Not Quite Texas but Still Bad

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Little Bill

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Location
Tennessee NEC:2017
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Semi-Retired Electrician
Here in Middle Tn, lots of us have been without power since Monday midday. There are 11000 without power and I'm one of them. Our problem is power lines down from ice & fallen trees. They told us to expect a few more days for most of us. They have crews coming in from out of area/state but there's a ton of lines down. I'm running on generator, propane and kerosene heat. It's hard to find propane so I don't know how long I will get to keep using the propane heater. Generators are also hard to get. Lowes got a shipment in of 200 and they were gone in a couple of hours. I'm too busy trying to keep my place running to even take calls from people with services pulled loose from houses.
Bad part is the cold is supposed to last a few more days with more ice & snow coming tomorrow!
 
:) On the brigh tside, you can keep the bed warm with your dogs
Strange that you brought up my dogs as one of them passed away during this cold.
I have power now but it's a mixed blessing. Neighbors on two sides do not, neighbors on the other two sides do. I think about 3/4 of the homes without power now have it. They are hoping to get everyone sometime this weekend.
 
Strange that you brought up my dogs as one of them passed away during this cold.
I have power now but it's a mixed blessing. Neighbors on two sides do not, neighbors on the other two sides do. I think about 3/4 of the homes without power now have it. They are hoping to get everyone sometime this weekend.
Sorry about your dog, lost my best friend awhile back too, great dog.
 
Every time we get a storm I look at my wood stove and say "Thank you". Heating with it all winter but we have been burning alot of wood. I also have a small gen I can use. Last time I hooked it up at 6 am because the power went out at 4:30. I got it going and my wife sees lights on thru the woods. Got it going for nothing but at least it works.
 
Places in Virginia has had people out since Feb 14 and are trying to get everyone on by March 1.
they have over 1000 people there now working.
It take time to replace over 500 broke poles..
Plus everything else that’s broke or torn down.
 
They tell us that part of the problem was at substations. They kept saying "breakers" not working or not resetting. I know nothing about substations but I have never heard "breaker" mentioned before. Could it be "relays" they are talking about? When I say "they" I mean news reports. I haven't talked to anyone from POCO about it. Whatever it is they couldn't get parts for it but apparently have since got them. I did to talk to a right-of-way crew guy. They are cutting trees or limbs out of the lines. He said there were several times they got a line restored only to have another limb fall and take it back out. Impossible to cut all the trees near the lines in an emergency time frame.

Maybe @Hv&Lv can answer this for me.
 
I believe a lot of tree trimming happened in our area when we got hit 15 years ago and our utility service crews seem to keep busy a good share of the year with it. Keep in mind we don’t have Near the trees those East of the Mississippi have.
We get a lot of tree damage, the poco right of way is pretty narrow as far as tree trimming goes. The tourist industry will not let them clear what they need to.
 
They tell us that part of the problem was at substations. They kept saying "breakers" not working or not resetting. I know nothing about substations but I have never heard "breaker" mentioned before. Could it be "relays" they are talking about? When I say "they" I mean news reports. I haven't talked to anyone from POCO about it. Whatever it is they couldn't get parts for it but apparently have since got them. I did to talk to a right-of-way crew guy. They are cutting trees or limbs out of the lines. He said there were several times they got a line restored only to have another limb fall and take it back out. Impossible to cut all the trees near the lines in an emergency time frame.

Maybe @Hv&Lv can answer this for me.
Whenever people in line work say a breaker won’t hold at the station it means something is on the line taking it back out. Breakers (reclosers etc..) all have bypasses above them and there are ways to tie circuits together to take them out of service for maintenance or changeout.
News media has no clue and the make up crap trying to reason it in their unknowing heads.
It isn’t that they needed parts.

Relays control the breakers or VWVEs

We call them circuit breakers also, they are just a lot bigger..
 
We get a lot of tree damage, the poco right of way is pretty narrow as far as tree trimming goes. The tourist industry will not let them clear what they need to.
Some places like Savannah, Beaufort, (historic towns) etc only allow 5’ ROW
 
Some places like Savannah, Beaufort, (historic towns) etc only allow 5’ ROW
Ours is 15’ on each side. Had a pine past my house leaning and about to fall, called the poco, told them the could cut it now before it fell and broke the line, or fix the line after it fell. They would not come out because it wasn’t on my property.
 
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