What Happens To Fix A Power Outages

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brules

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What happens during a power outage and some of the most common causes?

Who are the people responsible for fixing it and how do they go about doing it? What are some of main cause for it happening?

And if you do this as a job or have some experience in it what are some of the best/funniest stories from your experiences

 
Your local DNO are responsible for fixing it within the timescales set by Ofgem. The causes range from cable damages (very common when people were "just gonna put a fence post in"), trees/branches on overhead lines, age and wear and tear on cables and joints, consac (an older type of cable which gets it's own category due to the amount of faults caused by it :) ), switchgear failure etc.

 
That would be the waveform type cable that has an ali braid?

Small grocery store, thought they were running on backup power (they have a few EM lights and computer UPSes) as things kept flashing flickering, making funny noises. and not working. TNCS 100A 3phase. Loop test between any phase and CNE was giving 22ohms. Water board had damaged the outer skin of the cable a few years previously and the ali CNE had corroded through.... you get that a lot?

 
That would be the waveform type cable that has an ali braid?

Small grocery store, thought they were running on backup power (they have a few EM lights and computer UPSes) as things kept flashing flickering, making funny noises. and not working. TNCS 100A 3phase. Loop test between any phase and CNE was giving 22ohms. Water board had damaged the outer skin of the cable a few years previously and the ali CNE had corroded through.... you get that a lot?
Not quite. Consac has got a solid alu CNE sheath, and one of the most common faults with it is the one you mentioned. It wasn't designed to be a distribution cable, the original purpose was for it to be the link between the transformer and LV pillar. Hence it blows up left, right and centre and it's being overlaid in a lot of places.
 
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Sweedy ,  my ex neighbour used to be a jointer on what was the old MEB  ( Midlands Electricity Board )  before privatisation.

I remember him telling me about a job ...... dug out to expose 6  x 11kv cables , one had  to be cut for some reason  but the signal device at the source was being detected on all them . :(       On choosing the one they thought  they bolt a blade device on which is fired by a cartridge with a length of string by the jointer hiding behind sandbags .    

The blade is fired into the cable ,,,if it doesn't blow up it must have been Brown Bread. :eek:

Do you still use that method?

 
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I thought these days they were generally hydrollic rather than cartridge fired, as the red tape regarding carrying items which came under firearms laws became even more burden-some.

I understand that its less destructive to the cable, meaning that a section does not have to be disgarded where its used, rather it can just be cut at the spoke point and jointed without having to tidy up the ends...

Hopefully MS will come along and tell me how accurate this is :)

 
Yes, spiking guns are still used for final confirmation that the HV cable is dead. It's incredibly rare (someone has heard of someone who's heard of someone who's mate's seen it once kinda thing) that cables are still live when spiked because the procedures for correctly identifying, switch out and earth and cable follows very strict procedures. Good thing really, I'd hate to see our spiking gun blow up :)

Our spiking guns looks like the one in the first video and is cartridge fired, although we never keep them as that's generally the responsibility of the SAP in charge of the HV shutdown.

Hope that helps :)

 
Sweedy ,  my ex neighbour used to be a jointer on what was the old MEB  ( Midlands Electricity Board )  before privatisation.

I remember him telling me about a job ...... dug out to expose 6  x 11kv cables , one had  to be cut for some reason  but the signal device at the source was being detected on all them . :(       On choosing the one they thought  they bolt a blade device on which is fired by a cartridge with a length of string by the jointer hiding behind sandbags .    

The blade is fired into the cable ,,,if it doesn't blow up it must have been Brown Bread. :eek:

Do you still use that method?
[SIZE=medium]Still used and still the safest method of proving dead.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]I’ve been in a trench with another AP “we’re going to look clowns if we’ve got the wrong one.” Safely out of range we both pulled the string, the plant was still running afterwards ; -)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]One of the tricks the EMEB had at their training college was two live 11KV cables deliberately crossed.[/SIZE]

 
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