13800 voltage transformer in the work space next to my office?

[rebar]

Hello new here.

I hope I can get some accurate information regarding the installation location guidelines of large high voltage transformers.

I work in a chilled water plant with 35,000 tons of cooling capability. It was built in the 70's and has been expanded and added onto as the load increases. There is a old 13800 volt transformer which serves two 1300 ton chillers right next to the office and Iv heard they are supposed to be installed outside.

Is this true?

Thanks and I apologize if this is a inappropriate place to ask this question.

 

[kwired]

Hello new here.

I hope I can get some accurate information regarding the installation location guidelines of large high voltage transformers.

I work in a chilled water plant with 35,000 tons of cooling capability. It was built in the 70's and has been expanded and added onto as the load increases. There is a old 13800 volt transformer which serves two 1300 ton chillers right next to the office and Iv heard they are supposed to be installed outside.

Is this true?

Thanks and I apologize if this is a inappropriate place to ask this question.

I will admit to not having much experience or knowledge in this particular area, but I'd guess more details will be necessary. Is the transformer open, enclosed, in a vault? Is the room it is in considered a vault?

 

[dkidd]

Is it a dry type or fluid (oil) filled?

 

[rebar]

I will admit to not having much experience or knowledge in this particular area, but I'd guess more details will be necessary. Is the transformer open, enclosed, in a vault? Is the room it is in considered a vault?

Thanks kwired. The transformer is just sitting out in the open and we walk by it all the time. There is a cinder block wall separating it from the operator area, but he sits maybe six feet away.

I cant imagine the carnage if it blew up, and also wonder the effects and dangers of the EMF it creates.

 

[kwired]

Thanks kwired. The transformer is just sitting out in the open and we walk by it all the time. There is a cinder block wall separating it from the operator area, but he sits maybe six feet away.

I cant imagine the carnage if it blew up, and also wonder the effects and dangers of the EMF it creates.

Do you think there is much risk of it blowing up? If it has proper overcurrent protection then overload conditions shouldn't present an explosion hazard, and if it is a sealed oil filled type there is likely pressure relief valves - making it not much different of a risk then a water heater with a pressure relief valve.

Bigger risks are probably arc flash hazards and shock hazards.

EMF's are minimized if all the circuit conductors are in close proximity to one another. Easily achieved with insulated conductors, more risk if open conductors on insulators as that would require more spacing between conductors in most cases- though that wiring method isn't so likely if indoors.

 

[iwire]

I would not be the least bit concerned, I have worked on many buildings such as hospitals and universities that had 13.8 KV transformers tucked around the building. No big deal.

 

[rebar]

I would not be the least bit concerned, I have worked on many buildings such as hospitals and universities that had 13.8 KV transformers tucked around the building. No big deal.

Thanks guys..

I just noticed that all the other new transformers at the plant are installed outside. A coworker told me that its against code to install them in the workplace inside probably just to get me worked up, which isn't to hard.. And after watching a transformer in my back yard blow up.. Well yeah.

Again thanks for your time.

 

[charlie b]

NEC Article 450, Part II, has your answers. Much depends on the KVA rating of the transformer, and whether it is dry-type, "less flammable liquid-insulated," "nonflammable fluid-insulated," "Askarel-insulated," or "oil-insulated." But in general, the threshold for requiring the transformer to be in a vault is 35,000 volts, and yours is well below that rating.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Thanks kwired. The transformer is just sitting out in the open and we walk by it all the time. There is a cinder block wall separating it from the operator area, but he sits maybe six feet away.

I cant imagine the carnage if it blew up, and also wonder the effects and dangers of the EMF it creates.

.
it's not that uncommon in old industrial situations to find stuff like this.

if it's only six feet away, it might be convenient to warm up
the break time coffee cake with.....

if you have a block wall between it, and you, i'd relax, and not sweat it.
if it's oil filled, they have a burp valve that if something goes amiss, it'll
probably puke out mineral oil first.

transformers are usually pretty innocuous... now, stepping regulators are
another thing altogether. they make clicking sounds when they move taps.
being in a switchhouse with a hundred or more of them, in the morning when
everyone turns on their blow dryer at 8:15, sounds like a bomb about to explode.

when they start clicking like that, the rule is to go outside the switchhouse until
they calm down. when they are switching a lot, is when they usually go kablooie.
even a kablooie from them is usually just 10 gallons of oil puked out on the floor,
and a relayed position.