Same thing happened to me when I shorted across both phases (240V) with a channel locks. I was wrestling wire into position inside a live box.
The channel locks were partially vaporized. No damage to wiring or service provider transformer.
With the reactance of the feed line, you may or may not have even exceeded the 20kA that most breaker panels are rated for. I believe channel locks will vaporize at less than 20kA. Screwdrivers will, I can do that with a bank of 75V caps.
NOW you see why I like to build amplifiers with old school toroid power supplies instead of SMPS’s. If the utility company was using one instead of a pole pig it might not have survived.
NOW you see why I like to build amplifiers with old school toroid power supplies instead of SMPS’s. If the utility company was using one instead of a pole pig it might not have survived.
No breakers. Straight from the line. The transformer has one fuse, on the primary. Service wires are unfused.
Now that I think about it, that transformer has been replaced since then. It eventually caught fire. It was very undersized.
Now that I think about it, that transformer has been replaced since then. It eventually caught fire. It was very undersized.
My worst shock came from a 480V packaging machine. I was crouched down at the open control panel to measure the incoming voltage and accidentally touched an open frame fuse holder. I remember hearing myself yell and was thrown back about six feet, lying on the floor. Managed to stand up and was leaning against the machine, dazed and trying to catch my breath when the spooky thought comes to mind..."maybe you're dead, so better turn around to see if you're still lying on the floor back there". Took a few minutes to work up the courage to look.
All breaker panels, meter boxes, and such are supposed to have a fault current rating for one-time events, like an un-breakered short between phases. **** happens when you’re working on a live panel. Ones I’ve seen are usually 10k or 20k amps. I’ll be those Federal Pacific fire traps can’t even take 5k without exploding.
Almost any pole pig transformer will eventually fail short, glowing bright green for miles and sending flames into the air. Usually they get rotated out of service before that happens. Decades of 120 Hz vibration and temp cycling eventually takes its toll, overloaded occasionally or not. The insulation between turns will not last forever. Might take 50 years but eventually it goes. And if it rusts out and leaks all the oil, it will go *pretty quick*.
Almost any pole pig transformer will eventually fail short, glowing bright green for miles and sending flames into the air. Usually they get rotated out of service before that happens. Decades of 120 Hz vibration and temp cycling eventually takes its toll, overloaded occasionally or not. The insulation between turns will not last forever. Might take 50 years but eventually it goes. And if it rusts out and leaks all the oil, it will go *pretty quick*.
This was a meter box. The transformer primary had one fuse. Secondary service wires ( 120-0-120) have no fuse.
The transformer serves around 30 houses or so, I think. It was around 50 years old when it went out. They replaced it real fast.
The transformer serves around 30 houses or so, I think. It was around 50 years old when it went out. They replaced it real fast.
The fuses are sized to prevent melting the 7200V lines, if a trafo fails short or if a tree branch grounds something. Short term overloads are not supposed to blow the fuse - they’ve already got enough work to do. They didn’t get to your trafo on schedule, did they?
I've seen quite a few transformers in my area blow up. Many residential service transformers weren't changed since the area was built (1940s-1950s) and you know that demand has gone way up. Most of the houses were built with 60 amp service (mine was) and no central air. Now almost everyone has 100 or 200 amp service and everyone has central air.
They changed the service wire in the alley too. The service wire going to my house was way bigger than the service wire in the alley. It was all original, until it went up in flames.
It's no secret that the local provider (ComEd) runs all its equipment at 300-400% capacity continuously. They are very responsive though when it fails.
They changed the service wire in the alley too. The service wire going to my house was way bigger than the service wire in the alley. It was all original, until it went up in flames.
It's no secret that the local provider (ComEd) runs all its equipment at 300-400% capacity continuously. They are very responsive though when it fails.
Back when I was growing up in the trailer park, they let them go till they blew. We’d lose one every year or two. About 10 years ago in this place, the power company came through and changed every one of them on my street. All the meters about 2 or 3 years ago. Now they don’t even have to get out of the truck to read the meters.
Demand ramped up fast. I bet demand quadrupled before they started changing them all out. Everything is electrical now. Look at modern kitchens. And wait until everybody has an electric car.
My neck of the woods has seen a lot of development in the last 15 years or so. Developers bought up large swaths of land (practically a whole neighborhood in one case) and built primarily high density residential units (high rise condos). They just bought a couple blocks worth of storefronts and houses just down the block from me. They tore everything down immediately and there it stands, with just on lone holdout. Once he sells (he won't until he dies I know him) they'll probably build the Sears Tower right down the block from me. Yuck.
My neck of the woods has seen a lot of development in the last 15 years or so. Developers bought up large swaths of land (practically a whole neighborhood in one case) and built primarily high density residential units (high rise condos). They just bought a couple blocks worth of storefronts and houses just down the block from me. They tore everything down immediately and there it stands, with just on lone holdout. Once he sells (he won't until he dies I know him) they'll probably build the Sears Tower right down the block from me. Yuck.
> Now they don’t even have to get out of the truck to read the meters.
I don't think my company has meter-readers anymore. I have seen a guy on my land just twice. Once the week we moved in. Second time a decade later, he said the meter stopped working. (It was old-school mechanical but with an epoxy blob which I assume phoned home.) Let me shut-down a PC then swapped-over like he'd done it thousands of times before. New one is totally non-mechanical and can probably turn-off my juice from afar.
The billing: it looked over-billed, I paid it, got another bill showing large credit. It should stabilize this month.
I don't think my company has meter-readers anymore. I have seen a guy on my land just twice. Once the week we moved in. Second time a decade later, he said the meter stopped working. (It was old-school mechanical but with an epoxy blob which I assume phoned home.) Let me shut-down a PC then swapped-over like he'd done it thousands of times before. New one is totally non-mechanical and can probably turn-off my juice from afar.
The billing: it looked over-billed, I paid it, got another bill showing large credit. It should stabilize this month.
The worst shocking event I know of is a person that worked with my father at a train tunnel with an exhaust system.
A tunnel over the continental divide needs a bit of airflow to keep trains from stalling from lack of fresh air.
The new exhaust installation was eating bearings and clutches so my dad was hired to install monitoring and suggest possible fixes.
Most of the components were made just small enough to fit on a flatbed railcar. The fan motors were three phase at 4800 volts.
Anyway my father and someone else were in the control room and this person opened a contactor cabinet or some other sort of cabinet to check something. The rack was supposed to have an interlock that removed high voltage when the rack was opened. He Attached a meter lead somewhere and somehow caught 4800 volts or so. His meter lead vaporized and his arm burned badly and he became unconscious. Power to the room was lost and my father was able to drag this person to some bathroom that had a light, perform some CPR and the person was at least breathing.
Next was call 911. The phone line went to Denver and the 911 operator argued that they did not service the area. No fun being alone with a burnt unconscious guy and 911 says they will not help. No local fire department numbers posted at the place. Eventually 911 got ahold of some local fire department or EMS.
The person lost most use of one arm bit lived. Retired a little early.
A tunnel over the continental divide needs a bit of airflow to keep trains from stalling from lack of fresh air.
The new exhaust installation was eating bearings and clutches so my dad was hired to install monitoring and suggest possible fixes.
Most of the components were made just small enough to fit on a flatbed railcar. The fan motors were three phase at 4800 volts.
Anyway my father and someone else were in the control room and this person opened a contactor cabinet or some other sort of cabinet to check something. The rack was supposed to have an interlock that removed high voltage when the rack was opened. He Attached a meter lead somewhere and somehow caught 4800 volts or so. His meter lead vaporized and his arm burned badly and he became unconscious. Power to the room was lost and my father was able to drag this person to some bathroom that had a light, perform some CPR and the person was at least breathing.
Next was call 911. The phone line went to Denver and the 911 operator argued that they did not service the area. No fun being alone with a burnt unconscious guy and 911 says they will not help. No local fire department numbers posted at the place. Eventually 911 got ahold of some local fire department or EMS.
The person lost most use of one arm bit lived. Retired a little early.
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My Vietnamese neighbor told me some stories about stealing electricity too.
Before he fled to the USA, when he was in his teens, he used to toss a pair of wires with coathangers shaped as big hooks over the power lines.
He said at night the power company would shut down power to homes, so people had to improvise.
I asked him how he felt about living here in the USA with the 24/7 convenience of AC..... he laughed and said he doesn't miss the old land.
911 operators passing the buck is nothing new. Some 20 years ago I was out bike riding with a local club and a rider went off the road - at the end of a steep down hill and 90 degree bend. It was right where 3 different dispatch zones all met - and it took over half an hour to get EMS out there - all 3 operators saying it wasn’t their responsibility. It’s not like they were all that damn busy, and the nearest fire station was only 2 miles as the crow flies. We could have *walked* in less time.
Of course!
It's lost revenue if you don't have power.
They want you to keep churning out carbon emmisions so others can complain.
It was a problem here until the electricity companies here put wireless modem meters on the transformers and those consumers with 50 HP and up loads.
Now those are scanned every few minutes from the local control room.
And if they wish, they can take action.
They do take police action here if there is more than 3% discrepancy between billed and distributed figures off the transformer...if the transformer says so many units delivered, and the total units billed from consumers are 97% or less than that, they come looking, sometimes at night too.
It was political, free power to farmers, and poor people. The electric companies are mostly government owned.
Now in my state transmission and distribution losses are below 10%, but in Delhi, which is mostly urban, it is still above 30%, so in plain terms it is theft.
North India has a lot of people who think handouts and free things are their right. Will take time to change their thinking.
Now those are scanned every few minutes from the local control room.
And if they wish, they can take action.
They do take police action here if there is more than 3% discrepancy between billed and distributed figures off the transformer...if the transformer says so many units delivered, and the total units billed from consumers are 97% or less than that, they come looking, sometimes at night too.
It was political, free power to farmers, and poor people. The electric companies are mostly government owned.
Now in my state transmission and distribution losses are below 10%, but in Delhi, which is mostly urban, it is still above 30%, so in plain terms it is theft.
North India has a lot of people who think handouts and free things are their right. Will take time to change their thinking.
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I suppose everybody knows: in places where marijuana is marginally legal, if your electric load changes radically, up OR down, a meter man may come to the house, with a lawman.
Growing pot in the attic will quickly max-out a home supply. LOT of lights. Typically pot growers have to bypass the meter, making billable demand zero. Maybe the house went vacant, but the company may check. (Also police helicopters looking for warm attics.)
My hairdresser got into pottery. An electric kiln. Her demand went WAY up. Next month knock at the door. "Do you know why your electric use went up?" She knew it was the kiln, took the tech and cop down cellar to admire it, the newness, the size, the still warm pots on shelves. They consulted and agreed this was just some pottery lady. They left, she went back to her joint.
That was the old walk-the-route meters. As I found (kinda knew), now they don't have to wait to the end of the month to see discrepancy.
New Jersey was one of the first US states electrified, has one of the oldest distribution systems, and losses owing to R*I^2 are a whopping 9%
There are occasional enormous explosions in Nigeria as they tap into the petroleum and natural gas transmission lines.
We legalized it in Canada. The amount of contraband pot growers is shrinking and so is electric usage.
Some of the best pot comes from greenhouses.
If you have a building with no snow on the roof in Canada in February, you either have an illegal grow op, or you have no sense to insulate your roof...
Some of the best pot comes from greenhouses.
If you have a building with no snow on the roof in Canada in February, you either have an illegal grow op, or you have no sense to insulate your roof...