraded a MV distribution circuit
from a lower voltage to a higher one (13,800V I believe).

Have they been adding on to the circuits in your area? New buildings,
etc? What was the previous voltage?

No new construction/new loads in that area. It may have been done to
allow that circuit to provide an additional 13.8K feed to a medical center
a ways upstream. I am uncertain of the old voltage but the nameplate for a
regulator transformer on a nearby old circuit reads 2400V which seems kind
of low. The utility seems to have been upgrading other older/lower voltage
circuits in the area as well.

In my neighbourhood the top line is usually 1600V, with one or a few
pole pigs per block to make 120-0-120V. Of course we're about half a
mile from the substation.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs


--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

 

On Fri, 10 Feb 2017 10:48:18 -0500, Phil Hobbs
<pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:

On 02/10/2017 12:52 AM, Michael Moroney wrote:
Diesel <me@privacy.net> writes:

moroney@world.std.spaamtrap.com (Michael Moroney)
news7fjft$sj3$1@pcls7.std.com Wed, 08 Feb 2017 17:11:25 GMT in
alt.home.repair, wrote:

Up the street from me, they upgraded a MV distribution circuit
from a lower voltage to a higher one (13,800V I believe).

Have they been adding on to the circuits in your area? New buildings,
etc? What was the previous voltage?

No new construction/new loads in that area. It may have been done to
allow that circuit to provide an additional 13.8K feed to a medical center
a ways upstream. I am uncertain of the old voltage but the nameplate for a
regulator transformer on a nearby old circuit reads 2400V which seems kind
of low. The utility seems to have been upgrading other older/lower voltage
circuits in the area as well.

In my neighbourhood the top line is usually 1600V, with one or a few
pole pigs per block to make 120-0-120V. Of course we're about half a
mile from the substation.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

The top line running down my street is 7200 volts. Maybe that's
because I live in a rural area. It seems high to me but the guy from
PSE told me that it is not unusual, at least where I live.
Eric

 

[Jon Elson]

Phil Hobbs wrote:

In my neighbourhood the top line is usually 1600V, with one or a few
pole pigs per block to make 120-0-120V. Of course we're about half a
mile from the substation.

Interesting, they run 7200 V here. I read the plate on a transformer when
it was down on the ground for replacement.


So, anybody know how the folks in Brookville are getting their lives back
together? With the burned siding and meters in some pictures, I doubt much
electrical in those houses survived. Everything from light bulbs to the
breaker panels and in-wall wiring might need to be replaced. I guess
electrical contractors are going to be busy for some time.

Jon