interesting set up!

[djohns6]

That's an air gap and it's supposed to be there. Can be adjusted for varying primary voltages.

That's correct . You loosen a bolt on top of the flat bar and slide it back and forth to adjust the gap . :smile:

 

[Charlie Bob]

sorry i'm late!!

sorry i'm late!!

Sorry i'm late but i didn't get home till 900 pm. Got make ends meat, I reckon!!:smile:
First, what is that air gap on the transformer for?

Now back to this job.
Nobody is really asking for a disconnect at the pole but they didn't put it back 30 years ago when they rigged this up.
Now home owner is scare that fire dep. won't be able to cut power in case of fire.
I thought about putting a disconnect outside the house at least, and leave barn out. At this moment he's got weather head and LB and panel box inside.
We'll do whatever is cheaper, i guess.

 

[LarryFine]

First, what is that air gap on the transformer for?

Lightning, mainly.

 

[mxslick]

Sharp eye slick!

Thanks..but, looks like I goofed, sort of:

That's an air gap and it's supposed to be there. Can be adjusted for varying primary voltages.

That's a new one on me. All the L/A's I've seen so far in our POCO area are direct connected. But we don't get that much lightning most of the time.

Thanks for the correction.

That's correct . You loosen a bolt on top of the flat bar and slide it back and forth to adjust the gap . :smile:

Would that be because the breakdown voltage of the arrestor is lower that the primary voltage? It seems that without a hard connection it couldn't "clamp" the surge from a bolt of lightning to a lower level.

Like I said above, just haven't seen that setup here in Cali.

 

[mivey]

...It seems that without a hard connection it couldn't "clamp" the surge from a bolt of lightning to a lower level.

Like I said above, just haven't seen that setup here in Cali.

Haven't seen any just like those, but have seen gap arrestors. Once the lightning hits and creates an arc by jumping the gap, the arc provides the "hard connection" to ground.