LOSS OF POWER TO OFFICE TRAILER

[billydrowne]

So i got called to a lumber yard for an office trailer intermittently losing power and randomly coming back on. No tripped breakers or anything. Comes from a 200a panel, 100a 2pole plug on breaker and is in EMT through a warehouse. We replaced a damaged section of pipe from a forklift driving a pallet of wood into. Re piped and re pulled the damaged section and still have the same issue, powers gone then comes back. Checked all connection points, breakers, bus bars, everything i could short of destroying the place. I have no idea how this is happening at this point.

 

[Little Bill]

Have you witnessed the power loss or just info passed to you?

 

[billydrowne]

I have seen it once. Taking the panel cover off in the trailer and all their computers went down, did the repairs today and when we left it happened, came back and the trailer was live.

 

[hillbilly1]

If it is a total power loss happening intermittently, the circuit, or entire panel is on a contactor, or they are being sabotaged by somebody turning the breaker off. I have investigated the latter, breaker would randomly “trip”. It happened while I was there, breaker was not tripped, but actually turned off. Long story short, turned out to be a pharmacist mad at his employer.

 

[tom baker]

A recording data logger would be very useful

 

[billydrowne]

A recording data logger would be very useful

Thats our next trip back

 

[hillbilly1]

A recording data logger would be very useful

That was what I was installing when the power “went” off. Two breakers were supposedly tripping at the same time. I locked the panel door on the one I had the logger on. The manager came running out saying it happened again while I was sitting in my truck on a conference call, only on breaker “tripped” that time, they couldn’t get to the other one because it was locked! I had something similar at an AutoZone, the computers would crash randomly, they replaced all of them, still they were crashing. Their IT engineer figured it was a power problem, and wanted all of the grounding checked. Turned out, it was an assistant manager that was mad because he was passed over getting his own store.

 

[tom baker]

That’s a good story about auto zone

 

[billydrowne]

That was what I was installing when the power “went” off. Two breakers were supposedly tripping at the same time. I locked the panel door on the one I had the logger on. The manager came running out saying it happened again while I was sitting in my truck on a conference call, only on breaker “tripped” that time, they couldn’t get to the other one because it was locked! I had something similar at an AutoZone, the computers would crash randomly, they replaced all of them, still they were crashing. Their IT engineer figured it was a power problem, and wanted all of the grounding checked. Turned out, it was an assistant manager that was mad because he was passed over getting his own store.

Wow that is insane. That story is making me think twice now haha